Page 21 of It's Kind of a Bunny Story
My heart ached for my broken mate. Shifters relished their abilities, yet she almost despised that part of herself. It made me seethe with rage at everyone in her burrow who’d caused this trauma.
I longed for the time when she’d open up and trust us with the secrets of her past. When her heat was over, I’d make sure she was given a safe space to heal and learn to love both sides of herself. But this wasn’t the time to push it.
“I can shift and let you climb on my back. That way, you won’t have to shift. My wolf can easily carry you back to the house,” I offered, wanting her to be comfortable.
“Thank you, but no.” Charlee grabbed the hem of her shirt to pull it over her head. “I can shift, so there is no reason to make the journey harder on you.”
Iwish I could say I remembered the trip to the cabin. But my fatigue, and the gentle rocking caused by the wolf’s long, loping stride, lulled me to sleep.
Barking in the distance roused me from my nap. With a yawn, I poked my head out of the makeshift rucksack and blinked at my surroundings.
The guys hadn’t described their home, but for some reason, I’d imagined they lived in a small hunter’s cabin. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. As Linc ran up the long trail leading to the house, I took in the sprawling, red brick Château. It looked like it belonged in the French countryside, back in a time when the wealthy enjoyed bragging about having a city home and a country estate.
Thick evergreen pines pressed in on all sides of the house. Several large oak trees stood among them, their expansivecanopies blocking out most of the sun. Ivy crept over the bricks, covering the outside walls, as though trying to reclaim the land for Mother Nature.
If it hadn’t been for the wolf sitting on the porch, his tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth in a toothy smile, the scene would have been depressing. It was clearly well kept, but somehow, it also seemed desolate. A tragic piece of some forgotten paradise.
“It’s about time you guys got here! Copeland refuses to shift,” Fletcher grumbled from where he sat on the front porch stairs. “I swear! If he licks me one more time, or brings that stupid stick for me to toss again, I’m going to lose my mind.”
My nose twitched, and I was thankful not to be in my human form. Fletcher probably wouldn’t have appreciated my amusement.
“Do they know that they’re men? Or do they just go into full dog mode when they shift?” Fletcher asked, picking up the stick and tossing it onto the patch of grass in front of the house.
With a gleeful bark, Copeland dashed off the porch to relieve it.
“When we’re in our rabbit form, we’re still very much human in our brains. But it’s like there’s nothing but a ‘good boi’ in this guy’s head.”
At the words ‘good boi,’ Copeland scrambled back up the porch steps and dropped the extra slobbery stick into Fletcher’s lap.
I wasn’t an expert on wolf shifters, but I suspected Copeland was simply messing with Fletcher. Linc’s amused, wolfish chuff further confirmed my suspicions.
When we reached the foot of the stairs, Linc lowered his head and set the blanket on the ground. Unclasping his jaw, he released the fabric, letting it fall around me. With a yawn, Istretched my front paws out in front of me and arched my back, trying to ease the muscle cramps from staying still for so long.
One minute, I was doing the bunny version of Downward Dog. And the next, I found myself flying toward the sky, no longer bound by the laws of gravity.
“You’re the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen!” Copeland held me level with his face.
I rolled my eyes and grunted at his ridiculousness.
Fletcher laughed. “If you keep that up, Charlee is going to kick the shifter out of you.”
Ignoring the warning, Copeland flipped me on my back, cradling me against his chest as though holding a newborn baby. “Who’s the cutest bunny in the world? You are!” He continued cooing absolute nonsense.
I kicked out with my hind legs, trying to shove his hand away from tickling my stomach. Some people could see an adorable animal and keep walking, remaining unaffected. Copeland definitely wasn’t one of them.
“If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open tonight.” Fletcher tried, but failed to hide his amusement.
“She couldn’t kill me if she tried. Look at her! She’s so small!” Copeland ducked his head, rubbing his nose against mine.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. She has a bit of a reputation. One that she earned.” Fletcher didn’t bother to hide the pride in his voice.
“Is that so?” Copeland scratched under my chin while I did my best to pretend I didn’t like it. “Are you my Wee Warrior?”
Hellebores! He did not just go there…
Without warning, or thinking about how far off the ground I was, I shifted. Copeland’s eyes widened, but to his credit, he didn’t drop me.
“You can call me Tiny Titan, Fun-sized Fury, Petite Powerhouse, even The Micro Avenger.” I glared up at him. “Butif you ever call me Wee Warrior again, it won’t be the little pig cryingwee-wee-weeall the way home—it will be you, Wolf!”
