Page 30 of The Bunny Blues

For a moment, I felt as though I were caught in a snow globe, except instead of snow, shards of glass fell around me like a million glittering diamond raindrops.It was beautiful, and such a stark contrast to the hellhound-like beast that landed in front of me with a deafening howl.

Pulling into the abandoned parking lot of a long-closed store, I put my car into park.

“What were they thinking?” I snarled, slamming my hand against the steering wheel.

My brothers knew my boundaries when it came to bringing outsiders into our home. Reese enjoyed pushing boundaries, but since she’d moved out and was no longer sneaking friends in, the only person who’d stepped foot inside our house was Cillian.

I couldn’t be too mad at my brothers. They’d believed I wouldn’t return this soon, but that knowledge did little to calm my inner turmoil.

At that moment, I doubted anything could quiet the building storm inside me when her intoxicating fragrance still filled my lungs, and the sight of her bare skin was burned on my retinas.

My wolf had never been a stable beast, and I’d long ago learned that the best way to remain in control was to limit the amount of time I spent with people outside my family. That allowed my wolf to decompress before being forced out into public again.

It was a precarious balance, but thus far, my rigid boundaries had kept me from killing anyone who didn’t deserve it.

I’d been forced to return from my trip early because, although I’d rented a house far from the city that would give me a place to retreat to each evening, my wolf had remained on edge.

Unable to trust him not to go off during one of the meetings, I’d decided to return home for a couple days to give him time in familiar settings to find his inner peace. At the very least, I hoped he’d find a scrap of patience and not want to rip people’s throats out for simply breathing too loud or asking idiotic questions.

Unfortunately, when I’d walked into the house to find my brothers battling for dominance and trying to force each other to submit, it had ramped up my wolf’s agitation.

I still could have held it together if it hadn’t been for the sweet scent that slapped me in the face.

Her scent.

I couldn’t understand how the way she smelled affected me like that, especially when I’d yet to catch sight of any female in the house.

My wolf proved to be quicker than me on the uptake and had put the pieces together. The mystery female was my mate.

And that meant Coda and Quin were fighting over what was mine.

I’d remained in control of my wolf by the skin of my teeth. There was no doubt in my mind that if I’d shifted, their battle for dominance would have become a fight to the death.

Their death. Not mine.

Coda had grabbed a black ball of fur from the floor and retreated down the hall.

Ignoring him, I’d searched the room for the source of the delicate fragrance, all the while ignoring the excuses Quin was spouting for why they’d brought a pet into the house.

Eventually, I’d tracked the scent to Coda’s room and flung open his bedroom door. My eyes dropped to the woman, who was partially hidden by Coda’s body.

Other than Monroe, the blue-haired beauty was the smallest female I’d ever seen. Hades, compared to my size, she might as well have been a sprite or a fairy.

That was when the final piece of the puzzle fell into place.

The rabbit my brothers had brought home was a shifter, and she was my mate. Pain tore at my insides as I realized I could never have her.

Fate had dealt me a wolf who was a mere breath away from turning feral. Now, in some twisted joke, she’d decided to give me the most fragile of shifters as a mate.

I wanted nothing more than to scoop the tiny female off the floor and swear my undying devotion while worshipping her body. But I could never trust myself, or my wolf, around her.

The only way to keep her safe was to get her as far away from me as possible.

Dropping my head back against the seat, I closed my eyes and tried to ignore my wolf’s heartbroken howl as it echoed around my skull. He was desperate to return to her, but as much as I longed for the same, I couldn’t allow it.

MINE.

My eyes flew open. I’d heard of wolves speaking, but mine had seemed too animalistic to understand words. This was the first time he’d chosen to communicate using human language.

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