Tori's POV:
He looks so peaceful with his even breaths and facial features relaxed. His eyelashes curling against his cheek and his hair sticking up everywhere makes me smile. He isn't exactly heavy but his broad shoulders and his firm arms, which I may or may not have squeezed and felt, wrapped me up enough to cover my body from my ribs down. I'm so glad he chose me. Who knows where I'd be if he didn't.
I guess I should fall asleep too, but something is keeping me awake. I'm not pregnant so nothings gonna happen and I told him earlier instead of later so we should be safe. My room at the facility had a lock security thing for the door, maybe the doors here are the same? I try to sit up, but his body weight kept me down. I laughed quietly, watching him to make sure he doesn't wake up.
"My love, I need to get up." I whispered, trying to crawl out from under him. He grumbled and moved off, falling back to sleep as soon as his head hit his pillow. Standing on the floor, I wince from the cold and try creeping as silently as possible to the bedroom door. The door is so loud! It moves less than an inch and it makes this horrible screeching witch laugh! I finally got the door closed and safely out of the bedroom without waking him. I call that a win. I took a deep breath and turned but shortly stopped.
Why is it so dark!? Anything could be lurking in the shadows! Corrina's laughing at me for being scared but I think my fear of the dark is validated. They always had a light on outside my room at the facility. This hallway is just a looming dark tunnel with doors on both sides. What if something snatches me into a room and Jay doesn't hear? One step at a time, Tori. There's a jittery feeling in my chest and my heart skips a beat at any little sound. Why'd I think this was a good idea? I finally make it downstairs, safely might I add, and flick the lights on in the living room and the kitchen. Nothing creeping in the darkness here!
I walked to the front door first, simply because I knew where it was, and began studying the handle and thing above the handle. Surely that can't be the lock. No electric lock systems could fit in that tiny switch. I grab it and start messing with it, turning it in any direction I could until I found it only went one way to begin with. That would be sideways. I looked down to the door knob and saw a small little lump on the handle. It only took a second of thinking before I was messing with that one two and twisting it. I tried to open the door, and a little bump sounded. I try for a second time just to be safe and get the same result.
So, for the next ten minutes, I walked through the first floor and locked all the windows and the front door. This should be the last window on this floor. I had gone through a room with tiny beds on the ground and a table with screens and weird shaped humming things on it. There were also two other guest rooms and a bathroom. I'm now working on this last window in the living room. Hearing a soft distant noise, I turn for a moment looking around. My hearts already screaming at me to run. It's coming from the kitchen. I didn't hear Jay come down the stairs. Grabbing the closest thing to me, I looked down to see I held a vase with flowers and water in it. Please don't be a person. I don't want to beat someone with flowers.
I held my breath, slowly and very silently tiptoeing over to the kitchen. I peek around the corner and study the room for several seconds before I finally allowed myself to breathe. I'm probably just hearing things. Paranoia can do that to a person from what I hear. It's nothing. Yet that noise started up again. This vase better do some damage to whoever it is. What is waiting for me behind that door?
The scratching noise sounded again, this time coming from a different door in the kitchen. That one leads to the garage if I remember correctly. I should call for Jay. He'll know what to do. Quit shaking, Tori. Either call for Jay or open the door. You have a scream and tears ready to be set free; Jay will hear it and be down within seconds, you don't need to freak yourself out! I laid my free hand on the door and took a deep breath, gripping the vase in case of an attack.
Open the door. I'll protect us. Give control to me.
Corrina... why do you sound so calm? I don't know how to give you control.
Just trust me.
I took another breath, feeling a little calmer feeling Corrina under my skin and pushing her warmth against my flesh. I don't know how to give her control, but I know last time, I accepted my fate. Is that what I need to do now? Screw it. If it's someone wanting to kill me, they're gonna have to fight these flowers first.
Swinging the door open, I gasped as three flashes of color ran by my feet. A hand landed on my shoulder not too soon after. Screaming and bringing the vase down on whoever was behind me is an action I don't need to think about. I knew it was an attack! You dumbass, why didn't you call Jay!? I brought the vase back up, or what was left of the vase, breathing hard. A hiss made me open my eyes. Staring at me is a wide-awake Jay. He looks confused and amused. Asshole, why didn't he say anything!
"What're you doing?" He asked and I could see him trying to hide a smile. He probably thought my screams were funny! I scowled and gently shoved him, relieved that it wasn't anything serious. Well, kinda serious.
"Three things ran in." I stated, letting my head lay against his chest. One of his hands took the vase from my hand before they were on my shoulders. He turned and looked down, so I followed his lead and what I saw made my heart melt. Sitting in front of us were three pups! They must have some type of sickness though because usual pups have longer hair and are much taller.
"Awww! You didn't tell me you had pups! How old are they?" I asked, smiling and looking up at him. He shook his head and shut the back door before leaning against the island. There's a little dried blood from the vase hitting him on his head but he doesn't seem to mind.
"They're not pups. Gracie is six years old, and Archie is seven years old. Bubba is still a pup, I got him last Christmas eve." Gracie is a white Pitbull with beautiful short hair and bright blue eyes. She has a little black marking beneath both of her eyes and around her nose and brown spots on her ears. She's adorable. Then there is Archie, and he has a mixture of brown, black, gray, and red fur. His eyes are a chocolate brown and looked to have a mixture of chocolate and fall leaves in them. Gracie has a stouter body build while Archie is slimmer and taller. Bubba is bigger than both of them. He has black fur with light tan or light brown fur on his feet, neck, chest, and eyebrows. His eyes are auburn orb's of fire and fall leaves. They seem unusually small compared to other pups their age. It's also strange they already know how to shift.
"Why are they so small? I thought pups don't shift until early teenage years." I hummed, looking at three things around their necks. What the hell? I heard Jay still and when I turned, I saw him staring with amusement, but he had a look as though I were stupid. A playful look that says I'm an idiot.
"Baby, those aren't children. They're dogs and that's the normal size for a Pitbull, a cattle dog, and a Rottie German Shepard mix." I stood with shock and turned to look at the dogs. That makes a lot more sense and I now understand the look on Jay's face and why Corrina is laughing. I would laugh too but my mind is still swarming with the new information. I felt his arms wrap around me and lift me which made me laugh while wrapping my own arms around him with a death grip. He better not drop me. He carried us up the stairs and back into the bedroom, me laughing and screeching along the way from him picking on me. I wouldn't change a single thing since I've met him. He makes me happy.