Chapter Twenty

It was her own fault for tracking him. The lure of his amnis had been too much to bear at nightfall. She knew he was close, and she allowed herself to take flight, her blood drawing her to him like the proverbial moth to a flame.

And just like a flame, his anger was burning.

She could feel it as he pursued her. In proximity, she could feel the desperation, longing, and pure rage in his blood.

He chased her, and the dark, competitive part of Tenzin reveled in it.

She darted through the treetops, leading her mate on a wild chase in the dark shadows laden with the heavy scent of rain and animal musk.

A crashing sound followed her, and she knew he was breaking tree branches in his pursuit. He was bigger than her, his shoulders wider, and his amnis a broadsword instead of a rapier.

She turned in midair, twisting around a moss-laden outcropping of rock to swiftly change direction, leading Ben away from the water and into the dense forest that blanketed the Alaskan coast. She flew over rushing creeks, dipping low over the water to hide her scent, knowing that it was ultimately useless. At this proximity, her mate's pursuit would only be stopped by daylight or violence.

You want him.

She did want him.

Fly!

Instinct was her enemy, driving her away from him and deeper into the forest.

In the distance, she heard a faint roar that could have been an animal or Ben's frustration.

She twisted up a threaded river that led to the sea, flying low over the gravel riverbed as the scent of salt gave way to moss and granite and churning, mineral-laden air.

There was a bear waking in the forest nearby, and the heavy musk of its scent hit her nose as she passed.

Tenzin was just passing a tumble of granite rocks when she felt it.

A creeping sense of ribbons around her ankle, airy threads of Ben's amnis that slid up her leg, twisting and wrapping around her left leg, then her right.

One day you will be infinite.

Her fangs fell at the challenge.

His amnis was powerful—it would be more powerful than hers with time. He'd been born of an ancient whose amnis had not thinned in thousands of years. He was swimming in Zhang's ancient power, mated to her blood, and had been raised by a vampire assassin.

Heat churned through her veins as she felt him grow closer. He was using their connection to draw her in, gaining ground as she flew up the riverbed.

She didn't want to lose him; she wanted to fight.

Tenzin flipped in midair, spiraling upward and into the night, breaking through low-lying clouds, and she felt his grip on her ankles falter.

He followed her, bursting through the clouds with rage-fueled speed.

"Tenzin!" He roared her name.

She spun around, baring her fangs with a satisfied smile as she spread her arms and let the wind take her higher.

The air lifted her outstretched arms and whipped her hair around her face as she thrust her hands forward, bashing her mate with a wall of elemental energy.

Ben wasn't expecting the sudden turn. He flipped end over end, tumbling back toward the earth.

Tenzin's chest was pounding. It was the most her blood had moved in centuries, and the thrill of it lit her from within even as Ben righted himself and arrowed toward her. He reached out an arm, grabbed for the wind around her, and yanked.

She felt his amnis wrap around her and shove her downward as Ben flew upward.

He was on her in seconds, wrapping a fist around her hair and pulling her mouth to his.

His fangs cut her lips when they came crashing down, and she drank in their mingled blood, sucking hard on his tongue as Ben's hand continued to grip her hair as the other ripped away the cloth that had covered her face to shield it from the tearing wind.

They were a tangle of arms, legs, fangs, and amnis as they plummeted to the earth.

Tenzin let herself fall.

At the last minute, Ben's power wrapped around them both and lifted them back into the clouds, past the rain, and into the light of the nearly full moon.

"Damn you," he hissed as he sank his fangs into her neck.

She threw her head back and held his head to her neck, her own fangs aching to pierce his skin. She ripped at the heavy clothes covering his body and keeping his skin from her own. She could feel him, already hard and ready against her thigh, his arousal piqued by his pursuit.

"Why did you run?" He growled. "Why do you always run?"

"Because you chase," she whispered into his ear as he bit her again, bruising her skin and leaving marks she didn't want him to heal. "And in the whole of my life, you're the only one I ever wanted to catch me."

He froze in her arms, but the wind around them spun like a tornado.

"Damn you." He pressed his cheek to hers. "Why do you do this to me?"

Because you love it. She didn't say it. She didn't need to. She turned in his arms, yanked his neck to the side, and sank her teeth into his flesh.

Tenzin felt him grow harder against her thigh. His erection was straining against his clothes, and her body was ready for him. He scented her arousal and ripped at her leggings, tearing them down her body and letting the wind take them away.

Ben rolled over, lying on his back in a cushion of air as he freed his erection and pulled her onto his body. She braced herself on his shoulders and sank to the hilt, her eyes rolling back at the pleasure of their joining.

His heavy canvas pants rasped against the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, but the wind obeyed him, pressing around them like a cocoon that felt as solid as the earth.

His blood coursed in her body, his erection invaded her. Tenzin was full of him, and in the safety of his arms and their element, she allowed her mind to go blank. Her body was full of the pleasure of their joining and their amnis finally together after weeks of aching need.

Ben pulled her down to his chest and took her mouth in a bruising kiss, his hand still gripping her hair. She felt a sharp tug of pain at her nape, but it only fueled her desire.

She reached down, dug her fingers into his buttocks, and pulled him into her body, driving her nails into his flesh.

He hissed and arched his hips upward.

Their bodies joined and held by the wind, she rode him over the clouds, her gasps snatched away by the frigid winter air that curled around them.

His amnis kept her warm, and moments later she felt the roaring climax barreling toward her, shaking her body and shattering her from the inside out.

He felt her break apart and followed, one hand still gripping her hair and the other gentle at her hip, coaxing her through a release with skillful, teasing fingers that knew her body better than hers.

When he came, the air around them exploded outward, and they dropped for five long seconds before she bundled the wind with tender whispers and it held them aloft again.

They came to rest on a rocky outcropping that overlooked the threaded river, and when Ben's eyes opened again, they were still furious. Sated but furious.

"You left." He sat up, holding her to his body and keeping her captive with his embrace.

Her storm-grey eyes were nothing but curious. "Are you still erect?"

"You left." Ben was enraged, turned on again, and relaxed, all at the same time.

Being a mated vampire could be really confusing.

His amnis didn't know he was angry, it only knew that his mate was in his arms and they'd exchanged blood. She was on him, her body wrapped around his erection like a glove, and that glove fit so well his body never wanted to leave. In fact, it was ready to go again, weeks of frustration forgotten in the heat and pleasure of sex.

"You found me," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I knew you would. You could have found me weeks ago."

"That's not the point, Tenzin."

She leaned forward, her hands braced on his shoulders, and her kiss was a soft, drugging seduction. "What is the point?"

"You…" He kissed her back; it was impossible to resist. His blood was pumping, and his body was primed. "Fuck me now." He wrapped an arm around her waist, flipped them over, and started moving in her again. "Talk later."

He lay on the ground, the sharp rocks digging into his back, and he didn't care. He didn't care about any of it. They were sheltered in a depression, warded from the wind and rain by the stones and his amnis.

Tenzin was curled into his side like a cat, and he'd come twice more before his body had been ready to take a break and he could think clearly again.

His voice was a low growl when he could finally speak. "It's not that you left, it's that you left without telling me."

"I've done that many times."

That was true. Except…

"Not since we've mated," Ben said, trying to appeal to her logic. "Our amnis is joined now, and doubly so because we're of the same element. When you're not there, Tenzin…"

It hurts.

He didn't want to say it, but it was the truth. Behind the anger and the rage and the frustration, he was hurt. It hurt to be away from her.

She propped her head up on his chest and looked at him. "We're not as effective apart as we are together."

"Exactly." Let her think it was a battle strategy if it kept her close. "And honestly, we're coming at the same problem from two different places, and we might be more effective if we joined our efforts and?—"

"Or we might be less effective if Zasha only has one target instead of two."

He put his hand on her head and forced her eyes to his. "What did you do to Zasha? Why do they hate you so much? I want to hear it from you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Sometimes I don't like how smart you are."

"Too bad."

She stared at the rock over his shoulder. "I don't want to tell you what I did because I think you'll judge me."

"So?"

She blinked and looked at him. "So you will judge me?"

"Of course I will. And you should trust my judgment more than anyone else's because I love you more than life or eternity, and I will judge you and still love you at the same time."

Tenzin stared at him for a long time, not saying a word.

"Blood of my blood." He kept his voice soft. "You are my mate and my destiny. Tell me what you did to make Zasha so angry."

"I let her live after I killed her mate." Tenzin frowned. "They were living as a woman then, so the picture in my mind is feminine."

"Vampires go back and forth," Ben said. "That's not the important part."

"Zasha's mate said she had no one but him," Tenzin said. "And I killed him."

"Because he was part of Zhang's bloodline. The blood of Temur."

Tenzin's eyes flew to his. "I told you I didn't want you?—"

"You have a reputation in our world, Tiny. I didn't have to guess much." Ben had learned a lot, but he needed to let Tenzin know that her secrets were not as secret as she thought. "The Scourge of the Naiman Khanlig. Did you think I wouldn't hear the stories just because you didn't tell them?" He played with a strand of her hair. "You didn't recognize them in Louisiana?"

Tenzin sat back. "I didn't remember Zasha for a long time. I didn't connect the woman I left in a cabin in Siberia hundreds of years ago with the sociopath who was tormenting Brigid and wreaking havoc for no reason."

"But Zasha remembered you."

"Yes." She looked over the rainy landscape that spread before them. "Their mate was the last of Temur's line."

Ben whispered, "The blood of Temur remembers who you were."

"He'd been living quietly, but I found them in a house in Siberia. He had been taking humans from the village to feed her, so stories started to circulate. I tracked them down eventually and killed him. When I did that, I promised him I would let Zasha live."

"So this vampire was hunting humans to feed his mate instead of teaching Zasha to feed quietly," Ben said. "You killed him and let Zasha live. Where is the guilt coming from? Neither of these two were innocent, Tenzin."

"I don't feel guilt."

"Don't you?"

"It's not guilt." She frowned. "I… recognized her. I could tell the woman I saw had not had an easy life. I didn't want to kill her for surviving the only way she knew how."

"Okay, but that's bullshit," Ben said. "You said this guy—Temur's descendant—had been living quietly for centuries. So if Zasha hadn't come along, you probably never would have found him."

Tenzin blinked. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that whether you realize it or not, you have been feeling guilt about killing Zasha's mate. But he wasn't an innocent, Tenzin. They were killing humans long before you found them. They were probably taking the most vulnerable people they could find and then feeding on them and throwing them away."

She looked at him but didn't speak.

Ben started to feel her stare like she was drilling into his brain. "What?"

"Should I have let Zasha live after I killed their mate?"

Ben drew his head back. "I'm not your conscience, Tenzin."

"You should be. You're better at it than I am."

Ben took a deep breath. "You want to evolve, right? New Year's resolutions? You can grow a conscience again. You already have a moral code."

It was shaky and prone to flexibility, but she did have a code.

"Yes." Tenzin nodded. "But I also think my conscience was broken long ago while yours was not. You are a better judge of these things."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I think?—"

"It's an excellent idea." She leaned forward and repeated her question. "Should I have let Zasha live after I killed their mate?"

Ben cocked his head to the side. "Were they stealing people, feeding on them, and killing them?"

"Yes."

As a human, Ben had never believed in capital punishment. He thought it was useless and outdated. But vampires couldn't be kept in prisons for the rest of their life.

Vampires needed to fear doing evil. They were predators who fed on the innocent because they were easy. Vampire killers had to be stopped, and usually the only way to do that was by executing them.

"Yes." His voice was firm. "You should have killed both of them, Tenzin. If you feel guilty about anything, it should be letting Zasha roam free for centuries."

She nodded. "See? You're much better at this than I am."

"Are you going to kill Zasha now?"

"It would be better if Brigid killed them," Tenzin muttered. "But if the chance comes, I won't pass it up."