Impishly, she arched a brow at him. "Why?"
"Because I need to be inside you right now. I want to feel connected to you."
Her throat constricted at his words. How could she ever deny him so simple a request?
Astrid rose up on her knees, and straddled his hips. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her down for a scorching kiss.
She'd never imagined a man could be like this. So tough, and yet so tender.
She nipped his lips and chin with her teeth. "You should be resting."
"I don't want to rest. I seldom sleep anyway."
She knew it was true. The only time he had slept more than a couple of hours at a stretch was when she had drugged him. Judging by what she'd seen of his dreams and what M'Adoc had said, she well understood why.
And in her heart she wanted to soothe him.
She pulled her shirt off over her head.
Zarek swallowed at the sight of her bare breasts and skin. He swelled underneath her. It had only been a few hours since they had screwed.
No, she didn't screw him.
That was why he needed to feel her now. He desperately craved her hands on his flesh. Her naked body against his.
Because they didn't screw each other. What they shared was so much more than that. It was basic and primal and it was sublime.
What had she done to him?
But then he knew.
She had done the impossible. She had slid herself inside his dead heart.
Astrid alone made him ache. Made him want.
Made him human.
In her arms, he had discovered his humanity. Even his missing soul.
She meant something to him and he could at least pretend he meant something to her.
He reached down slowly to unzip her pants so that he could slide his hand into her pink cotton panties and sink his fingers down into her moist heat. It still amazed him that she would let him touch her like this.
Granted, women had been much more receptive to him as a Dark-Hunter than they had been when he was a human, but it hadn't changed him. He'd avoided them, knowing the only reason they were drawn to him now was because Acheron had repaired his body. So he'd snarled at the ones who offered themselves to him and he had only taken a handful of them when he had gotten tired of jerking himself off.
But in the end, they had meant nothing to him. He couldn't even remember any of their faces.
Astrid moaned as he stroked her.
"Zarek," she whispered, her breath falling lightly against his cheek. "I love the way your hands feel on my body."
"Even though I'm a slave and you're a goddess?"
"I'm no more a goddess than you are a slave."
He started to contradict her, then stopped. He didn't want anything to spoil this moment. This could very well be the last moment he had with her.
Thanatos could come crashing through the door at any moment to kill him, and if he had to die, he wanted one moment of happiness.