Page 11 of Ensnaring Their Rabbit (Heat, Prey, Love #7)

CHAPTER 11

brYNN

I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Everything else was a blur of noise or pain, except that, because the times of darkness were my only relief. After that tiny bit of clarity, it became more and more difficult to focus on anything. That itch under my skin was a burn now. My blood was on fire. It felt like I was burning from the inside out. I tried to stay quiet, I didn’t want these fuckers to hear me scream, but I was failing miserably with that. I’d long since lost track of what was real and what was inside my head.

That voice was clear as a bell now though. I was 99% sure it was my rabbit form, and he had fucking opinions. I would tell him to mind his own business, but his incessant rambling was the only thing keeping me somewhat present. Who knew what they’d do to me if I was out, and I’d have no idea until it was too late.

You wouldn’t be hurting if you just let Mates claim you . My rabbit told me in a haughty voice that sounded awfully like one of the children’s counselors at one of the shelters I went to as a kid. He was an alpha and really had no business around homeless and abused kids. Not that he ever touched us, but he looked down on us and treated us like second class citizens. He thought none of us would ever amount to anything and made that really damn clear. I snuck out of that facility in the middle of the night, after shifting to my rabbit and leaving little poop pellets all over his room.

I glared at the blackness that I imagined my rabbit was hiding in. “How would you like me to do that, genius? Can’t exactly move right now.”

Should’ve never doubted them when they said we were mates. They’d protect us.

If I had the strength to roll my eyes I would’ve. “Honey, they can’t even protect themselves in this shithole. Besides, I didn’t hear them offering to bite me.” I probably wouldn’t have let them if they did, but my smart ass rabbit could mind his own business. I was tired of the condescending asshole. What the fuck did he know?

My rabbit huffed, in a very human sound that had me questioning whether any of this was real. Maybe I was just talking to myself. Of course I’d somehow invent the most arrogant little fucker as my imaginary friend.

I was vaguely aware of others around me. I’d been moved to a different bed, and something was injected in my veins. Normally, it would freak me out, being injected with some unknown substance, but it made the burning slightly better, so if there were any side effects, I’d deal with them later. The humans were all talking over each other, yelling, really, and it was making me sick. Maybe if I puked on them they’d shut the fuck up?

Just as I was about to try that, my rabbit perked up. Mates! They’re here.

I tried to open my eyes, but that was just too hard. So I relied on my senses. Maybe past all the stale humans and chemicals, I could somewhat scent caramel and apples. But it seemed so far away that it was cruel. Was my imagination and asshole rabbit playing a trick on me?

I tried to focus on the trickle of apples and caramel, allowing it to soothe the fire in my veins. I wish it was strong enough to block out everything else, but that would probably take a miracle. There were just too many sensations.

Oh! It was working! Soon the room was overpowered by the scent. It was a little off, like burnt caramel, which, eww, but the rabbit finally settled, and it was still better than the gross humans…

Something was moving me, and then my back was pressed against a hard surface, while something else held me tight.

Mates are here!

“Mhhhmmm,” I told my rabbit, mainly to get him to shut up, because that fire was easing and whatever was holding me in place felt so good, I didn’t want him to ruin it with his bullshit. There was something in front of me too. Something that smelled like baked apples, anger and fear. But the apples….that was where it was at. I sucked in a breath, my lungs burning, but it was so good. I was pretty sure I was close to dying, but if I died with this scent in my nose, and in the safety of these arms, then it would be alright.

“Shh, you’re not dying, sweetness,” a voice growled from behind me as teeth nipped my neck. Oh, did I say that out loud? “We got you now. We’ll take care of you.”

That sounded perfect to me, so I hummed in agreement. I was so tired, it would be okay for someone else to take over for a while.

“I’m not doing this in front of an audience, perverts,” the voice behind me snapped. Mate! My rabbit unhelpfully supplied. Reeve. Reeve. Reeve was here, he was handling things. He was holding me tight to his chest, the rumbling comforting, as his hands ran up and down my body. That must mean the person in front of me was Riven. Oh yeah, those sweet kisses across my face and collarbones were from Riven.

“Watch yourself, inmate. Don’t think you’re getting away with this.” That was the guy who gave me the heebie-jeebies. Markel, I think they called him.

“With what?” Reeve scoffed. “You have a problem with this, take it up with the Goddess.”

I smiled. My mate was being so brave.

Suddenly, I had the urge to open my eyes and see them. I just had to battle the heavy fog that seemed to be forcing them closed. Featherlight kisses on my eyelids had them finally blinking open, and I was face to face with a pale and sick looking Riven.

I frowned. He was sick, too? I think I did remember that from somewhere.

“If you want a chance at salvaging this shit show, then you need to let them mate and mark the omega. It’s the only way,” the doctor, I think, added.

There was a lot of arguing among the humans, but it stopped meaning anything, because Riven was sucking a bruise on my neck as he started to strip me of the prison jumpsuit thing I was wearing. Everywhere one of their hands touched me, the fire in my veins eased. It wasn’t all the way gone, but my body knew they were my mates and that everything would be okay now. I still had enough lucidity to realize that this was only the start of our problems, but none of us would be able to solve anything else if we died from not completing the mate bond. My rabbit was convinced that this was the only problem that really mattered, and as Riven’s hand wrapped around my soft cock, I was inclined to agree.

“Everyone out,” one of the humans snapped, “Give the inmates enough control that they can access their canines. Once the omega is no longer in danger, we’ll deal with the consequences.”

I was vaguely aware of the group of people leaving the small room. How fucking many of them were standing around watching me painfully and slowly die? Didn’t they have a prison to run?

Then the door clicked shut with the unmistakable snick of a heavy duty lock. My head snapped toward it at the reminder that I was locked in, but Reeve took hold of my chin and turned it toward him.

“Later, sweetness. Let us make you well first.”

“You, too,” I rasped, my voice rough, sounding like I’d been screaming for hours on end, which I guess I was. “You’re sick, too.”

Reeve smiled, “Yeah, us too.” Then he was kissing me.