Page 4 of It’s A Little Bit Bunny (Fangs on Ice #4)

Three

Nikolai

I t was sheer luck that I stumbled upon a total daddy in the middle of the forest. His unkempt hair and beard were grey but bright, beautiful green eyes sparkled in the middle of that tangled mess.

After a trim and a shave, he would be a gorgeous silver fox. As much as I’d tried to prepare myself mentally for a night spent in the forest, I preferred this outcome. And this outlook.

Damn, those eyes!

Perhaps he could help me find the way back.

Probably not before the storm hits.

“Nikolai?” A tentative voice pulled me out of my head. It was much softer than it had any right to be.

“What? Oh, sorry.” I’d completely spaced out on the man beside me.

“I can’t get you to the labyrinth before the storm will be upon us. But my house is close by. You can wait there for it to pass, and then I will help you find the way back.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Thank you.” It sounded so weird, following this guy anywhere, but I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“It’s not far. Come on.”

He set off down a side path. I could not imagine that there was a house hidden anywhere in these dense woods, or that I would ever find the way out of this forest without his help.

After about a ten-minute walk the trees thinned, during which the threatening thunder over our heads got so loud that I was desperate to get inside. A gasp of shock escaped me when I first saw the house. I’d expected a wooden hut, a bit like the house Nate and Vee lived in. But a lot smaller and less well maintained, perhaps. I hadn’t expected this .

A manor rose before us, made from white sandstone and living trees. It looked more like an enchanted castle than a forest hut.

Who the fuck lives there? Sleeping Beauty?

Blueberries, wild garlic, and plants I didn’t recognise covered the ground around it like a living carpet. And there were birds everywhere. The longer you looked, the more you spotted.

“ This is your house?” Turning around to look at the old man, I stopped dead.

He looked not only years, but decades younger, like he was way closer to my age now.

What the fuck is going on?

“Hang on, what happened to your beard?” I asked weakly.