CHAPTER FOUR

Later, when they were washed clean of the last few days' battles, Michael turned off the water. He wrapped them both in towels and led Selene back into the bedroom. She sat down on the bed and he knelt at her feet, kneading and massaging them with his hands. He then moved up to her calves. She rested a hand on Michael's head. He kissed her knee and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Startled, she looked down at him. "What?"

"What is it you want to do?" He repeated slowly.

She turned her gaze toward the windows and said simply, "I want to see the sun."

"That I can promise you," he said softly. "Later. Right now, there is something else I want you to do." He kissed her other knee.

"What is it?" she asked, certain she knew the answer and his purpose. An ironic smile curved her lips. Perhaps human men, vampires and lycans had one common thread running through them.

Again, she was startled when he said, "Tell me if you loved him."

"Loved him? Who?"

"Kraven."

Her eyebrows shot up in shock. "Kraven? Michael, are you mad?"

"Answer me," he demanded.

"For as long as I have walked in darkness, I have hated him. It never mattered to him. He tried to control me for nearly as long as I have memory," she said bitterly.

"But he was in love with you. I saw it in his eyes when he shot me."

"Kraven never knew love. He had no use for it. His only aim was possession."

"Did he achieve it?" he asked, loathing himself even as he said the words. He felt like a child complaining that no one would chose him for schoolyard games. He felt small and mean and petty but he could not or would not stop himself.

"What are you asking me?" Selene said sharply.

"Did you belong to him? Did he share your bed?"

"Share my bed?" Selene drew a breath and said, "Michael, I have something to tell you so you'd better come up here and sit with me."

He joined her, feeling utterly and completely ridiculous but knowing that he must hear the truth. He was not a casual person. He did not know how to be callous or careless. It was not in his nature. Selene took his hand and paused, collecting her thoughts. She was not accustomed to explaining herself and Michael's need for reassurance was exasperating. Hers was a world of silence and detachment.

"I have never given anything but vengeance and death to anyone. I have never allowed myself to care for anyone or permitted any attachment save Viktor since the night he made me a vampire," she said as evenly as she could. "Why are you making me say this? I know you have my blood memories."

"It's just pictures. Random pictures. I don't want to know you that way. I want to hear from your mouth how you feel, what you think. When I see your memories, I make myself concentrate on something else. I don't want to live inside your head."

"Now I've said it. Now you know." Selene was both defiant and hesitant.

Well," he said thoughtfully. "OK." He took the towel from her and dropped it over the side of the bed. "I guess I'm going to have to try to change that." He laid her back onto the mattress and covered her with his body. Selene bit his earlobe, digging her fingers into the muscles of his upper arms.