Page 33 of The Bunny Blues

Tilting my head, I studied the motionless body. There was a faint heartbeat, so he might make it. Besides, there were three more I could get answers from.

Baring my teeth, I herded them into a corner of the living room. Once they were pinned, I shifted back to my human form and stalked toward them.

“I’m going to handcuff you. My wolf longs for your death, so if you fight me, I will kill you and enjoy it.” Reaching into one of the TV stand drawers, I pulled out several pairs of handcuffs and chains.

I liked being prepared.

“You can’t do this! It goes against the shifter code!” one of the men spat.

Interesting. They were shifters? I’d been so focused on the rogue wolves and my beautiful Ellora, I hadn’t paid much attention to the men. Even if they’d been armed with a gun, they posed little threat to me.

Pausing, I drew their scent deep into my lungs, and a slow smile spread across my lips. They were rabbit shifters.

Delicious. My wolf practically drooled at the possibility of a hunt.

A twinge of worry shot through my chest. What if he forgot Ellora was our mate? Was the pull of the mate bond stronger than the drive to hunt?

Only time would tell.

It was too late to backtrack now. She was mine, and we’d find a way to make this work.

I yanked the man’s arms behind his back far harder than necessary.

“We were only taking back our property! You have no right to bar us from Ellora,” he protested, his eyes blazing with righteous indignation.

“There is nothing in this house that belongs to you,” I grunted, kicking aside the rug that covered the metal loops bolted to the floor along the wall.

I used a chain to connect each pair of handcuffs to one of the metal rings. It took less than a minute to get all four men handcuffed and chained to the floor.

The cuffs were laced with magic that prevented the men from shifting forms. They weren’t leaving until I said they could.

If I said they could.

“She’s our mate!” a second man yelled. “We have the papers showing she belongs to us—” The man fell silent—probably due to the fist I slammed into his face.

His eyes rolled back, and he slumped against the wall. Growing impatient with the need to check on Ellora, I decided this was taking too long.

The two conscious men stared up at me in wide-eyed horror as I grabbed a fistful of their hair and cracked their skulls together. I was careful to only cause enough damage to keep their shifter magic busy healing them, but not enough to cause permanent injury.

Satisfied they were all out cold and chained up snug as bugs on my rug, I headed back down the hallway.

As I drew closer to the bathroom, my bloodlust morphed into something else. Something that was gentler and far darker at the same time.

I wanted to claim her soul and corrupt her body, but I also wanted to cradle her in my arms as she slept, making sure she knew that no one would dare to hurt her again.

Not wanting to alarm her more than necessary, I grabbed a pair of slacks from my room and put them on before heading into the bathroom. Stepping into the room, I saw Ellora had scooted beneath the shirt, completely covering her face.

I grimaced as I looked at the two dead wolves sprawled on the floor, their necks twisted at unnatural angles. The rogues were surrounded by what remained of the door and millions of glass shards.

All the pieces came together to paint a savage scene. It wasn’t surprising she’d hidden her face from it.

Making my way to her side, I began to worry she might be more seriously injured than I’d suspected. Lifting the shirt, I peered down at the ball of black fur.

Bright blue eyes blinked up at me.

Slowly, so as not to frighten her, I gently began to check her body for injuries. When I found the bite on her leg, I cast a look at the rogue and wished I could raise him from the dead so I could kill him again.

Her injury wasn’t serious, and thanks to her shifter side, the wound had nearly stopped bleeding, but I still wanted to clean and bandage it.

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