Astrid decided to back off a bit and let him get a little more used to her.

Little did he know, he was going to be trapped here a lot longer than a few hours. That storm wasn't going to abate until she wanted it to.

For now, she would give him time to reflect and regroup.

There were still other tests he would have to pass. Tests that she wouldn't relent on.

But there was time for that later. Right now he was still wounded and betrayed.

"Fine," she said, "I'll be in my bedroom if you need me."

She left Sasha in the kitchen to watch him.

"I don't want to watch him," Sasha snapped.

"Sasha, obey."

"What if he does something disgusting?"

"Sasha!"

The wolf growled. "Fine. But can I have one small bite of him? Just to give him a healthy respect for me?"

"No."

"Why?" She paused at that as she entered her room. "Because something tells me that if you attacked him, it is you who would get the healthy respect forhispowers ."

"Yeah, right."

"Sasha! Please."

"Fine, I'm watching him. But if he doesanythingdisgusting, I'm out of here ."

She sighed at her incorrigible companion and lay down on her bed to try and get a little rest before she began her next battle of wills with Zarek.

Astrid took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She connected again with Sasha so that she could check in on Zarek. He was standing at her front window now, looking out at the snow.

She saw the ragged tear in the back of his shirt. Saw the weariness on his face.

He looked daunted and at the same time determined.

There was an agelessness to his features. A wisdom that seemed somehow at odds with his sinister appearance.

"What are you, Zarek?" she wondered silently.

The question was morbidly followed by another. In the next few days, she would know exactly who and what he was. And if Artemis was right and he was truly amoral and lethal, she wouldn't hesitate to let Sasha kill him.

Chapter 4

"Wake up, Astrid. Your psychotic criminal is playing with knives."

Astrid snapped awake immediately to Sasha's voice in her head. "What?" she asked out loud before she'd realized it. She sat up in her bed.

A mental image from Sasha flashed in her mind. She saw Zarek in her kitchen, rummaging through the drawer where all her cutlery was kept.

Zarek pulled out a large butcher knife, then tested the edge with his thumb. She frowned at his actions.

What was he doing?

He set the knife aside and returned to the others in the drawer.

Sasha growled.

"Shut up, Scooby," Zarek snarled. He cast a feral, vicious glare at Sasha that held more venom than a rattlesnake farm. "Did I ever tell you how much I love pooch stew? There's enough meat on you to last me for a week."

Sasha moved forward.

Halt! she snapped mentally at her companion.

C'mon, Astrid. Let me bite him. Just once.

No, Sasha. Stand down.

He did, but he was very grudging about it. He stepped back, his eyes never leaving Zarek, who pulled a small paring knife out. Zarek fingered the blade again, looking at Sasha. She could see the gleam in Zarek's midnight eyes that said he really was considering using the knife on her companion.

Finally, he returned the butcher knife to the drawer, then took the paring knife into the den.

Astrid's frown deepened as Zarek went to her kindling pile by the hearth and pulled out a large piece of wood. He took it over to her couch and sat down.

Ignoring Sasha, who followed him every step of the way and finally ended up sitting near Zarek's feet, Zarek started to whittle the wood.

Astrid was transfixed by his unexpected actions.

He sat there for countless minutes in total silence working on the piece. But what amazed her even more than his patient, silent demeanor was the way the wolf he was carving took form. It went from a piece of a limb to a remarkable likeness of Sasha in very little time.

Even Sasha had cocked his head to watch.

Zarek's hands moved the knife over the wood with an expert grace. He paused only at times when he looked up to compare the piece to Sasha.

The man was an extremely talented artist and his talent seemed completely at odds with what she knew about him.

Intrigued, Astrid found herself getting up and returning to the living room. Her movements broke her mental connection with Sasha. Walking always did. She could only use his sight whenever she was perfectly still.

Zarek looked up as he felt the air behind him stir.

He paused as his gaze fell to Astrid and she took his breath away. Unused to having people in a house with him, he wasn't sure if he should greet her or remain silent.

He opted to just watch her. She was so feminine and beautiful. Kind of likeSharon , only there was a sense of vulnerability about her thatSharon lacked.Sharon possessed a smart mouth that could rival his own and her years as a single parent had left her with a very hard edge to her. But not Astrid. She had that gentle kind of softness that would cause some people to take advantage or victimize her.

The thought sent an unexpected jolt of anger through him.

Astrid moved forward into the room and was headed straight for the ottoman he'd moved out of his way earlier.

His first thought was to leave it and let her fall, but he barely moved it out of her way in time. She missed the ottoman, but did, however, stumble into him, causing the knife to slip.

Zarek hissed as the extremely sharp blade cut deeply into his hand.

"Zarek?"

He ignored her as he rushed into the kitchen to tend the throbbing wound before he dripped blood all over her polished hardwood floors and expensive rugs.

Cursing, he dropped the knife into the sink and turned the water on to rinse it.

She followed him into the kitchen. "Zarek? Is something wrong?"

"No," he snapped, washing the blood from his hand. He grimaced as he saw the depth of the injury. If he were human, he'd need stitches for it.

Astrid moved to stand beside him. "I smell blood. Are you hurt?"

Before he realized what she intended, she took his hand into hers and felt it with her hands. Her touch was feather light as she gently touched his wound and yet the sensation of her hand on his floored him. It felt as if someone had hit him in the gut with a sledgehammer.

She was so close to him that all he had to do was lean forward and he could kiss her.

Taste her neck.

Her blood...

No woman had ever tempted him like this.

For the first time in his life, he wanted to taste someone's lips. To hold her face in his hands and ravish her mouth with his tongue.

What would it feel like to be held... ?

What the hell is wrong with me? He wasn't the kind of man that anyone held, nor did he want it.

Not really.

He only wanted...

"This is deep," she said quietly, her voice enchanting him even more.

He looked down, but instead of his hand, all he could see was the deep valley between her breasts that was bared by the V of her sweater. He would only have to move his hand a few inches to sink it down between the soft mounds. To push her sweater aside a little bit until he could cup her with his hand.

"What happened?" she asked.

Zarek blinked to dispel the image that caused his groin to ache and throb as it demanded satisfaction. "Nothing."

"Is that the only word you know?" She grimaced at him as she held his hand with hers and reached up to pull a bottle of peroxide out of the cabinet over the sink. He was amazed that she knew which container it was, but then, everything in the cabinet appeared to be deliberately and carefully placed.

He hissed again as she poured the liquid over his cut. The coldness of it stung as much as the disinfectant.

Still, he was stunned by her caring actions, by the gentleness of her hand on his.

She patted around with her hand for the dish towel by the sink. Once she found it, she wrapped it around his hand. "Keep it elevated. I'll call a doc-"

"No," he said harshly, interrupting her. "No doctor."

"But you're hurt."

"Believe me, this is nothing."

Astrid noted the catch in his voice as he said that. More than ever before, she wished she could see him as he spoke. "Were you cut because I bumped into you?"

He didn't answer.

Astrid tried to reach out to him with her senses and found nothing. She couldn't tell if he was with her or if she was completely alone.

Her senses had never failed her before.

It was scary to have no ability to "feel" him.

"Zarek?"

"What?" She actually jumped at the sound of his deep, accented voice so close to her ear.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Yeah, so what? It's not like you care how I got hurt anyway."

His voice faded as if he were moving away from her.

"Sasha, where is he?"

"He's headed back toward the den."

She heard Sasha growling in the hallway.

"Back at you," Zarek grumbled.

"You know," he said louder. "I hear dogs live longer when they're neutered. And they're friendlier, too."