He pulled her toward the snowmachine. It would be dawn before long.
He would be trapped, but Thanatos…
The Daimon would be able to walk in daylight.
Zarek wrapped his arms around Astrid. He should leave her here for what she'd done to him, hand her over to Thanatos to see if she would buy him more time to escape. Yet he had this crazy idea of protecting her.
No, it wasn't an idea. It was a yearning he had to keep her safe.
Resigned to his stupidity, he started the snowmachine and headed it toward his property.
Astrid took a deep breath as they resumed their trip. She had violated more rules than she cared to think about.
And yet as she felt Zarek surrounding her, she knew it was worth it. She had to save him.
No matter what it took.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) She'd never felt so determined. Or more sure of herself. He gave her a confidence and strength she had never known.
He needed her. In spite of what he said or even thought. He needed her in a way that was painful.
The man had no one else in the world. And for some reason she couldn't understand, she wanted to be the one person he relied on. The one person who could tame him.
He drove them for almost an hour before they stopped again.
"Where are we?" she asked as he climbed off the snowmachine.
"My cabin."
"Is it safe?"
"Not a bit. And it looks like all hell broke loose here."
Zarek stood in stunned disbelief as he looked around. There was still blood on the snow, but from whom, he couldn't tell.
The sight tore through him as reality came crashing home.
A Dark-Hunter had died here.
His kind didn't die often and he felt a peculiar ache for the man who had died tonight. It wasn't right.
It wasn't fair.
If anyone should have paid that price, it should have been him. He should have been here to confront Thanatos.
The thought of an innocent man being turned into a Shade made him want Artemis's blood.
And where the hell was Acheron? For someone who was supposedly willing to put his ass on the line for the Dark-Hunters, the Atlantean was amazingly absent.
Curling his lip, he went back to the snowmachine.
"C'mon," he said. "We have a lot to do."
He walked off and left her to find her own way.
"I need your help, Zarek. I need you to tell me where things are so I don't walk into anything."
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her of the fact that she'd claimed she could watch after herself.
Then his memories surged and he remembered what it was like to only see shadows.
To walk into things because he couldn't see them.
He didn't want to touch her anymore.
He hated the very thought of it because every time he felt her, he craved more of her.
Against his will, he found himself taking her hand into his. "C'mon, princess."
Astrid bit back her smile. His tone was harsh and yet she felt a small victory inside her heart. Not to mention the fact that he had stopped using "princess" as an insult. She didn't think he even realized that now when he called her that, his voice softened ever so slightly.
Sometime during their dreams, the insult he'd used to keep her at a distance had become an endearment.
Zarek led her into his cabin.
"Stand here," he said, placing her to the left just inside the doorway.
She heard him rustling around to her right. While he was busy, she brushed her hand against the wall to feel her way over to him. What she found there surprised her.
Frowning, she ran her hand over the deep dips and planes of the wall. It was an incredible tactile sensation. Intricate. Complex. But what she touched was so large that she couldn't quite understand what it represented.
As she followed the design with her hand she realized it covered the entire wall.
"What is this?" she asked.
"A beach scene," he said distractedly.
She arched a brow. "A beach scene is carved into your wall?
"
"I get bored, okay?" he snapped. "So I carve things. Sometimes in the summer, I run out of wood and I
carve the walls and shelves.
"
Just like the wolf he'd sculpted in her house.
Astrid stumbled over something as she reached for the next wall. Several things fell, scattering over her
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) feet.
Zarek cursed. "I thought I told you to stay put.
"
"I'm sorry." She bent down to pick the things up to find that they were carved wooden animals.
There seemed to be dozens of them.
She was stunned by the intricacy of each piece as she ran her fingers over them, picking them up from the floor. "Did you do all these?"
He didn't answer as he snatched them up and piled them back.
"Zarek," she said, her tone stern, "talk to me."
"And say what? Yes, I carved the damned things. I usually do three or four of them a night. So what?"