Page 4 of The Bunny Blues

I started to nod but stopped when I realized he couldn’t see me. We didn’t speak again as we made our way outside to the waiting car.

I tried to make small talk with Brett, but he was too absorbed in whatever was on his phone screen, so I fell silent for the remainder of the ride to the elegant convention center that sat in the middle of the burrow.

When Brett opened my door and helped me from the car, my heart did a happy flip-flop at the thoughtfulness of the gesture.

Stop being pathetic, Ellora. You’re like a puppy begging for attention, I chided myself. I used to think I was a strong woman, but the stupid bond was making me weak and desperate to be loved by my mates.

Despite my inner thoughts, I couldn’t keep from smiling when Brett tucked my hand into the crook of his arm and led me toward the open doors. This was progress and gave me hope that the mission to win my mates’ hearts was working.

For the first time since being matched, happiness bubbled in my chest, and I relished the sweet, non-sexual physical contact with him. The men were fine touching me during sex, but they didn’t initiate physical contact outside of the bedroom.

Brett guided us to our assigned seats and pulled out my chair. Two of the women seated at the large circular table watched him. It was clear by the stars in their eyes that they thought he was a man in love and that I was a very lucky bunny.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. If they knew the truth of just how not in love with me Brett was, I doubted they’d be so impressed.

Introductions were made, and the first course had just been served when Brett stood, greeting a late arrival to our table. “Edward, I wondered if you’d changed your mind about attending!”

I glanced up, nearly choking on the bite of Caesar salad I was swallowing. Edward wore an exquisitely tailored black tuxedo that hugged his muscles perfectly.

He’d decided to forgo wearing a tie and had left the top buttons of his crimson silk shirt undone. Dark, shoulder-length hair fell loose around the sharp angles of his face, giving him the appearance of a dark fae king—or at least what I imagined a fae king would look like without the sexy pointed ears.

There was no denying when it came to raw sexiness, all four of my mates exuded it in spades. Every woman seated at our table looked like they would’ve given ten years of their life to spend one night with Edward.

How ironic. I had shared a bed with Edward, and I would’ve traded my life to spend one night in bed with a mate who loved me.

Despite my hurt, I couldn’t blame my body for responding with a flush of desire when Edward’s eyes dropped to me. He took in my thick mane of blue hair that had been styled into loose, sex-tousled curls. His tongue slid across his bottom lip as his gaze traveled lower, following the neckline of my gown as it plunged between my breasts.

Blood pounded in my ears, and my skin tingled under his heated stare. There was no denying he wanted me, and every woman sitting at that table knew it. It caused my inner self to perform a ridiculous happy dance…

A happy dance that ended the moment a woman wrapped her arms around Edward’s bicep.

The raven-haired beauty looked up at him through her long lashes and purred, “Darling, are we going to sit? I’m famished.”

Darling.

Darling?

Darling.

The word was stuck on a loop, replaying over and over inside my mind. Maybe I’d misheard? Or maybe she’d mistaken Edward for someone else? That thought was disproved when Edward turned to her with a smile.

He definitely knew her.

The warmth in that smile was something I’d spent weeks trying to earn from him. Seeing him give it to another woman hit me like a sucker punch. The few bites of salad I’d eaten turned to a leaden weight in my stomach.

“Apologies, Clarice. Here, let me help you.” Like the well-trained gentleman he was raised to be, Edward pulled out her seat before taking the seat beside her.

Clarice. She was the woman who’d decorated the mansion. While I couldn’t deny her taste in men was impeccable—at least when it came to outward appearances—her taste in home decor left a lot to be desired.

It was because of her I’d spent my first heat constantly on edge rather than cozy in a nest.

When Edward threw his arm over the back of her chair, the idiotic beast inside me screamed in pain, but I kept my face from showing any reaction at all.

Why would a rabbit shifter female go after a male who was already matched? Maybe she just didn’t know? Maybe she had been invited to this event months before I’d been matched with him, and Edward hadn’t wanted to be rude by revoking the invite? My mind worked to come up with a multitude of excuses to explain away the blatant disrespect being shown to me, but deep down, I knew they were more than friends.

Even if they were no longer sleeping together, they’d been bed buddies not too long ago. And if the furtive glances being shot my way from the rest of the shifter women at our table were any indication, I wasn’t the only one who thought so.

By some miracle, I managed to swallow a few bites of each course and managed a bit of small talk. After the meal was finished and the plates were cleared, Brett moved around the room, rubbing elbows with the who’s who of the burrows.

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