Holding her hand above their heads, he deepened his kiss.

Astrid swallowed as she felt Zarek shift his weight, bringing his entire lush, rippling male body flush with hers.

He pressed the tip of his shaft against her core. She arched her back, waiting for him to fill her. He deepened his kiss and, with one thrust, slid himself deep inside.

Astrid cringed and whimpered at the sudden pain that overrode her pleasure.

Zarek pulled out immediately. "Oh, God, Astrid, did I hurt you? I'm sorry. I didn't know it was going to hurt."

His contrition was so immediate and heartfelt that it stunned her more than the pain had.

Apologies and Zarek were two things that went together like porcupines and balloons.

Obviously, he didn't know what she did.

"It's okay," she said, kissing him until he relaxed. "It's supposed to hurt the first time."

"It didn't hurt the first time I did it. Believe me."

She laughed at that. "It's a woman thing, Prince Charming. It's okay, really."

She reached down his body and found him still hard and throbbing. He groaned deep in his throat as she stroked him.

Biting her lip, she guided him back toward her.

He tensed, refusing to let her carry him home. "I don't want to hurt you."

Joy filled her. "You won't, Zarek. I want you inside me."

He hesitated a few minutes more before he slowly slid himself into her again.

They both moaned.

Astrid arched her back at the incredible feel of him deep and hard inside her. He was so full. So commanding.

She ran her hands up and over his muscular back and shoulders.

The only thing more perfect would be to be able to look into his eyes as he loved her. That was the only part she missed from having him in her dreams. Even though the sensation of him was so much richer now, she wished she could watch him again.

Moaning her name, he buried his lips against her throat, scraping her skin with his fangs as he rode her slowly, forcefully.

Zarek's heart raced as he savored the warm, wet feel of her. He allowed the softness of her body to soothe him.

There was heaven in her touch. Heaven in the sound of his name on her lips. Not once had he dreamed that taking a woman like this could feel the way she did.

She cupped his face in her hands.

"What are you doing?" he whispered.

"I want to see you."

He placed his hand over hers and then turned his face so that he could kiss her open palm.

Astrid melted at the tenderness of his actions as he moved slow and hard against her. His whiskers pricked at her hands, but his lips were soft, gentle.

He was like a tamed panther. One that was still wild at heart but that might come up and nuzzle your hand so long as you took care of him and didn't move too fast.

He leaned forward over her and buried his lips against her neck. She shivered as she ran her hands over his strong back, down to his hips.

How she loved the feel of him there. The feel of his hips thrusting against hers.

She brought her hands around to the front of him and slid them between their bodies. His hairs gently scraped her skin as she encircled his wet shaft with her hands so that she could feel him sliding in and out of her.

Zarek held his breath as she touched him while he rode her. Oh, the sweetness of her hands on him...

He kissed her as she explored where they were joined, and when she gently squeezed his sac he growled as he came dangerously close to orgasm.

"Easy, princess," he breathed, pulling her hands away from him. "I don't want to come yet. I want to feel you for a little while longer."

Astrid smiled at his hoarse words. He held her arms above her head and dipped his head down to gently nip her breast.

How she loved this man.

Faults and irritability and all.

"I'm all yours, baby," she whispered. "Take your time."

And he did. He kissed every inch of her he could reach while still inside her.

The effect of every tender caress was heightened because she knew the rarity of the gesture. This wasn't a man who cuddled up to just anyone. He didn't go willingly to any woman who smiled at him.

He was her fox who only left his den when he heardher footsteps. She alone had tamed him.

He would never belong to anyone the way he did to her.

Astrid came again calling out his name.

Zarek quickened his strokes and joined her in bliss, his head spinning.

He lay on top of her panting and weak, listening to her heart pound against his chest.

There was no place he'd rather be than with her, letting the smell of her sweet, sweaty skin lull and soothe him.

He'd never been so warm. So sated.

So happy.

All he wanted was to lie here naked with her and forget all about the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, it was the one thing he couldn't do.

Kissing her gently, he pulled back. "We should get dressed. I don't know if Thanatos will come here, but my money says he will."

She nodded.

Zarek hesitated as he saw the blood on her thighs from where he had breached her hymen.

Clenching his teeth, he turned away, ashamed of the fact that he had taken her on the floor like an animal after all. She didn't deserve this.

She didn't deserve him.

What had he done?

He had ruined her.

She sat up and touched his shoulder. The sensation of it tore through him. It was familiar.

It was sublime.

Why then did it make his stomach ache?

"Zarek? Is something wrong?"

"No," he lied, unable to tell her what he thought. She should never have lain with something like him. He was so far beneath her that he didn't deserve her kindness.

He deserved nothing. And yet she reached out and touched him. It didn't make sense to him.

She leaned her cheek against his back and encircled his waist with her arm. He could barely breathe as she ran her hand over his chest in a comforting gesture.

"I have no regrets, Zarek. I hope you feel the same way."

He leaned back against her and tried not to let his aching heart overshadow what they had shared.

"How could I regret the best night of my life?" He laughed bitterly as he remembered everything that had happened since Jess had shaken him awake.

"Well, except for the Terminator who's after us and the goddess who wants me dead and-"

"I get the picture," she said with a laugh. She nuzzled his neck, sending chills over him. "It does seem hopeless, doesn't it?"

He thought about that. " 'Hopeless' implies that at one time there was hope. And that's another word I don't understand. Hope only exists for people who have choices."

"And you don't?"

He toyed with a strand of her blond hair. "I'm a slave, Astrid. I've never known hope. I just do what I'm told."

"Yet you never have."

That wasn't exactly true. As a human, he had never dared open his mouth to protest anything. He had taken beating after beating, degradation after degradation, and done nothing.

It was only as a Dark-Hunter that he had learned to fight.

"Do you think Sasha's okay?"

Her sudden change of topic surprised him. "I do. Jess is a whiz with animals.

Even Katagaria."

She chuckled at that. "Why, Zarek, I do believe you are learning to comfort someone after all. I half-expected you to say you were hoping he'd be lying dead in a ditch somewhere."

He looked down at her small hand on his skin, resting just above his heart. It was true. She was taming him.

Changing him.

And it scared him more than the monster that was out to kill them. Thanatos he could deal with, but these emotions...

He was helpless before her.

"Yeah, well, with any luck he'll be beyond all help."

She laughed at that, then kissed him lightly on the back. She pulled away to dress.

Zarek watched her, his heart pounding. What was it about her that made him want to be something more than what he was?

For her, he actually wanted to be decent. Kind.

Humane.

Things he'd never been.

Forcing himself up, he tossed his old clothes into the trash can and pulled new ones out of his wardrobe. At least he no longer had the hole in the back of his coat.

He took a couple of minutes to button her into one of his old parkas.

"What's this?" she asked as he draped it over her shoulders.

"It'll keep you warmer than your coat."

She put her arms through the much-too-long sleeves while he gathered up gloves, hats, and scarves for them.

"Where are we going? Won't it be dawn soon?"

"Yes and you'll see. Sort of."

Once he had her dressed properly and had pulled on his insulated boots, he moved the wood-burning stove aside so that he could reach the trapdoor underneath it.

He helped Astrid down the hole, then climbed down after her and closed the trapdoor. Using his telekinesis, he moved the stove back into place.

"Where are we?"