When Ben led her to the guesthouse, she followed him. Though Tenzin’s instinct was to take Ben and fly to safety, she fought it. This was his home. This was his territory. He would stake his claim to it—and to her—or he would become a stranger.
When they walked through the door and into the light-safe quarters, she spoke. “Benjamin, I was not trying—”
“No.” He turned and put a single finger over her lips. “She provoked that. You did nothing wrong. And honestly, that was like a year of passive-aggressive bullshit boiling over.”
Tenzin rose to him and took his mouth with hers, capturing his lips as he wrapped his arms around her. Her hands found the dark hair at his nape, and she twisted her fingers in the curls, tangling herself into his body; she wrapped her legs around his waist.
He didn’t carry her but rose in the air with her, floating them through the unfamiliar house and into a room muffled by heavy drapes and deep carpets. She heard the door shut behind them, and sound became muffled and thick. They were in a cave-like room designed to hide sound and light.
Ben came to rest on the wide bed piled with pillows and down blankets. She felt cool cotton touch her back. His hands slid beneath her tunic and lifted up. She fell back into the pillows and looked at him.
He was so beautiful to her. She found herself staring at the pattern of muscle across his torso, the defined dips and curves. She imagined the muscle beneath the skin, the blood coursing through his human body that had filtered down to every cell, building him into a creature of light until the darkness—
“Stay with me.” His fingers on her jaw. “Tenzin, stay with me.”
Her eyes refocused on his face. “Do you see the space within us?”
“I don’t think anyone sees things the way you do.” Ben’s smile was soft as he lowered his body over hers. “No space now.”
The temperature of his skin matched hers, and when his fingers touched her body, stroking along her skin or delving into corners that made her senses shudder, she felt the infinite space of his amnis twisting within hers.
He took her mouth again, and the pleasure of flesh touching flesh made her fangs lengthen, nick his skin, where the blood welled and reached for her tongue.
“Mmmph.” His groan was only pleasure. “Take it.”
She wanted it.
“Take it, Tenzin.” Ben slid his full lower lip along the length of her fang, piercing the skin until the scent of his blood overwhelmed her mind.
She latched onto his lip and pulled hard, feeling his erection rise and press against her thigh. She twisted as he removed her leggings, aching for his penetration. Fangs, cock, blood. She wanted him in her. The need to consume overwhelmed her self-protective instincts.
You are mine.
You are mine.
You are my own.
She pulled away from his mouth and sank her fangs in his neck as Ben penetrated her body. Tenzin bit harder and he cursed, pressing her teeth harder into his flesh as his hips drove into her. Sensual pleasure and bloodlust took over her mind; she was a creature of touch, sound, and taste, twisting under him as he drove them both toward climax.
“You didn’t take my blood.” She lay in the curve of his arm, languid with pleasure and thrumming with the energy from his blood. “Are you hungry?”
“I’ll drink before dawn.” His fingers were busy braiding a strand of her hair. “Are you going to grow your hair out again? I miss your braids.”
“I will, but it will take a long time.”
“I can wait.”
He was avoiding the topic of her blood.
Tenzin supposed she was also avoiding it.
“Beatrice is going to forgive you,” Ben said. “She loves you. She loves me. She knows I’m happy with you.”
Most of the time. He still went into dark periods every now and then. She still had to distract him from staring into eternity too closely. Ben was wrestling with the same question that plagued all new vampires at some point in their life: What did life mean when it lasted forever?
For most vampires, they didn’t hit that point of self-reflection until decades into immortal life, but Ben had always been precocious. He’d also had more than ample time as a human to debate the question.
He never wanted this.
The sly, whispering voice that haunted her often reared its head in the most peaceful of times, like now, when her lover was caressing her shoulder and trailing kisses along her skin.
“I love you. And I will learn to love this life.”
When the voice came, she remembered Ben’s words from months before, when he’d finally embraced her and embraced immortal life.
She turned in his arms and faced him. “I believe Beatrice will forgive me. I told her you were mine and that trying to drive a wedge between us would end our friendship.”
Among other things, but Tenzin decided to leave those out for now.
He brushed his fingers along her cheek. “I’m happy with you. I’m excited about the new project. Life in New York is good. She’ll come around.”
“We may need them for this project. I just don’t want everyone to be uncomfortable or walk on toadstools while the two of us are around.”
Ben was trying not to laugh. “Do you mean walk on eggshells?”
“It’s not toadstools?”
He shook his head. “Eggshells.”
“But what difference would walking on eggshells make? Eggshells would already be broken.”
“But toadstools makes sense?”
“They are mushrooms and would be crushed if you stepped on them. Obviously that makes more sense.” Ugh. English was so annoying.
“I’ll let everyone know.” He lifted a strand of her hair. “And no one is going to walk on eggshells or toadstools. I’m telling you, I know my aunt. She’s going to get over this.”
“I am glad you are so confident.” She glanced around the room. “This is a vampire sex room.”
Ben blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Look at all the soundproofing. This is where they put the guests so they don’t have to hear them having sex.”
Ben closed his eyes. “And let’s be eternally grateful for that.”
“I don’t know why you care. It’s not like the two of them don’t copulate like rabbits every chance they get.”
“Shhhhhh.” He closed his eyes and pushed her face into his chest. “Don’t you feel the dawn coming? Pretty sure I do. Let’s get ready to sleep. Night night. Or… day day? That sounds so wrong.”
Tenzin still hadn’t told him she was sleeping some days. With the amount of blood she’d taken from him that night, she’d definitely sleep for an hour or two at least.
And she’d tell him about it. Eventually.
She knew why she was reluctant even though she’d resolved to be more open with him. Keeping secrets felt safe. Baring them felt like a leap in intimacy that could threaten everything: Ben’s happiness, her new life, the delicate balance they had reached.
He needs to know, Tenzin. Don’t make the mistakes I have. Don’t try to hide the truth from the ones you love even if you think it’s for their own good.
5