average human’s Reviews > Ambrosius > Status Update

There are things that both of us could have and should have done differently. We will next time, because I’m sure that with us being us, there will undoubtedly be a next time. Thank you for reaching out to me.”
I kissed the back of his neck before I let him go. He walked to the dresser and unplugged my phone before handing it to me.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“No thanks required. It was the least I could do.” Ambrosius tugged on my hand, pulling me out of the bedroom.
“Are you hungry? I should feed you. My dragon is pushing me to give you sustenance.”
“Your dragon…sustenance.” Ambrosius snorted before he started laughing. “Very well. He can see to feeding me downstairs. Atticus will be waiting for me down there. It’s possible that your brother will as well.”
“No doubt. I know he heard me yesterday. He responded to my call.”
Ambrosius raised an eyebrow at that. I wasn’t going to tell him that there were several other dragon calls in response. They all knew what mine had meant and their responding encouragement was appreciated.
We entered the elevator, quickly arriving at the ground floor. My stomach appreciated the scents that greeted us. Not only could I tell what we were having for breakfast, but I already knew that everyone in the house was in the kitchen, enjoying the early morning meal.
As we entered the kitchen, I lifted our joined hands and kissed the back of Ambrosius’s hand. I’d done so much more the night before, and I could tell he was remembering exactly what I’d done to him last night. I winked before I led him to the table and pulled out his chair. It made me feel good to see that another had been placed beside him for me.
“I’ll be right back with your food.”
“Oh, I can get it,” Ambrosius said, starting to get up.
“Don’t bother. Trust me on this. You should see our father with our da. He’ll just argue with you and then pout when his dragon isn’t allowed to take care of his mate. It’s a mating thing. Just go with it,” Reinhold told him. Ambrosius seemed a bit undecided before he sat back down.
I sent my brother a quick grin before I went over to the island and picked up a plate.
“Anything you don’t eat?” I asked.
“No. I eat anything. I’m partial to red meat and enjoy all fruits. Eggs are meh, but I do eat them if they’re poached. Bacon is good. As is the sausage I can smell.”
So apparently my mate wasn’t an overly picky eater. Good to know. I filled a plate for him, added fruit to a bowl, and decided to come back for his coffee.
“Eat up before it gets cold,” I whispered next to his ear as I placed them in front of him.
“Where’s yours?” Ambrosius turned toward me.
“I’ll eat just as soon as I see to you.” I kissed him quickly, then went back for his coffee.
“Just regular coffee with a bit of cream this morning, please.”
I changed the intended target—a smaller espresso mug—for a full-sized one. I poured the coffee, then added the creamer that was sitting next to the coffee maker. I took it back to Ambrosius and placed it in front of him.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
“My pleasure.” All other talking around the table stopped, and I sent my brother a questioning look. He only shrugged and went back to eating.
I returned to the island and fixed myself a plate, then grabbed a coffee and returned to the table. Ambrosius hadn’t yet started eating, and when I raised an eyebrow at him, he smiled.
“I was waiting for you.”
“You needn’t have done that, but I appreciate it.”
“Okay, what gives. Do you have a magical dick or something?”
The drink of coffee I’d been trying to swallow went spewing out of my mouth, and Reinhold started laughing loudly. I wiped my mouth, then sent Atticus an apologetic look before I turned to Lucius, who had asked the question.
“Cazzo!” Ambrosius shouted.
I really needed to brush up on my Italian. But I knew that Ambrosius was quite upset and whatever it is that he was saying wasn’t good.
“You will apologize to my beloved.” Ambrosius stood and stared down Lucius, who looked both shocked but a bit surprised himself.
I reached for Ambrosius’s hand and tugged. “It’s okay. I’m not offended even a little.”
Reinhold snorted, then started laughing again. I shoved my brother, who promptly fell out of his chair and just lay there on the floor laughing like a loon. I rolled my eyes and chanced a look at Atticus, who was trying his hardest to not join my brother on the floor, it seemed.
“And last night you thought I did have a magical dick, my love.”
Ambrosius was about to say something else when he suddenly looked at me and slowly sat down.
“Eat. We have work to do. I’ll kick my brother’s ass later, but for now, I wish you to eat before your food gets cold.”
I reached over and forked a bite of sausage and held it out to Ambrosius. He opened his mouth, accepting the bite, but still seemed a bit stunned. He started chewing, and I set my fork on my plate before turning my attention to Lucius.
“I know you are important to my mate. You are his second as I am Reinhold’s. But if you ever disrespect either of us as you just did, I will make your life hell. Understood?” I grinned at Lucius, who seemed even more shocked. Reinhold quickly got up and sat back in his chair and seemed to reassure Giovanni, who was obviously worried.
“I apologize. It’s just…I’ve known him for centuries, and I’ve never seen him…” Lucius gestured his hand up and down before he shook his head, then stared at Ambrosius. “I beg your forgiveness, Master. I was out of line, and I apologize. I forgot my place, and it won’t happen again.”
“Em…he’s family, and I’m upset about his comment, but this isn’t us.”
I nodded, then leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Lucius, I accept your apology. Surely you understand the mate pull. You and Giovanni have only just experienced it not long ago,” Ambrosius said.
Lucius took a deep breath and let it out.
“Yes, Master. I also saw you deteriorate rapidly over the past week because of…Emmerich. I just, my only concern is you, Master.”
“As is mine,” I interrupted.
“If I may?” Reinhold cut in.
“Please,” Ambrosius and I said at the same time.
“Dragons are possessive about their mates. Alphas even more so. If you need to know, just look to Alpha Sergei and how he still is with Chin after all of these centuries. What my brother feels for Ambrosius will never dim. It will only intensify as time passes. It’s obvious they have worked things out finally, and we should all be happy for them, for it is a blessing to find one’s fated mate.”
“Thank you,” I told my brother. I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze while I reached for Ambrosius’s hand. He took mine, lacing our fingers together. I turned my full attention to my mate, needing him to know just how much he meant to me and my dragon.
“I do apologize. Please forgive me,” Lucius said again.
“Are we good? He’s sincere, and I’ve never known him to be so crass. Ever.”
“We’re good, Ambrosius. I only wish to please you, and I can understand where the shock of seeing us like we are this morning came from.”
“We forgive you, Lucius. Please, just try to understand that things are new for the two of us. You know me and how difficult I can be. Much of the misunderstanding last week falls to me, not Emmerich.”
I squeezed Ambrosius’s hand. When I started to say something, he squeezed my hand harder, and I kept my thoughts to myself. He didn’t need to accept as much responsibility as he was. But for now, I would let it be. There would be time to talk about things later.
“Are we good, then?” I asked, hoping to diffuse the entire situation. I would no doubt put Lucius or anyone else in their place if needed though. My mate was the single most important person in my life.
“Yes,” Lucius said. He picked up his cup and took a sip of his coffee. We all went back to breakfast, but it was definitely a strained gathering. I knew I would need to talk to Lucius later, but for now, I simply wanted to see to my mate’s needs.
After he’d eaten more than half of his food and drank his coffee, he pushed his plate away and placed a hand on his stomach. I glanced between him and the plate, getting a subtle shake of his head in return.
“I’m full.”
I wasn’t sure he was. I’d not filled his plate nearly as full as I had mine, and he still had plenty left.
“I fed from you last night. I’m not overly hungry this morning.”
Oh, so that was it. We cleared our plates, then after I waved to my brother, we left the house with Atticus. Since we were going to stop at my house first, we took the golf cart. I sat on the back and shook my head while trying to keep my feet from dragging on the ground. Golf carts certainly weren’t designed for dragon shifters. At least Atticus was shorter and not nearly as wide in the shoulders.
When we stopped at my cabin, I removed myself and started toward the door. I heard a noise behind me and stopped, turning toward Ambrosius.
“If you come inside with me, my dragon is likely to repeat last night since it’s the first time you will be in our lair. Perhaps you could wait with Atticus? I won’t be but a minute.”
“Oh.”
I felt Ambrosius’s embarrassment through our bond and quickly pulled him to me for a soft kiss. “I want you in my space, and you will most certainly be welcome anytime. But if you wish to get to work today, I recommended you stay out here. My laptop is on my table, and it will take less than a minute to grab it.”
“All right.” Ambrosius seemed to accept that and turned back to Atticus and the tiny little golf cart. I ran inside, quickly grabbing my laptop and shoving it into my bag along with the charger and my tablet, then rushed back outside. We would be back later this afternoon, and Ambrosius would be more than welcome to come in with me then.
Ambrosius was settling himself in the seat as I hurried back to them.
“That fast?” my mate asked.
“Yes. I’m ready to head to work with you.”
Atticus drove us to the council building, and I jumped off the back once again and helped my mate this time. He gave me a smile that showed his fangs and caused the corners of his eyes to crinkle. I loved that I got those looks from him. We walked to the building, entering with Ambrosius first, Atticus holding the door for him, then me, and coming in behind us. I knew it was just how things were, but it would take some time to get used to it.
I happened to glance left and saw a familiar face and growled at the wolf that had all but started everything that day. Ambrosius stopped and gave me an exasperated look.
“Behave.”
“Yes, snookums,” I said and winked at Ambrosius. He tried his best to not smile but failed and eventually gave in.
“I liked the other nickname more,” he said before he kissed me in front of everyone that had seemed to gather and was watching. He turned and started toward his office, leaving me standing there once more like a young whelp.
“Yes, my love,” I called out and was rewarded with a hand held behind Ambrosius’s magnificent ass. I rushed to take it, lacing our fingers together, and followed my mate to his office. I could do this. No, we could. We would. We just needed to remember not everything is perfect immediately.

33%

“Ambrose, I just don’t think you should be going at this time. Perhaps it would be better if Lucius went in your place,” Edison said. I just glared at him like he was daft. He was.
“Lucius has a new baby, and there is no way he would wish to leave Giovanni and Angelo here. We all agree that where we’re going isn’t a place for a baby.”
Granted, we were only going to sniff out information, but Giovanni would possibly be a good target for the traffickers.
“And you’re pregnant, so how is that any different? What if something happens to you or the baby?” Edison asked. I flinched back as if I’d been slapped. I felt Emmerich come up behind me and place his hands on my waist. I leaned into my beloved, more than willing to let him support me.
It took a moment, but I finally found my voice. “You are daft. I’m not pregnant, I—”
“Actually…” Emmerich said next to my ear. I turned and met my dragon’s eyes. Mine were huge, I was sure.
“What do you mean, actually. We were just talking last week about how I’ve not yet had a fertile period.”
“Yes, my love. But then three mornings ago, I scented the baby. You are most certainly pregnant.”
The room started spinning. How could I be pregnant? I’d not had a fertile period. Granted, Emmerich spent every moment possible knotted to me, but that wouldn’t stop a fertile period, would it?
I felt myself being picked up, and I leaned in, burying my face in Emmerich’s neck. How was I pregnant? If he’d scented the baby, why hadn’t he said something? He lowered us to the couch, and I moved back to look at my beloved. He appeared concerned, which was understandable considering.
“Why didn’t you say something?” I whispered.
“I thought you would mention it when you were ready. I would have said something if I had realized you had no clue. It wasn’t intentional to keep it from you.”
“You dragons and your noses.”
Emmerich leaned in and ran his nose up the side of my neck before he stopped right next to my ear. “You like my nose. And other parts.”
“All of your parts. Am I really pregnant?”
“You are. Is that okay?” Emmerich ran his fingers through the scruff on my chin before he settled his hand on the side of my neck, his thumb gently rubbing my claiming bite.
“I want to have your babies. I thought we’d been over this?” I smiled at Emmerich, who returned it with one of his own.
“We have. But one needs to be sure at times. Trust me, my dragon is more than ready to announce it to anyone who will listen.”
I leaned in and kissed Emmerich but pulled back quickly because he was simply too tempting. In the three weeks since we’d claimed one another, I had come to understand exactly what others went through when they found their fated mate. The constant desire, unconditional love—I flinched at the thought. I knew I was in love with Emmerich, but I’d not yet said those words. Then again, neither had he.
Now wasn’t the time to share such a special endearment though. Not when we weren’t alone. I pecked at his lips again before I climbed up off his lap. He gave me a funny look before he stood and wrapped his arm around my back.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, quite.” I grinned before returning my attention to Edison. “Very well. It seems that not only will I be accompanying you to New Orleans, but my unborn child will as well. And of course, my beloved and bodyguard. I know Atticus is more than ready to get out of Montana for a bit.”
“Ambrosius, I don’t believe it’s wise for you to go with us. If I can sense the baby, and Emmerich can scent it, then what’s to say those we’re collecting information on won’t? It will make you a direct target for them.”
I shrugged. “Then I guess we’d get some good intel on them, wouldn’t we? I’m not going to send Lucius to do my job simply because I’m pregnant.” I still needed to figure out how it was that I hadn’t had a fertile period yet I was pregnant. I would worry about that later though.
“Emmerich, perhaps you could convince him how it’s a bad idea,” Edison said.
“Tell me something, Wallace. When your mate was pregnant, did you stop him from doing anything?” Emmerich asked.
I felt bad for both Edison and Wallace just then. Edison groaned, knowing full well what his One was going to say. Wallace, though, looked torn. He knew what he needed to say but didn’t quite know how to it seemed.
“Fine. But you do not leave your beloved or your bodyguard. One of them goes with you into the bathroom, understood? These guys are no joke, Ambrosius,” Edison said, pointing a finger at me.
I crossed my heart before I nodded at Edison. “Emmerich follows me around most of the time as it is already. I will make sure I have Atticus with us at all times during the day. At night he can rest because I’ll have Emmerich,” I said, grabbing my beloved’s arm.
I wanted to help find these guys. They were kidnapping young shifters and other paranormals, mid to late teens, and selling them to various trafficking rings. Some were forced into sexual contracts, while others were met with even more sinister fates. I shivered at the thought.
I had assumed when the council was formed, we’d be dealing with those that were careless and risked the identity of us to uninformed humans. Sure, there had been some enforcers sent out to deal with a few of those cases already. But this, this was a much larger, much more troubling issue. How had it gone unnoticed before now? More importantly, how long had it been happening?
Edison sighed. He knew there was no way I was going to stay behind.
“Stay here and don’t leave,” Edison said before he and Wallace were suddenly gone. I looked to Emmerich and Atticus, confused.
“Where were we going to go? We’re in my office,” I told them. When I turned, fully facing Emmerich, I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned in to kiss the front of his neck. “In all seriousness though. How long were you going to let me go before you said something about the baby? And shouldn’t there have been a fertile period? I didn’t have one.”
“I would have mentioned something next week if you hadn’t by then.” Emmerich kissed my forehead as the door quietly closed. Atticus had left apparently—exactly what Edison had told him not to do.
I glanced over my shoulder, but Emmerich turned my face back to his with a gentle finger on my chin. “He’s only stepped outside to give us some privacy. As for the fertile period, it’s possible that with as active as we’ve been since we’ve been back together, you became pregnant at the very beginning and it just never came to be because it wasn’t needed.”
That made sense. I had been waiting for it to happen though, so the news of me already being pregnant had come as a bit of a shock.
“Are you happy?” I blurted. Emmerich blinked down at me.
“Why wouldn’t I be? I have my mate, who is sexy as fuck, and we are expecting our first baby. I couldn’t be more blessed than I already am.”
“Am I enough for you? I know that being mated to me probably isn’t what you expected. With the council now and us living in a restricted way, it’s probably not what you foresaw.”