I'm so glad I ran with this idea. Thanks for all the reviews. They're keeping me going. I'll try to have an update at least once a week as long as the reviews keep inspiring me. Sorry this one took so long, I have house guests.

Story universe reminder: in the movie, Underworld, the Lycans refer to the vampires as Bloods by way of name calling. Raze yells it in the subway. Also the words in brackets [ ] are the music tracks I listened to while writing if anyone is interested.

Chapter 3: Caught in a Moment

[Caught in a Moment (Sugababes), Too Lost in you (Sugababes), How (Lisa Loeb), Moments like this (Allison Krause), Radar (Britney), Blood and Chocolate Score]

Aleeria's hands moved automatically at cleaning Sabas's arm, her attention long since occupied by his ministrations. He began ever so slowly, gently to stroke his fingers over her breast. He wished absently that her dress was not between them, but this would do for now. Clearly, Aleeria had never been touched in this way before. He didn't know what benevolent deity had granted him this boon that she would want him to touch her, but he'd be damned if he'd waste it or disappoint her. While his thumb continued to circle her nipple, brushing over the tip occasionally and drawing a strangled cry from her throat, his other fingers stroked along the outer edge of her breast in a long arc, cradling her.

It was all Aleeria could do to stand upright. The waves of pleasure pouring through her made her entire body shudder and quake, her hands, starting to grip Sabas's arm to steady herself, her work forgotten. She could feel the pleasure building towards something steadily. Every time his thumb brushed over the tip of her breast, a fresh peak of pleasure would surge through her and her eyes would fly open to stare into his. Sabas watched her with a sense of pleasurable wonderment. The look he gave her was almost as arousing as what he was doing to her body with his hand. He looked so enchanted by her and so hungry for her. Aleeria began to wonder how much more Sabas could do to her if he wasn't in those pesky chains. Finally, her legs were shaking so badly she hissed out a shaky request for him to stop.

The response was surprisingly immediate. Sabas pulled his hand away just enough to break contact with her skin, but not so much as to compromise Aleeira's death grip on his arm. Aleeria sighed, slowly pulling herself together and shakily stepped off the bench. She sat dropped down to sit on the bench, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She looked longingly up at Sabas's right hand, now hanging innocently in its manacle, far from her reach.

Aleeria sighed wistfully. "Sorry about that. I was about to lose my balance and some dim part of my brain pointed out that if I fell there is no one in this room capable of catching me. Add to that, it might be awkward explaining how I fell. My Mistress has an uncanny sense of deception of any sort."

"There's no need for you to apologize or explain," Sabas replied calmly. "I'm a good dog, I know that stop means stop."

Aleeria smiled at him, her eyes full of laughter. "I thought you said you weren't a pet."

"If this is what being your pet entails, I'm willing to reconsider," he teased silkily.

Aleeria's gaze slid upwards to his hand again, and Sabas noting the direction of her focus, began to move his hand as if she were still standing on the bench, her breast pressed into his hand. His thumb swept deftly over air, in small, tight circles.

Aleeria felt pleasurable aftershocks ripple through her, remembering the vivid sensation of his touch only moments before. It had felt so exquisite and only left her quivering for more. Electric warmth flickered between her thighs at the thought. "You're quite good at that," She remarked in an almost scholarly way. "Thank you."

Sabas chuckled. "You're an excellent instrument of torture yourself."

"You've only begun to suffer, my filthy prisoner." Aleeria teased back. "I'm sure there's a learning curve on torture and I intend to become quite proficient."

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Sabas grinned rakishly.

"It's whatever I decide it is." She replied her heart thudding nervously again.

"I do seem to still be quite dirty overall. You'll have plenty of opportunity to experiment." Sabas raised an eyebrow suggestively and Aleeria felt heat rush through her skin once more.

When Aleeria could feel her legs again, she stood up and glanced around for the wash basin and water. Where had she put them when she came down from the bench? Her mind was so awhirl with pleasure; she had no memory of putting it down. It was of course right next to where she had been sitting moments before and she chuckled to herself before refreshing the water.

Sabas looked at her quizzically. "What's so funny, fair captor?"

Aleeria felt something deep inside her shudder at the way his low voice said captor, making the word darker, more seductive. "I lost all sense of my surroundings for a little while there. I just find my sudden absent-mindedness amusing."

"I could make you forget a great deal more than the four walls of this room," He promised.

Aleeria, bit back a moan, her heart thudding hard against her ribs. "I believe you," she replied her voice soft and breathless once more. "I am glad this room is usually an interrogation room though. The walls and door and more solid than other rooms in case the prisoner was a Lycan and shape-shifted. It makes the room quite soundproof and unlike most of the public rooms, lacks spy holes."

"Curious choice for your Mistress," Sabas commented thoughtfully. "It's almost as if she wants me to get loose."

Aleeria laughed. "I imagine that the drain on the floor and the manacles secured into the stone itself had more to do with her choice. Additionally, this room is the closest interrogation room to our quarters."

"I see." His voice was neutral, but inside his body burned for her. Touching her had merely teased them both. How many decades had it been since he'd last touched a woman? Whatever the number it would be worth the drought just to have her at the end of it.

"I have no idea how much noise I might have made," Aleeria continued. "I'd hate to think of someone overhearing us."

Sabas considered telling her how much he enjoyed the sounds she made, which reminded him of a particularly happy cat and as a hot-blooded wolf, he intended to give chase. Still, he didn't want to make her self-conscious; that might make the sounds stop and that could not be allowed. So he merely replied, "I am sure that if this room is meant to insulate screams, we weren't overheard."

Aleeria nodded in agreement, still a bit dazed, before she picked up the cloth and basin and moved to stand before Sabas again. She began to clean what of his neck she could reach, trying to clean mud from both the collar he wore and the soft flesh beneath. The heaviness of the collar startled her, he seemed so gentle with her to need such a potentially lethal restraint, but then she considered what the guards at the gate looked like when they transformed and she understood. She was underestimating him; he was a Lycan still and therefore capable of great strength. Still, the silver spikes pointed towards his exposed throat made her pause. They were so sharp and heavily constructed. "Do you have to wear this collar always?"

"Since I was turned." He replied, his voice suddenly no longer seductive, but bitter and caustic again. "All Lycans must wear them at all times unless we are chained by the front gate."

"But you are the daylight protectors of the vampires. Surely you could do that so much more effectively without these collars. What if William's wild Lycans came for us?" Aleeria argued, alarmed.

Sabas shrugged as much as his chains would allow. "Viktor fears an attack from within if these collars were removed. He thinks it is enough of a risk to have four of us uncollared by the front gates."

Aleeria nodded and began to scrub at the front of his shoulders as well. "Do you ever worry that you'll lose control and these silver spikes will get driven into you before you can use your strength to rip the collar clear?"

Sabas just looked at her a moment, taking in what she'd said. "What makes you think I could break this collar if I was in my Lycan form?"

Aleeria slanted him a look. "I've heard how strong Lycans are when you've changed. I remember seeing it when my father died."

Sabas looked at her sharply. "Was your father killed by Lycans?"

Aleeria glanced away, dipping the rag into the water to clean it. "No, he was killed by vampires before he could kill me and my mother. My two sisters and brother were not so lucky. William attacked our village. My father ran out to protect the village with my older brother and were turned. They came back to the house and killed my sisters before we knew what had happened. The Death Dealers were nearby and they managed to stop the wild Lycans before they killed my mother and I. The village was destroyed though and my mother and I were brought here to serve Sabine."

"I'm so sorry." Sabas replied quietly, his eyes locking with the floor. "I'm surprised you don't hate the lot of us."

Aleeria saw his shame, and took his face in her hand, encouraging him to look at her. "You are not like them. They are monsters, unable to be anything human or civil again. They aren't even animals. Animals at least hunt and kill for food or to keep from becoming food. William's Lycans kill anything that crosses their path without cause or need. That is why they are monsters and why you are nothing like them. A wild Lycan would never have risked himself to eat an insignificant human he didn't know, much less save one."

"Don't call yourself insignificant." His eyes flashed, angry that she would see herself the way the Bloods saw them all: as expendable.

Aleeria shrugged, smiling in an offhanded way while she continued to scrub at his shoulders. "I am though for now. My life is a flash of light in the halls of eternity as long as I am mortal. Your life will burn steadfast as a star."

She moved behind him to clean the back of his neck. Aleeria was nervous about seeing his back bared to her. She still expected to see it criss-crossed with blood or scars from the whipping she witnessed after he saved her. It was a memory that still haunted her dreams even now. Still, when she moved behind him, she could see that his back was nearly unmarked. Aleeria reached out to trace three crossing lines that stood out against his dirty skin. "I thought Lycans healed all their wounds completely. Is this from the time I saw them beat you?"

Sabas thought back. It had been a long time since anyone had seen his back and cared about those scars, "No. They're from before I was changed. I was a farmer a long time ago. I worked for one of the neighboring nobles. They gave me to the Bloods in tribute a little over a hundred years ago. When I was still human, I was given three lashes by my human master."

"Why?" Aleeria began to scrub his back while he spoke, efficiently removing the dirt and grime.

"I worked with another slave who is now a Lycan here as well, Xristos. He fell on the march here and I stopped to help him. He was exhausted, but my master, terrified of being caught by the wild Lycans in the woods after dark, wouldn't rest a moment for any of us. I helped Xristos up and I took his lashes for him."

Aleeria felt her heart give a warm twist. "You willingly suffer a great deal to protect others it seems." She paused, her hands finishing cleaning off his low back and impulsively leaned forward and ran her fingers tenderly over the scars again before repeating the path with her lips.

Sabas froze. He could feel the soft brush of her hair and mouth along his back as she tended his scars. He felt warmth radiating out of every place she touched. He let out a soft keening sound when Aleeria finished her path along the last scar, never wanting her to stop. Then Sabas heard her rinse out the basin of water and he felt her begin to clean off his back again, but this time he felt Aleeria moving more slowly, almost reverently, now that the dirt was gone.

Aleeria moved the cloth over his skin, tracing the powerful muscles. She so wanted to wrap herself around him, but kissing his scars was already a step beyond what she was supposed to be doing here. She didn't want to break her promise to Sabine, but Sabas was so very tempting. Aleeria eyed up his leather-clad ass a moment and sighed wistfully. She had an impulse to run her hands over it and give it a good squeeze or two, but she reined it in. If he earned the right to be chosen, she'd have time enough for that.

Besides, she'd get to handle it soon enough, once the pants came off. Sabine did say she had to wash every inch of him thoroughly. Heat flooded through her at the thought. Her nervousness was giving way to a greedy hunger to see and touch more. Listening to Sabas sigh contentedly while she traced his scars had been highly pleasurable. Aleeria was surprised and fascinated by how much pleasure she found in Sabas' enjoyment of both her pleasure and her touch. It made her very eager to see what other sounds she could coax out of him.

Sabas could hear her heart speeding up again, but she was standing still as far as he could tell. He wasn't sure what was setting her off, but he could smell her again too. "See something you like back there?"

Aleeria giggled, a little startled. She had the sudden feeling of getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "Perhaps. Or perhaps I am just determining the best way to finish cleaning you up."

"I see." He experimentally flexed his back and grinned in satisfaction when he heard Aleeria's breath catch and her heart race a little faster. Still, he opted for a change in topic to keep her from becoming embarrassed. "So, what did you mean before about choosing a sire?"

Aleeria took a deep breath, calming herself and reorganizing her thoughts. "The Lycan I choose as my lifemate will also change me into a Lycan."

Sabas felt his blood begin to rush past his ears as something primal and possessive howled in anticipation within him. He tried to focus past it. "What does your mother think about you becoming a Lycan?"

Aleeria's heart slowed. Her voice sounded distant. "I don't know. She died a long time ago."

Sabas felt his heart twist at the words, fearing the answer. "What happened to your mother?"

"She died here." Aleeria replied evasively.

"How?" Sabas pressed, wishing he could see her, touch her, comfort her, even for a moment.

Aleeria's voice became rough. "Sabine tried to change her and it didn't take. That's actually why I was in the yard that day. I was lost, that's true, but I was lost inside myself. That's how I got lost outside in the castle yard. It was awful enough watching the rest of my family die, my father and brother cut down by Viktor's daughter, the Death Dealer Sonja, but watching my mother die broke something inside me for awhile. I was just running through the hallways. I don't know how I found my way outside. I remember the still look in my mother's eyes and then I remember seeing the rocks about to fall and then seeing you. I can't recall the rest even now."

"Why wouldn't Sabine change you into one of her kind if she is so fond of you?" Sabas asked, curiously.

"Not interested in adding me to your ranks?" Aleeria half teased.

Sabas grinned. "That's a loaded question. Let's just say, I wouldn't wish this collar or the life that comes with it on anyone. The life of a vampire, however, is one of power and privilege. On the other hand, while I certainly do enjoy being your prisoner, it would have a different connotation if you were a Blood. I'd hate for you to be part of the reason I wear this collar."

Aleeria let out a breath she hadn't know she was holding, relieved that his reasons were out of concern for her. "Well, either way, that avenue isn't available to me. My mother too, served her well and so Sabine wished to reward her. When Sabine tried to turn my mother, the bite that was made to turn her into a vampire killed her, devouring her from the inside out. Sabine said that not everyone can make the change. As her daughter, Sabine was concerned that I would die the same way."

Aleeria circled around to face him again, her eyes avoiding his for now. She focused on the heavy collar around his neck. She carefully traced the outer rim of it. "So you won't just lose control and impale yourself?"

Sabas noted her change in manner. He didn't ask any further questions, letting Aleeria redirect their conversation. She'd gone to so much effort to make him feel as comfortable as possible, showing him every possible sign of concern. It was only right he return the favor. "Changing is something that only happens during the full moon for most of us. Eventually we'll be able to change at will, but as Lucian tells it, it can only happen with a deliberate choice. It's not like we can just lose control and fursplode."

Aleeria laughed sharply, his turn of phrase catching her by surprise. "Fursplode," she repeated meeting is eyes again.

Sabas felt something in him inexplicably soothed as she met his eyes again, his comment breaking her out of her painful remembrances as he had intended. "As in, suddenly and uncontrollably shift from human to Lycan in an explosion of fur and teeth." Sabas clarified, grinning.

Aleeria chuckled. "Well, I'm much relieved to hear that you don't have to worry about that." She reached forward to touch his throat under the spikes. "I guess you don't sleep on your stomach either."

"If you choose me, I'll sleep by your side." His voice was silky again, teasing, enticing.

Aleeria blushed and gently began to clean and rub the skin under the collar some more. Sabas made a low moan in his throat and Aleeria felt her insides liquefy.

"I can't even tell you how good that feels," Sabas groaned, his eyes closed.

She grinned and boldly leaning up to whisper in his ear. "Good to know. If I choose you, I'll wash your neck every day if you like."

Sabas groaned in satisfaction at the thought. "That would be wonderful."

Aleeria began to wash his shoulders next, tracing the planes and lines of muscle on his chest, letting the hardness of his body distract her mind from the worst of her memories. She looked him over slowly, trying to keep her facial expressions speculative instead of hungry. Her ravenous eyes, took in the well-developed pectorals, the long lines on the sides of his abdomen that disappeared into his leather pants. She began to wonder if his chest was as sensitive as hers was. She decided to start with his sides and then come back to the front and linger there.

Sabas watched Aleeria look him over. He saw her face so carefully made up into an expression of almost professional scrutiny as if he were a floor she were deciding how best to clean. But her heart betrayed her, racing more and more wildly as her eyes traveled over him, and her scent, her scent was most traitorous of all. Sabas could smell how excited her body became the longer she observed. He nearly chuckled at the contrast and gave the game away, but he didn't want her to know the many ways he could read her. If Aleeria's ineffectual attempt to hide her true reaction to him was any indication, if she knew he could hear the way her heart quickened near him, she'd try to find a way to control it. That particular reaction was something he wanted to avoid. Aleeria's unconscious reaction to him was a deep, visceral thrill all on its own and he wouldn't dampen it for anything.

Aleeria began scrubbing at his sides where the mud was caked on in strange patterns because of the buckles on his vest. "Tell me if I'm going too hard."

Sabas chuckled. "I don't think you can, but I'll let you know. It would tickle if it didn't feel so damn good."

"Well then I guess I'll have to make sure it doesn't start to feel like a tickle." Aleeria teased back. She was enjoying talking to him more than she imagined. He still made her feel nervous sometimes when he looked at her, but she wasn't afraid of him and she had been so concerned before today that she would be. How ashamed she would have been if she finally found herself in the presence of the Lycan she had mooned after for so long, her Lycan, and she was afraid of him because of what he was.

When his sides were clean, she moved back to his front, cleaning his chest in broad strokes. Sabas tried to hold back the moans her cleaning strokes drew from him, but he couldn't help it. It felt too good, especially after all this time. Aleeria surprised him though. After she scrubbed the worst of the mud off the whole of his chest, she began to explore the lines of his chest with her hand.

Experimentally, she ran a finger along the line between his pectorals, moving first to his right. Sabas sighed heavily making low involuntary moans and arched his chest into her hand. Aleeria alternated her gaze between his eyes and the point of contact between her finger and his skin. So close to him now, she could see his pupils dilate. She could feel Sabas's breath become more ragged under her hands. Then she repeated the gesture, but moving to his left and laying her hand lightly over his heart, cupping his chest in a similar fashion to the way he had held her not long before, her thumb resting just over his hardened nipple. She could feel his heart start to race under her palm and grinned in feline satisfaction. "Well, it's good to know I'm not the only one with a racing heartbeat."

"Not for some time now." Sabas assured her, his voice rough.

Aleeria withdrew her hand shyly. "I'm sorry. I should've asked. I was curious."

"Curiosity never killed anything but a little time," Sabas argued, his voice taking on an almost desperate edge. "By all means, satisfy your curiosity all you like."

Aleeria didn't answer, she simply refreshed her wash cloth and began to slowly and methodically clean every inch of his chest: the spaces between each rib, the ridges between each of his abdominals, and so on. She swirled her cloth in his navel, eliciting another groan as Sabas could feel his groin tighten in response. Then she worked her way back up to his pectorals, her eyes alternating once more between her task and his eyes almost as if she were asking permission. Sabas nodded whenever he caught her, but it was less and less frequent as she progressed and his awareness of anything but her touch waned.

Aleeria began to rub the outer edges of his pectoral, avoiding his nipples, circling, teasing then moving down to trace his ribs, his abdominals, the oh so tempting lines leading down into his leather pants, and then back up again until Sabas thought he might lose his mind. He arched his chest closer to her hand, straining the reach of his chains and trying to get her to touch him, to cease her teasing, swirling evasions.

Aleeria smiled at him, gently teasing and paused leaning towards his ear. Sabas groaned in frustration. "Is there something I can help you with? A spot or two I've forgotten to clean perhaps?" She whispered.

"Yes," he hissed. "Please." Sabas arched himself again towards her fingertips, the chains clinking lightly in protest. He couldn't articulate his need further. He couldn't recall ever being so hungry for the touch of another and she hadn't even gotten his pants off, much less any of her own clothes. And she was unlikely to remove any of her own clothes any time soon, he reminded himself. Aleeria wasn't meant for anyone in that way; yet. But by all the gods, he'd make sure she was his one day, no matter the cost.

Aleeria chuckled throatily in his ears, earning an indistinct keening sound and whispered. "Why, you're most correct; how careless of me." She started on his left moving in small circles around the tip, feeling it harden further under her fingertips to her utter fascination. Sabas sighed in relief for a moment before he felt the delicious sensation of torture start to climb again. This would never be enough. Aleeria switch to his right side and his body jerked slightly. "Ah, so you're more sensitive on this side. I'll have to remember that." She purred.

Sabas loved the way she said that, as if she too, had plans for him to be under her hands in the future. Her fingers swirling around his nipples felt so good. His eyes slid closed in pleasure and he began to picture them in a quiet room in the castle, quite alone. His chains were no longer restraining him and she was no longer a fragile human, but his mate. He wouldn't need to worry about hurting her and he could show her exactly how much she stirred him. She belonged to him and him alone in this musing. Sabas could see her leaping into his arms, wrapping herself around him and driving herself onto him again and again, as he pressed her into the stone wall. He let loose a low growl saturated with wanting it to be so.

Aleeria was utterly captivated by his reaction to her. She wanted to touch him for hours. She wanted to make him feel as shaken and stirred as he had made her feel before. It was oh so hard to resist exploring him with more than just her fingertips. Aleeria certainly had her answer: he was definitely as sensitive as she was and it delighted her down to the very darkest corners of her being. She wanted to touch him with her lips again, but it seemed dangerous, like a step into the shadows. She didn't know where it might lead or if she'd be able to stop herself. It certainly would fall into the category of being contrary to Sabine's wishes and more than ever now Aleeria wanted to earn the right to choose. For now, this would have to do. Sabas let loose another moan of pleasure that Aleeria felt somehow ripped through them both and decided that this would do as an appetizer anyway.

Sabas couldn't recall such a simple touch ever exciting him in this way before. He was so far gone that he almost didn't hear the sound of footsteps, familiar footsteps coming down the hallway towards them. When he was certain, it was with great reluctance and difficulty that he mentioned it. "Aleeria," he hissed. "Much as I loathe to stop you, we are about to have company. I believe your Mistress is returning to check your progress."

A/N: More already in progress.