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
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) 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.
"
"Oh, yeah, let's neuter you and see if it affects you, you—
"
"Sasha!
"
"What? He's obnoxious. And I am not a dog.
"
She walked down the hallway to pat Sasha's head. "I know.
"
Zarek ignored the wolf and the woman as he went to the window and pulled the curtains back. It was just after onea.m. and the blizzard was as fierce as it had been earlier.
Damn. He was never going to get out of here. He only hoped the weather broke long enough to allow him to make it back to his woods. No doubt the Squires, Jess, and Thanatos were waiting for him at his cabin, but he had several more "safe" areas none of them knew about. Places where he could get weapons and supplies.
But he had to be on his land to reach it.
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"Zarek?"
He expelled an aggravated breath.
"What?" he snapped.
"Don't use that tone with me," she said with a sharp note in her voice that caused him to arch a brow at her audacity. "I like to know where people are in my house. Be nice, or I'll make you wear a cowbell."
He felt a strange urge to laugh. But laughter and he were strangers.
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Are you always this cranky or did you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"
"This is it, baby, get used to it."
She came to stand right beside him and he had a feeling that she purposely did it just to irk him. "And if I don't want to get used to it?"
He turned to face her. "Don't push me, princess."
"Oooo," she said in a less than impressed voice. "Next thing you'll be talking like the Incredible Hulk.
'Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.' " She cast a haughty look in his general direction. "You're not scary to me, Mr. Zarek. So you can just check the attitude at the door and play nice while you're here."
Disbelief racked him. No one in the past two thousand years had dismissed him so easily and it angered him that she would dare discount him now. It reminded him of too many bad memories of people who saw through him. People who held no regard for him whatsoever.
The first vow he had made to himself as a Dark-Hunter was that he would never again worry about trying to earn other people's respect or kindness.
Fear was a far more powerful tool.
He backed her up against a wall.
Astrid panicked as she felt Zarek pressing in on her while the wall behind her blocked her escape. She had nowhere to go. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.
He was so large, so strong.