My Enemy, My Mate (Complete)

Chapter Five

"Rest well, Love," Jackson whispers softly as sleep claims me.

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Jackson woke me an hour later to the sound of running water in the background.

"It's probably a good idea if you have a soak in the tub before you get back to your territory," he says as he slides in beside me and wraps his arms around me, placing a kiss against my mark.

"Would you like to join me in the tub?" I said, semi-joking.

He growled, getting out of the bed. He picked me up bridal style and practically threw me in the bathroom and shut the door behind me before stomping away. I giggled and hopped into the bath that Jackson had filled with tons of provided bubble bath and bath salts. This, along with rolling in the mud as a wolf on the way back home, should provide my scent with enough cover until I could take a bath in my own soaps and shampoos.

After I am out and dried I am tempted to walk out of the bathroom in my towel, or even better, naked. I was sure that now that he had marked me even Jackson wouldn't be able to resist.

But, that would ruin everything and I didn't want to take the risk.

So, instead I got dressed and dried my hair.

Jackson was waiting in the sitting room we had started in, watching the news on the large flat screen mounted on the wall above the fireplace.

"You ready?" He asked standing and turning the screen off.

"Never," I reply and embrace him tightly.

"There was no point in taking that bath if you are just going to go home stinking of me anyway," he said, pushing me away slightly and backing off. "I don't want you in anymore danger than you already are."

I was going to argue, but then remembered the fierce look on my father's face when he had Gary bust through my door. Instead, I kept my distance from him as we exited the room and entered the elevator that would take us to the main floor – but my eyes never lost sight of his face once.

We didn't dare kiss or embrace when he dropped me off just before the border of my territory. He left me with just two words: Be safe.

I wish I could say I was embarrassed when I had to strip down and leave the clothes he brought me behind with him, lest they be discovered. But I enjoyed watching him grip his seatbelt so hard with restraint that I could see the white of his knuckles and the seatbelt almost snapped in two. This proved that he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. My wolf howled with delight.

I shifted expertly and took off into the forest towards my home. I heard his car getting more distant as we parted from each other – fighting gravity the whole way.

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I had left my cell phone with my change of clothes in the forest. I dressed hastily, aware of the brisk November wind that felt like winter on my skin, now that the fever had broken. I was blissfully happy that, even in my feverish state, I had enough forethought to leave myself a turtle neck to cover the mark that Jackson had left.

I didn't bother with the trellis to return to my room. It would have been pointless, as I was certain that everyone would know that I had left sometime in the morning for a run. No one said anything as I made my way to my bedroom and took another bath in my own oils (mainly to rid myself of the mud I had rolled in on the run home).

At this point, I would be lucky if I didn't have gills by the end of this.

My mother had checked up on me later that day to check my fever and ask if I had enjoyed my excursion that morning. I didn't have to lie when I told her it was the best run of my life. She laughed and called me melodramatic but I just smiled in response. I ate my supper in my bedroom that night, took a shower this time and crawled into bed, dreaming of Jackson coming and taking me away to a land far, far away.