United. (Book 5 of the Lupus Antiqua Series)

The room was small but luxurious in a way she'd never experienced before. The carpeting was thick and a pristine white color.

The walls were a lovely forest green with cream white trim around the bottom, top, and and door and window frames. The furniture was a pleasing dark wood and the bed was a four poster queen size with the most comfortable mattress she'd ever experienced.

Endymion was resting comfortably in that very bed. Abby sighed and bit her lip as she watched over him. The High Council's healers had worked wonders and he looked hale and hearty, but he hadn't woken up yet.

She hadn't been able to sleep since they'd arrived here after everything had gone down with the Anguis. She couldn't believe she'd slaughtered all of them.

Abby could remember everything that had happened, but it was like she'd been watching it through a television screen, completely removed from all of it. She was worried about where the extra power came from, and very confused. But she didn't have room to think about it now.

She wouldn't feel right until Endymion woke up and she could feel the energy signature of his waking mind again. She was so exhausted, she could barely hold up her head.

Despite her best intentions she closed her eyes a little too long. The next time her eyes opened, she was flat on her back. She blinked in confusion and tried to sit up in a panic, not recognizing where she was for a moment.

"Relax, Abby." Endymion's voice wrapped around her like silk and her entire body froze, and then relaxed as if it was listening to his commands. She looked over and there he was, in the chair she'd been sitting in when she'd closed her eyes.

"You're okay?" She asked. He looked fantastic. He was wearing sweat pants and no shirt, his long dark hair free flowing around him. He looked like a wet dream just sitting there. She licked her lips as he body came to life in a whole other way.

He noticed the change in her hormones if the glint in his eyes and the slight sniff of his nose were any indications. He leaned forward in an almost predatory way and cocked his head slightly.

"I'm very well, indeed, thanks to you. I knew that you were strong, but I never realized how strong. I never expected that you would come for me." His voice was tender now, gentle.

"I planned to come as soon as I realized you'd been taken and by whom. I didn't plan to do it quite the way that I did it, but I got really really mad." She murmured, almost cringing at the understatement.

"The mate bond." He murmured. "Your mate was in danger and you responded. It is natural. That you are a War Witch, only made your reaction more lethal than average." He explained. She nodded. Okay, that made sense.

"That's...intense." she admitted. He stood up and crouched onto the bed next to her, making the movement look graceful.

"Abby. Where are we?" He asked.

"We're in the High Council headquarters. It's called The Warren. They had to clean up after the mess I left, and investigate the Matron and hold a trial.

While that was happening we've been in here, recovering. They'll let us know once a decision has been reached, but it's likely I'll be sent to the War College. Will you come?" She asked the last bit shyly.

He advanced, pushing her gently onto her back until he was hovering over her, supporting his weight on his hands. She took a second to appreciate the strength in his frame, and the broadness of his shoulders; the heat he radiated.

"Of course. Where you go, I go; mate." He leaned down and kissed her gently, tongue gently caressing the seam of her lips. When she parted for him, instead of taking advantage of that sucked her bottom lip, nipping it with his sharp teeth before releasing it; completely robbing her of breath.

"It occurs to me that we were in the middle of a moment when that creature took me." He said, voice intimate and warm. She felt herself flush but she grinned up at him.

"That's true. We were." She ran her nails through his hair over his scalp, shifting the fall of his hair so that it fell over one muscled shoulder.

Something between a growl and purr rumbled in his chest. She still needed to process everything that had happened. She still had many questions for the High Witch. But right now, none of that mattered. She and Endymion were alive. They were together, and the heat between them was enough to set fire to the room. All that mattered was right now.

He shifted so that his knee rested between her legs and met her lips with his own again. He was in no rush, exploring the softness of her lips and then delving his tongue into her mouth and learning her there.

She responded in kind much to his approval and the kisses went from exploratory and soft to deep and demanding. He wasn't touching her otherwise, though and it was driving her insane. Only his knee between her legs and his lips on hers and she was liquid magma in her core.

How was she going to survive more? She was nearly desperate to find out. If she went up in flames and died, well; she figured; that had to be a mighty fine way to go.

She didn't realize she'd made a noise somewhere between frustration and pure need until Endymion chuckled.

"Do you want me to touch you, sweet Abby?" He asked, his voice dark and pitched lower than usual. The wolf within glowed through in his eyes. He was all predatory dominance and desire and it hit her all at once that this used to be the King of all werewolves, and he'd been King for a reason. This glorious dominance was one of those reasons.

"Yes, please. I need you to touch me." She murmured breathlessly.

"Where should I touch you?"

"Anywhere, I just..." She gasped and stopped when his large hand came to rest on her stomach, and then worked its way inexorably up to the bottom of her bra. How was he so in control?

"Are you very attached to these clothes?" He asked, his voice tense.

"No not really, why?" She was confused. He pulled and there was the sound of ripping and tearing cloth, and then her bra and shirt were torn in half, baring her to his hungry gaze. He wasted no time in giving her sleep pants the same treatment.

He gazed down at her for a long hungry moment and she had shivering feeling of insecurity pass through her. She was about to ask him if anything was wrong, but he spoke before she could.

"You're so beautiful, Abby." The sincerity in his voice rang through her and brought tears to her eyes. He leaned down and sucked a nipple into his hot mouth, his tongue stroking the sensitive bud, causing her to gasp and writhe for him while his thumb and index finger gave the same attention to her other nipple.

He moved down to her belly and further still until he reached her core, using his talented tongue at the apex of her thighs, and those long fingers to fill her in a way she'd only ever done for herself.

She couldn't help the little moans and gasps that escaped her. She'd never felt this way, never imagined it could be this amazing. The pleasure was building inside of her until she didn't think she could take a single second more and she was crawling out of her skin with no way to handle the building, cresting sensations until finally, the wave broke and she moaned much louder than she'd thought herself capable of as more pleasure than she'd ever felt in her life washed over her.

He wasn't done with her. He kissed his way back up to her mouth and kissed her with more need and abandon than before, any pretense of taking his time done with.

"Endymion." She gasped, "I need you." She didn't have it in her to be embarrassed at the desperation in her voice. She was still shaking from the orgasm he'd already given her but it only made her needy for something more. She ached for him.

"I'm here." He growled, the wolf in his voice. "Will you let me mark you?" He asked.

"God, yes." She gasped. He needed no further encouragement than that. He guided himself to her entrance and pushed inside of her. The feeling of fullness as she began to adjust to him was overwhelming and she was lost to sensation.

"There will be some pain." He murmured.

"I know." She whispered. He pushed the rest of the way in, seating himself inside of her fully and at the same time his teeth sank into her neck.

The pain was sharp and sudden, but it faded so quickly it may as well not even have been and he began to thrust inside of her in an agonizingly beautiful rhythm that thrummed through every part of her.

The feeling of the marking taking hold and him moving inside of her were too much and then she was shattering in his arms again. She'd never understood what it meant when people wrote about these things in books, or sang about them.

Now she did.