Page 10 of Ensnaring Their Rabbit (Heat, Prey, Love #7)

CHAPTER 10

brYNN

One thing I wasn’t used to was being bored. Out on the streets I was always doing something. Whether it was odd jobs for money, figuring out how and what I was eating for that day, finding a place I could shower and brush my teeth, or determining if I was safer sleeping as a rabbit or a human, my mind and body were always busy. I was always on the go. Yes, this tiny room the humans locked me in was warm, and they even gave me a blanket and pillow, but I was so fucking bored.

I lost track of how long it had been since the guards dragged me away from an unconscious Reeve and Riven and up to the warden in an office that looked like it would fit better in one of the high rises in the city than in a prison.

The warden was thrilled to not only see me alive but in such good shape, besides the bruise on my face from the fucking baton. Apparently, most of the prey who managed to survive were usually close to death when they were taken away from the predator inmates.The warden asked a lot of questions, trying to figure out why the twins would take such good care of me.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that no good would come out of the warden or any of these humans knowing anything. I still wasn’t sure if I bought into the whole mates thing, but I did know I trusted the twins more than I ever would any of these fuckers, and I sure as shit wasn’t giving them any ammo they could use against Reeve and Riven.

I was worried about them. Reeve just collapsed, and he looked like he was in terrible pain, and then Riven lost his ever loving shit. Both were cuffed and knocked out when they dragged me away, and I couldn’t sense or scent them at all. Not that I could smell anything besides bleach and the warden. Who the fuck was using so much bleach to clean up here anyway?

I tried not to gag as I slumped on the mattress shoved into the corner of the small room. I was exhausted despite doing nothing, but I had been trying to avoid sleeping as much as possible. I needed to find a way out of here, and the only way for that was for me to wait, watch, and listen, and take my opportunity as soon as there was one. Not being able to shift would make it harder, but I’d manage. I still wasn’t sure what the humans’ plans were for me, but I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

My biggest worry was about what I would do if I managed to get out. It felt wrong to even think about leaving without Reeve and Riven. It didn’t make much sense. I barely knew them. But all my instincts told me I couldn’t escape without them. Which…it would be hard enough to get myself out, how the fuck did my dumb instincts expect me to get them out?

Ugh. This was a mess, and my mind was all over the place. The one guard, the sketchy looking one they called Markel, argued with the warden and wanted to hold me out of the prison walls until they were ready. For what, still wasn’t sure.

Of course the warden had final say, and I ended up locked in this tiny windowless room that was through a hidden door in the warden’s office. No one would find me, not with the bleach scent blocking everything. Oh! Was that why this place reeked, because it masked my scent? I guess it made sense even if it was giving me a headache and making my skin itch.

I looked at the tray of food that I hadn’t touched yet. I bet it was Markel that had given it to me, because it was just a plate of raw carrots, still covered in the dirt from the ground, like I was a regular fucking rabbit and not a shifter. The warden wasn’t letting Markel in here with me for whatever reason, which pissed him off. So he decided to fuck with me, I guess.

I had nothing against carrots, they were delicious, but I preferred them cooked in my human form. I was refusing to eat them, on principle, but my stomach kept rolling, and I might have to give in if someone didn’t give me something else real soon.

After however much time of absolutely nothing, I gave in. I wouldn’t get anywhere if I didn’t have strength, so I grabbed one of the carrots and wiped it off as best as I could on the grey jumpsuit thing they gave me to wear. I looked up at the ceiling. I didn’t know if there was a camera in here, but it was a good assumption.

I took a bite of the extremely hard carrot. “Happy, fucker?” I screamed out into the empty room. “Are you watching this? Find it funny? Haha, a rabbit eating a carrot. Get a life, asshole.” I took another bite.

I ate two before I just couldn’t fucking manage anymore. I hope he didn’t do something to it, because it wasn’t sitting well in my stomach at all. Keeping the pain of a groan to myself–I wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction if they really were watching–I curled up on my side on the mattress and closed my eyes. Nothing had happened in hours. I could rest a bit. Just for a little bit, then I’d come up with a way to get out of here.

* * *

When I woke up the carrots were gone, and in its place was a whole head of lettuce and a radish. Like a whole ass raw radish. Someone had a sick sense of humor, and I was over it.

I waved my middle fingers around on both hands. I probably looked insane, but I had no idea where this hypothetical camera was and wanted to make sure they clearly saw what I thought about these meals.

I tried to sit up, but my body felt sluggish and even that minimal effort was taxing. The fuck? Were the carrots drugged? Wouldn’t be fucking surprised.

The small nagging pain behind my eyes that I had pretty much from minute one had grown into a full blown migraine. Even the dim light in this room was aggravating, and I squinted, focusing on the floor in an effort to block the light.

Standing was not an option right now, so I slid on my butt off the mattress and onto the hard, cold floor. My cheeks heated, knowing I probably had an audience that was being entertained as I crawled toward the locked door and the plate of vegetables. I didn’t trust it, not after the carrots apparently did me in, but I had to see if it was drugged.

The room spun, and it took a tremendous amount of effort to finally reach the food.

“Ever heard of spaghetti?” I muttered, picking up the lettuce. “Shit, I’d even kill for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

The scent of it was making me nauseous, but I couldn’t smell any kind of chemicals or anything but the vegetables. Tentatively, I ripped off a piece of the lettuce and placed it on my tongue. Immediately I started gagging. It tasted like lettuce, nothing else, but even the thought of trying to swallow it made me sick. I dropped it back onto the plate and fell back on my ass in front of the door. What the fuck was going on?

Also, on top of all that, that itch that had been under my skin had escalated and was now over my entire body. I was trying to ignore it, scratching always made things worse, but it was not easy. I felt like there were thousands of bugs crawling all over my skin and trying to tear me apart. The longer I was awake the worse it got, until it was the only thing I could focus on.

“C’mon, Brynn, you’re stronger than this. Don’t fucking scratch.”

Find Mates . I frowned at the voice in the back of my head. Was I hallucinating? I hadn’t been locked up long enough for that to be happening, right? It had only been a few days at most.

Sick. Need Mates to feel better .

It sounded vaguely familiar, and my subconscious pulled up an image of my rabbit, but that didn’t make much sense. The bigger animals sometimes had a stream of consciousness with their animal form, but I never heard of it happening with a rabbit or any other prey animal. It was probably just my imagination, inventing something to keep me from losing it in this place.

I somehow made it back to the bed. The itching was bad, but if I wrapped myself in the blanket, I could sort of forget about it. Besides, laying down seemed to be the only thing I had strength for. I had all these grand plans about escaping, but I couldn’t even stand on my own two feet. Pathetic. No wonder the world looked down on omegas. We really were helpless.

Need Mates. Only get worse.

The voice was right about one thing, I was sick. I had no idea what my supposed mates had to do with it though. Or what the voice wanted me to do about it. Even if I managed to escape, which, considering I couldn’t stand, seemed unlikely, I had no idea how to find Riven and Reeve without getting all three of us killed.

“Chill out, voice. I need a nap.” But I shouldn’t need a nap. I just woke up. Still, the idea of sleeping seemed perfect. I wrapped the blanket around me, shivering against the sudden chill that wasn’t there before.

The voice was still yelling, telling me not to go to sleep, but I ignored it and closed my eyes.

* * *

“What the fuck is happening to him?”

“If you give me some space, sir, I’ll see what I can figure out.”

“His buyer is supposed to come this evening. Why is he like this?”

“Again, I’m not sure. Let me examine him, and maybe I’ll get some answers.”

I tried to open my eyes but they were too heavy. I felt hands on me, moving me this way and that, something wrapped around my arm. There was a flare of panic, but I couldn’t move enough to do anything about it. What was going on?

The voices kept yelling, but I tuned them out. They had nothing to do with me. It was too exhausting to worry about them, when just staying awake was taking all my effort.

“He’s burning up.” Me? I did feel pretty hot. Damp like I was covered in sweat. Why was I shivering though? Should I be shivering when I felt this hot?

“Is he going through heat again? Does that mean the pregnancy didn’t take?” one of the voices asked. He seemed annoyed, impatient. Like I was inconveniencing him. I couldn’t even be happy about it though, because my body felt like it was on fire. A whimper escaped me without my consent.

“No, he’s not going through heat again,” the closer voice answered. “His hole is dry and tight.”

Eww, gross. How did he know this? There were hands everywhere, but it was hard to make out individual sensations with this pain.

“Then what? Even if he’s pregnant, it shouldn’t be making him do this, right?”

Pregnant? What the fuck were they talking about?

“No. It’s still too early to determine that, sir, even if you told the buyer otherwise.”

“So then what the fuck is happening? You need to fix it, Rotham!”

The person touching me sighed. “I’m trying.”

Just then a new voice entered the room. He was panting like he ran here. “Warden! The Balthazar twins are puking their guts out all over their cell. The one started convulsing like he was having withdrawals.”

“That’s not possible. Neither of them ever tested positive for drugs.”

Balthazar? Twins? Were they talking about Reeve and Riven? I tried to open my eyes, tried to focus. Were they sick too?

The man who had been touching me stopped. He felt further away, like he was standing. “You said the Balthazars? These were the inmates that took the omega through heat?”

“Yeah,” someone confirmed. Fuck, it was them. My heart pounded in my chest, and that voice that had been growing in the back of my mind all but screamed. Demanding I get my shit together and find our sick mates so I could take care of them. Thanks voice, so fucking helpful. How was I supposed to do that when I didn’t have the strength to open my eyes let alone fight my way out of this room, find the alphas, and then care for them. This voice was really getting on my fucking nerves.

“Hmmm.” The guy, who I was assuming was some kind of doctor, replied. Hmm? What kind of answer was hmm?

Clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a shitty answer, because the other guy, the one I was pretty sure was in charge, snapped, “What do you mean, hmm?”

“I can’t say for sure. But I’ve done some research on shifters and fated mates. There is some research regarding a sickness that can occur when fated mates meet each other but don’t complete the bond before separating. According to what I read the longer they are apart the worse it becomes, until eventually they die.”

What. The. Fuck?

There was a lot of commotion then, but it was hard to pay attention to it. It was like once I heard the words out loud, my body and mind decided it was fact and shut down. There was no point fighting the inevitable if the only way to survive it was to…what…get the twins to complete the bond?

Even as the voice in my head, and the omega inside me, seemed satisfied with that explanation and was ready to wait and see what happened, there was a part of me that was still thinking rationally and thought that was total bullshit. So if I didn’t accept the bond with two complete strangers I was gonna just die? I always thought that the Goddess’ gifts were a little twisted, but this was fucked up even for her. I couldn’t deny the connection I felt to the alphas, but did I really want to tie my life to them? How would that even work? It was a pretty safe bet that the warden wasn’t gonna let me just live with them in their cell. Especially as he and someone else were currently arguing about a buyer and what to tell them. Still, being claimed by Reeve and Riven had to be better than dying. At least it should buy us some time to come up with a plan.

I tried to focus on the voices again, since apparently all of this was in their hands. “If we let them mark the omega, what then? Our buyer doesn’t want alphas, especially murderers,” the guy running this shit show said.

“It’ll give you time,” the doctor said patiently. “It should stabilize the omega enough for inspection and transport.” I couldn’t avoid the shiver. That was just gross.

“But if they’re separated after it’s complete, won’t the same thing happen? I thought fated mates needed to stay close.”

“The timeline should be longer. Long enough for the check to clear. What happens after that, well, it won't be your problem anymore.”

The words sunk like lead in my gut. So they were going to let the twins bite me, which will hopefully let all three of us live, then sell me to some scumbucket alphahole, only for me to probably be living through this pain hell in a few days or weeks again and then eventually die. Lovely. I was not on board with this plan.

But…part one of it, I could accept. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with being bitten and claimed by Reeve and Riven, but it was better than dying. Then once they were with me in the same room, maybe we could find a way to escape. Because one thing was clear, I was sure as fuck not being sold like chattel. I’d fought too long and too hard, lived on the street barely getting by just to keep autonomy on my body. These assholes already ruined that, but I wasn’t letting them do it again. If that meant tying myself to the alpha twins, well then there were way worse things.