Page 42 of Save Me Enemy

I watch them both shudder at the touch, goosebumps on each of them, as Rachel begins to chant in Latin and slowly lay her head over her hand on his chest. The packs are silent, everyone seeming to hold their breath, until Rachel steps back with the bullet in her hand and her hair hiding her face.

Cole, hand trembling, pushes the hair from her face and they stare at each other, but neither says a word. Rachel closes her hand around the bullet and steps past Cole without another word. Cole touches his chest, a permanent indentation where the bullet hit, and he stares off into space as if he’s no longer here in his mind.

Jax sees this, and he howls to the crowd.

“Judgment has been passed, our Alpha’s healed. We must go now, go and find the monster doing this!”he cries into everyone’s mind.

At that moment every wolf present, be they in man or wolf form, begins to stir and cheer. Outlying wolves on the edge of the gathering turn and race into the woods in search of the enemy. Everyone has the scent now, they know Catherine. The stench of Corey is on us all. They cannot hide forever.

The packs disperse and Jax turns with Cole to go back inside. Cole runs a hand through his hair, eyes lost in thought, and he leaves us without a word. Jax takes me directly back to the surgery and the moment Killian lays eyes on me, I’m lifted off of Jax’s back and laid on an exam table by men and women I don’t know.

Jax shifts, coming to my side on the table and clutching my hands. Killian’s eyes are hard and cold, just like his hands as he examines every inch of my body, uncaring when Jax growls when he examines any private part of my anatomy.

“Besides the disease,” he begins, voice distant, and he strokes my hair back from my head, “she’s unharmed. Bumps and bruises yes, but no permanent damage. The child will have been unaffected.”

Without another word he turns to check on Ryder, finding Rachel and Evelyn have healed him sufficiently.

Killian nods at them, then straightens. “I’ll go to the site now, your sniper, am I meeting him there?”

“Fuck that shit, you crazy? I’m here to protect you, after all.”

I turn towards the speaker, a lithe dark-skinned man covered in tattoos with a braided mohawk that runs down to the middle of his back. He’s stark naked, having just shifted, with a wicked-looking sniper rifle strapped to his chest that would stay in either form.

“Sniper, there are distinguished ladies present…” Ryder says, astonished as he jerks his head to Evelyn, who’s staring at Sniper in shock. Her face is completely drained of blood and she hurries out of the room without another word.

“Sorry boss, I'm not used to these fancy wolves!” He wiggles his fingers at Killian and rolls his eyes.

There’s a little black cat at his feet rubbing along his legs. When she notices me looking she runs to me and jumps on my chest and starts purring. I’ve not seen a cat here before, but no one seems surprised to see her.

“Hey Scraps,” Jax says. He scratches her at the base of the tail and she closes her eyes in delight.

“I love cats…” I whisper, stroking her black hair lovingly.

“I’ll get you one.” Jax promises, and I smile at him as he helps me sit up on the table.

Sniper nods at Killian and cocks his head towards the door, and without another word the two men shift and run out of the house as wolves. I breathe a sigh of trepidation. If anyone can find out more about the scientist’s experiments, it will be Killian. I just hope he can handle an autopsy on a pregnant woman.

“Do you have somewhere you can go, Jax?” Ryder asks then, changing the subject so entirely that it shocks me. He pushes off his exam table, much to Rachel’s distress, and walks over to me and cups my face.

“What do you mean?” Jax asks defensively, tightening his hold on my shoulders as if Ryder’s trying to separate us.

“It seems this scientist and Corey want Cricket for some reason. Is there a place you can take her, a place where she’ll be safe, while we track them down and dispose of them?”

I feel Jax’s body relax even as Rachel’s tenses. She wants me near, I know it, but she can see the wisdom in hiding me. I watch all this from just her eyes and her body language as she rolls the spent bullet between her fingers and nibbles her bottom lip in distress.

“Yes, there’s a hideout only Cole and I know about. I can take her there. It’s high in the mountains, you can only get there on foot or by helicopter. I’ll take your sister by helicopter, of course, and healers can come and go the same way as needed.” Jax adds the last sentence as Rachel blanches at the distance and opens her mouth to protest. She shuts her mouth again so fast her teeth snap and she walks out of the room and collides with Cole.

“Fuck sake!” she shouts, startled, and then tries to hide a blush as she detangles herself from his arms and rushes away.

Cole watches her go, touching the scar on his chest, before Ryder claps his hand on his shoulder and squeezes.

“Let her go, Cole,” he says quietly, only for Cole’s ears, and Cole shrugs Ryder’s hand off and turns to face Jax and I.

“The heli will be here in twenty. I overheard your conversation. Ryder’s right. We have to protect Cricket from these people. We’ve never before known a target, but now that we do, we know what to do.”

“Thank you, Cole,” Jax says, and he pulls me into his arms and carries me out of the room.

Once we are alone and he’s climbing the stairs, he speaks again. “Ruby and Rachel gathered some clothes for you, they arrived last night while we were sleeping. Luckily they’re still packed, so I only have to pack my own. You can rest in my bed while I get everything ready.”

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