This time Ben waited for Tenzin to come to the door.
When she opened it, Ben’s body had the exact same reaction it always did, but something in his amnis had settled. The frantic, desperate feeling she’d provoked earlier was gone.
She said nothing. She leaned against the door of the trailer, blocking the entrance.
Ben asked, “Will you come to my caravan tomorrow night so Sadia can say hello to both of us?”
“Of course I will.”
“Okay.” Ben didn’t know what else he wanted to say, he just knew he didn’t want to say goodbye.
Brigid was right.
When you’d been wounded, you held on to the things that gave you light. Even if they weren’t good for you. Even if they hurt.
“I don’t know how to not be angry with you,” he said quietly.
“I know.” She opened her mouth. Closed it.
“New Year’s resolutions?”
“I told Chloe I might need to pause them, but I don’t think I have to,” Tenzin said. “At least not with you.” She stared over his shoulder at the horizon. “I told you I would wait.”
“It’s been two years.”
“And?” Her eyes drifted to his. “I have waited longer for things I want.”
Desire twisted in Ben’s belly, and Tenzin smiled.
He couldn’t hide his irritation. “Do you always know when I’m horny?”
“Yes, I always have.”
“Yeah? Well I knew too.” Ben thought about all the times he’d caught her looking at him with pure female appreciation. She loved looking at his body. “Want me to take my shirt off?”
“Yes.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Anytime you would like.”
Fuck. “Well… I’m not going to, because I’m not an exhibitionist.”
“A very damaged bedroom on Penglai Island says otherwise.”
Ben’s fangs dropped. If he could have blushed, he would have. “That wasn’t exhibition.”
“Well, it was not quiet.”
“Tenzin—”
“In fact, several vampires approached me later that night and asked if either of us had been injured.” She narrowed her eyes. “I now realize they were probably trying to embarrass me.”
“I can see that was supereffective.”
“I do not get embarrassed by sex. Every animal in the world mates, Benjamin. I have never understood cultures that try to hide it.”
He raised a hand. “Can we just agree that wrecking entire rooms and parading around naked isn’t something we need to make a habit of doing?”
“If those are parameters you want to set in our relationship, I am comfortable with them.”
“They’re not parameters. I’m not saying we’re going to… We just don’t need to…”
Tenzin frowned. “I truly do not know what you’re trying to say.”
Neither do I.
Ben took a big breath and let it out slowly. The air smelled like woodsmoke, fresh grass, and human sweat. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you, but I’m really tired of being angry with you. You’re in every part of my life. You’re my uncle’s best friend. We share an assistant. And my baby sister thinks you walk on water.”
“I’m a wind vampire; I don’t walk on—”
“It’s an expression, Tenzin! She thinks you’re amazing and she adores you. So I’m tired of being angry with you, but I don’t know…” He swallowed the anger that rose. “I don’t know how to not be angry with you.”
“You’re like Giovanni. He was never very good at holding a grudge.”
Ben thought about his parents. “I can hold a grudge.”
“No. If you truly are done with someone, you cut them out of your life completely. When you are very angry with someone, you are cold, but if you are really and truly done with someone, it’s as if they don’t exist at all.”
She was right.
“Sometimes I hate that you know me so well.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “Trust me, the feeling is mutual.” She stepped back. “It’s almost dawn. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
23
The next evening, Ben was greeted by the sound of music at sunset, a raucous, intoxicating melody that reminded him of wine-filled nights, dancing, and firelight. He threw on a fresh shirt and left his trailer, searching for the source of the music, only to find a brand-new landscape surrounding him.
The night before, they’d been camped on a hilltop, surrounded by a lush meadow edged by oak trees. Now he was standing in the middle of a forest, the scent of pine was everywhere, and a stream trickled through the middle of the camp.
Caravans were parked among the trees, but in a small clearing, a fire burned, musicians sang, and tables were set up while the scent of roasting meat drifted through the air.
Radu was sitting at the table with the sandy-haired vampire guard who was usually attached to Kezia. The Poshani leader stood and waved Ben over. The other vampire left without a word.
Ben walked toward him, his eyes moving everywhere at once.
“Do you move every day?” He sat in the chair Radu pointed toward, the one the guard had just vacated.
“Not every day, but when we get a new guest or one leaves, we must change location.”
“And no one has ever found the camp?”
Radu pursed his lips. “I cannot say that no one has ever found it. But if they have, they have been wise enough not to take advantage of that information to cause any trouble. We take a different route every year so as not to be predictable.”
“I see.” Ben looked around. “This is beautiful.”
The woods reminded him of some bohemian fairy-tale dream. Tasseled hammocks hung between trees, and colorful lamps dangled from branches above them. Thick rugs were spread on the ground near the fire, along with cushions and baskets of fruit and wine.
“We are in the business of providing a comfortable sanctuary for our guests,” Radu said. “We take the job seriously.”
“The club in Bucharest?” Nothing could have been further from the fairy-tale forest than the pulsing disco in the heart of the Romanian capital.
“The club is what the humans want. And
