by Marilynn Fae
Darnell seems to have the same idea because he's waiting for her at the elevator, arms folded and frown etched in place.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
"They cancelled our meeting with the organizer," he says. "He was held up."
"He'll show up tomorrow right" she says, trying to make him feel better. She knew how much he was looking forward to seeing him. Apparently, the man's a self-made billionaire who hailed from a village much like theirs, making a name for himself despite all the cards stacked against him. The fact that he's an Alpha Werewolf only makes Darnell idolize him even more.
"It's not the same," he says- pouts really.
She can't help but laugh at him a little bit as she walks over him to press the button on the elevator. He follows her in when it gets there.
"You should talk to him. He has a vested interest in shifters like you."
Her ear twitches, like they know he's talking about them. There are always people who think that because she has long bunny ears and a round fluffy tail, she's more animal than human and have specific and frankly, quite disturbing fetishes about her. She shakes her head. It doesn't matter, really. "You're the smart one, Dan. I'm happy farming the rest of my life in the village," she says. "Maybe get married when my heat finally comes and have my own burrow." She's kind of looking forward to getting her own warren. She sees her brothers with their little burrows and all her little nieces and nephews and hopes her heat will come a little bit earlier... even though she's kind of terrified of being claimed. There aren't that many shifters in her village and she's not sure who's going to come for her.
It's different with her brothers. They knew who they wanted as their mates and went after them. Most of them had traveled to different villages to find their does- their wives. She hopes she can get her own buck one day, but she doesn't really know how it works. Her brothers had taken them home and started their burrows near their parent's, so maybe some buck is going to come and take her away from home too. Would her mate see her rabbit ears and think there's something wrong with her and not want her? She worries about that, sometimes.
Darnell has that expression on his face where he's thinking about something unpleasant and doesn't know how to say it out loud. She considers asking him but changes her mind. Maybe he's thinking about going after his own mate. She doesn't really know how wolves find their mates.
"You should talk to him, though. I bet he can help you with your university applications. Weren't you accepted into a bunch?"
He shrugs. "That was years ago," he says, but he looks kind of hopeful.
Darnell has always been ambitious, graduating a year earlier than his peers. He's very smart, but he can't do much without money and while some of the village kids are fortunate enough to get scholarships, Darnell wasn't able to get a full one that would cover both his education and also have a place for him to live and make sure he doesn't starve while he's attending university. He had been heartbroken to find out that he couldn't go. He had siblings to take care of and his family was reluctant to have him leave too. She thinks that's what this event is for, so talented people like Darnell can get the help he needs in order to make more of their lives. Darnell has what it needs to succeed. He just need financial help to get there. She hopes he gets it.
She doesn't mind being chained down to the way of life she has now, though. It's nice and peaceful.
She enjoys running, though. She loves the feeling of adrenaline coursing through her veins, prompting her to run faster than she's ever run before. She's in all the events for the day and is excited to win all of them. Or at the very least, she's excited to run in all of them. All those hours in the bus is enough to make her feel a little trapped.
They have lunch with the voucher that they're given when they checked in and they spend a good long while at the buffet dinner, trying absolutely everything they have because they've never seen so much food at once before. It's really very amazing and she can't believe they have grapes right now. It's not even in season! She knows there's a farmer who grows whatever he wants whenever he wants regardless of season. She thinks he must be magic.
"It's not safe for you to run out here," Darnell says when he notices her bouncing on her feet after dinner. "You need to stay indoors. You'll be doing plenty of running tomorrow," he says, so irritatingly reasonable that she can't help but roll her eyes at him.
She hasn't realized how restless she had been feeling until he pointed it out. And then it seems to be all she's feeling. "We could go to the mall?" she suggests hopefully.
"We?" His eyebrow arcs perfectly and her heartbeat betrays her by skipping a beat.
It's kind of unfair how hot Darnell has gotten over the years. It's easy to forget that he's really very good looking since she remembers how awkward his teenage years had been. He grew into his ears and sort of just- developed muscles in all the right places and turned into the village heartthrob. All the girls in her year are sort of crazy about him and get insanely jealous when he comes to pick her up from school and walk her home.
She's just sort of used to him, except when she forgets and really looks. He's really very gorgeous, all chiseled chin and crooked smile, muscles in all the right places. She likes how he holds her when they're outside too. He's like one of her brothers, strong and a little bit possessive.
"It'll be an awesome adventure," she offers with a bright smile as they make their way out of the hotel.
It's a terrible adventure.
Chapter Three: Safe
Oh no.
She hops over the sidewalk, her lungs burning as she walks as quickly as she can. She's wearing comfortable walking slippers and not running shoes. If she were home, she would've tossed the shoes already, but the ground here is ragged and painful and her paw pads are soft. She makes a mental note to listen to Darnell when he tells her to stick close. She had been distracted, though. There were so many new and exciting things to see and she sort of just- drifted away, drawn to one shiny thing after another before she realized that she doesn't see Darnell anywhere anymore.
He's been sort of distracted too, like he wants to say something but can't find the words to say it. She wonders if it's about him leaving.
The point is, she had drifted away from him and couldn't find him back and her efforts to walk around the mall had garnered the attention of people wandering around in the mall.
She hasn't been that worried at first. She thought she would be able to find her way and she was in the mall. She won't get in trouble in here. But then she realized she was being followed by a group of what her twitching rabbit nose tells her is a pack of wolves. They smell weird and unfamiliar, and they smell dangerous, like they're tracking her and are circling her, growing closer and closer until she feels trapped and alone even though there are others in the mall.
She gets out of the mall, thinking the open space would mean it'll be easier for her to get way. The last thing she wants is for them to corner her in the enclosed space of the mall, but now she thinks it would've been better if she had stayed because at least there would have been witnesses keeping them from doing something terrible to her.
She thought she was heading back to the hotel and it doesn't take her long to acknowledge that she's completely lost. She's in a completely unrecognizable part of town - though most of it is unrecognizable to her.
She gets more and more panicked when she realizes that she's not being paranoid and the guys really are tracking her, circling around and getting closer, a few of them moving around to close her in.
"Hello there.” The man looms in front of her, huge and terrifying. "What's a little thing like you doing out here all alone? Don't you know it's not safe for shifts like you out here?"
"I um- I'm just here for the event," she stutters. "If you could point me in the direction of my hotel, that would be very helpful," she says, hoping her ears are properly tucked under her hair and they can't see them. Apparently city folks are weird about Shifters like her, which was why Da
rnell had been so wary about letting her out of the hotel.
"Aren't you sweet?" The man sneers, looming in front of her, closing in and grabbing her wrist hard enough to hurt.
"Please let go," she says, her heartbeat going too fast. "I- Please," she whimpers, eyes filling with tears. She can hold onto her shift easier now that she's older, but she's fast forgetting how to keep in control because she's really scared right now.
"Why would I do that? Sweet little thing like you," he drawls, leaning in and licking a wet strip up her cheek.
It's really gross and she pulls away, cheeks going bright red with humiliation. The other werewolves are closing in now too, trapping her between them to give her the feeling of prey being surrounded. It's terrifying. Her breath hitches and her eyes burn with tears. She wipes away the saliva on her cheek with the back of her hand. She doesn't like the he smells like cigarette smoke.
He yanks her close, pulling their bodies closer together and then he shifts partially so that his fingers turn into sharp claws right in front of her eyes. She thinks of hitting him and running away but she's outnumbered like this. She closes her eyes and grimaces when she feels him comb through her hair, tips of his claws cutting through her hair band like it's made of paper. Her hair tumbles out from the ponytail and her rabbit ears drop down. A whine escapes her throat. Her ears fold back, and she trembles quietly, panicking.
"Jesus-" "Oh my god." "What the-"
She closes her eyes, heart beating so hard she's afraid it would break through her rib cage and abandon her.
"Aren't you just lovely," he grins and she can feel his breath on her cheek, burning hot and smelling like cigarette smoke and danger. Her ears are folded all the way back pressing into her ear so his words have a sort of echo to them.
She yelps when he clutches her long ears in his palm and tugs her head back, exposing her bare neck to him and looking at her like he's trying to find the best place to slit her neck. It hurts to have her ears tugged like this.
Tears trickle down the side of her face and he leans in to capture the teardrop on his tongue. Her skin feels clammy where his tongue touches her. She wipes it away with the back of her hand again, not wanting his scent on her. It doesn't just smell wrong. It feels wrong, like it's not mean to be there. She knows wolves mark their possession with scent and he's trying to mark her.
"You smell a little bit like wolf, little rabbit," he says. "I thought you were just a little werewolf girl. Who knew?" he looks a little bit crazed, his eyes shining brightly, his upper lip pulled back into a cruel grin. "And you're unclaimed," he grins.
"I'm not," she lies weakly.
"You're going to catch a high price at the market. But maybe we can play with you a little before we send you there," he says, his voice dropping low. He leans in close, mouth parted a little bit like he's going to kiss her and the idea of his lips on hers makes her blood run cold.
Her breath hitches and she loses control of her shift entirely. It happens between one breath and the next, her body shrinking so rapidly that his hold on her ears loosen enough for her to drop straight down onto the pavement. She runs, leaving behind her favorite dress and what little spare change she has in her pockets.
She runs as fast as her little rabbit body can take her, twisting and turning when she feels the swipe of claws behind her, trying to catch her with powerful swats and knock her off course. It's hard to run like this. There are so many obstacles for her to avoid whereas the werewolves running after her are just barreling through the bins and boxes. The noises scare her and spur her into running even faster, strong hind feet pushing her into hopping forward as hard as she can, propelling her towards where she can hear music playing.
She runs towards noise, towards where she thinks there'll be a crows so people will help, but the people she sees run out of the way the moment they see the werewolves coming after her. She hears their yelps and screams as they scatter and are pushed out of the way when a few aren't fast enough.
Maybe Darnell will come out after her. But what can Darnell do against so many werewolves? He's strong, but not that strong.
She's going to die.
She twists into a corner, wishing she was home. At least she could hide better there. Maybe she could squeeze into a small enough space and they wouldn't be able to reach her. The big bin looks like it's too heavy to be lifted. She tries to scurry underneath it.
Her hind paw catches on a drain hole cover and she trips, crashing onto her stomach, the wind abruptly forced from her lungs. She tries to scramble to her paws but she can sense the large shadows hovering over her, catching up too quickly for her to run and she knows- she just knows they're going to eat her.
They won't even be able to find her dead body because she's a rabbit. They'd just think she's roadkill and her brothers are going to kill Darnell for not taking care of her and they're going to be murderers. She's going to ruin everybody's lives.
All because she's too dumb and easily distracted by shiny things.
She makes a shrill, panicked noise when a paw comes out of nowhere and whacks her, hitting her across her chest so hard that she is sent flying into the air. She hits the wall with a sharp pain, and then slides down to the pavement, her whole body throbbing in pain. She's soft and light enough that it doesn't hurt too much for long, more the shock of it than anything else, but she curls up in panic, not moving at all.
She closes her eyes when she feels a paw press against her neck, and then a second later, it's gone. She sound of chaos only makes her clench her eyes shut even harder, afraid to see what's happening. She curls into a ball, trembling violently with her eyes clenched shut. The sounds of growls and snarls, let her know all she needs to. The wolves are fighting each other. Probably for the honor of getting the first bite. She's probably delicious.
It's over as abruptly as it begins and there's the sound of people running away, leaving only the victor behind.
When she opens her eyes again, she is looking up at a pair of bright green eyes, pupil a spot of black in the middle. There's blood on his jaw, dripping steadily down his chin and onto the pavement. There's blood all over his fur too. She's never seen a fully shifted wolf before. She doesn't think there's anyone in the village who're capable of such a shift.
He doesn't smell like any of the guys who had been going after her earlier, but that doesn't make him any less of a threat. She flinches when he noses at her, sniffing and nudging her with his snout. It's wet with blood, smearing pinks and reds on her fluffy white fur. It's gross and she doesn't want to know where that muzzle has been. He smells like blood and guts and for all she knows, he probably ate the other werewolves.
She freezes, staying completely still as he continues doing whatever he's doing, tipping her over until she's exposing her belly to him. her paws dangling in the air, hind legs folded up properly. Her long ears flop onto the ground and she tilts her head back, hoping that if he plans to chew her up, he'd do it quickly. He noses at her belly too, sniffing and nuzzling her. It's actually kind of nice up until he licks up her whole body, the flat of his tongue lick up her again and again. She yips and turns around abruptly. That's a little too intimate, even in her rabbit form. He rubs his snout to her body over and over again, covering her with his scent.
Then, he opens his jaws and carefully picks her up by the nape of her neck, though his muzzle is so big that he has half of her body in his jaw. For a moment, she's too shocked to do anything, but then she's kicking and squirming, trying to get free. Her hind paw catches his nose and he glares down at her like she's a misbehaving pup, letting out a low rumbling growl that shudders through her entire body like a massive engine. She knows he's not an actual wolf and he's not going to eat her, but her rabbit brain isn't capable of such rational thought and she's worried about being eaten.
He growls again, the sound rumbling and more than a little terrifying, and tightens his hold on her, teeth digging into her fur tightly enough to render her limp and useless, but not hard eno
ugh to break skin. He growls again, as if telling her to stay still and she's not stupid enough to try struggle more. He's so much bigger than her, after all.
She curls up, legs folded up to her chest and little arms dropping uselessly at her sides as she's carried through the crowded alleyway and towards what looks like a huge bin. She worries for a second that he's just brought her here to throw her away, but then he lowers her down onto the floor gingerly and licks up her body again, his rough tongue messing up her pristine fur completely. She's already really dirty, though. There's gravel and bits of red clinging to her fur. She watches with wide, curious eyes as he turns his face to the pile of clothes thrown haphazardly by the bin, like someone had undressed in a hurry. A second later, she realizes that those must be his clothes and he had thrown them on the floor in his rush to get to her.
He shifts into his human from there. The transformation from animal to human is always a little bit slower. The animal brain clings to being in this form better, where things are simpler and easier. The crunch of bones reforming and fur receding is never pretty, but he manages to make it look almost graceful. Grey fur melt into tanned skin, muscles redistributing until she's looking at a really attractive-
She squeaks and looks away. She would have blushed if she was human. A second later, she glances back because she's only human and the man's body is kind of perfect. He's not one of the men who had cornered her, she can be sure of that now that she sees him. He would have been the tallest man there and she would have recognized him because he's the same guy she had seen at the hotel earlier, the guy staring at her from the upper floor. He's really attractive, even with specks of blood clinging to his chin and upper chest. He finds a napkin amidst his clothes and wipes them roughly before throwing it into the bin. She watches as he turns and she would have gasped if she could. His wolf tail is still there, long and fluffy and looking so very soft that she kind of wants to reach out and touch him. She takes a few steps forward before she manages to stop herself.
