"Is he coming with us?" she asked.
Her father nodded. "They were kind enough to adopt him."
"That was sweet of you," she said to Vane.
Fury scoffed. "Not really. I feel for anyone who gets tossed into a ditch."
Bride reached out and hugged Fury. She felt for the wolf and what he'd been through.
Fury cleared his throat and stepped back. "Don't get mushy on me, Bride, I don't know how to handle it. Much like Cujo, my first instinct is to attack and that would cause Vane to make me look like that poor guy over there."
Bride saw the dog with the cone. "Ouch."
"Exactly."
Vane wrapped his arm around her and together they walked back to the house with her father, Fury, and Cujo following them.
Joyce looked up in surprise to see the dog with them, but didn't say anything as she handed Bride a large sack of Tupperware. "I split the leftovers with everyone."
"Did we get any potatoes?" Fury asked.
Vane cocked a brow. "So now you like them?"
"Yeah, they were good."
Bride kissed her mother on the cheek. "Thanks, Mom."
Patrick met them in the living room. He held his hand out to Vane. "It was good meeting you, even if you are a drug-dealing pimp."
"You, too."
"Excuse me?" Bride asked.
"It's a long story," Fury said with a laugh.
"Y'all be careful going home," Joyce said as she led them out to the car. "Oh wait, let me get a blanket for the dog so he won't scratch the leather seats."
Bride took a few minutes to say goodbye again while her mother fetched the blanket, then put it in the back for Cujo. After she'd hugged and kissed her parents, Bride joined the wolves and dog in the car.
Within no time, they were headed back toward the Garden District.
"You have a nice family, Bride," Vane said.
She looked at him and then Fury. "Yeah, I do. I think you guys are the best."
Vane's heart pounded at what she said. "I meant your family."
"You and Fury are part of my family, Vane. You're the best part of it."
"I think you two need some privacy." Fang sat up and squeezed Bride's hand. "Later, little sister." Then he and the dog vanished out of the back seat. Vane pulled to the side of the road and stopped the car. "What are you saying to me, Bride?"
She lifted her hand up to play with his hair as she stared into those incredible
hazel eyes that held her heart enslaved. "While my sister was yelling at me about how you would one day leave me high and dry, I had an epiphany. I've never in my life known anyone like you, Vane, and I doubt I ever will. I like the way you look at me as if you can already taste me. I like how you worry if I'm too cold or if I've had enough to eat. Most of all, I love the way you feel at night when you're holding me close. The way you touch me as if you're afraid I'm going to break. And how you take care to cradle me in your arms."
She paused and took a deep breath before she continued. "I love you, Vane. I don't think I ever knew what real love was until you came into my life."
She held her marked hand up to him. "I'm ready to mate with you."