United. (Book 5 of the Lupus Antiqua Series)

She wasn't alone. She was in her room, in her bed, but for the first time ever, she wasn't waking up alone. Endymion. He was here with her, hand resting over her waist, big warm body spooning hers.

She smiled and blushed remembering the night before. His 'just once' kiss had turned into a make out session that had taken them through the house, to her bedroom.

It was like, once they started they couldn't stop. It didn't go any further than kissing and writhing against each other. He'd been a gentlemen even in the heat of the moment, hands never straying into private areas.

He'd handled her with what she could only describe as reverence. She'd read romances, of course. She'd fantasized, but she'd never understood what the term reverent touches meant until he'd shown her.

She'd never known what it meant to be lost in someone else until last night. She had zero control. If he'd pressed she would have gone to bed with him. He seemed to have a direct link to her hormones, which, now they'd indulged in one another a little bit, was more potent by far. She was aware of his every breath, all her senses honed in on him.

She'd never been like this with any other person. She shifted and rolled over, staying in his hold and found him awake and gazing at her.

"Good morning." She murmured. A small smile graced his fine features.

"Good morning, Abby." He leaned into her and kissed her gently, feather light, before kissing the tip of her nose, then her forehead. There was longing in him. Longing for more of this. She felt very connected and she wondered if this was normal between mates.

She was his mate, the Moon Goddess had confirmed that. But this was unprecedented. She wasn't a wolf, and had it nowhere in her blood. Never before had someone without a molecule of the blood in them been mated to any wolf, let alone a Lupus Antiqua. Would this work normally? What was normal anyway?

She kept her questions to herself. It wasn't likely he had the answers anyway, and he already doubted whether he deserved to be with her this way. She didn't want to do anything to scare him off, because she wanted more of this as badly as he did. Maybe more.

She snuggled into him and buried her face in his chest.

"I want to do that again." She admitted, the words muffled by his chest. He chuckled and she felt the sound rumble underneath her through him.

"Me too." He admitted, stroking her hair, which he'd let free of it's ponytail holder sometime between the kitchen and the living room. There was hesitation in him, though and she knew it was because he still wasn't convinced he was worthy of her.

She propped her head up so she was meeting his gaze.

"I know this is new, Endymion. I know we went from zero to fifty in like two seconds flat, but I don't want to stop this. So, please don't pull away from me because you think it would be noble." He held her gaze with an inscrutable one of his own and she worried that she'd said too much. Was she too mushy? Her nerves took her over and she started to pull back from him, trying to scramble to cover whatever blunder she'd made.

"I mean, if you want to stop because you aren't into it, or you miss Melody, that's totally fine. I'll understand..." He pulled her back down and spun them so he was holding himself up over her, his lips crashing onto hers until she was panting a little.

"My hesitation is because I feel you deserve better, not because I don't want this. I regret how things went with Melody. But I do not miss her. Perhaps that is cruel. But it is the truth." He murmured.

"So, you do want this?" She asked. She knew she should probably dislike how vulnerable she sounded, but why should she? This was a vulnerable situation. A person couldn't be strong all the time and she didn't feel the need to try.

"Only the shreds of my honor stopped me from mating you and marking you last night, Abby." His voice was a growl that made her blush again for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the word 'mating'.

She couldn't help the little giggle that escaped her.

"Doing that wouldn't have been honorable?" She questioned.

"No. You are not of my kind. You do not know what is truly involved in the marking process and it wouldn't be right to spring it on you without your consent.

Even if you do not consent to it after hearing about it, I will respect that, and simply be with you as long as you allow it." He said this quietly. There was no demand in him. He wasn't trying to trick her or force her into anything at all.

He wanted her to say yes to marking, she could see that need in him, but she could also feel his resolute iron resolve about not marking her unless she explicitly allowed it.

"I'm not moving too fast, am I?" She asked a little shyly. She knew that most women made a man court them for awhile. Get to know them. But she knew Endymion, probably better than most anyone else did. She'd been in his head, watching his memories, feeling every nuance of his emotions.

And as for her? There wasn't much to tell. Aside from occasionally being a cruel form of justice for her coven, Abby led a very peaceful and ordinary sort of life.

She lived alone. She puttered in her garden and made potions and medicines. She read about the world and dreamed of seeing it someday.

Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought to have a man in her bed, or know what it was like not to be alone and apart. She supposed that he understood that better than most did.

He'd been a King, then an outcast. If anyone understood what it was to be alone and apart, it was Endymion. The more she thought about it, the more well suited she felt they were.

"No." He murmured, eyes studying her, as if he could sense her feelings as well as she could normally sense his. "It varies how quickly mates bond with each other. There is often more time involved than we have allowed, but then, most mates are not in each other's minds as you have been in mine." He stated.

She grinned up at him.

"I was just thinking that."