Nature is not a place to visit 15

Chapter 15
*“I would have waited five hundred years for you. A thousand years.”*
*Sarah J. Maas*
As a kid, I remember dreaming of how I’d meet my mate. I think most werewolves do. If you’re lucky, the day you turn
sixteen, you’ll lock eyes with somebody in your pack and that’ll be it. Those people are the fortunate ones.
The rest of us just have to wonder. We’ll spend months, years, or even decades waiting for the opportunity to meet your
other half. And if you’re one of the unlucky ones, that opportunity may never come.
And either way, you’ll probably spend a countless number of sleepless nights imagining all the horrific ways they
might’ve died before you ever got the chance to meet them.
At twenty-one, I’d learned to stop imagining and wondering. It did no good, not when I was already living in a world
falling apart. It was better to fill the void of being mateless with other things – friends and family – than wait for
somebody who may never show up.
Still, I was never able to completely stop wondering. Occasionally, I’d picture the various ways we’d meet – maybe
someone visiting from another pack, a friendly rogue that accidentally stumbled onto our territory, even a human. There were some cute ones at the coffee shop I liked to go to.
But not once in any of those scenarios did I picture finding my mate sleeping in a tomb. People in tombs were usually,
you know, very dead. They weren’t supposed to be alive and warm and beautiful.
My wolf howled in my head, more overjoyed than I’d ever heard her, as we just stared at each other. His blue and brown
eyes were wide with disbelief and confusion – he looked just as surprised by my presence as I was by his.
*So beautiful.*
Had I been thinking logically and not stuck in some love-mate-trance, I might’ve realized that something wasn’t right
here. My mate wasn’t some guy I’d found in a coffee shop – he’d been in a literal tomb.
Instead, all I could think about was how pretty his multi-colored eyes were or how lean and muscular he looked. My wolf wanted to jump his bones right then and there.
The man in question still looked confused and disoriented – like he’d just woke up from a long nap – but he was staring
at me too. I didn’t miss the way his eyes roamed over my face, my hair, and my body. My wolf purred at the thought of
our mate finding us pleasing.
If someone were to ask me how long this staring-mutual-checking-out session went on, I couldn’t tell you. It felt like
several minutes, but in reality, it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.
All I saw was him – even the weird cosmic glow blue light had faded into the background too.
He hadn’t moved from the position I’d found him, just staring up at me and taking me in with confused eyes. Part of me was starting to wonder if he was even capable of moving or doing anything but blinking. I mean, I had found the guy in a
tomb.
And then suddenly, he was on top of me.
He’d moved so quickly that not even my supernatural eyesight had caught the movement.
One moment he was lying in the tomb, blinking up at me, and the next, he’d pressed me against one of the columns in
the temple and his face was pressed into my neck, breathing me in.
I didn’t even have time to let out a gasp at the sudden movement although my wolf did suddenly let out another joyous
howl. *Mate!*
He breathed me in like a dying man, his nose pressed into the crook of my neck.
*“Mate,”* he growled, and the sound nearly left me quivering.
Not for the reasons you’d think – it was the power in his voice. I’d heard Alphas growl plenty of times, but even Hudson
or Alpha Roman’s voice was nothing like the power that emanated from this man.
The raw power of his voice resonated through the old temple, and had I not currently been pressed against the wall, I
might’ve dropped to my knees. He was large too. He was all lean muscle, but he was *tall.* He would’ve easily towered
over most Alphas I’d seen in my life.
“Mate,” he growled again, pressing his nose further into my neck. “Mate. *Mine.* You’ve come to me…after all this time.
You’ve come to me.” At that last part, his grip on my waist tightened almost painfully.
“Mate,” I breathed back, still drunk on the hormones of meeting my mate for the first time, “Yours.”
“Yes. *Mine.*”
I couldn’t see his face, but I felt his full lips press against my neck, felt the graze of his teeth against my neck. I knew what
he was about to do. He was going to mark me – here and now.
That was insane, it was crazy for a man who didn’t even know my name to claim me. Had I been more lucid and rational,
this would’ve been the moment I pulled back. But I didn’t. No, my love-drunk-hormonal ass just turned my head to give
him better access to my neck.
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Just as I felt his full lips kiss the spot where he’d mark me, the moment was broken by Luke’s voice ringing through our
mind-link: *Ollie!*
It was if I’d been doused by cold water.
As soon as I heard Luke’s voice, whatever mate hormones had been raging through my system stopped. My head
cleared, and for the first time in minutes, I remembered where I was.
*Oh, God.*
*I’m in the Moon God’s temple.*
*There was an explosion.*
*Luke got hurt.*
*The guy who’s about to mark me right now was, quite literally, stuck in the tomb.*
*The Moon God’s tomb*.
*My friend is injured and in need of help, and I’m about to let some stranger mark me. He may be a hot stranger that’s
also my mate, but still a stranger.*
With a strong push, I went to shove him away – but he didn’t budge. Not an inch.
I tried again, using every ounce of supernatural strength I had in my body.
It didn’t even phase him, but this time, he let out a growl and tightened his grip. “Why are you trying to push me away, mate?” he rasped, his voice deep enough that I just wanted to melt in front of him. “I’m going to mark you and then I will
claim you.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Luke beat me to it.
“Hey!” he shouted, “Leave her alone!”
The man pressing me against the wall froze. Slowly, he pulled his head from my neck. His multi-colored eyes met mine
momentarily and my breath caught in my throat. His grip on my waist didn’t falter at all, and his body was still pressing
against mine, his back to Luke.
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complete story. Head over there to dive into the next chapter—it’s all free!
I couldn’t read the look in his eyes as he turned his head to face Luke, but the pit in my stomach told me that something
very, very bad was about to happen if I didn’t act fast.
My eyes darted to Luke. He’d managed to pull himself off the ground and stand up, but just from a glance, I could tell he wasn’t in good shape. He looked wobbly on his feet, and his face was pale, his blue eyes clouded with pain. Even several
feet away, I could still smell the blood leaking from the back of his head.
He looked like he was about to pass out any second, but there was determination on his face. “Hey, you!” Luke shouted,
although his voice sounded much weaker than it normally did, “I don’t know who you are, but that’s my friend you’re
holding there. You need to let her go now!”
The man pressing me against the wall merely blinked at him. I expected him to growl or tense up the way that most wolves do when they’re facing a threat, but he didn’t do any of those things. Luke might as well have been a cockroach
that accidentally stumbled into his path.
Luke opened his mouth to spew another warning, and that’s when I saw it. One of the hands holding my waist let go and moved to his side. Blue light – the same blue light that had exploded into the sky earlier – started to emanate from his
fingertips.
He started to raise his hand in Luke’s direction.
*No, no, no.*
If the way it blasted into the sky was any indication, that blue light could do some damage. It could kill Luke.
I didn’t think about what I did next – I just acted.
Pulling myself from his grip while he was distracted, I stumbled backwards. “Hey!” I shouted. The man’s attention
immediately shot to me, his hand paused mid-air.
He raised an eyebrow at me.
Come on, Ollie. Think! You need a distraction or this guy is going to kill Luke.
“You said you wanted to mark me, right?” I asked, “Well…you’re going to need to catch me first.”
I didn’t hesitate to bolt toward the exit of the temple.
As I headed for the tree line at full speed, I mind-linked Luke: *Run!*