Astrid was completely unprepared for the passion of his kiss. The ferocity of it.

It was both rough and tender. Demanding. Hot. Sweet. He growled fiercely as his tongue brushed against hers, tasting her before he explored every inch of her mouth.

For a man who had never kissed before, he was incredible. She shivered as he tasted her palate, as his tongue swept through her with spears of pleasure.

She buried her hands in his soft hair and moaned as he licked and nibbled until she was nearly unconscious from the ecstasy of it. She'd never known anything like this.

Anything like Zarek.

It had been a long time since she'd kissed a man, and never had any man tasted better than him. She was scared now. Not just of him, but of herself.

No man had ever touched her. She'd never breached her oath to not touch her charge.

Zarek's touch could cost her everything and yet she couldn't find it within herself to push him away.

For once in her life, she wanted something for herself. She wanted to touch the unreachable. To give Zarek something special. A rare moment of peace with someone who wanted to be with him.

No one else would appreciate this as much as he would.

Only he would understand...

Zarek pulled back from her to unbutton her shirt. But what he wanted to do was rip it from her. He wanted to lose himself inside her, crush her to him as he possessed her with all the furious passion he felt.

But even in his dream, he wouldn't treat her that way.

For some strange reason he wanted to be tender with her. He wanted to have sex with her like a man, not a wild animal.

He didn't want to pound himself furiously against her, seeking a passing moment of pleasure. He wanted this night to last. Wanted to spend the whole of it holding her.

For once in his life, he wanted someone to treat him as if he mattered. As if she cared for him.

Not once had he allowed his fantasies or dreams to take him here.

Tonight he did.

She cupped his face in her hands and tilted his head until he could see into her pale eyes that looked at him as if he were human. Eyes that saw something good in him.

"You're so handsome, Zarek."

Her calm, sweet words tore through him. There was nothing about him attractive. There never had been.

He was nothing.

But as he stared into her precious face, there for an instant he felt as if he were something more.

Surely a woman like this wouldn't touch him if he were truly nothing.

Not even in his dreams...

He pulled her shirt open so that he could stare down at her body. Her breasts were of medium size, the rosy nipples hard and swollen, just begging him for a taste. Her belly was rounded ever so slightly, her skin pale and inviting. But what made his breath catch was the sight of her legs slightly parted. The sight of the damp dark blond curls between her legs that held the promise of true paradise. Or at least as close to it as a man like him could ever hope to get.

Astrid held her breath as she watched Zarek's feral gaze search her body. It was so searing that she felt it like a real touch.

He moved from the bed to remove his pants.

She swallowed as she saw him swollen and hard for her. His tawny skin was dusted with black hairs and was the most incredibly masculine sight she'd ever beheld. He was beautiful. Her dark warrior. Unlike him, she knew this night was real. Knew that she shouldn't be doing this when they would both remember it on their waking.

Her job was to remain impartial. But she wasn't impartial to this man, or to his pain.

She wanted to soothe him any way she could.

No one deserved the life he'd had to endure. The degradations and hostility.

He laid his body across hers and gathered her into his arms. His weight was delectable. She closed her eyes and just let the power and strength of him wash over her as she felt his hard, masculine body with every inch of her own.

Zarek struggled to breathe. The feel of her warm body against his was the most incredible sensation he'd ever known.

Her hands roamed his bare back as he stared down into eyes that warmed him.

There was no scorn. No anger.

They were beautiful eyes.

He kissed her gently, taking her upper lip and sucking it tenderly as he tasted the honey of her mouth.

In his human lifetime, women had cringed anytime he drew near them. They had shrieked and thrown things at him.

He'd lain awake many nights trying to imagine what it would be like to touch one. Trying to imagine the feel of their arms wrapped around him.

The reality of it was so much greater than anything his mind had ever conjured.

Before this dream ended, he intended to claim her over and over again until they were both begging for mercy. Astrid moaned as Zarek broke from his kiss and trailed his lips and tongue down her throat to her breast. She felt his hard erection and soft sac against her thigh, searing and intimate, and it made her quiver.

He cupped her breast gently in his hand as he rolled his tongue around her swollen nipple, gently sucking and nipping her.

She cradled his head in her hands and watched him as he groaned with bliss. He looked as if her body were ambrosia to him. He took his time tasting her. Every inch of her skin was licked and teased. Tasted and sated. It was as if he couldn't get enough of her.

No man had ever been allowed to do this to her and she was terrified of what was to come. Even though she knew what sex was, the sensation of it was alien to her.

But then, so were the feelings Zarek stirred.

All the nymphs of justice were supposed to be virginal and chaste.

No man was ever to lay a hand on them.

Astrid no longer cared. Surely her mother would understand her passion. After all, Themis had had numerous children. Astrid's father had been a mortal man her mother refused to speak of, and no one had ever known the name or station of the Fates' father.

Surely her mother would forgive her this one transgression.

Was one night too much to ask?

And yet as she thought that, she wondered if one night with him would ever be enough.

Zarek's head swam from the sweet scent and feel of Astrid in his arms. He growled as he licked and nibbled every inch of delectable flesh and listened to her murmurs of pleasure. She was the sustenance he needed to live.

He had to have more of her.

Astrid yelped in ecstasy as Zarek spread her thighs and took her into his mouth.

She couldn't speak or breathe as supreme pleasure racked the whole of her body.

Every lick, every gentle suck, sent a wave of fierce ecstasy through her.

Such a thing was unimaginable to her.

She should be mortified at what they were doing.

She wasn't. In fact, she wanted more of this. More of him.

Her heart racing, she looked down to see him there between her thighs. He held his eyes closed and his face looked as if he took as much pleasure from his tasting as she did from being tasted.

She opened her legs more, giving him access to her as she buried her hand in his silken hair. Zarek laughed darkly against her, sending another pleasurable thrill through her, then he rubbed his stubbly whiskers against her cleft.

She groaned deep in her throat.

He slid his fingers inside her, circling the place where she throbbed in aching need of him.

He took his time with her, and all the while her body burned with tremors of pleasure.

Who knew anyone could feel like this?

The ecstasy built and built until she couldn't stand it anymore. His name was torn from her lips as she came for the very first time.

Still he didn't relent. He only growled at the sound of her pleasure and kept tormenting her until she begged him to stop.

"Please, Zarek. Please have mercy on me."

He pulled back to stare up at her. His eyes burned into her as one corner of his mouth quirked up. "Mercy, princess? I've barely started."

He crawled up her body like some giant, fierce beast, licking and nibbling his way as he went until his body was flush with hers.

He cupped her face in his hand and then kissed her deeply. Passionately.

Astrid moaned as he placed his knee between her thighs. The crisp hairs caressed her skin, making her tremble in expectation.

Zarek's head buzzed with the scent and taste of Astrid. The softness of her silken limbs caressing his. Nothing could ever feel better than her hands gliding down his back to cup his ass and press it closer to her.

Nothing sounded better than his name on her lips as she came for him again.

For the first time in two thousand years, he felt human.

Most of all, he felt wanted.

He pulled back slightly so that he could stare down at her as he spread her thighs wider. This was what he wanted. Her, wild and wet underneath him. To feel her creaminess coating him until he was blind from the ecstasy of it.

He wanted to see her face when he entered her. Wanted to see if she regretted what she was allowing him to do to her.

Bracing himself for the worst, he held her gaze with his and slid himself deep into the velvety heat of her body.

His head reeled from the pleasure of it. From the pleasure of her.

She hissed, arching her back as her grip tightened on his shoulders.

But there was no scorn; no regret.

Her eyes were alight with needful passion and with other tender emotions he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

He smiled in spite of himself, reveling at the miracle of this woman and what she had just given him.

Astrid couldn't breathe as she felt him hard and throbbing inside her. She'd tried to imagine what it would be like to have a man inside her countless times, but nothing had prepared her for this reality. For the sensation of Zarek's hardness.

He rode her slow and easy as if he wanted this moment to last, as if just being inside her was enough for him. She wrapped her legs around his hips and gazed up at him as he looked down at her.

It was so incredible, this feeling of him being inside and on top of her. She loved the pleasure of his weight. The look on his face as he watched her.

"Hi," she said, feeling suddenly awkward to see him there while they were so intimately joined.

His face was a cross between puzzled and amused. "Hi, princess."

She reached up to cup his cheeks in her hands as he stroked her hard and deep, over and over again. Oh, the feel of him there. He was so deep inside that she could almost swear the tip of him was rubbing the inside of her navel.

Zarek closed his eyes as he savored the feel of her under him while her hands touched his face.

No wonder men killed for women. He understood that now. Knew why Talon had been willing to die for Sunshine.

Astrid touched parts of him he'd never known existed. His heart. His soul. She took him to heights unimaginable.

Here in her arms, for the first time, he felt peace. There was a part of him so calm now, so tranquil, and another part of him that was on fire, dying to touch her.

Zarek lowered himself down on top of her so that he could nibble the tender flesh of her neck. Her ear. He felt the chills run down her body.

He scraped her skin with his fangs, tempted to sink them in.

What would she taste like?

What more emotions would she make him feel?

"Are you going to bite me, Zarek?" she asked, making her throat vibrate under his lips.