Chapter Sixty-Nine

Cassandra's POV

I was shaken awake, my eyes fluttered open and the face that was in front of me made me shiver in fear and caused me to jump. 

Mitch frowned at my reaction but removed his hands and backed up a bit. "I'm sorry I frightened you. But we need to move. I allowed you to sleep as much as possible, but we have to keep moving," he murmured softly.

I closed my eyes again. He actually thought I was sleeping peacefully. I wasn't. I was sleeping, yes, but it was a restless sleep. I never rested properly with them because of that haunting song and lack of food. The second problem wasn't with them. It was my fault I hadn't eaten much. I didn't trust them not to poison me and actually kill me. It was selfish of me, yes, but could you blame me?

"Get up, I managed to grab actual clothing for you. It's cold, and you have basically nothing on." He spoke and heard him stand up. Upon opening my eyes again, I watched him move around to the opposite side of the fire that was blazing and keeping me nice and warm. He leaned down and picked up a bookbag, then came back over to me.

"These are my wife's old clothing. Vernon refused to throw her things out. He put them in storage. I grabbed what I thought would fit and keep you warm since your wolf still isn't awake." He told me and opened the bag and rummaged through it.

I winced as I sat up slowly. My shoulder was aching just as badly as the stomach cramps I was having due to my heat. You'd think the fire would make me unbearably hot, but surprisingly it didn't. It felt good and didn't affect me like I thought it would.

However, I'm sure that will change as I begin moving again. Mitch crouched down and placed the clothes beside him. For some reason, he decided to place his hand on my face and then my forehead. "Can I ask why you've been running a fever for so long? I've read that werewolves don't get sick, and yet you are."

I sighed. I wasn't sure I could trust him with my current issue. But I felt if he was going to help me he should know what was going on and why my body had been overly heated.

"Can you promise not to try and touch me inappropriately?"

Mitch scoffed and stood up. "Have I touched you in any way so far? Has anyone?" His face turned red with anger and disgust at my words.

I quickly shook my head. "I never said that you touched me in any way. But it doesn't mean that Theo didn't." I mumbled the last part.

"What? When?" he seemed more angry. "Did he force himself on you?" he asked, his hands balling into fists.

"No!" I shook my head. "He didn't... he didn't force himself on me. But he did…" I stopped, unsure if I could say it. It was four days ago when he walked into the room. The lights were off, and the music was blaring, so I never heard him enter. I was trying to ease the pain from my heat by touching myself. I did it a couple of times, and it helped, but when Theo came in and saw what I was doing… I closed my eyes tightly and fought off the memory.

"He only touched me…" I didn't want to worry about him and what he did. "I'm fine, don't worry about it." I looked up at him.

His dark eyes were narrowed as he stared at me. "Fine. I promise I won't touch you in any inappropriate way!" He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for me to speak.

"What do you know about female wolves?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not much, just that they are meant to help calm their male mates. Other than that, I'm not sure. Why?"

I sighed. "When a male marks their female mate, and depending on the males rank, the woman will go into heat."

"Heat? Like cats?" his eyes widened a bit.

"It's similar, but for us, it helps us become closer to our mate and makes us extremely fertile. But if it's left unsatisfied or eased off the female, she will experience pain in the belly and a fever like heat all over her body." My fingers itch to please myself just talking about my heat being untamed by my mates. And because I have three of them, my heat will last longer and cause more pain. I was hoping it would ease off but all it's done is make me more horny and make my stomach cramps worse. Goddess, I can't wait to return home.

"Wait," he looked me over. "You're in heat? Like right now?" he questions.

"Yes, I've been in heat since Vernon took me." I pushed my hair off my shoulder and behind my ear. "Levi marked me, he was the reason why my heat had come on so soon. I'm not upset about it, but it just so happened to come at such an inconvenient time."

"Okay..." He zipped up the bookbag after picking it up. "What can I do to help then?"

"Unfortunately you can't. As much as I want this pain to go away, I'd never touch a man who isn't one of my mates. I'd ask to be sedated, but..." I shook my head slowly. "How far are we from my pack?" I decided to change the subject.

He looked away from me and at the wall of the small cave we were in. "Mitch? How far are we from my pack?" I asked again.

"Get dressed, we don't have time to sit here and talk." he avoided answering my question. I decided to do what he wanted, I just hoped that we weren't too far away from my home and my mates.

I watched him as he walked out of the cave, probably so I could undress and change into the clothes he gave me. I took a deep breath and lifted the bloody shirt from my body. I bit the inside of my cheek as the pain intensified more. I threw the ruined shirt in the fire and watched it burn.

I then picked up the bra he gave me. It was bigger than my bust, but it was like a sports bra, but it was cotton, and it was soft. I appreciated the gesture of comfort from Mitch. He didn't have to help me, but he was. He should hate me, because of my mate, Zach. Actually, I'm sure that he did, but he didn't voice it.

I quietly dressed and once I was finished I smiled at the fact that not one part of me other than my hands and face was the only part of my skin that showed. I'd never felt so relieved to be covered up so much in my life.

I slipped on the sneakers Mitch gave me with the clothes and was surprised to find they fit perfectly. Katie and I weren't too far off from being the exact same size. Well, her bust was a bit larger and her hips were wider, but damn near the same height and fit in every way.

Mitch came running back in and began gathering our things. He stomped out the fire that was lit and then threw dirt on it. I wondered why he gathered a bucket of soil. Now I see why. "What's going on?x I asked.

"They're close, we need to go.Now!" he said, grabbing his bags and mine that he packed up for me. "We don't have long until the sun rises. So for now we will escape under the guise of darkness." He came over to me and handed me my backpack. "Can you run?"

"I don't know. But I will if that's what we have to do!"

Mitch nodded. "We do, and if you can't, I will carry you."

"No, you won't need to. I'll be fine." I didn't want to be his burden. I already felt horrible that he was risking his life for me. He gave me a pointed look. "I promise I'll be alright."

I could tell he didn't believe me, but he nodded his head anyway. "Let's go then."

I followed after him quietly, the leaves crunched and crinkled under the weight of my foot as we walked out of the cave. I shivered involuntarily due to the temperature difference outside compared to inside the warm cave.

My skin was reddened due to the raging heat punching its way through my body. I couldn't let it affect me any longer, so I did my best to put up a brave face and endured the pain with silent grace. I didn't want to rely on Mitch even though he was the one I had to follow in order to get home, but something kept nagging at me that I needed to turn face and bolt from him.