Nature is not a place to visit 19

*Chapter 19*
*“It hardly matters if you’ve known someone a lifetime or a minute. Our wolves always know who they belong to.”*
*Dannika Dark*
If there was one thing I’d begun to realize about this man – if I could even call him that – it’s that he wasn’t shy about
eye contact. Pressed against the tree with his fingers thumbing my lip and his other hand on my shoulder, it felt as if I
couldn’t escape his multi-colored gaze.
Really, the only other place to look was down, which meant looking at his shirtless chest and his sculpted abs, and his
defined muscles. I wasn’t sure which would fluster me more.
*How is it that someone spends 1,000 years in a tomb and they’ve still got abs?*
I couldn’t avoid his intense gaze, so I did the one thing I knew how to do when I wanted to break the tension – change
the subject.
“You don’t know my name,” I suddenly blurted out.
He raised one of his eyebrows just slightly, but otherwise, he didn’t react to my statement.
“I mean,” I rambled, “You’ve been calling me ‘mate,’ which I guess I am, but I just realized that you don’t actually know
my name. See? We’ve made out and you wanted to mark me, but we didn’t even introduce ourselves properly.”
He raised his eyebrow a little higher, and I had to resist the urge to fidget under his gaze.
*Does this man ever blink?*
“My name is Ollie, by the way,” I said.
“Ollie?” He repeated, and I wasn’t prepared for the goosebumps that prickled under my skin when my name rolled off his
tongue. Maybe it was just his voice, maybe it was the mate bond, but my name sounded like warm honey from his lips.
I swallowed. “Ollie,” I said, “Technically, it’s Olivia but nobody calls me that. Everyone calls me Ollie.”
I wondered if my name sounded strange to him. Most people thought Ollie was a boy’s name anyway, but this guy had
been asleep for a thousand years. He was probably used to names like Ophelia or Beatrice or Dolores.
“*Ollie*,” he said again like he was testing the name out on his tongue. “A beautiful name. Fitting for my little wolf.”
It took everything in me not to blush when he said that.
“Okay, wait a second,” I scoffed half-heartedly, “There’s nothing little about me. I’m twenty-one *and* the size of my wolf
form is pretty average for a werewolf. In fact, some might even say the larger end of average. So, I’m not little.”
He didn’t smile but I could’ve sworn I saw amusement flash through his eyes. “Of course not you’re not little,” he said, his
thumb brushing over my lips again, “My little wolf.”
This time, I couldn’t hide the blush from blossoming on my cheeks. Even my wolf purred so loudly in my head that I
momentarily worried he might be able to hear it.
“Do you have a name?” I asked in an attempt to change the subject again, “I mean, calling you the Moon God all the
time might be a bit of a mouthful.” Even saying it was just another reminder that my mate was no ordinary wolf. Even if
he looked like a man, he was something else completely.
“Yes, I have a name,” he said, his lips curving upwards, “Although it’s been quite a long time since anyone has used it.
The original name given to me was Ambrose.”
“Ambrose,” I repeated. I hadn’t meant to say his name out loud, but I just couldn’t help myself. In the back of my head,
my wolf purred our mate’s name.
I also wasn’t prepared for the way that the Moon God – no, Ambrose – physically trembled when I uttered his name. He
pressed himself closer to me, his nose falling into the crook of my neck.
“Say it again,” he murmured. His cool breath brushed against my sensitive skin, and this time, I was the one fighting not
to shiver.
*Is he always going to have this much of an effect on me?*
*If breathing on my neck gives me goosebumps, I can only imagine what the sex is going to –*
*No, no, no, Ollie! You can’t go down that rabbit hole or you might end up tearing off the little clothes that he has right
here.*
“Say my name again,” he said, “I want to hear you say it again.”
“*Ambrose*,” I breathed.
I heard his breath catch as his nose pressed into my neck.
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“It’s been so long since I’ve heard that name that I’ve almost forgotten it,” he whispered, his voice husky, “And to hear it
from my mate’s lips…”
His lips touched the sensitive skin of my neck, and it took every bit of willpower I had to say, “As much as I would love to
stay here in the woods and make out with you some more, I can’t. If you’re serious about helping my friends, we need to
go now.” The long sigh he gave as he pulled back told me he was just as reluctant to stop as I was.
With his face inches from mine, his eyes burned into mine. “There is one more thing,” he said.
One of his hands came up to brush against the sensitive spot where I knew his claiming mark would one day go.
“What is –”
There was a sharp sting where his fingers touched me, quick as a flash and gone by the time I’d registered the pain.
“*Ow!* What was that?”
I smacked his fingers out of the way to try and examine the area, but it was too far up on my neck for me to even get a
look. The skin felt smooth under my touch and I knew he hadn’t left a claiming bite, but I hadn’t imagined the sting. He must’ve done something.
His eyes trailed over my neck. “You said I could not mark you properly yet,” he said, his eyes finding mine, “But I could
not let you leave this forest without leaving some sort of mark on you. Don’t worry – it’s only temporary. When I leave a
real claiming bite, it’ll fade.”
“What will fade?” The fact that I couldn’t even see this temporary mark was driving me crazy, and Ambrose wasn’t
providing a lot of detail.
Had I not been irritated, I might’ve blushed when he pulled me in close and his full lips pressed against my forehead.
“It’s nothing to worry about, little wolf,” he said, “Now, let’s go save your pack.”