Chosen By The Moon - First In The Red Wolf Series.

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 20

“Evan we're getting nowhere. Can’t you go faster?”

“I’m going as fast as I can and I’m already past the speed limit,” Evan replied and glimpsed back at me. “Henry, I don’t think we’ll be able to make it back to the pack like this. We’ll have to shift. Now.”

“With her in this condition?”Henry tilted my head and slapped my cheeks. I groaned at the contact and turned my head away. “Chloe, open your eyes. Look at me.”

I hummed and lifted my head to Henry’s concerned eyes. He grabbed my face in his hands and looked into my eyes. “Evan, her eyes are dilated. Chloe, what did you eat?”

“Emma gave me tea or something…” I cried out when a sharp pain pricked my tummy. Having nothing else to hold onto, I gripped Henry’s shirt and whimpered. “Henry…it burns…”

“I’ll run with her, you take her car back home and catch up, got it?”

Evan took one last look at me and nodded. When. Evan parked Henry got out of the car and cradled me to his chest. “Mind-link Kevin and tell him to get the doctor. Now.”

He ran into the forest where he set me on the ground. “Chloe. Sweetheart, I’m gonna need you to climb on me when I shift, okay? Can you do that?” I mumbled incoherently and rolled on the ground. “What?”

I hummed and my face twisted in pain and I felt bile rising in my throat. Almost immediately, I felt a brown snout bump against my cheek. Henry whined and patted his paw on my cheek, urging me to get up.

Taking a deep breath, I hoisted myself up to my feet, slightly unbalanced. Henry’s wolf was as tall as I was and probably big enough to carry my weight. I got onto his back when he bent for me, and when he stood up and began to trot, I was sure he would buckle from my weight.

To my surprise, he seemed fine with me on him and showed no sign of discomfort. He seemed to be enjoying it, and very soon, the trees were nothing but a blur as we zipped through the forest. I laid my head on his shoulder, unable to keep my head upright and gripped his fur. If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would have enjoyed the ride.

All too soon, we had arrived at our destination and all of a sudden, my body began to burn again. I put my hand on my mouth and tapped Henry’s shoulder profusely. In a flash, Henry zoomed to a bathroom where I threw up all over the toilet bowl.

While I was still heaving out the contents of my nearly empty stomach, Henry had shifted and changed into a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt. He held my hair from my face and rubbed my back. “It’s okay, I’m here…”

When I was done, I rinsed my mouth and my face in an attempt to calm my blazing skin. “I need water, please…” Henry blurred from my vision for a second and appeared with a bottle of water which I received gratefully and drank greedily because my throat was also burning up.

Unfortunately, it only fueled the burn-it was starting to creep to the top of my skin. I felt water splash on my skin and looked down, only to find out that the bottle had melted in my hands.

I looked down at my hands; they were blazing red and hot. “Henry, what’s happening to me?”

Watched me carefully. “Your…your hands…they’re glowing…” Sure enough, my hands, my arms, my whole body began to glow. I began to panic and tears dropped from my face, quickly evaporating as they came. “Damn it! Where’s the doctor?”

The door opened and a black-haired lady in a lab coat, probably in her mid-30s, walked into the room to be followed by some medical equipment, Kevin, Addison and Jasper. “Chloe…” Addison gasped.

“Get her on the bed, please?” the doctor said and put on a pair of latex gloves. He winced carried me to the bed. I was already feeling faint and leaned my head on Henry’s shoulder. I heard voices above my head, probably Addison’s, but I wasn’t because I felt myself slipping in-and-out of consciousness.

“What’s wrong with her? Why is she burning up? Like she’s literally burning up.”

“I don’t know…”

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’? What happened to her?”

“I don’t know, okay!” Stop…

“She’s your mate!” Please…

“Don’t you think I know that?!”

I held my head in my hands and tried to tune out the voices around me, growing hotter around them.

“This is all my fault; I knew we shouldn’t have left her.”

“Damn right, it is.”

I finally snapped. “ENOUGH!”

Then it happened.

Something started burning in my stomach and began to travel upwards to my heart, my lungs and my throat.

The force pushed against my throat, wanting out. I clawed at my neck, trying to keep it down and when I couldn’t keep it in any longer, the force pushed past my throat, bursting out of my mouth. I felt my body erupting into a thousand flames and my heart felt like it was engulfed in searing heat. My vision had also changed, I was seeing everything in a  much clearer perception. I saw everything—from the tiniest speck of dust to the huge vanity. Everything around me was burning and flames licking my feet, yet I was not affected.

I was thrilled.

“Chloe…” a voice gasped.

I lifted my gaze to the huddled group in front of me backing away from me with terror in their eyes. I looked around me and my eyes widened. Everything was on fire…

Everything was on fire.

I screamed and looked at my burning hands. Suddenly, it was like someone poured water on burning coals. I felt drained and everything stopped burning.

I blinked as my vision became blurry and felt my legs slip; collapsing on the bed and fading fast into the darkness.