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“Mate, you are frustrating for one so tiny.” The words were spoken out loud, but were mangled and guttural. The result of speaking without human vocal cords.
My blood chilled. Springing from the ground, I landed between the arguing pair. I could see my reflection in the eyes of the beast. It was not Rez who looked back at me.
Slowly stepping backward, I pushed Arizona away from the much larger dinosaur. I was a trained fighter, but there was no way I would win against a T-Rex.
“Zonkut, stop irritating me. I would never hurt her.”
Still seeing his beast in his eyes, I hissed. There wasn’t a thing on earth I was willing to fight an adult male T-Rex over. Except for Arizona.
The same Arizona who ducked around my body and moved to run her hand along his nose. “Are you really the beast inside Rezkac?” Her voice was soft, all signs of her earlier anger gone.
“Yes. We are having a difference of opinion at the moment.” He gave a harsh laugh with no humor.
Arizona’s hand paused. “But he’s okay?”
“Of course. We cannot survive without both halves. The man wishes to coddle you. I want to keep you, and us, alive. Tonight cannot happen again. You stirred their emotions, and your magic intoxicated Zonkut and Rezkac, heightening those emotions. Both men are fighting against their natural instincts to give you the space that human standards require, but it is at a cost to them. Being apart from their mate is physically painful, and by not completing the claiming, they have been left in a state of constant upheaval.”
Lowering his voice, Rezkac’s beast continued, “If you were a beast, you would already have claimed these men, and they would have spent weeks devouring your body from dusk to dawn, and all the hours in between. It strengthens the mate claim and eases the high emotions that are experienced before claiming. You must understand what Rezkac and Zonkut are by nature. We’re volatile, dangerous monsters who were not meant to live in your time on earth. There is no place for beasts of our size to hunt and run. Controlling our nature is a challenge without adding an unstable Vazi to the equation.”
I growled, warning the tyrannosaurus to back down, but he only laughed. “You and Rezkac are too soft to tell her what is going on. I am not. She’s our mate and is strong enough to handle it.”
Flicking his eyes back to Arizona, who sat on the grass, tears trailing down her cheeks, he continued, “You are a flame to dry grass. This is the reason no Vazi has ever been mated with a beast. Controlling our nature is hard enough without your magic running amuck and heightening our senses.
“Benders feel the call of the magic around us, tempting us to use it. The magic of the earth tastes and feels the same, but the magic from the heart of a Vazi is far different. Each Vazi has their own taste, unique like an individual fingerprint among humans.”
The beast leaned closer to Arizona, saliva glistening on his razor-sharp teeth. “Your magic is innocent. Sweet and eager to please. It will be hard for any to resist its allure… beast or man.”
He licked his teeth. “In the restaurant, magic oozed from you. Zonkut and Rezkac automatically absorbed as much as they could to ease your distress, but the more they take in, the more on edge they will become. Magic is like energy. It needs to be released. Benders’ bodies are not meant to store magic. Even a Vazi can only hold so much at once before they are forced to release it and hope they do not destroy lives in the process.”
Arizona’s thoughts had shifted from sorrow over the strain Rez and I were under to irritation that the beast seemed to find her lacking as a mate because she was Vazi. She shoved to her feet. “What am I supposed to do? You’re telling me to make sure I’m not leaking magic all over the place, but then you tell me I’m not supposed to keep it bottled up inside me. Which is it, Oh Great One?” Arizona crossed her arms over her chest, scowling at the tyrannosaurus.
Probably not the best idea to rile him up,I whispered urgently. Arizona ignored me. Of course she did.
“You need to find a way to control how much magic you create. You are Vazi, which means you are capable of holding some magic, but not as much as you are putting out now. Find a way to burn off the magic before it gets to dangerous levels and before your men absorb too much. That was what Rezkac was trying to explain—albeit poorly.”
He leaned toward Arizona again, and I fought the urge to wedge myself between them. “The more heightened your emotions become, the more magic you will create. Your body’s response to stress is to produce more magic in case you need to defend yourself. Unfortunately, your puny body cannot discern whether a life-threatening situation or a minor inconvenience caused your stress. It is up to you to control your emotions in the same way Rezkac and Zonkut control their beast.”
Arizona was quiet, deep in thought, as she nibbled on her kissable bottom lip. “Thank you for telling me.”
“No thanks are needed, tiny mate,” the beast rumbled.
“Do you have any suggestions about how I can get rid of the extra magic? I don’t want to hurt anyone, or make things harder on Rez and Zon,” Arizona asked.
The tyrannosaurus’ mouth widened into a terrifying grin. “I think you’ve already discovered one way to burn off the excess. It would be wise to take advantage of that often until you learn better control. You will also need to deal with the human male.”
“Jack? What does he have to do with this?”
“Nothing until you lost control of your magic last night. You started the claiming process. It was stopped, but not before he tasted your magic, and your magic caressed his soul. You could have walked away from him before last night, and you both would have suffered but eventually recovered. That is not an option now. He will suffer if you deny the claim. There is no happy ending for him outside of you.”
“The longer you two delay this, the more stress you both will experience. Your magic will ease some of that for you, but he doesn’t have that option. Perhaps remember this in the future before you start claiming a man in the heat of the moment, yes? Especially if he is human and might not be able to keep up with your stamina like we can..” Rezkac’s beast shivered as though the word human grossed him out.
“Rezkac is fighting for control. It seems I’ve angered him with my opinions on humans.”
He’s not the only one, I muttered.
“There is one last thing, Arizona.”
Her brow wrinkled. “Yes?”
