I stormed back to what I was starting to view as my cave. The spot where Abby slapped me still stung. Not just my face, but mostly my pride. Even after she betrayed me, I did everything in my power to help her and all she did was tell me to go fuck off.

I should listen and leave her playing slave girl to some narcissistic vampire. Even as I said it, I knew I couldn’t abandon her. As I entered the cave, that familiar warmth engulfed me.

I stripped off my tattered clothes, sat aside my weapon and lowered myself into the hot spring. Max was right behind me. The size of the space required me to sit in his lap, which I had no complaints about.

I laid my head against his chest and closed my eyes. “Go ahead.”

“Go ahead and what?” he asked while lathering my back.

“Go ahead and tell me how wrong I am and how I need to apologize to Abby for the way I treated her.”

“Do you need me to tell you that?”

I sighed. “No, but I was starting to get used to it.”

His hands traveled to my front side. “When it comes to defending Julian, it looks like Abby has that handled. So I’ll just stay here with you.”

I couldn’t argue with that one bit, but something nagged at me. “You think I’m in the wrong, for trying to take Abby, don’t you?

“I know you’re in the wrong.” He said running the sponge across my shoulder.

“Then why did you defend me against Julian?”

“Because, he threatened you.”

“He always threatens me. It’s one of his top ten hobbies.”

Max kissed my neck. “Things are different now.”

Not that I was complaining, but I did have some questions. “When you turned me into a werewolf, did the universe put some sort of cosmic whammy on you to make me your mate.”

“No, it happened before you were turned and it’s not something that happens to us, it’s something we choose.”

His hands ran across my slick, wet skin, exploring every inch of me.

“Don’t you think that’s something we should have discussed first?” I turned around and straddled him, taking his earlobe between my teeth.

He nipped my shoulder. “That’s not how it works. When you cried in my arms because you realized you loved me, something in me changed. I knew that I’d never want anyone but you ever and I became yours for the rest of my life. So, of course, you nearly die the next day, because that’s totally a Kiera thing to do.”

“Guilty as charged,” I barely managed to say, my hips rolling against his growing hardness. “What would have happened if we hadn’t gotten attacked and I never asked you to bite me.”

“Then I would have loved you all the days of you life and never looked at another woman after that. A werewolf can only choose one mate.”

I was his first choice. My vision went blurry.

He wiped my cheek. “Are you okay?”

I smiled. “Sometimes when the happiness is too much, it just spills out.” I kissed him deeply, trying to convey a whirlwind of emotion with my touch.

He grabbed my hips and thrust inside me, making me moan against his lips. On my knees, I rode him, the hot water sloshing onto the floor with each thrust.

In our little cave, we were all that existed. Nothing but our bodies, the heat and so much desire it was hard to contain. I rode him until the pressures built and sweet release had me coming in his lap.

But we didn’t stop there. He carried me over to the furs and took me again, fucking me hard and fast until my toes curled and I left claw marks down his back. Then he flipped me over and did it again. My body was sore and he’d surely wrung every orgasm out of my body possible, but he wouldn’t stop. With my eyes squeezed tight another explosion wracked me, but this time he came with me, his seed dripping down my thighs as he continued for several more thrusts.

Using his arm as a pillow, with my face against his chest I mumbled, “I should apologize to her, shouldn’t I?”

He kissed the top of my head. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

I groaned. “Fine. I’ll go back once I’m capable of standing.”

He laughed, tucking me against him.