Enforce Me

Chapter 38: An Eye For An Eye

Jaidan

Winter had definitely begun to set in as my body wracked with tremors, the torn clothing doing next to nothing for my exposed flesh in the early morning frost.

The night's snowfall had fallen around me like a blanket, chilling me to the bones. I had never missed my wolf's fur more than I did last night.

''Shit.'' I heard cursing and the soft steps of someone rushing to my side.

My body opened up slightly from its curled position to see River dropping the bowl of stew on the ground and ripping his jacket off before placing it on top of me, the fabric like a heated blanket on my icy blue skin.

''I forgot you don't keep your temperature as much as them.'' He quickly handed me the barely warm stew to warm my hands. ''They could have at least given you something in the night to cover yourself.''

My body was still trembling violently as the stew and jacket helped slowly spread warmth throughout my body, the rising sun chasing away the biting cold.

River watched me carefully as I ate the poorly made food in my hands. It did nothing for my tastebuds but the warmth that spread throughout my body from the inside almost made me moan as I greedily devoured the whole contents of the bowl.

''Are you feeling up for a walk now?'' He smiled down at me as he flashed a rusting key my way.

I could have broken my neck with the ferocity of how hard I was nodding my head at him, my eyes welling with tears at the possibility of being free of the chains on my leg.

My eyes closed and my head tilted back in relief at the sound of a soft click of the padlock clicking open, easing my body as the first rays of the sun licked their way over the land.

''Up we go.'' He helped pull me up on unsteady legs. I hadn't used them in a few days so it took a few seconds to get my balance back.

River let me lean on him as much as I needed as we walked down toward the forestry. I could feel my heart beat rising every step we took closer to my freedom but it all broke when he swung us around so we walked adjacent to the critter busy forest, him as a border between me and my home.

I noticed amber eyes burning a hole into the left side of my neck, staring at my mating mark as we walked along the beaten dirt track.

''What's your mate like?''

''Tatum?'' My eyes widened at his curiosity.

''Tatum.'' He hummed in thought before nodding in approval of the name.

'' He's...'' I closed my eyes in thought as we continued walking along the forest line. ''He's like a big, muscly child.'' I thought out loud, laughing.

River's eyes widened at the sudden noise as I remembered the time he looked like he was signing a life or death contract over a pinkie promise.

''Do you have a mate?'' I sobered myself up from the laugh as a sour heaviness fell over my heart at our distance.

He looked like he was thinking it over carefully, trying to figure out if he should talk so much to me about something personal. I had gathered he wasn't much of a talker, even less of a personal information sharer.

''My kind don't have 'mates' like your kind do. We enter into more of a contract of mutual benefit but if the other dies, we aren't driven mad like your kind. We certainly mourn the loss of the one we were going to spend eternity with but after a century or so, some take up another mate and move on.''