Page 35 of The Bunny Blues

“Oh, you will. But not until I get answers.” Macarius’s voice was cold as ice. “Names.”

One by one, the guys gave their names. They included their job titles, proving they were the pretentious pricks I’d pegged them to be.

“Why are you in our house?” Coda barked, rocking on the balls of his feet as though readying to attack.

Macarius shot him a look, but Coda ignored him. We might be his younger brothers, but tonight, Macarius would discover we weren’t going to be pushed around when it came to Ellora and her safety.

“We weren’t going to take anything other than what belongs to us.” The guy called Edward leveled a haughty look at us.

It would have been more impressive if not for the ugly purplish bruise circling his eye. Macarius had let off some steam before we arrived.

“Ellora doesn’t belong to you.” Macarius’s voice was flat, as though he were uninterested. I’d learned long ago it was a warning sign that he was at his most volatile.

Jay was the next to speak. “I think there is a misunderstanding since burrows run differently from packs.”

“We are aware. In our experience, burrows are far more backward than packs.” My words dripped with disgust. I’d seen how Monroe was treated, and it had caused me to lose all respect for rabbit shifters.

Jay’s mask of sincerity dropped, and he leaned forward, pulling on his chains. “Big words coming from flea-bitten dogs.”

The insult was uncreative and didn’t warrant a reaction from my brothers or myself.

Ellora didn’t agree. She grunted and pinned her ears against her body.

“Don’t stress, my darling,” Macarius purred.

My jaw went slack, and I jerked my head in his direction so fast my neck popped. Since when did the big bad wolf learn how to sound anything other than gruff?

And why was he calling Ellora his darling when he’d told us to kick her out just over an hour before?

Brett snorted. “Darling? Yours? According to our trackers, she has been here less than three days.” He eyed Ellora. “Don’t tell me you’ve found a way to bring more shame onto yourself! It wasn’t enough to embarrass your parents, us, and yourself by abandoning the fate you were assigned? How do you think the burrow will feel when they find out you were willing to whore yourself to the wolves for protection?”

When Ellora had told us her story, she’d glossed over the part about her mates being total douche canoes. She’d given us the impression they were too busy with work to bother bonding with her.

A far different picture was beginning to take shape. Raw fury clogged my throat, making it impossible for me to breathe, let alone speak.

Coda covered the distance between us, and the rabbit shifters faster than my eyes could track. His fist connected with Brett’s face with a satisfying crack. “Watch your mouth.”

Brett spat blood on the floor, then grinned up at Coda. “I’m only speaking the truth. What I don’t understand is why she’d give up living like a princess on our estate for”—his eyes roamed around the room, assessing it—“this.”

Our home wasn’t a showy mansion, but by no means was it small. Macarius had designed it with a focus on providing for our needs rather than flaunting our wealth—which would have been a waste anyway, since we didn’t exactly have visitors.

Seeing the rabbit turn his nose up at a home that cost well into the seven digits to build let me know we were dealing with old-money snobs who believed their wealth, rather than their character, entitled them to respect. They were going to be ticked off when they realized we weren’t intimidated by the number of zeros in their bank account.

“So if it isn’t the house or money, what could you possibly be providing her that would keep her here?” Jay curled his lip at me as though I were nothing more than gum on the bottom of his shoe.

“Cuddles, snuggles, and so much dick!”

At the sound of her feminine voice, seven sets of eyes focused on Ellora.

She’d shifted to her human form and held a decorative pillow against her middle. It was large enough to cover her—mostly.

“Dick?” Coda and I croaked out at the same time.

If she meant we’d acted like dicks by fighting over her, destroying the house, nearly trampling her, and Macarius demanding she leave, then yeah, she’d probably had her fill of dicks. But as much as I wish it were different, I’d yet to experience the bliss of making love to her.

Henry’s skin had taken on a green hue, as though he were moments away from vomiting. The other three appeared to be having problems with their blood pressure.

Ellora stared them down, not realizing she looked ridiculously tiny, sitting astride one of Macarius’s thickly muscled thighs.

---