Jackson made a call down to Bill and the next thing I knew we had a marvelous tray of breakfast in front of us: bacon, eggs, ham, pancakes, fruit galore. Anything I could possibly want to make breakfast amazing.
"Hopefully the first of many future breakfasts together," said Jackson.
I blushed crimson, my face getting impossibly hotter, thinking about the many breakfasts that I hope we have in the future - and the nights before that.
"Are you okay?" Jackson asked quickly. "Is your fever getting worse?"
"No," I said, bringing my hands up to my face in a futile attempt to cool down my flushed cheeks.
He eyed me for a moment before smirking slightly, realizing it was just a deep blush. He chuckled and dished some more eggs onto my plate.
Despite my fever, I was over the Moon. Jackson asked me how long I could be out until I was missed and I told him (regretfully) that I should be back on my own land by Noon or it would look suspicious, meaning we had less than six more hours together before being ripped apart again.
We spent those hours finishing our breakfasts and getting to know one another as much as possible before he would bite me.
"How old are you?" I asked. "I mean, I should probably know before hand."
"Twenty-five. I already know your age and birthday, considering I crashed your twenty-first birthday party on Halloween."
I smiled at the bittersweet memory.
"Well, at least you aren't an old geezer."
He growls playfully and assaults me with tickles until I can't breathe. Werewolves have longer lives than normal humans which means we age slower (more gracefully, my mother says). Although Jackson looked young he could have been as old as forty. My mother, for instance, certainly doesn't look a day over twenty-five but is already in her fifties.
When our time together starts to dwindle down, I already start to mourn the loss of Jackson in my life. Too soon we would be separated and forced to live apart again. I will pretend that nothing has happened while he fights to have his pack accept me.
We made our way to the ornate bedroom that the suite offered. It was large, it had to be a king sized, and I almost had to jump in order to get on it. My fever had risen noticeably since initially meeting up with Jackson and now it was almost at an unbearable level. My hair was damp with sweat and my kin had a shiny sheen to it.
I had persuaded Jackson to wait to mark me for a few hours so we could use the time to get to know each other better.
Jackson encircled me in his arms and kissed me so tenderly it made me dizzy. He was being gentler than he had been with me before. Before, we had been all passion and stolen kisses and touches. Now, in this bed with my body burning like a furnace we treated me as though I was made of fine china.
I placed my hands on his chest when he kissed down my jawbone and onto my collarbone, his mouth seeking out that sweet spot where he would bite – claiming me as his for the rest of our days. I waited eagerly, exposing my flushed neck to him without hesitation. My body arches into him without my control. He licks and nips and teases for only a few moments before I feel his elongated teeth sink into my neck.
I groan in pain and satisfaction. Stars light up my vision and my body responds likewise. As he begins lapping and healing the bite, the stars fade along with my fever. My body feels refreshed yet drained at the same time as I drift off to sleep.
"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.
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I was torn from sleep when it was still dark. My bedroom door (which had been locked) slammed open and bashed against the wall of my room. I sat up instantly and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes and becoming hyper-aware, focusing on what was happening. Had Jackson somehow rallied some of his pack members and decided it was best to bust me out of my parents' house? He could have just called instead of bashing in my door like some common criminal...
Then, I realized that the figures at my door were not Jackson and his men. No, it was my father and his Beta again – this time with the notable absence of my mother.
"Dad?" I asked my throat still dry from sleep.
He didn't reply. Instead he marched straight to my bed. For a moment, I had a strange vision of him choking the life out of me – but why was he so angry? Instead of reaching for me he reached for my bedside table, pulling the drawer out completely, sending it crashing to the floor.
"Dad! What are you doing?" I exclaimed, ready to jump from the bed. He was acting insane!
He picked up my cell phone from the pile of magazines, hair accessories, books and nail polish. My eyes widened. He couldn't possibly know. We had been incredibly careful. Instead he motioned at Gary and Phil, his second and third and they moved over towards my bed. Phil took my left arm and began to pin me down. I fought back as hard as I could, until Gary grabbed my right. Their sheer strength over powered me and soon they had wrestled me down. Gary grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled it away from my neck – exposing the fresh bite on my collarbone.
My father's face turned almost purple as I looked up at him with eyes that must be as wide as saucers and filled with tears. How had he known?
I heard the familiar clinking of my phone scrolling down the contacts list and closed my eyes, the tears beginning to spill out onto my cheeks. Gary's grasp on me hardened, Phil's lessened. Phil had a daughter the same age as me. We used to play together when we were children. The clicking stopped exactly where I had predicted – the name Romeo.
"I wonder if your 'Romeo' is who I think it is?" My father said in an almost inhumane voice before hitting the call button.
I tried to remember to breathe, but I couldn't. My father had put it on speaker phone and I knew who was going to pick up at the other end. Of course he would pick up. I wouldn't have called him tonight for anything other than an emergency. The call picked up.
"Hello?" Jackson's voice said sleepily from the other end.
My eyes shoot open at the sound of his voice. I open my mouth to call out to him, only to have it covered by Gary's large hand. I try to escape again, my screaming muffled by Gary's hand but my thrashing making enough noise to be heard.
"Romy? Romy are you alright? Romy answer-" I heard Jackson almost yelling in panic before my father hung up on him.
"Well, isn't that sweet Romy," my father sneered and crushed the cell phone in his grasp.
I let out a gut-wrenching yell, which was muffled by Gary's ever-present hand, and bit Gary as hard as I could. He winced and I tasted blood but he left his hand where it was.
"I knew you were out in the garden with a Merphate, but I never would have dreamed it was Jackson Merphate. You are a traitor!" My father practically bellowed.
I would have argued that no one could help who they mate with, that you can't mess with the Goddess and her choice. But there was no use with Gary's hand practically cutting off my air supply. Instead, I made do with a glare, trying desperately to ignore the crushed cell phone in my father's hands. What must Jackson be thinking right now?
"Release her," my father ordered his underlings and they let go of me instantly, retreating to go behind him.
I was almost tempted to shift. But the three male wolves were larger and much faster than me. If I ran they would be required to give chase, maybe even kill me. Instead, I jumped off of the bed and stared directly at my father.
"He is my mate. I am meant to be with him."
The impact on my cheek didn't hurt nearly as much as the fact that my father had just hit me.
"You listen to me," he said with contempt. "No daughter of mine will be caught with those filthy Merphates. As of right now, you are no longer my daughter. You are a prisoner of war. You better hope your Romeo comes and retrieves you before the next full Moon or you will be dead. Or better yet, so hysterical you kill him yourself."
I bite my cheek to keep from crying. Jackson had been right about my father.
"I want to see my mother."
"You have NO mother!" He yelled so loud that I could feel the room shake. "You have no pack and no friends here. All you have is time to waste. Goodbye Rosemarie."
And with that, my father and his men left, locking the door from the outside behind him. I instantly ran to the window, only to find it barred. He had known exactly what he would find here and had prepared the room before he woke me, making use of my deep sleeping tendencies. How had he known for certain?
There was only one answer I could come up with and it chilled me so far to the bone that I shivered for hours afterwards. Jackson would have informed his pack about me the moment he got back in order to secure me a spot therein.
Jackson has one of my father's spies living in his pack.
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