Nature is not a place to visit 34

Chapter 34
*“They spoke of small things at first, since it was best, when reattaching threads, to start with the easiest knots.”*
*Chris Cleave*
I couldn’t find Ambrose.
I could still feel his presence through the mate bond, which led me to believe he hadn’t ventured far, but I still couldn’t
find him. It was as if he’d disappeared into thin air.
And I had a feeling that was his plan.
I breathed a big sigh as I plopped down on the steps outside of the pack house.
*Stupid immortal, mysterious mate with the power to disappear whenever he wants to. If he wants to go off and sulk for
a while, fine.*
*I’m sure he can sense me through the bond, and when he’s ready to talk, he’ll be able to find me.*
“Ollie.”
I whipped my head around to find Rae standing a couple of feet away, looking just as exhausted as she had at the
meeting.
“Hey,” I said, giving her a small smile.
“Hey,” she said, returning the smile. She shuffled awkwardly on her feet, kicking away dirt and blades of grass.
I swallowed.
For the first time in a long time, I had no idea what to say to my best friend. Twenty-four hours ago, I hadn’t even known
if she was alive, and now…I wasn’t sure how to talk to her.
“You stood up for me in there,” she finally said, “In front of the pack and Hudson.”
“Of course I did,” I replied, “Why wouldn’t I have?”
“Because I was wrong,” she said, and I caught a glimpse of how much pain she was carrying in her eyes. “I was wrong
about the Blood Moons, about the attack…about all of it. And I should have listened to you.”
“There were a lot of people you should have listened to,” I said, “But I don’t think I need to tell you that…or beat you
over the head with it. I think you’re doing that well enough on your own. Besides, Hudson already gave you your
punishment. I don’t see the point in adding to it.”
She stepped closer and plopped down on the step beside me. There was a beat of silence between us and then she said,
“You know what I was thinking when I was sitting in the Blood Moon cell?”
I shook my head.
“I was thinking that revenge is stupid,” she said, “And it was about to cost me my entire life. It cost our pack members
some of theirs.”
“You wanted to avenge your parents and our pack,” I told her, “That’s not stupid.”
“But it’s not worth my life,” she shot back, her dark eyes gleaming, “It’s not worth a life where I don’t get to see you or Nana or…”
Hudson.
She didn’t say it, but I knew that was the next word out of her mouth.
“I’m just…” Her voice cracked.
“I know,” I said, and then I was pulling her into a hug.
She rested her head on my shoulder for a moment, and then suddenly, she jerked back to look at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Her nostrils flared. “You don’t smell like you.” Her eyes narrowed in on my neck and she added, “What’s that?” She
didn’t need to point it out for me to know what she was looking at – Ambrose’s temporary mark on my neck.
“It’s a mark,” I said, instinctively reaching up to touch it. “Just a temporary one. From Ambrose.”
Rae’s eyes widened with surprise. “He can do that?”
“Apparently.”
“Holy shit, dude,” she said, her voice tinged with awe, “You’re dating a god. A literal god. This is the stuff of legends.
They’re going to be writing about you hundreds of years from now.”
“Well,
🌔🌕🌖
When I finally found Ambrose, he was staring at a large red oak tree. It was the only red oak tree on our lands, nestled
deep into the forest, and it was massive. Without a doubt the biggest tree on our lands, and it had been there for as long
as any of the oldest pack members had been there.
Trying to climb the tree had been Rae and I’s favorite game as a kid, but as an adult, I couldn’t remember the last time
I’d even thought about the tree.
Ambrose stared at it silently, his muscled arms crossed over his bare chest.
*I really need to find him some sort of shirt.*
“I didn’t realize we were playing hide and seek,” I said, standing beside him. He stiffened at the sound of my voice
although I had a feeling he’d sensed my presence long before I said anything.
He remained silent, his eyes still fixed on the tree.
The tense silence settled over me like a suffocating weight. I hated awkward silences.
“Okay, you can’t do this,” I finally said.
Ambrose glanced at me with raised eyebrows. “Do what?” he asked.
“You can’t get all pouty and sulky when I don’t even know why you’re being pouty and sulky.”
He scoffed. “I’m not ‘all pouty and sulky.’”
“Something happened back there,” I said, “With Mia.”
“The witch, you mean,” he said, and the word was practically a snarl out of his mouth.
“You said you wanted to know everything about me, to understand me,” I started.
“I do.”
“That’s a two-way street,” I replied, “I want to understand everything about you too.”
I placed a hand on his bare shoulder, and I could see him visibly relax under my touch. Still, he didn’t immediately reply
so I kept talking. “I want to see every part of you. Lay yourself bare.”
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Something intense flickered through his eyes at that last part, and suddenly, his gaze felt all too heated.
“You want me to lay myself *bare* for you?”
My cheeks flushed.
“Well…you, uh, know what I meant,” I said, stumbling over my words.
Perhaps I was trying to escape the feverish look in his eyes, but I actually took a step back.
He took a step forward, cocking his head to the side.
Another step back.
“No, I don’t think I do,” he rasped, matching me with another step forward. “Why don’t you explain it to me?”
I could feel the flush spreading across my skin. “I mean, not actually bare bare –”
I went to take another step back, but my back met the bark of the red oak tree.
Ambrose’s eyes were alight with something predatory and hungry – like he was about to devour me with a single look.
I kind of wanted him to devour me.
“If you want me to lay myself bare for you, then so be it.”
And then his lips met mine, just as hungry and feverish as his eyes had been.
Whatever I’d been trying to say or think was lost in the feel of his lips against mine.
I hardly noticed the frantic way he pushed me into the tree or the sting of pain as the rough surface of the tree pressed
into me.
All I could think about was him.
And when his lips found their way to my neck, sucking and kissing every inch of my skin, I let out a soft moan.
He growled in response, and I felt his lips find their way to the temporary mark he’d left. I wasn’t prepared for how
sensitive the skin was there, but as soon as I felt his lips touch it, my knees almost buckled.
*Holy shit.*
Pleasure ran through me like an electric wire, and yet, it was not enough. I needed more.
“Just wait until I’ve left a real claiming mark on you,” he murmured, his cool breath ghosting over the temporary mark.
The quiet whimper that came out of my mouth didn’t sound anything like me, and had I not been so distracted by
Ambrose’s lips, I might’ve blushed in embarrassment. I wasn’t the kind of girl who whimpered – not even when a
beautiful man had his hands all over me.
I felt his grip tighten at the sound, and he pulled back to look at me. His eyes looked just as hungry as ever.
“I want to taste you, little wolf,” he said and his voice was heavy with lust.
Even the thought of Ambrose’s mouth tasting me was enough to send my heart racing.
“What if someone finds us?” I whispered. As heated as I was, I was still logical enough to realize we were out in the open.
All it would take was someone running border patrol to stumble upon us.
Even if Ambrose was my mate, that was not the kind of conversation I wanted to have with Hudson.
“Then I would kill them,” he said bluntly as if he was discussing the weather. “I could not allow someone who’s seen my mate naked to live.”
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And then, as if that ended all discussion, he sunk to his knees and began undoing the button of my jeans.
Maybe it was seeing him on his knees, maybe it was the way his hands began to graze over my hips or just the thought
of what his mouth would feel like, but I didn’t argue.
He pulled my jeans and panties off in one fluid motion and let them fall to my knees. I expected him to start touching
me, but instead, he just looked at me. His eyes roamed over my bare thighs, my hip bones, and everything that lay in
between. I’d never really given much thought to what I looked like down *there*, but now, I suddenly wondered if he
found me ugly. Did he think my lips were too big or puffy? Could he see the little red bumps that came from shaving?
It was a new kind of insecurity – one I’d never experienced before. I’d only ever experienced this one time, and with Luke,
I’d never wondered any of this.
Before I could voice any of my newfound insecurities, his gaze found mine.
“You’re so beautiful, little wolf,” he said huskily. His pupils were blown wide with desire. “I could drink in the sight of you
all day.”
And just as they’d blossomed, Ambrose nipped those little insecurities in the bud. My wolf was purring in my head. Our mate found us desirable, and that satisfied something deep and primal in me.
His lips immediately attached to the bare skin of my inner thigh. He started softly, just kissing and licking at the skin. It
felt like he was teasing me, and I might’ve complained had he not started nipping at me.
When his blunt teeth bit into my inner thigh, I couldn’t stop the breathy moan from leaving my lips. He didn’t stop there. He started nipping and sucking and biting, his lips lingering dangerously close to my clit.
“I can tell how wet you are already,” he whispered against my skin as his fingers began playing with my folds.
He was right – I coated his fingers easily.
A thrill of pleasure rocked through me when his a single finger sunk into me. There was a stretch, but I hardly noticed it
because he’d chosen that same moment to start licking my clit.
My head rolled back, thumping against the tree. Had it not been for Ambrose’s other hand tightly gripping my hip, I
think I might’ve lost my balance.
Heavenly was the only word I could use to describe the sensation of his tongue against my clit. Each lick, each warm
brush of the muscle, each move – it was if he’d read the instruction manual on how to unravel me.
Not to mention, his long, thick finger had begun moving in and out of me at a tortorously slow pace.
A loud, whiny moan I didn’t even know I could make escaped my throat.
I clasped my hand over my mouth immediately.
Even through the pleasurable haze, I still knew we were exposed in the woods. If I was loud enough, I’d certainly draw
attention.
However, Ambrose didn’t seem to share that sentiment.
Just as soon as I’d covered my mouth, his hand was reaching up to pull it away.
“Don’t muffle your sounds,” he said, and I practically spasmed when I felt his breath against my clit. I needed more. “I want this entire forest to hear me as I make you cum.”
*How is it that he’s so good at dirty talk when he’s spent a thousand years in a magical coma?*
I’m not sure when warmth began coiling in my lower belly like a knot, but when a second finger found its way into me, I
found my toes curling.
As if he knew exactly what he was doing to me, Ambrose didn’t slow down. He pumped his fingers faster, his tongue
licked harder – I could feel the knot tightening and tightening, and…
His fingers brushed some part deep inside me and I came undone.
I spasmed around his fingers, and his tongue kept suckling my clit, lapping up every bit of me. The moan that came out
of my mouth was loud and unfiltered – there was no thought for those that might hear.
It wasn’t until I was slumped against the tree, breathing heavy and feeling the aftereffects of my high that Ambrose
finally pulled away from my pussy.
He pulled his fingers out of me, still slick.
I watched as he brought them to his mouth. He never broke eye contact with me, not even when he said, “You taste just
as delicious as I thought you would, little wolf