Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31025 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Jaxson couldn’t even remember the game clearly. They had been getting older at this point, and it seemed so trivial. Also, he had started to understand his feelings for her had changed. She was no longer just his best friend, but a girl he thought about kissing. A girl he did in fact want to mate with.
Collecting some firewood, he noticed their bags were not replenished this time.
It was up to him to go and find them something to eat. He didn’t have a hard time coming up with what he needed. There were fruits around them, and he knew he would be able to grab some fish. Calliope wouldn’t appreciate him catching fish though, so it was a fruit diet for the night.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, with the fire set up, and without any warning it went from daylight to night. As if someone clicked a button.
He heard her deep inhale.
“I’m fine. Really,” she said.
He had seen the perspiration dotting her brow, and as he moved closer to her, he pressed a hand against her forehead. She was burning up.
“Damn it,” he said.
“It’s going to be okay, Jaxson. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, this is not good. That wolf wasn’t even fucking real, and you shouldn’t be burning up like this.” He pulled her into his arms and tried to offer as much comfort as he could.
“I’m fine.”
And he knew that to be a lie.
She was starting to feel weaker in his arms, which he didn’t understand. That wolf hadn’t been real. Even when he was fighting it, and smelling it, there was no wolf. He kissed the top of her head, and she tilted her head back.
“Maybe you should kiss me. That is what you did when I was sick. Remember? You kissed me and declared me as your mate?” she asked.
She was shivering and burning up and he felt this panic rushing through him. This couldn’t be happening.
With her head tilted back, and her looking directly at him, he took a chance and kissed her. And then he kissed her again, not wanting to stop. He wanted to be mated to her. He wanted more than anything to be her whole world. Kissing her was just the beginning.
He felt her tears sting his cheeks.
“I’m dying, aren’t I?” she asked.
“No, hell, no. You’re not going to die. You’re going to live, and you and I, Calliope, are going to get out of here. We’ve got plans.”
“We have?”
“Yeah, to make up for lost time. The two of us, together, you’re going to be my mate, and then you’re going to be my wife. I’ll be your husband, and we’re going to make this work. We’re going to have kids.”
He saw the smile on her face. “Kids?”
“Yeah, kids. We both want a big family, remember? Dozens of kids, that was the plan from the start.”
“I can’t believe you still want lots of kids,” she said, laughing. “I love that. I love that you still want kids.”
“I want children with you. Not with anyone else. Just with you.” He pushed some of the hair off her face.
“That sounds ... perfect.”
He took possession of her lips and kissed her hard. “Please, Calliope. Don’t ... die. Don’t let this be the last day for us. We deserve better than this. We both do. I love you, Calliope. I don’t want you to leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
“I love you,” Calliope said.
“And I love you.”
And with that, he kissed her, and he kept kissing her, and he just hoped and prayed she wouldn’t succumb to the bites. He had wasted too much time. He understood that now.
The Hunt was a cruel game, but now he realized what it did. It made him realize what he was doing, the time he was wasting. They could have been mated by now, even had a child, and perhaps had dozens of amazing memories. Instead, they fought, they argued, and they ended up here anyway.
Kissing her lips, he wished someone was looking over them, and realized he wasn’t going to allow this to happen. He loved her. He would give his life for her.
He would do anything just to have Calliope in his life, alive, breathing. He’d do anything.
Chapter Eight
Calliope opened her eyes and stared up at the morning sky. It was so strange to be looking at the sky, the sunshine. In the back of her mind, she felt like something should be happening, or she should be panicking. Then, just as quickly as she woke up, the events of the previous morning came rushing back to her.
Sitting up so suddenly, she didn’t realize Jaxson had been wrapped around her. Her arm felt fine, as did her ankle. She quickly pulled the makeshift bandage off her arm and then her leg, and sure enough, it was gone. There was not even a scar.