My Enemy, My Mate (Complete)

Chapter Seven

          Lunch had arrived at the exact time and way that it was always delivered to me – with one exception. Beside the glass of orange juice was a small jar full of bath salts. I devoured the food quickly before drawing a cold bath, hoping to bring my fever down even a notch in order to run. I poured the whole jar of salts into the tub and jumped in, soaking and cooling my entire body. I did not use any of my soaps or shampoos, determined to rid myself of the smells my pack had grown so used to. I grabbed a pair of sweats and a t-shirt and also submerged them, like I had my beautiful green dress the night I had met Jackson.

Jumping out of the bath, I dried myself and blow-dried my clothes enough to be wearable. They would only need to last until I shifted. Hopefully the bath salts had soaked them enough to at least partially mask my scent.

I sat on my bed and waiting to hear the turning of the lock and release of the bolt on my bedroom door. The fever had not lessened with the cold bath and my eyes were burning. Visions of falling roses and snowflakes filled the room, but I steadfastly tried to ignore it. I fixated my vision on one thing and one thing alone – the door.

At exactly one hour, the lock twisted and the bolt gave.

I ran to the door and heaved it open and my eyes almost popped out of the sockets. Standing before me was Phil.

Phil. My father's third in command! Phil, the one who had loosened his hold on me when I had started crying. The one who had locked me in the cell in the basement for my own good. The one whose daughter I played with as a child.

He brought his finger up to his lips, signalling for me to be as quiet as possible as he led me through the house and out the back door. We had not met a single person on the way – which was either a miracle or the work of Phil since the house was normally swarming with people.

I understood the reasoning behind sneaking me out at one o'clock in broad daylight. Most of the pack was in the city, working. That meant that my father's hunting party would be considerably lessened.

"I can only take you half-way before I am noticed missing and have to return and join the pack to look for you," Phil said when we reached the woods. "I will try to lead them array if possible, but both Gary and your father are excellent hunters. You must run fast, despite your fever, and make it to Jackson as quickly as possible."

"You're a spy," I whisper, trying to wrap my head around it. "What about Clara?"

"Her mother died when she was young, as you remember. She mated with a member of the Merphate pack and has a baby now. This was the only way I could think of to protect them. Jackson is a good Alpha. He needs to survive, he needs to thrive - for his pack."

I nodded. He wanted to protect the only family he had left.

"Come with me." I offered.

"I can't. I have a few more things that need to be done here for Jackson. But I am sure I will see you soon. Now shift."

I do as instructed and shift immediately. My clothes rip from my body in shreds, but I ignore it – I am already running. Phil runs beside me for awhile, keeping both mine and my wolf's mind focused. We had to get to our mate, which was the only thought we were permitted to have. We couldn't think about the fever that was tormenting our body and making our fur bristle. We couldn't think about the flashes of visions that swept by us as we ran full-out.

No, we could only think about one thing.

Jackson.

Before I knew it, Phil fell out of line with me and circled back towards the house. I could hear the howls of the Cardavers and knew they were on the hunt and I was the prey. But, I was halfway there. Halfway to freedom, halfway to Jackson.

I began to feel the gravitational pull wrench at me, causing me to veer right and run faster. I was going to go to straight to Jackson and not one of his pack members. I needed him and my wolf needed her mate. We ran faster. Our vision was spinning but we focused on only the pull and ignored the rest of our senses.

The howls of my father's wolves were getting louder by the moment. Even with my head-start there was no way I could outrun full-grown wolves in my weakened state. I pushed myself harder.

I could hear them without the howling now, their paws breaking twigs and branches as they closed the gap behind me. But I was almost there. I could hear Jackson's heart beating frantically and a man telling him to calm down. That I would make it. That he couldn't shift and come to get me without inciting a full-scale war.

But I wasn't going to make it, I could tell. They were closing distance a lot faster than I was and I was losing energy. I was going to get recaptured almost right before Jackson's very eyes.

Then, I heard growling and tearing. I chanced a look back and could see that the wolves were in sight of me now and me of them. Phil had turned on them and began fighting, giving me enough time to escape. I bit back the urge to go back and help and pressed forward. I would only get us both killed. He had risked his life to save mine and I wouldn't pay him back with my death.

I barrelled through the end of my father's territory, but did not cease my running. Jackson was nearly upon me and I pushed myself harder. My vision was practically black now and my body overheated like an engine. I couldn't stop when I saw Jackson and his pack-mate standing beside the cars, all I could do was turn sideways. I hit the car with a deafening thump and whined in pain.

My whole body was on fire, my vision was in and out and best and I was sure that the right side of my body was severely bruised, if not broken. For the first time, I noticed that there was snow on the ground around me.

Jackson's human face entered my bleak vision. His mouth was moving and he was saying something to me, but I couldn't hear him. I closed my eyes for a moment and listened harder.

"-human. Romy, you have to shift back," he urged.

I concentrated on being human for a few moments and weakly turned back into a human girl. My red hair was soaked and plastered to my crimson, nude body. I curled up in a ball, hiding my body and the snow melted around me.

"Jesus!" Jackson cursed and picked me up, cradling me even though I was certainly burning his skin. He threw a jacket around me for modesty.

"Phil," I said weakly. "He was fighting. He protected me. He might have made it out."

The man beside Jackson instantly shifted and ran back the way I came.

I knew I must have looked a sight to Jackson, naked in his arms. My wrists, ankles and stomach hadn't quite healed from being shackled to the bed with the IV. The bruises were even more evident from the flush of my body from the fever. The hand that my IV had been in looked gruesome, not to mention whatever damage had happened to me when I had collided with the car.

"Oh, Romy," he whispered and peeled my hair away from my skin gently.

Unlike before, his nearness did nothing to break my fever in the slightest.

"You have to bite her again," I heard Phil's voice call out weakly by the tree line. "It is the only way to break the fever, if only for a little while."

I looked over to find him limping and bleeding, but alive. The man who had bounded in after him was supporting Phil as they made their way back to the car. I was glad they made it.

Jackson moved my face to the other side, making me face the car and expose the spot where he had bitten me nearly a month ago. He didn't hesitate to sink his teeth into the same spot again, reopening the wound before lapping it closed once more.

The relief was instant. My fever came down what felt like ten degrees in ten seconds. I sighed and moved closer to him, just happy to be in his arms.

Then, I blacked out.

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