United. (Book 5 of the Lupus Antiqua Series)
Let's Begin

The tea was hot, the cup warming her cold hands as she sipped the calming brew. Sleep eluded her in the wake of the events of the day. She was always like this after performing her duties.

"I can't sleep either." She jumped slightly and turned to look at Endymion over her shoulder. He was leaning against the door frame that led from the living room into the kitchen. He was wearing dark colored sweatpants and no shirt. She tried not to notice his ripped physique. He was a work of art.

"What has you up at this hour?" She wondered.

"The past." He admitted ruefully. For the first time she realized there was a regal sort of slant to the way he spoke and the timbre of his voice. She cocked her head and studied him.

"Want some tea?" She asked.

"Sure." He stepped forward and made himself a cup as she watched. They both leaned against the kitchen counter, looking out the large window at the night swathed forest.

"Will you tell me? About your past?" She asked party because she wanted a distraction from her own guilt and partly because she wanted to help him. She felt connected to the ancient wolf for some reason, like they were somehow tied together.

"I was a King. I had a court with nobles in it. The nobles were corrupt and so was I. I allowed them to run roughshod over the people I was meant to be looking after.

I permitted the poor and endangered of my pack to suffer. I treated my fated mate like she was trash. I took the many gifts the Moon Goddess granted me for my devotion to her and I twisted them." He smirked ruefully and took a sip of his tea.

Her name is Melody Winters. She's human. Perhaps she has some wolf somewhere in her ancestry but I never found out for sure. She is a fierce, vicious, beautiful creature, and instead of accepting her for who she is, I expected her to conform herself to my expectations of her.

I allowed her to be punished when she did not deserve to be so that I could save face politically. She overthrew me, with my brother's aid. They rule now, as King Alpha and Queen Luna.

My throne is gone. My mate has rejected me, and there is no going back. I now had the endless stretch of eternity before me to drown in regret and guilt." He said it all with a kind of humorless self deprecation but even with her power tamped down, she could feel his pain.

He was so deeply sad, distressed, and suffering that her heart went out to him. Before she could think to stop herself, she sat the cup down and hugged him tightly and fiercely.

He froze for a long moment, but then he sat his own cup down and wrapped her in his arms, burying his face in her hair and breathing deeply in. She could feel that this brought him comfort. She wondered when was the last time anyone had touched this man with kindness or compassion.

After a long moment he reluctantly released her. She didn't step back far from him, only a few inches as she gazed at him. He had every color eyes that seemed to change shade from moment to moment. His dark hair fell to his waist, held back now in a ponytail. He was lean, yet muscular, large yet graceful. And just now he was gilded in moonlight, the silvery beams wreathing him in mystery. The man was magic.

She resisted the insane urge she had to kiss him and cleared her throat.

"Will you let me help you?" She asked.

"What good will reliving my mistakes do?" He wondered.

"You would be surprised how cathartic it can be to face what you fear." She murmured. "True Witches call it shadow work. Facing the nasty parts of yourself you would rather pretend didn't exist. We must all do it." She explained.

He studied her in silence for a few minutes.

"Very well. Help me, Abby." The sincerity in his voice rang through her like a bell and she felt everything in her responding to his call for aid. Somehow, she felt she was meant to help this man.

"Of course. Do you want to start now?" She asked.

"There is no time like the present." He stated, eyes never leaving hers. She nodded and reached up, crowning his head with her fingertips, just as she had with Tina.

Only, this was a very different task. She released her hold on her power and flowed into his mind like water through a crumbling stone wall.

He was consumed by guilt and shame. They haunted everything he thought, said and did. No wonder he was having issues controlling his wolf.

She sensed a great deal of self accountability, but there was a lot of denial too. He seemed torn between accepting responsibility and feeling like an unfairly blamed victim who had been betrayed and usurped. The two sides of him were at war with each other.

Meanwhile the wolf in him was reeling from the loss of it's mate, and trying to cope with suddenly being a lone wolf for the first time in it's existence. She mentally stroked the great beast that crouched inside Endymion. It calmed and shivered under her mental touch, lying down with a huff and looking at her with mournful eyes.

"Don't worry. I will do whatever I can." The wolf spirit nodded and laid it's head on its paws. Having calmed the beast, she turned her attention to the man. A much more complicated beast than the wolf.

No wonder Amara had sent him to Abby. Endymion was at war with himself and losing. He had no hope. It was chaos. She exerted her power and everything froze. It was like walking through a room and hanging from a ceiling she couldn't see were post cards on strings. Each post card held an image. Each image was a memory.

"What is this place?" Endymion had appeared beside her.

"This is your mind, Endymion. I've ordered it so that we can move safely."

"This is what my mind looks like?" He wondered.

"Not necessarily. The mind is a fluid thing. It can be as restrictive or open as you choose it to be. It's all about how you choose to deal with your own mind. This room was my design. It will go back to your normal state once I leave, though hopefully calmer. You're in a great deal of distress." She stated gently. "We can start whenever you're ready."

"I'm ready." He said, sounding confident.

"Then lets begin."

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