Page 11 of The Bunny Blues

Edward moved to the refrigerator and yanked open the fridge. He stared blankly at the contents before slamming the door shut, a hopeless expression etched on his face.

Henry pulled out his cell phone. “Pizza it is.”

We each took our seats at the table and listened as he ordered. I scowled and drummed my fingers on the marble table in irritation. Pizza had been a staple meal for us on the chef’s days off, but we hadn’t needed to order it a single time since Ellora’s heat had passed and she’d started cooking.

Without fail, she’d cooked a five-star restaurant-worthy meal for us every night. Just thinking about the greasy fast food dinner we would be having instead of one of her meals had my anger boiling hotter.

“When she returns, we need to give her a curfew,” I grumbled, not caring how ridiculous it sounded.

“Agreed,” Jay grunted. “She claimed us as mates. You’d think she’d want to do her duties and take care of us.”

“Right? Otherwise, what’s the purpose of being matched?” Edward scrubbed a hand down his face.

Henry ended the call. “It’ll be here in thirty. Anyone want to watch TV until it arrives?”

Muttering our agreement, we followed him into the living room.

Three hours later, we’d finished eating, but still, Ellora wasn’t home. I was barely keeping my temper in check.

“Where is she?” I snarled, pacing in the foyer.

“Maybe she found a date.” Jay’s smirk vanished when I spun around to face him, and he caught my glowing eyes.

“Why would you say something like that? She claimed us. And that means she’s at our beck and call! Even if she wanted to sleep with someone to spite Edward, she can’t.” I practically spat the words in his direction.

Jay threw up his hands in a defensive gesture. “Chill out, dude. It was a joke!”

“This isn’t the time for jokes,” I snapped and returned to pacing.

“But just so you know, the claim isn’t complete,” Jay added, almost to himself.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Edward snapped.

“Well, Brett is trying to make it sound like Ellora would be cheating if she slept with someone else. But she wouldn’t.” Jay paused, but when no one spoke, he continued, “Her rabbit shifter claimed us, so it is unlikely she’ll be able to get her rocks off with anyone else. But since we didn’t complete the bond by claiming her back, she isn’t fully mated. If we’d accepted her claim and completed the bond, then we would have been a mated fluffle—in human terms, we’d be married.”

“So she’s in limbo?” Edward asked.

“Yeah. She’s stuck because her shifter side claimed us, but since we didn’t accept it, it’s no different from when a human guy proposes, and the girl says she needs to think about it.” Jay scratched the back of his neck.

“So even though Ellora claimed us, she’s essentially single?” I was growing more irritated by the second.

“Pretty much.” Catching my dark expression, Jay hurried to add, “But I don’t think we need to worry. According to what I’ve read, it’s impossible for a rabbit shifter female to give up on her claimed mates, even if they leave her hanging for the rest of her life.”

If I’d known there was even the slightest chance she could leave us, I would’ve found a way to limit her movements. Ellora was our match, and just because we didn’t want the commitment of a wife didn’t mean we wanted her free to consider other partners.

“Has anyone tried calling her?” Edward pulled out his phone, then paused and looked between us. “What’s her number?”

We each shook our heads.

Jay barked a laugh. “I bet we’re the first fluffle in history to not know our matched female’s phone number.”

“Well, maybe she should have given it to us?” Edward pointed out. “Who knows what other secrets she could be keeping from us.”

He was right, and when Ellora arrived home, we were going to have to give her some firm boundaries.

“I’ll get her added to our cell plan.” Pulling out my phone, I sent a text to my assistant, telling her to take care of it the next morning. “That way, we can keep track of who she’s speaking to.”

“Good plan, Brett.” Edward set his jaw. “And we can turn on location tracking, and then we will know where she is all the time.”

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