In his dream, she had her eyesight and could see him...
He would be tamed. For the first time in his life, he would have a tie to someone. Physical. Emotional.
Even though this was a dream, it would change him toward her forever because this was what he wanted deep down inside, buried in a place where he dared not look. Buried in a heart that had been crushed by cruelty.
"Zarek?"
He looked up to see her standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Her long blond hair fanned out around her shoulders and she wore nothing except a thin cotton button-down shirt. Her long legs were bare, inviting.
The light behind her showed through the thin fabric, outlining every precious curve of her body...
Zarek swallowed. If he did this, Astrid alone would be unique to him in all the world. She would be his.
He would be hers.
He would be tamed.
It's only a dream...
But even in his dreams no one had ever tamed him.
Until now.
His heart hammering, he went to her and scooped her up in his arms. No, he wouldn't be tamed. Not by this and not by her. But she would be his in this dream.
All his.
Astrid trembled at the fierce, determined look on Zarek's face as he carried her to the bed. Hunger blazed in his obsidian eyes. She had a strange feeling that Zarek might be right after all.
A man this wild would never make love to a woman.
The saner part of her told her to pull away from him. To stop this before it was too late.
But another part of her refused. This would tell her the true mettle of the man.
He laid her down on the bed and brushed her lips with his fingertips as if he were memorizing them. Savoring them. Then he gently parted her lips and covered them with his.
Astrid was completely unprepared for the passion of his kiss. The ferocity of it. It was both rough and tender. Demanding. Hot. Sweet. He growled fiercely as his tongue brushed against hers, tasting her before he explored every inch of her mouth.
For a man who had never kissed before, he was incredible. She shivered as he tasted her palate, as his tongue swept through her with spears of pleasure.
She buried her hands in his soft hair and moaned as he licked and nibbled until she was nearly unconscious from the ecstasy of it. She'd never known anything like this.
Anything like Zarek.
It had been a long time since she'd kissed a man, and never had any man tasted better than him. She was scared now. Not just of him, but of herself.
No man had ever touched her. She'd never breached her oath to not touch her charge.
Zarek's touch could cost her everything and yet she couldn't find it within herself to push him away.
For once in her life, she wanted something for herself. She wanted to touch the unreachable. To give Zarek something special. A rare moment of peace with someone who wanted to be with him.
No one else would appreciate this as much as he would.
Only he would understand...
Zarek pulled back from her to unbutton her shirt. But what he wanted to do was rip it from her. He wanted to lose himself inside her, crush her to him as he possessed her with all the furious passion he felt.