Aden closed the space between them again, looming over her, his size suddenly more threatening than sexy. “What did you hear last night? And whom did you tell?”
Sidonie had grown up with two older brothers. She’d been dealing with bigger males all of her life. She rammed her shoulder against Aden’s chest, trying to force him to move, but he only laughed, and she felt her anger boiling up. Most people never saw it, but she had a temper. She didn’t hold grudges and she couldn’t hold a mad for long, but when her anger finally bubbled to the surface, it came up hot.
“Move,” she demanded.
He gave her a gloating smile and said, “No.”
With a shriek of anger, Sidonie swung her hand back in a fist aimed at his smug face, just as she would have one of her brothers. But Aden caught her hand and glared down at her.
“You don’t want to do that.”
“Then let go of me.”
“Who’d you talk to last night?”
“No one, damn it. I live alone. There’s no one . . .” Her voice trailed off.
“What?” he demanded, correctly interpreting her hesitation.
Sid’s thoughts were racing. Professor Dresner. It had to be. She remembered Dresner’s reaction as soon as she’d mentioned Aden leaving, how she’d pumped Sid for information, then almost immediately cut off the conversation.
“What happened last night?” she whispered, looking up at him. “Did somebody die?”
He frowned, and she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he said, “A lot of vampires died. None of them were mine.”
Sid nearly choked on the guilt clogging her throat. Had those vampires died because of her? “What about Silas?” she asked.
Aden’s gaze narrowed dangerously. “What do you know about Silas?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. I heard the name when I was leaving last night. Bastien was on the phone.”
“And you told someone. Who was it?”
Sid didn’t want to say. Surely she owed Professor Dresner that much. They weren’t exactly friends, and it sounded as if she’d betrayed Sid’s trust, but they were both human. Didn’t that count for something? Some shred of loyalty?
“Someone warned Silas last night,” Aden growled. “You want to know who’s really responsible for all those dead vampires? Look to your friend who sent word that we were coming, and to Silas who ran, knowing what I would do to the vampires left behind.”
Sid nodded faintly. Somehow everything had gotten turned around. She’d started this to save lives, and now it seemed she’d cost them instead. Or Dresner had. But wasn’t she responsible, too?
“I’ve been working with someone,” she whispered. Aden’s hand gripped her hip once more, his fingers tight. “She’s sort of an expert on vampire behavior.”
“A human?”
“Yes. She’s a professor at the university. She’s the one who told me about that bar where I met Travis.”
“Her name?”
Sid frowned up at him worriedly. “What are you going to do if I tell you?”
“I’m going to talk to her.”
“That’s all?”
“Depends, doesn’t it? What would you humans do to someone who’d set up an ambush that resulted in several deaths?”
“I guess she’d go to jail, conspiracy to murder or something.”
Aden shrugged. “Vampire justice is somewhat less ambiguous.”