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I looked down at her as Frost and I approached the cabin. Her pale skin had turned blue, and her beautiful lips were purple. She was breathing evenly, her eyes moving underneath her lids. I couldn’t believe one look at my face in the dark had caused her to faint!
Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. She was nearly frozen and exhausted. She couldn’t control her limbs in these circumstances, so how would she be able to control her reaction to being rescued? I would find out the truth soon enough. What was important now was that she was safe. I needed to get her inside, run her a warm bath, and hope her toes and fingers were intact. Hypothermia was no joke. Even I was suffering in this horrible weather, and I was a monster that was covered in fur from head to toe, and also, quite possibly, immortal.
I pushed the door to the cabin open, and Frost shot inside. Right in the middle of the entry hall, he shook off all the snow that had gathered in his fur. I couldn’t blame him. Frost liked the snow, but not when it was as menacing as it was tonight. He padded into the living room, plopped his butt in front of the fire, and proceeded to scratch his ear.
I felt Aura stir in my arms, and I hurried to lay her down on the couch. I didn’t want her to wake up in my arms, with her face so close to my face, and risk having her faint again. Once she was comfortable with a pillow under her head, I took off my coat and my boots, then I took off her boots and inspected her toes. Fortunately, they looked fine, though a little purple.
“Krampus?” she groaned, sitting up. “Where am I?”
“You’re home,” I said. “I mean, you’re at the cabin,” I quickly amended, in case she didn’t consider this place her home.
“What happened?” She touched her temple with her trembling fingers, then let out a yelp and both her hands went to her chest. “Oh, he’s alive.”
“What?” My ears perked. “Who’s alive?”
From inside her coat, she pulled out a small bundle of fluff. It was a tiny rabbit.
“I saw him in the snow. He was lost, and I wanted to save him,” Aura said.
The bunny rabbit fit perfectly in her hand. I ran a hand through my hair and groaned.
“You followed a rabbit into the woods?”
“He was lost,” she said again, her golden eyes fixed on me. “He could’ve died.”
And that was when I understood she hadn’t followed the creature like a hunter would, with dinner in mind. She wanted to keep it as a pet. I couldn’t suppress another groan. She’d almost died because of a rabbit! On the other hand, did that mean...
“Wait, you didn’t want to leave?” I asked.
“Leave? Leave where?”
“Go back home, to your town.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Why would I do that?”
“Because...” But I couldn’t finish the sentence. It didn’t feel productive to have the same conversation we’d had in the barn.
“Oh, stop it!” She sat up, placed the bunny in her lap, and reached for my hand. “Krampus, I don’t want to leave. I’m your wife. I’m going to say this one more time, and then you need to do something about how bloody frozen I am. Okay, here it goes. You ready?”
She took my hand in both her hands and stared right into my eyes. I found I could not look away from her.
“I want you. Because I like you. Just the way you are. It’s only been two days, and a relationship needs time, but I think we’re on the right track. You take care of me, you cook for me, you treat me like I’m the most important person in the world.”
“You are...”
“You make me feel special. And... did you know? Only someone who is special himself can make someone else feel special. We were made for each other. I believe the priest didn’t lie at all. The DNA test never gets it wrong. At least in our case, it didn’t get it wrong. I’m so happy we found each other.”
I swallowed heavily. I had to wait a beat, or my voice would crack if I tried to speak too soon. She’d already seen me broken back in the barn. I wanted to be strong for her.
“Aura... I... I love you.”
Her beautiful golden eyes widened, then her whole face relaxed into a smile. She leaned in, and I met her halfway. She hooked one arm around my neck and pulled herself up, while I had to bend over to reach her. Our lips met for the first time.
The kiss was delicate, almost chaste. I didn’t dare to do what I wanted, which was to pull her onto my lap and wrap my arms around her, grab her by the back of her neck, and ravish her mouth until she couldn’t breathe anymore. Heat bloomed in my chest, moved down to my stomach, then rushed between my legs. I was so hard that it was almost painful. And we weren’t even doing anything.
She pulled away and giggled at the bunny in her lap.
“Careful with this one. We don’t want to crush him,” she said.
