Nathan

This part took forever and I am so sorry about that. A lot went on this week, but I should be back on top of the updates now - the next one will be up on the 14th (but depending on how long it is, I might have to push it back a day - not this many times though just the one most likely. I'll post about it on my page, so if you want, you can follow me to get the notifications). Hope this one was worth the wait.

Arriving at the campground was uneventful. I was half expecting a welcome parade, or something extravagant, to greet us, but it was just a normal campsite, with nothing out of the ordinary about it. It wasn't even clear, other than the smell in the air, that there were other shifters here for the same reason. The way the Academy was made out to me, meant I was under the impression that something more than a normal campsite was waiting for us. I wasn't complaining, however, because it eased the feeling of it being a big deal. It's just camping at the moment, the big thing will come when I meet the Academy tomorrow.

Until then I'm just trying to enjoy myself. Spending some quality time with all of the guys will do us all good. It feels like I've not seen some of them for weeks, apart from at school, and I can't wait to just have a vacation from everyday life. We've constantly been on the go, with me being pulled from one guy to another, so for us to have a chance to have a vacation from that has me excited.

The car ride down here reflected that, and even though North, who was driving, got tired of the music soon enough, Gabriel and Luke had made a playlist of different songs that I would like, which we danced and sang to.

Silas had kept sneaking glances back to me in the mirror, and North in turn watched Silas as he did so, and on a few occasions, I assumed that they were speaking silently to each other. I didn't pry.

The guys all knew that Silas had marked me, as they had all felt similarly to when Kota and Victor did so, but this time when I met them all this morning at the cars, there were curious looks over me for it. It wasn't visible, and when asked where it was Silas just smirked and stayed silent. I followed his lead and hoped that no one would try and enter my mind to find out. If they had, no one has spoken up on the matter, and I haven't really felt any poking around from any of them today, apart from check-ins by the other car.

Being squashed between Gabriel and Luke didn't help with the fresh mark, because every time either of them brushed past it, or the seatbelt touched it, or my shirt brushed it I would squirm in my seat, suddenly overheating. Every time that would happen, Silas would sneak another glance back at me with a smirk.

I was thankful to finally get out of the car, and the guys all gave me questioning looks at my flustered face and the ever-growing feeling they must have been feeling as well but didn't push it further.

Silas brushed past me, his arm touching the mark and I can't tell if it was deliberate or not, but either way, a smirk was firmly planted on his lips.

"Silas," I groan, crossing my arms. He chuckles, clutching one of my arms lightly, pulling me toward our empty lot.

"Come on, Aggele."

I spot Nathan by the trees assessing the lot, and I break away from Silas to go to him, wanting to spend some time with him. Even with us both living in the same house, the past weeks where we have been together alone have been few and far between. I've missed him, and hope we can spend some more time together on this trip.

He sees me coming up to him, and smiles. "Hey, peanut. You alright?" He pulls me into his side and kisses me on the top of my head.

"Yeah. I've never been camping, so I'm kind of excited. You OK, honey?"

"I'm great. Just glad to have a break."

"Me too," I agree.

"We've never been to this campground before, but I heard that there's a beach here."

I must have physically lit up at the thought because he chuckles. "I'll have to look at one of the maps." I grin at the thought and look back to the lot with Nathan who begins to walk back toward the cars and the guys who are unloading the packs and boxes they brought with us. It was a well-oiled machine, and the boxes went down a line before being stacked in the same place while the packs and tents were stacked on the other side.

"Here, peanut, help me figure out how to put the tents up." I stand beside him, and even though I have no doubt Nathan already knows, I'm thankful to be included.

By the time everything is unpacked, Nathan and I have only just managed to get the tent out of its packaging. It's more than big enough to house us all.

Nathan skims over the instructions, reading out the parts we need, and doing an inventory to check we have all the necessary bits and bobs.

We do, and upon looking at the amount of material and the size of some of the poles, I'm glad that the guys are now available to help. Nathan and I would have never got it up by ourselves.Kota takes charge pointing all the guys in different directions with different instructions without looking at the ones that came with it. Judging by how they all move with it, I don't stand a chance of being of any use to them.

Nathan skirts around the edge of where the guys are working with the tent, nudging me in the arm.

"The guys have this, want to find the beach?" he asks. I nod enthusiastically. "Hey, Kota, pass me a map?" he calls over to where Kota is working with the canvas.

Kota delves into his pocket passing the one he finds over to us, Nathan meeting him halfway.

"Where are you guys going?" Gabriel calls to us, slightly out of breath from the heavy tent.

"Exploring," I respond, and Gabriel sighs in a complaint.

"I want to come," he pouts exaggeratedly.

"We can go later?" I offer in consolation, and with an order from Kota to pull on his part of the tent, Gabriel agrees.

"Come on then, peanut." Nathan turns and walks to the trees, and I follow after him, jogging slightly to catch up with him so I'm able to walk beside him.

Nathan's hand brushes against mine, and I want to reach out and grasp it, the action feeling like the right thing to do, but I stop myself, unsure if that's what Nathan wants.

"Should we be worried about bears?" I ask. Nathan shakes his head in a 'no' but it's accompanied by a shrug of his shoulders.

"I'd take one on if we encountered one," he says, his eyes turning to me letting me know he's joking, but deep down the seriousness of the suggestion peeks through. The thought scares me. Even in wolf form, I think a bear could easily take us down.

I lift my foot over a branch lying on the floor, and when I bring the other one over, it catches on it and I fall forwards toward the ground. Nathan's hand grasps mine firmly, and I am able to gather my balance.

When we set off again, Nathan keeps ahold of my hand and a small smile comes to my lips. He squeezes my hand every so often, and at first, I think it's just to help me keep balance walking over the branches and stones littering the forest floor, but Nathan still does it when we're able to walk easily. It comforts me.

He checks the map every so often, before he comes to a standstill, looking around. I stop next to him, and he points to the map for my benefit.

"I think we're here," he says, and I agree with him based on which direction we're walking and how far.

"We need to go north," I notice, pointing to the right of me, through a gap in the trees that will take us north. "So, that way."

He looks down at me and then in the direction I'm pointing. "How do you know which way's north? We've twisted and turned, and we could be facing in any direction."

I shrug. "I'm just good with directions."

He smiles. "You're my little compass. I should take you with me on more adventures."

"I'd like that," I tell him, beaming. He lingers on my eyes for a moment before he grabs my hand again, pulling me gently in the direction I pointed.

"I trust you."

The deeper we get into the woods the more the surroundings become wilder and overgrown. Nathan and I are forced into a single file, to allow us both to fit through some spaces, but he still has a hold of my hand.

"I don't think this is used very often," I call back to him, looking over my shoulder.

Upon looking back to the direction we're walking, I stop suddenly finding my path blocked, and Nathan bumps into my back at the change of speed.

"Yeah," he agrees, examining the tree that's fallen onto the path in front of us. He places his hands on my shoulders, pulling me gently to the side, and we press up against each other as we change positions. He runs his hands over it, peering up to the top, before turning back to me.

"I don't think we should climb over, we don't know what waits for us on the other side." I squeeze past him, placing my hands on a branch coming out of the trunk, and find a foot hole before pulling myself up.

"Sang," Nathan says worried, his hands coming to my back to stop me from falling. I push up as far as I can go with where I'm standing and see that there is a path on the other side, with a glimmer of the setting sun through a gap in the trees at the very end. Hopefully, it'll lead us onto a beach, or at least close to one.

"If we can get over, we should be able to leave the woods," I tell him as I let go of the branch and fall back to the ground. I wipe my hands, but it's no use if we're only going to go over in a minute.

Nathan sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. He motions for me to move to the side, and I do so, allowing Nathan to do what I just did. He reaches his arms up to the top of the trunk, pushing, and it allows him to shimmy up onto it. He pushes himself to his feet. I bend my head back hoping to see his face, but he's too high for me to be able to. He crouches down, calling down for me to try and follow his route.

I bring my foot up to the foot-hole I used to look over the trunk, and push up, reaching for a branch. I search for another and pull myself up, and Nathan reaches down for my hand. With a firm hold on my hand, he pulls on my arm, and I swing my legs up onto the trunk.

Nathan stands, and once I have joined him, he looks me over, hands going over my sides, looking for anywhere I could be injured.

I grab his hands, holding them between us.

"I'm fine, Honey," I tell him.

"This wasn't the best idea. Don't tell North we did this," he admits, but I wave him off.

"We're halfway," I tell him hoping for him to agree it's too late to go back. Either way, we're going to have to deal with getting down from on top of the trunk. We can always find another way back. I don't want to turn back now when we're so close.

Nathan seems to agree with me and jumps down from the trunk. My hands fly through the air, attempting to stop him even though he's already on the ground. I retract them, knowing he's safe.

"Alright, Peanut, I'll catch you," he calls up, his arms outstretched ready for me.

Jumping off of the trunk has me apprehensive, even with Nathan promising to catch me. I know how to roll if I land badly, but how is Nathan going to be able to catch me when I'm falling.I close my eyes and take the leap of faith. Hands catch me on my hips, my shirt sliding up my body with the hands. The hands cause me to slow in momentum so when my feet finally hit the ground, I'm able to land safely, without any catastrophes.

Nathan smiles at me and takes a step back, his hands still holding my shirt up. Nathan looks down, his cheeks going red at the fact he's holding my shirt up. His expression shifts and he furrows his eyebrows. I know where he's looking instantly, as it's like his eyes are burning through the new mark, resulting in flutters to start deep in my stomach.

"Silas," he states, it dawning on him. "Why'd he mark you there?"

I shrug. "He wanted to." Nathan's jaw clenches slightly, but he fixes the situation and takes a step back, his hands falling away from me.

"Nathan?" I question

He ponders whether to answer me for a moment before he turns back to me.

"Sang, I can't deny that seeing you marked by the others makes me at least the tiniest bit jealous." He shoves his hands into his pockets, not meeting my eyes.

"Oh," I say, wanting to say something more, and upon consideration I do. "I'm sure all of you have been feeling like that. Nathan, it's ok to be jealous. You all have to share me, so it's going to take a person who doesn't exist to not be jealous. Being a bit jealous is normal, and I'm glad you admitted it. You can mark me whenever you want to. I didn't think of how you would feel to see me marked by the others and feel the pit of missing something. I can feel it, but you guys must be feeling it deeper." It's the first time that any of the guys have admitted to being jealous, but judging by looks that I've got from some of them, they're all feeling it, and now at least I know, and could possibly do something about it.

"No, Sang, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have-"

"No, Nathan, your feelings matter." He smiles at me adoringly, his hands rising to my cheeks, cupping them.

"You're amazing." I blush and look away from him. He kisses me on the forehead, and I lift my head before he pulls away. I don't know if my intention was to catch him, or just to look at him thinking he wouldn't be so close, but when our lips brush against each other's, I'm not complaining.

It takes him by surprise, but he reciprocates, smashing his lips closer to mine in a rough show of passion. My hands go to his hair, and I dig my fingers in, wanting to clutch onto something. He walks me back and his body presses mine into the tree trunk we just climbed over. He pulls back and I take the opportunity to breathe in deeply, my breath having been sucked out of me at the ferociousness of the kiss.

"You're not just kissing me, because of what I said?" he asks, his eyes holding concern and doubt.

"No," I object almost instantly, hoping the passion and desperation for him to understand comes across. "I love you, Nathan."

This ignites something in him, and he comes back in for another kiss, pressing the back of my head into the bark of the wood so roughly that I fear when I move away from where I'm standing either there will be a dent in the tree or an imprint of the bark in my head.

He pulls back from me only for a couple of seconds to repeat the sentiment back to me. "I love you so much, Sang. You are so special, and I wish I could make this all easier for you."

I brush his hair away from his head, wanting to make this easier for him as well.

"Can I mark you, Nathan?" I ask. He reels his head back as if I surprised him again, or he was unsure if I actually wanted to, but I keep my features serious so he believes me.

We share a look and at that moment I place a guard down on my mind, wanting Nathan and I to only share this with the two of us. He bends his head away, baring his neck to me, and I kiss it.

"I'm yours, Nathan." He trails his hands down my body, clutching onto my hips. "Yours," I murmur again before I place a bite on the place I just kissed. He pushes into even harder, if that's possible, his leather and cypress making sense in our surroundings. It feels natural to smell it here, and it feels natural for him to be pushing up against me like this. I would go wherever he went, as long as I could feel this with him again. I hope that this bite will help with his jealousy, but my plan to spend time with him over the next week allows me time to help ease his jealousy, without using my bite.

A twig cracking somewhere in the woods has me pulling back from Nathan, having been jolted from the haze over my senses, who moves his hand off my hip, stroking where he just was. "Sorry," he says, looking down at where his hand is.

"What?" I ask.

"I was clutching you too tightly." Now he said it, I felt a dull ache where we pressing his fingers into me, but it wasn't enough for me to complain. I accept his apology, all the same, knowing he won't accept my promises he didn't hurt me.

His hand entangles with mine again, and I smile. He lifts my hand, his lips falling onto the back of it. His teeth press hard against his lips, and I gasp.

"Nathan, please," I plead. He turns my hand over, my wrist exposed to him. His mouth opens exposing his canines. They look bigger than my wrist, and if he were to bite me, I worry he would straight through it, but when Nathan pulls back, telling me he doesn't have to bite me there if I don't want to, I deny his offer of changing places. He wants to mark me there, and I trust that he would never hurt me.

Nathan presses his canines into my wrist, his eyes on mine. I open the link between our minds, remembering how amazing it was with Silas, and wait. The skin indents around his canines but doesn't break open yet.

When Nathan finally closes his mouth on my wrist, he sucks at the same time. My knees buckle from under me, but his body pushing me against the tree allows me to stay standing in the same position.

I let out a light moan, my head falling back, and I regret it instantly because it breaks our eye contact. It's made up for by the feeling of another connection getting stronger, and the knowledge that Nathan would follow me just as far as I would follow him. Nathan's body relaxes against mine, and I hope that's an indicator of him feeling better about things. No matter what happens we have each other for life now. If we ever got lost, we'd always find our way back to each other. I instinctively know where north is on the compass, but now I'd be able to orientate myself to Nathan no matter where he is.

We manage to get to the beach, and we spend a couple of minutes there, reveling in the new mark on each other. Walking back to our lot, Nathan holds onto my hand firmly, and every so often he would move his fingers up my wrist to stroke the mark. I lost my step whenever it would happen.

The tent is up when we return, and upon entering, all eyes turn to us.

"Really? Up against a fucking tree?" is North's greeting.

Here you go! I hope you liked it! I once again apologise for the delay, I am truly sorry it took me so long to get this part up.

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