Aiden Colt, or Green as he'd gotten used to being called over the last week or so stared at the woman on the other side of the bed. Her curly, light brown hair was dirty and streaked with blood. He didn't care. He reached out and ran his hand down her cheek the way he had again and again since his sister and her husband had brought her to the Thrall residence that morning.
She'd been covered in blood and Letitia had looked so worried when she saw her that Green had stopped breathing. Now she stirred and opened her eyes.
"Hi," she said, smiling.
"Hi."
"Are we alive?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Are you angry?"
"Yes."
Vanessa sighed and turned to face the other way around.
"Hey!" he said and pulled her back so she was facing him again.
"I won't talk to you if you're angry," Vanessa said. "I'm enjoying us both being alive too much to deal with your bad temper."
"I'm not angry at you," Aiden muttered and moved closer, putting his arm around her. He was never happy these days unless he was touching her.
"No?" she asked drowsily. She probably wouldn't mind going back to sleep for a few more hours before having to deal with any of the consequences of what had happened the night before.
He couldn't let her do that. He'd promised Lettie not to wake her, but now that she was awake he didn't want to miss out on another moment with her.
"No," he said. "I'm angry with myself for starting a fight with a stupid vampire. They'd never have gotten close enough to attack if everyone hadn't already been busy fighting each other."
"They'd have found a way," Vanessa said. "Don't blame yourself."
Aiden frowned. It would take a long time before he could forgive himself for putting her and his family at risk. And speaking of risk...
"If you ever do what you did last night again I swear I'll tie you up."
"Do what?" Vanessa asked, one side of her mouth turning up in a smile that made him melt inside.
"Any of the things you did last night," he grumbled.
Vanessa laughed and placed a kiss on his nose. "I don't think I can marry you again and I definitely hope I won't have to deliver a baby or save your life again either."
"I can't believe I was married while I was unconscious."
Vanessa smiled wide. "If you hadn't been so heroic we wouldn't have had to necessitate you using magic. Next time, just hide with me in the back instead."
"Mm and deliver a pair of magical twins with zero equipment? No, thank you," he said and he meant it. Abby had filled him in after he regained consciousness and he'd been sick on the floor just thinking about it. "I'll take a pack of rabid wolves any day."
Vanessa laughed. "Yeah. Good point. By the way, do you know how I got here?"
"Alyssa and Ben brought you and the baby here and Letitia speeded up your healing process."
"And the alfa?" she asked, though she sounded as if she already knew.
"Ben shot him with a silver bullet, but it his shoulder and he ran off before he could fire again."
"How did they find me?"
"I told you, Alyssa is great at nearly everything. She showed up soon after you left and then she tracked you. Abby still had your dress."
"Tell her thanks."
Green kissed her. "You can tell her yourself. And we'll get him next time. Until then, I feel I have some making up to do for missing our handfasting."
"Mm," Vanessa said. "You're going to have to work pretty hard to make up for that."
"I'll take that as a challenge," he replied and pushed her over on her back. "I love you."
Vanessa smiled into his kiss, hooked her foot under his calf and reversed their positions. "I love you too."
Meanwhile on the other side of town...
He woke up to a high-pitched shriek and tried to get to his feet. What had happened? Where was he?
In front of him a pretty woman with bright red hair and freckles was staring at him from over the window of a car. He looked around. He was lying in the backseat of a convertible. How had he ended up there?
He tried to get up, but his legs weren't working right and he fell over.
"Oh my god!" the woman gasped. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, here let me help."
She leaned in over the window and he backed away to the other side of the car.
"I won't hurt you, I promise, but Mr. Bukowski doesn't like dogs and if he finds you in his car you're going straight to the pound."
He opened his mouth to tell her that he didn't know what she was talking about, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a loud yelp.
"Shhh! You need to keep quiet!" the woman said. "I'm trying to help you."
He looked down at himself and discovered that he was a yellow, fluffy sort of dog. That couldn't be right, could it? Had he always been a dog?
"There we go," he heard a soft voice murmur in his ear as soft hands pulled tight around his midriff. "I've got you."
Two things struck him. One, the woman had moved around to the other side of the car and was currently trying to pull him out of the car and two, she smelled heavenly. Like a mix of orange flowers and mulled wine.
"Man, you're heavy," she gasped as she lifted him. "If I hadn't spent my life gardening I wouldn't have stood a chance."
He found himself lifted into the air and sat down on a pebbled driveway. A freckled face with smiling blue eyes appeared right in front of him.
"Wow, you're a handsome dog. I love your eyes," she said and to his great surprise she put her arms around him and rubbed her cheek against his.
He inhaled her scent, wondering if it was normal for dogs to feel this attracted to a human's scent. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this before, but then again he couldn't remember anything about himself. Not even his name.
"We need to get you to a vet and have you checked out. You look a little worse for wear. Have you run away?"
Had he? He didn't know. If it led to him being hugged by this wonderful person than he was glad that he had run away.
"Come on, let's go to my car," she said and motioned to an old truck parked on the curb a small distance away. "Can you walk?"
He tried to get to his feet and this time they worked like they were supposed to. She waited for him to reach the car and opened the passenger seat.
"Come on in."
He jumped in and sat down while she patted him. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, he thought and licked her face.
"Giving me kisses already, huh? I really hope you're not sick," she said and got in on the other side.
"Okay, honey, vet first and then I'll take you home. Hopefully Mr. B won't notice if I'm a little late caring for his hydrangeas today," she said and strapped herself in. "Do you have a name? Rex, Bob, Dog?"
He didn't know, but he didn't recognize any of those names.
"Hrrm. What shall we call you? You're all golden, aren't you? I think I'll call you... Gold. What do you say?"
He got up and licked her face again. Honestly, he could do that all day.
"Wow, okay, I'm going to take that as a yes. Now, sit. Sit!"
The newly named Gold reluctantly did as she asked and sat back in his own seat as she turned the ignition.
"Alright, Gold. Let's go do this."
He settled in and spent the entire ride looking at his new friend while she sang along to the music on the radio. Gold. Yeah, that was a good name. That's exactly what he felt like right now.
Author's note:
That's it guys! Then end of the story. Thank you for reading, voting and commenting! Please check out my other stories here on Wattpad and on Amazon and I'll see you in the next adventure :)