Page 5 of Bunny Be Mine
Yet. But you have seen Marcus and heard the jokes the others make. Do you really think they aren’t capable of such violence?
Stop. We cannot hide from them forever. I am in heat, so we will be fine.I stretched my limbs as I left my house and entered my backyard, quickly crossing into the tree line.
There weren’t many non-shifters around us in this town, so we didn’t feel the need to hide who or what we were. The benefit of being in a smaller town governed and secured by shifters was that we didn’t think twice about shifting anywhere on our properties. I knew there were other areas in the country where shifters had to be more careful, not because humans didn’t know about us but because they still freaked out and had most of the nation’s power. Although that was slowly shifting as well, and I knew one day there would be more balance for us all.
I allowed my body to relax once I found a nice spot in the woods. My senses tuned in to the area and, aware of only real animal life around me, I was the only shifter near. I closed my eyes and allowed the shift. The energy radiated through my body, beginning at my toes and flowing up until my entire being felt the tingle of the magic that allowed us to transform from human to rabbit.
Opening my eyes, I saw the world through my rabbit’s perception. I took a moment to adjust to the dichromatic vision, my world now a mix of blue, dull-yellow, and grayish-green hues. I loved how I could see the world differently in this form, and felt a tad sorry that non-shifting humans couldn’t shift and experience the world in more than one way.
Now it was time to play.
Jumping over a fallen tree trunk, I decided to venture a bit deeper into the words and find some plants I could forage. I wouldn’t roam too close to the rest of the town and risk running into the wolf pack nearby, but I also wouldn’t allow their presence to keep me in too tiny of a box. This was my land, and my family had been here as long as any of those wolves’ families. Just because nature deemed them stronger and better hunters didn’t mean they possessed all this land and everything that dwelled on it.
They would never possess me.
Although Marcus had tried. Even going as far as pretending to be legitimately interested in me for more than just a quick roll beneath the sheets.
I was a fool to have ever let him into my life. I had once considered him a friend and spent some time hanging out with him. Then his father had died and his true colors began to show. His friendship with me turned into an obsession to control and dominate me.
I told you. At least we never let him mate us.
I would rather die.
Don’t say that. They are on the hunt tonight.
I caught the scent of the pack just before my bunny spoke. The hairs on my back spiked and my adrenaline rose. It was time to run.
I shifted back to my human form. It would be hard to outrun the wolves in any form if they shifted. But as long as they stayed in their two-legged forms, at least I had a chance to escape them. My rabbit would be captured within moments. I would only shift back if I needed to hide in a small space. There were places my human form just couldn’t fit into.
Rustling from the trees on my left had me heading right. I needed to get back to my cabin. I couldn’t let any of these men capture me. Who knew what they were capable of? And if it was Marcus, no one would be around this time to save me.
“Ah. It looks like we are in for a good night, boys.” I heard one of Marcus’ cousins shout out to the others as I dashed through the forest. “Let’s go hunting.”
I was so fucked.
And not in a good way.
Goddess, save me.
Chapter Three
Fen
HowthefuckdidI let these fools convince me into coming out here tonight?I looked around at the group of men I’d planned to hang out with tonight and felt disgust rise in my throat. My stomach churned and I felt an ick cover my skin.
Because you are a dumbass who easily conforms and agrees so that peace is kept.
I rolled my eyes at my wolf. He was always telling me I gave in too easily to peer pressure. A people pleaser, he called me. But was it really that bad to want to fit in and not make waves, especially when my parents still lived in the town with these guys? I didn’t want to give them any ammunition to terrorize my family.
I had called Marcus as soon as I settled in at my parents’ house and had lunch. He seemed surprised but excited to reconnect with me. After all, from diapers to high school graduation, Marcus and I had been inseparable. Born on the same day in the pack, our mothers had decided to have playdates together and a friendship bloomed. But as we grew older, I realized we had less in common and our friendship was more out of a lack of choices in friends than in true understanding of one another as individuals. Once I got away from town and met so many more shifters in college, my old life just seemed to lose its luster, and I found that I didn’t need to hold on to forced friendships.
Yet, here I was tonight, trying to reconnect with that old life to see if my parents were still safe here in Painesville. And it was becoming crystal clear how much had changed.
“Hey, Fen.” Marcus smacked me on my back and handed me a cold bottle of locally bottled beer. “Are you ready to get some prey tonight?”
“When did you guys start doing these hunting games?” I took off the silver twist cap and took a long swig of Wolf Mountain Brew. I fought back my gag at the taste, wondering why this bottle tasted differently than what I’d remembered. “I don’t recall these hunting excursions occurring before I left for college.”
“A lot of things have changed, man.” Marcus chuckled and his friends joined in, some smirks shared among them. “We are not little pups any longer, and it’s time we showed our dominance.”
