“He did it.” Ben blurted it out, then regretted it. “I mean, I’ve run into René before. He’s a very likely suspect.”
Fuck. He didn’t really feel like tangling with René. Not only was the thief clever, he knew how to spark Ben’s temper, which had grown far more hair-trigger since he’d become immortal.
Plus René was an asshole.
“Okay,” Ben said. “That’s four suspects, and who’s the fifth?”
Radu pursed his lips together. “A degree of impartiality will be needed for the last suspect.”
“Okay.” So he definitely knew this one. That was probably why his amnis was starting to go haywire. He was nearly coming out of his skin, and Radu—
“It’s Tenzin.”
“Tenzin what?” Ben flexed his back; his amnis was crawling up and down his spine.
“Tenzin…” Radu frowned. “Tenzin is the last suspect.”
Ben barked a laugh. Then he closed his eyes. “Of course she is.”
* * *
Could she have done it? Was Tenzin capable of stealing a fabulous carved-emerald goblet that was probably worth millions and had a cool legend attached to it? Of course she was. In fact, she was probably the most likely suspect.
Ben strode through the campsite, following Radu’s instructions and the pulsing beat of his elemental energy, which was coursing over his skin in giant horny waves. His amnis knew she was close, and it craved her like a drug.
He was going to kiss—no, kill—her. He was going to kill her. She had to have known something was up in all this. That’s what she’d been holding back last week at Farkas’s mansion. That’s what she hadn’t told him. She’d been cryptic and evasive and this was why, because she must have figured out that the icon job was only a ruse.
He pounded on the door and felt every rap in his erection.
How was he supposed to function like this? His body was betraying him. The moment he’d smelled her scent, he’d gone hard.
You are not a teenager. He imagined glaring holes through her body. She’d shout at him and deflect, then refuse to apologize for being stubborn and cryptic and withholding important infor—
“Come in. It’s unlocked.”
Ben yanked at the door and it swung open, only to be met with Tenzin hanging upside down from a bed mounted from the ceiling.
She was insane. And adorable. And he’d missed her like crazy, even after only a few days apart. Seeing her in Bucharest had been like an alcoholic getting a sip of whiskey when he wanted to down the whole bottle.
“Aren’t these buses cool?” She grinned, and her adorable fangs gleamed in the low lamplight. “We need to get one of them in America.”
Ben slammed the door shut and marched over to her. “This is what you were hiding?”
“The bus?”
“No!” He kept his voice low. “This thing with Radu. Did you know he was going to kidnap me? Is this what you weren’t telling me in Hungary?”
“Hmmm.” She stayed hanging upside down. “Sort of.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“The only one I’m going to give you right now.”
Ben grabbed Tenzin’s cheeks and kissed her hard, giving in to the instinct that had been scraping at him since he’d seen her at the club in Bucharest. He’d thought she was gone, and now she was back.
He wanted her. Fuck, he wanted her so much. Every cell in his body was hungry for the taste of her. He sucked her tongue into his mouth, nicking the end so her blood flooded his mouth and his senses.
She groaned and reached for his neck, dragging him closer.
Ben slid his hands down her neck and across her shoulders until he cupped her small breasts in his hands and squeezed. He wanted to pull her shirt up and feel her skin. He needed the contact. He ran a hand down to her waist and slid his fingers beneath her leggings, tracing the rise of her pelvis and the smooth skin of her hip.
The sound she made in her throat was halfway between a purr and a snarl.
He dragged his hands up her body again and broke their kiss, keeping both his hands on her cheeks. Her mouth was open and her lips were red. A drop of her blood lingered at the corner of her mouth, and he licked out and captured it.
The smell of her desire nearly buckled his knees. “You drive me absolutely fucking crazy.”
“I missed you too.” She brushed her thumb over his lower lip. “Did Radu tell you I was here? Is that why you came with him? He couldn’t take you if you didn’t want to be taken.”
“I came for the job. I came because of the goblet that René probably stole.”
“Goblet?” She rolled over, and her hair fell in her eyes. She puffed her breath up and the hair tucked itself behind her ear.
“Don’t pretend like you don’t know.”
“I didn’t know they were missing one of the goblets.” Her eyes gleamed. “Which one? Is it Kezia’s or Radu’s? It wouldn’t be Vano’s; he wouldn’t ask for help.”
“Was it you?”
She shook her head. “What kind of question is that to ask someone you just kissed? Quite well, I will add. That was nice.”
“Because it’s you, it’s necessary.”
“The kiss?”
“The question, Tenzin.”
She ran a finger along his bottom lip. “You’re so stern right now. Is this because René is here? It’s not René this time.”
“You’re pissing me off.”
She floated down from the hanging bed and planted her feet in front of him. “You don’t really think I stole this.”
“If you did, just give it to me and I’ll get it back to Radu. You can take off and we’ll never speak of it again.”
“I can’t take off. I’ve agreed to be here for three weeks. You can’t leave the Dawn Caravan before your stay is over, not if you ever want to come back. Those are the rules, Benjamin. Didn’t they tell you?”
“You’re here for three weeks?”
She smiled. “You know what’s happening in three weeks, don’t you? The Vashana Zata is a big deal. A giant festival where
