He ran his tongue over the vein that throbbed on her neck. "Do you want me to?"

"No. I'm afraid of it. I don't want to be like other women to you."

"Princess, you could never be that. You are unique to me."

"Am I your rose?"

He gave a short laugh as he thought of the little prince's lesson. "Yes, you are my rose. There is only one of you in all the millions of planets and stars."

She answered him with a hug.

That hug pierced him in a way nothing had before. Something inside him seemed to snap and burst, overwhelming him with tenderness and warmth.

He buried himself deep inside her as he came for her.

Astrid bit her lip as she felt his climax. He shuddered in her arms. She smiled as she held him close and kissed his shoulder.

He was so still. So quiet.

Who would have thought that he would be capable of such a thing? He was always so fierce and forceful.

His mere presence made the air around him snap and sizzle.

But not now. Now there was only silence.

Zarek lay on top of her, weak and spent, his body still joined to hers. He didn't want to move.

He couldn't.

Her touch was sublime. But more than that, he felt connected to her. And he had never felt that before.

Was this really a dream? Please gods, no. Please let this be real. He needed it to be real, desperately.

Astrid closed her eyes as Zarek nuzzled her neck again. For some reason she felt as if she had just tamed some wild, uncontrollable beast.

She ran her legs up and down his, cradling him with her body as she brushed her hand through his ebony hair. He pulled back slightly to stare at her in wonderment.

She was so glad she had done this tonight.

He dipped his head down to kiss her again.

She inhaled his scent, drank from the tenderness of his lips. "Oh, Zarek," she breathed.

Zarek clenched his eyes closed at the sound of his name on her lips. It was such fierce, bittersweet pain and it tore through him.

He nibbled at the delicate skin on her neck, letting his fangs graze her flesh. In real life, he would have bitten her by now.

He would never have taken her body with his.

He would have shared her emotions as he drank from her and he wondered what she would taste like in his dream...

Opening his lips, he felt the pulsing of her blood in her veins against his tongue.

She would be sweet, that much he knew.

"Zarek?"

Her throat vibrated with her words. "Yes?"

"I like you best when you're tender like this."

He pulled away from her and frowned as something tickled his gut.

"Is something wrong?"

Everything. This wasn't his dream. This was a surreal moment. His dreams were never pleasant. Not once had he ever had a lover in them.

No one had ever spoken to him the way she did.

No one had ever opened the door and let him inside the cabin once Acheron had banished him.

He got out of bed and pulled his pants on. He had to get away. Something was wrong. He knew it deep down inside. This was not where he should be.

He had no business with her.

Not even in his dreams. Astrid watched panic flicker across Zarek's face as he dressed. She wrapped the blanket around her and went to him. "You don't have to run from me."

"I'm not running from you," he snarled. "I run from no one."

Astrid agreed. No, he didn't. He was stronger than any man had a right to be. He took hits and blows no one should have to bear.

"Stay with me, Zarek."

"Why? I'm nothing to you."

She touched his arm. "You don't have to push everyone away."

Snarling, he shrugged her touch away. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do, Zarek," she said, wishing there was some way to make him see that she wanted to show him. "I do. I understand wanting to hurt other people before they hurt you."

"Sure you do, princess. When have you ever hurt anyone? When has anyone ever hurt you?"

"Show me the goodness inside you, Zarek. I know it's there. I know that somewhere underneath all the pain and hurt there is someone inside who knows how to love. Someone who knows how to nurture and protect."

He raked her with a cold sneer as he buttoned his pants. "You don't know jack shit." He cast a feral snarl at her and headed for the door.

Astrid started to follow him, then thought better of it.

She didn't know what to do. How to reach him.

She'd meant her words to comfort, not anger him. But Zarek never reacted to her the way she expected.

Frustrated, she dressed and went after him.

Apparently, niceness wouldn't work with Zarek.

So she opted for a different route.

She brushed past him in the hallway, and opened the front door for him.

Zarek paused; it was daylight outside the door and he hadn't burst into flames.

Maybe this was a dream.

It had to be and yet...

"What are you doing?" he asked her. "Opening the door so it doesn't hit you in the butt as you go through it."

"Why?"

"You said you want to leave. So go. Get out. I don't want to keep you here when it's obvious that I repulse you."

Her logic baffled him. "What are you talking about?"

"What do you mean, what am I talking about? Isn't it obvious? I sleep with you and you can't leave me fast enough. Sorry I wasn't good enough for you. I at least tried."

Not good enough for him? Was she joking?

He stared at her in disbelief. Torn between wanting to curse her for the stupidity and wanting to comfort her.

His anger won out. "You're worthless? Then what am I? Do you realize before I died, I was below even a pity fuck? No one would touch me with any part of their bodies. I was lucky if they even used a stick to knock me out of the way. So don't stand there and act all hurt and talk to me about being worthless. No one has ever had to pay someone else just to get you out of their sight."

Zarek froze as he realized what he had just said to her. Those were things he'd kept hidden deep inside himself for centuries. Things he had never spoken of with anyone.

Painful truths that had languished in his heart, eating at him century after century.

No one had ever wanted him near them.

Not until Astrid.

It was why he couldn't stay. She made him warm, and it terrified him because he knew it couldn't be real.

This was another cruel torment fate had inflicted on him.

When he woke up, he would be with her and she would have no use for him. He didn't belong with the real Astrid.

He never would.

"Then they were blind if they couldn't see what you are, Zarek. They are the losers, not you."

Gods, how he wanted to believe her.

How heneeded to believe her. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I told you, Zarek. I like you."

"Why? No one else ever has."

"That's not true. You've had friends all along, but you've never allowed them to help you."

"Acheron," he said, whispering the word. "Jess." He curled his lip at the thought of Sundown.

"You have to learn to reach out to people."

"Why? So they can shoot me in the back?"

"No, so they can love you."

"Love?" He laughed at the thought. "Who the hell needs that? I've lived my entire life without it. I don't need it and I damn sure don't want it from anyone."

She stood strong before him. Unyielding. "You can lie to yourself all you want to, but I know the truth." She held her hand out to him. "You have to learn to trust someone, Zarek. You've been brave your whole life. Now show me that courage.

Take my hand. Trust me and I swear I won't betray you."

He stood there indecisively, his heart pounding. He'd never been more terrified.

Not even the day they'd killed him.

"Trust me, please. I will never hurt you."

He stared at her hand. It was long, graceful. Delicate. A tiny hand.

A lover's hand.

He wanted to run.

Instead, he found himself lifting his hand and lacing his fingers with hers.

Chapter 9