Free DANCE WITH THE DEVIL by Sherrilyn Keynon

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 one a.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.
    "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.
    All she could sense was him. He surrounded her with power and danger. With the promise of lethal reflexes. He was trying to make her fear him, she knew it.
    It was working very well.
    He didn't touch her, but then, he didn't have to. His presence alone was terrifying.
    Dark. Dangerous.
    Deadly.
    She felt him bend down to speak angrily into her ear. "If you want nice, baby, play with your fucking dog. When you're ready to play with a man, then call me."
    Before she could respond, Sasha attacked.
    Zarek stumbled away from her with a curse as the air around her stirred viciously with Sasha's frantic movements.
    Cringing instinctively, Astrid held her breath as she heard the sound of wolf and man fighting. She strained to see, but she was surrounded solely by darkness and overwhelming angry sounds.
    "Sasha!" she shouted, wishing she could see what was happening between them.
    All she heard was the mingling of hisses, growls, and curses.
    Then something