by Celia Kyle
Chapter One
July
Little bunny foo foo…hopping through the forest…
Carly wished there were some field mice around…or any kind of rodent, for that matter. They’d at least give her someone to play with and chase around while she hopped the night away.
She wove through the trees, dashing from bush to bush. She paused near her favored tree, tilted her little furry head back, poked up the tiny pink lump that passed for her bunny nose, and scented the air. No other shifters around, thank goodness.
On the night of the semi-annual Gaian Moon, she couldn’t ever be too careful. Furballs all over the place were driven to fuck like, er, bunnies, in order produce offspring, and she didn’t want to get caught in that trap.
No sirree, Bob.
Carly hopped a few lengths closer to her favorite clearing and peeked over a fallen log, eyes straining against the darkness to see if predators lurked. Her ears weren’t picking up anything, but a wererabbit couldn’t ever forget that they looked tasty to just about every inhabitant of the forest, were or not.
Sensing no one near, she let the fur fly and raced into the clearing, dancing through the high grasses and dodging rocks. As a human, the area wasn’t all that large, but to her rabbit, it might as well have been an ocean.
An ocean that held the tastiest, freshest, bestest dandelions ever. Seriously. It was bunny crack.
Carly ran, soft dew clinging to her fur while she sprinted across the glade and toward her destination. She was the only one of a few in her warren who knew of this place, and she’d worked hard to keep it that way. With so many other wererabbits in the warren, the clearing would have been decimated in no time.
Within moments, the patch of dandelions was in sight and she could feel the saliva gather in her mouth. She couldn’t wait to munch on the green stalks and fluffy heads. Two last hops and she pounced like a cat, opened her mouth, and chomped on the nearest weed, sharp teeth sinking through the shoot with ease.
Nom, nom, nom.
First one disappeared, and then another, and another… Four down and she flopped onto her back, belly full and blood singing with the warm and fuzzies that came with eating the greenery.
Bunny crack. Really.
The full moon hung over her, pale light casting shadows around the small meadow. Her ears remained alert, her rabbit constantly on watch for those that would see her as easy prey. The forest remained quiet, the soft song of crickets and the rustle of leaves producing a lulling song.
She sighed.
Her bunny was horny.
Hardcore.
Carly had managed to sate one hunger, but the other was happily rearing its ugly ‘let’s bang’ head.
She hated the damned moon. The whole making babies thing was overrated. She couldn’t even begin to count the number of kits born as a result of the Gaian Moon. Sure, she was all for increasing the numbers in the warren. Woo-hoo, bunny power! She just didn’t want to help their numbers along until she had a man shackled to her forever and ever, amen.
She sighed. Sorta. Her rabbit wasn’t much of a sigher. Didn’t really know how.
Anyway. Thoughts of kits always managed to bring her mind—both rabbit and human—back to one man…lion…whatever.
Neal, her very own Texan, tall, long drink of water. Dayum.
The man was six and a half feet of blue eyed, black haired, tanned skin, wide smiling hotness. And the dimple… A shudder of desire raced down her furball spine. That damned dimple made her melt inside, and then she’d get a little horny, and then his nostrils would do the flarey thing that meant he could smell her need and then… He’d be all ‘Need me to take care of somethin’, darlin’?’.
In that split second, that single word, she’d feel like a bucket of cold water had flowed over and through her and her arousal would disappear.
Darlin’.
Oh, yeah, she’d be all about ‘darlin’’. If only she’d be the only one. But that’d be kinda hard, considering every woman in the world was treated with the same endearment, the same heavy lidded gaze and slow, sensual smile. Including the blonde, Naomi, who was still in his life. Just about every time she’d seen him in the last six months, the other woman had at his side.
Right. There.
And, supposedly, Carly was his mate.
Yeah. She had it bad. As in, ‘mate me now gimme your babies’, bad.
But not bad enough to share him.
Sure, mates were supposed to be all ‘forever and no one else’, but Carly wasn’t sure she wanted to test the theory between a rabbit and a lion. Her heart couldn’t take being broken into a bajillion pieces.
Of course, all of these downer thoughts hadn’t done a thing for her immediate need for a man.
Argh.
She half-rolled over and yanked at another dandelion, tugged it from the earth, and settled on her back, the shaft firmly between her paws. With a happy hum, she nibbled and gnawed, took what little pleasure she could.
The moon, bright and full of promise, teased and taunted her. There was so much she could have… If only…
Growling, she tossed aside the last of the stalk and hissed at the great big ball in the sky, ignoring the feeling of loneliness in her heart. Her BFF had mated the lion’s alpha—their Prime— six months ago and was happily (and largely) pregnant with twins. What did she have?
Nada…
Okay. Enough.
She sounded like a pansy-assed pussy and she needed to leave that behavior to the cats. She wasn’t going to feel sorry for herself any longer, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to shy away from the next Gaian Moon.
She was sure that after a lot of coaxing, her rabbit would let her get down and dirty with another male. Maybe.
Resolved and determined to do something different, she closed her eyes with a sigh. She could force her rabbit to accept another’s touch…she hoped.
Carly wouldn’t risk her heart, not on Neal and his wandering eyes, no matter what her bunny wanted. But she would at least have a go at kits. She hadn’t been a fan of not having a Papa Rabbit around as a kid, but maybe it’d be different for her little ones…
Carly opened herself to the night, embraced the gentle rustle of leaves, the trill of birds—which, thankfully, weren’t shifters since they didn’t have any in Ridgeville—and the soft pad of…
Wait.
Pad?
She laid still, played dead in the night and opened her senses to the forest, scented the wind.
Fuck.
The all too familiar scents of musk, spring rain, and daffodils wafted toward her and those smells only clung to…Neal. Her mate. Her lion.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Did I mention fuck?
As a human, she had pretty damned good control over her body. Hell, she hadn’t launched herself at him and climbed him like a tree yet, had she?
But now…
The soft crunch of leaves beneath his monstrous paws grew closer with every beat of her heart. Nearer and nearer he came, until the snap and muffled steps surrounded her, his scent enveloped her in a protective bubble.
She’d been well and truly caught.
Carly scrunched her eyes shut. She could play the ‘You can’t see me!’ game. Maybe if she kept her eyes closed, she’d be invisible.
Hey, it worked for her nieces and nephews.
A tingling swirl of magic blanketed her body and the pop and crunch of a shifter’s change echoed through the clearing.
Oh, she really didn’t want to see him naked.
Okay, she wanted to see him naked, but not while she was naked. Because naked Carly and naked Neal would most likely mean nasty, dirty, make-me-come, naked things. Even if he was still involved with that blonde beyotch.
Yippe! Damn, her control over the furball was swiftly retreating.
No, bad bunny.
With an internal ‘harrumph’, the rabbit retreated.
Thank goodness.
When the painful sounds of Neal�
��s shift quieted, Carly continued to remain motionless. She was really banking on the whole ‘invisible’ thing.
“God. Damn. You’re beautiful.”
Okay, the invisible thing didn’t work.
She opened a single eye and found her to-be-claimed mate looming over her, his long black hair hanging in waves and nearly closing them in, protecting them from the world. Even more, he had the dimple out and in full force while his sparkling blue eyes traveled over her from the ends of her ears to her claw-tipped toes and then back again.
“Truly, Lucky. You’re the most gorgeous little thing I’ve ever seen. You’re all delicate and cream. Makes me want to pet you until you purr. Would you purr for me?”
Carly, and her inner-furry-whore, melted at his words. Okay, rabbits didn’t really purr, but whatever. She’d been the girl with the pretty face her entire life. And every girl in the world knows that ‘you’ve got such a pretty face’ is code speak for ‘dayum, you’re a fat ass’.
For a man, her mate, to compliment her—whether bunny or human—touched her heart the tiniest bit.
Carly opened her other eye, watched as Neal lifted a hand and traced the slope of her nose, and then down her exposed belly. His touch moved to her ears, trailing over the sensitive fur. Then an arm, a leg, his finger gentle as it glided over her rabbit form.
Neal withdrew his finger and she growled at the loss. “Shift for me, Lucky. You know what we are to each other. Lemme see you.”
She stilled. Not a breath. Not a blink. She remained utterly motionless.
Okay, so he still acknowledged their mating after all this time. That didn’t mean much, though. Not with his love for women and the question of whether a lion-rabbit mating meant the same as a rabbit-rabbit mating. As in, exclusivity and fidelity for all time. She wasn’t sure he was even capable…
His eyebrows drew together, a plea in his eyes, and his words were barely a whisper. “Please, Carly? We can just talk. You’ve been avoiding me for months. There’s no one around. Let your guard down, just a little.”
There was something in his expression that made her want to trust him. Of course, then she had to raise her head and look down his body, let her eyes travel over every tight dip of his skin stretched over his muscles and right on to the juncture of his thighs.
Hello, hard-on. Like, ‘long, thick and ready for a rough ride’ kind of hard-on.
She snorted. A delicate bunny snort, but still a snort.
Neal’s gaze followed hers and he chuckled. “Ignore it. You’ve been running from me for six months, Lucky, and I’ve finally got you alone. Gimme five minutes and, as much as it’ll piss off the cat, I’ll leave. You know you’re suffering just as much as I am and I want to fix whatever’s wrong. I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s keeping us apart.”
She hated that he was right, hated the fact that a little kernel of hope flared to life in her heart. There were so many ‘what ifs’ surrounding her, and maybe now was the time to hash it all out. She’d listen to him try and justify the blonde. Maybe she didn’t really understand. Or maybe she understood all too well.
Well, she’d hear him out, for better or worse.
Rolling her eyes, she nudged the rabbit to the back of her mind and embraced the magic that enabled her change. Gentle power traveled through her body and the stinging, throbbing pain of her shift enveloped her from head to toe. Too bad the ‘gentle’ part didn’t last all that long.
Fuck, but being a shifter wasn’t all werepuppies and roses.
It hurt.
As her BFF, Maya, would say, owie, owie, owie…
Carly groaned, her voice sliding from rabbit to human while her arms and legs lengthened. She lifted one of her lids, not realizing that she’d closed them, and took in the look of concern coating Neal’s features. He’d remained still above her, resting on his hands and knees as she changed beneath him. He didn’t touch her skin, didn’t pet and stroke her as most humans tried to do.
Nope, shifting hurt enough; ‘soothing’ someone with gentle caresses while the change was in progress hurt like a motherfucker.
She panted and shifted on the ground, the mix of grass and dried leaves scraping her sensitive flesh with every pop and crack of her joints.
Did she mention owie?
Eventually (way eventually) it all ended with a shudder, her bones and muscles settling into her reformed skin.
“Whew,” she huffed. “I hope you’re worth all that.” She tried to smile, but things weren’t quite working right yet, so she was pretty sure it came out more like a grimace. No way to tell until all of the feeling returned to her face.
“Oh, Lucky. If I’d known… That looked…”
Huh, smooth talking Neal seemed all tied in knots. She shook her head. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
She thought about it for a second, remembered when she’d first seen one of her friends go from human to rabbit and back again. In some respects, the bigger shifters had it easy, as their change was merely reorganization. Two hundred pounds of man made a generally slightly bigger lion. One hundred and twenty-five (okay, one hundred and sixty) pounds of short chubby chick changing down to eight pounds of hoppy fur—chubby chick equals chubby bunny—was a smidge more challenging. The reverse was just as…interesting.
She held up a finger. Hey, her finger worked! “Actually, I lied. It sorta is.”
Concern and worry still marred his features and a part of her she didn’t want to investigate ached to soothe him. She raised her hands from her sides and stroked his arms, petted his biceps. “It’s all good, though. You’re right; we need to talk.”
She brought her hands to his shoulders and then his neck, stroked the line of his jaw. Neal was all man, all carved lines, and had a fierceness that would make him a good mate and protector for their kits.
Not that she was going to succumb to his charm.
Nope.
Carly needed to take care of her heart because she could really, truly fall in love with the womanizing male.
As she held him, his attention wavered from her face and then down her body, lingering on her breasts, traveling over her rounded stomach and on to the trimmed curls covering her pussy.
She removed one palm from his face and snapped her fingers in front of his eyes. “Hey big guy, eyes up here. It’s not polite to stare like you want to gobble me up, and you know it.”
Shifters had semi-rules about that sort of thing. Being naked after a shift wasn’t an invitation to others.
Nice and slow, his focus retraced his path until he met her gaze once again, and he flashed a big, completely unrepentant grin. “Aw, Lucky, you don’t mean it.”
“I think I do.” She glared at him. Overconfident oaf.
Neal leaned down, closed the distance between their faces, licked his lips as his attention wavered between her eyes and her mouth. Suddenly, changing to talk to him didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. Not at all.
Danger, Carly Thompson, Danger!
“What about talki—“
“Later.” His voice was a deep growl that reached out to her inner rabbit.
And then, it was too late.
Neal’s lips were soft, delicate, and tentative as he kissed her for the first time. His skin was like the silkiest fur, gentle as he brushed his mouth over hers, teasing her with his ghostlike touch.
Her rabbit, horny bitch that she was, responded. Carly’s body tensed, a wave of need creeping through her, stealing into her bloodstream and snatching away her control. With every touch of his lips against hers, her desire grew. Her pussy ached and grew damp, readying for him.
She shouldn’t. Definitely shouldn’t. Nope. Nu huh.
But then he deepened their connection, stroked her upper lip with his tongue, and she couldn’t withhold her response. She gasped and he immediately took advantage, slid his tongue into her and stroked. Carly moved her hands to embrace him once again, gripped his shoulders like a life raft and tugged on him, desperate for
more.
Neal. Her Neal. At least for tonight.
Muscles taught with tension flexed and shifted beneath her palms, his smooth skin beckoning her like an invitation to explore.
Her mate did as she silently begged. She widened her legs and he lowered his body over hers, aligned them from head to toe. His cock, thick, hard and long, came to rest at the juncture of her thighs, trapped between their bodies and branding her skin with his heat.
Carly wound her arms around his neck, sifted her hands through his tresses and stroked him, reveled in the textures of his skin and dark strands of his hair. His silken mane drifted through her fingers, danced over her skin.
All the while, his tongue tangled with hers…
Neal truly did taste like spring rain and the freshest daffodils known to bunny kind. He, simply, was her bunny crack, and she never wanted to kick the habit.
Her mate moaned and his hips flexed, sending his cock sliding along her cleft, the shaft rubbing her clit, and an uncontrollable shiver of pleasure raced through her body.
It wasn’t just his dick that was rigid. No, his entire body was a study in granite carving, hard, yet beautiful lines, and he touched her with a gentleness she hardly believed.
Carly opened her thighs even farther, gave him more space and welcomed his weight, reveled in the way such a fierce predator could treat her as if she were fine china.
Then it was her turn to moan. He deepened their kiss, took control, and dominated her with his tongue, teeth, and lips. Neal tasted every inch of her mouth, teased her by mimicking what was soon to come, and nipped her lower lip in a hint of their impending mating.
Because she’d let him. Let him sink his canines into the vulnerable flesh of her shoulder, and she would do the same to him. It’d been six months. Six months of want and need and denying her instincts.
What would be would be.
She just prayed her heart could take the beating.
But she didn’t have time to worry about the future. Not when his teeth sank into her lip, drew blood, and then that talented tongue laved the stinging hurt.
Her pussy clenched at that, tightened and begged to be filled by him. She was desperate to be stretched by her mate, taken and forced to submit. She craved his possession like her next breath…or a clearing of daffodils.