Animal Heart(24)

His eyes filled with tears and he felt sickened to the depths of his soul as he looked at her deathly pale complexion, the long bloodied swathe of hair which hung from his arm, and her beautiful features. She had a lovely black eye which was beginning to color up. They made their way back slowly and carefully, winding their way through the trees. He kissed her face and lips over and over, praying for her and begging God to spare her. He never spoke to God, ever, but he did now.

No one had ever aroused such an emotional response in him as she had. He didn't know what it was about her that made him feel the way he did. He couldn't begin to explain it, not even to himself. Every protective instinct he possessed arose wildly inside of him as he so desperately wanted to make her whole again.

He knew she was going to cause a problem in the pack and that others may leave because of her. But he couldn't help that. She was one of them now. If she survived. And she had to survive this. She had to.

Because he now knew one thing.

She was his mate.

She'd been sent to him to fill his empty heart.



* * *



Her head hurt. In fact everything hurt a little, in an achy, hot kind of way. It all came flooding back in a rush. The eagles, the fall, the pain in her ankle and her neck, and then the dark nothing that followed. She was pretty sure she was still alive though. Her fingers stroked the sheet beneath her and she recognised it as her bed in the ranch.

How the hell did I get back here?

She didn't remember anything about that at all. She tried to open her eyes and focus. One eye opened slowly, but the other one wouldn't open at all. It felt swollen and tight. She tried to speak but her mouth was so dry.

“Thirsty...” she finally managed. To her amazement, a straw was pushed inside her mouth and she sucked greedily at the cool fresh water. Aden's face swam into her one-eyed field of vision.

“You're in dead trouble,” he said with a furious, hard expression on his face.

She gulped. “Is Storm okay?” she asked in a whisper.

“Yes. For heavens sake Maddy! What were you thinking?” he spluttered loudly, running his hand through his hair as he looked at her intensely.

“But you wouldn't let me ride him,” she muttered indignantly, her cheeks suddenly flaming.

“I know, for good reason and certainly not alone. The wilderness is a dangerous place, but you know that now, don't you?” He raised his voice even more, still looking so furious with her.

“Aden, I'm so sorry.” She began to cry. Because she wasn't dead and his horse was safe and he was so angry. She felt guilty putting him to all the trouble she obviously had.

“Hey, come on. I didn't mean to shout. I'm overjoyed you're still alive. You had me going for a while, you know?” He squeezed her hand tightly, his face softening.

“I saw eagles. The horse reared and threw me,” she tried to explain.

“Never mind all that. How's your neck? Move your head.”

She turned her head from side to side with no problem at all. She couldn't comprehend how this could be. She was sure she had done some dreadful damage to it.

“I don't understand…” she said, confused.

“Let's check the rest of you out. Lift your arms and legs and turn your feet at the ankles,” he requested. She obliged, lifting them a few inches and rotating her feet under the duvet. Oddly, her ankle seemed to be fine too. This was really strange. She leant up on her elbows but a pain surged through her shoulder.

“Owww, my shoulder really hurts. Jeez, it's burning like hell.”

“So, your shoulder hurts, does it?” He looked like he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. “I'll tell you another thing, that's a great black eye you've got there my girl, but it should be gone pretty soon.” he added with a grin.

“Yeah, right... Tell me, how long have I been unconscious?”

“About four hours.”

“Is that all?”

“Yep. Come on, try to get up.”

She took his offered hands and carefully twisted sideways. She sat up slowly.

“So far so good,” she said warily. He pulled her up to her feet and she stood unsupported. She took a few steps, and apart from feeling very achy and her burning hot shoulder, she had to say everything felt fine.

“I could have sworn I'd broken my neck, honestly. I felt it snap,” she murmured, looking at him in amazement.

“You did,” he replied.

“Obviously I didn't, did I?”

“You did, and your ankle too. Plus you had a massive head wound. You lost quite a lot of blood.”

“So explain this to me. How can I stand up and walk, like this...” She paced around the room in demonstration. “...If I broke my ankle? And how can I do anything at all if I broke my neck?”