Page 2 of It’s Kind of a Bunny Story (Hey There, Hop Stuff #3)

Y ou’d think the fact that I was practically ripping the pants off a man would’ve been enough to ease my heat and allow me to enjoy bonding with my mate.

But I was getting the distinct impression that my inner beast didn’t trust me to follow through with what I started.

Because instead of easing it, the pain grew more unbearable with each garment tossed to the ground and every brush of his skin against mine.

I tried to shove the bone-melting pain into a box and close the lid, but that was about as effective as trying to nail Jello to the wall.

And when Fletcher pulled the oversized cotton shirt over my head, then bent his head to suck the hardened peak of my nipple into his mouth, I couldn’t help it. I cried out.

“Did I hurt you?” Fletcher gasped, pulling his head back. “Did I hurt you? Am I going too fast? I’m sorry!”

“No!” I protested, catching his face and practically yanking him back to my chest. “Please don’t stop. It’s the heat! The longer I keep putting off mating, the more devastating the effects are becoming on my body.”

Despite my reassurances, Fletcher hesitated. He placed a gentle kiss on my breast, rather than trying to devour me as he had a moment before.

“The pain isn’t going to ease until you’ve bred me.” That was only partially true.

From what I’d been taught, the initial onslaught wouldn’t back off until I’d been bred two or three times.

Especially since my heat had been brought on early by stress.

Worse, I’d delayed mating, rather than asking Fletcher for help sooner.

Even after completing the bond with Fletcher, I was going to be in trouble.

As if in response to that, though, another wolf howl echoed down the tunnel, as though assuring me he was coming. He was close, likely only minutes away. My heart skipped a beat, then raced.

It was a very real possibility that the two wolves would race into the cavern, succumb to their predatory instincts, and decide to have rabbit tartar for dinner. I really wanted to take Fletcher as my mate before my untimely death, but time was running out.

“We have the rest of our lives to make love, but I need you inside me.” My fingers frantically worked to unbutton the fly of his jeans. “Now.”

Fletcher reached between us and undid his stubborn pants. “I’ve spent years imagining our first time together, but this wasn’t how I’d planned for it to go.” The touch of amusement in his tone told me he wasn’t upset over the change of plans.

Hooking my thumbs on the waistband of his jeans, I pushed them down as far as I could reach. His erection sprang free as though prepared to slay a monster. I licked my lips at the sight of his pocket sword, beyond ready for a good stabbing.

“Hurry!” I pleaded, shifting my hips to line him up with my slick entrance.

Fletcher buried himself deep inside in a single hard thrust, our voices mingling in a single moan.

I’d hoped that once he was filling me, the cramps wracking my body would ease.

But those hopes were quickly dashed. Instead, it was as though he’d torn the thin wall that had withheld the full force of my heat.

If I’d been needy before, I was on the verge of desperation now.

I growled, fighting the urge to flip Fletcher onto his back and take what my body demanded—anything to ease the turmoil that swelled inside me like a living thing.

My nails bit into the palms of my hands from the effort of keeping myself from clawing at his back.

All color seemed to fade from the world around me, and my vision tunneled.

My humanity crumbled away as the simplistic nature of the beast repeated one thought like a loop in my head.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

This was how our species had survived for hundreds of years—giving in to that animalistic instinct to breed, thus ensuring the future of our kind.

Any hopes or dreams I held as a human didn’t matter while my shifter nature was in control. She had one job—make sure I got laid. Lots.

Since this was my first heat, I wasn’t exactly an expert, but I didn’t think what I was feeling was part of the normal experience.

With Fletcher’s hands traveling across my skin, his mouth on mine, and his hard length filling me, shouldn’t I have been elated?

Where were the feel-good emotions and delicious sensations I was told would come with my first matings?

Why was the dark need roiling beneath my skin going from a shimmer to a boiling liquid?

I was pretty sure I could guess at the reason. Thanks to our harrowing escape, my heat had come early. And with my body fatigued from stress, near starvation, and lack of sleep, I didn’t have the physical or mental reserves I needed to handle the heat’s demands.

“Faster. Harder,” I begged, wrapping my legs around his lower back. “Please.”

No longer trusting myself not to bite Fletcher from pain or accidental aggression, I turned my face away from his. Maybe if he filled me, the thing would retreat—or at least let me put a muzzle back on it. For both our safety.

A snarl echoed down the tunnel. The soft thud of heavy paws sent a chill racing down my spine, adding to my already overloaded senses. Even though I knew these wolves had been sent by Monroe to ensure my well-being, I struggled against the instinct to bolt for safety at the approach of a predator.

The two wolves emerged from the dark tunnel, their terrifying shadows stretching up the cave walls thanks to the orb’s glow.

Fletcher’s head snapped toward the entrance, his body motionless.

Which totally sucked duck butt, because the instant he stopped moving, agony exploded inside me like a bomb, sending shrapnel slicing through every muscle and organ.

“Fletcher! Don’t stop!” I shrieked, tears spilling down my cheeks.

Violent tremors shook my body as I fought the wildness that urged me to take what I needed and make him mine. After all, he wanted me and he’d agreed to this. So where was the problem with making it happen as fast as paranormally possible? Besides, he’d get an orgasm either way.

Great. My beast has lost any semblance of trying to be romantic.

My back arched off the floor as tiny knives seemed to pierce my skin, reminding me I was in a fight for survival. Romance could come later.

Fletcher pushed himself back inside me, his movements wooden and far too slow for my liking as his attention focused on the two predators that circled us. Their sides heaved as they drew in my scent, tasting the air.

One wolf stepped close, flashing sharp canines as his long tongue licked across his muzzle.

Each pant sent his hot breath teasing across the skin of my neck and chest. He was so much bigger than I thought a wolf would be, and my lungs deflated as I realized he could rip out my throat before I could utter a single scream.

I waited, body trembling from a violent cocktail of the heat and raw terror, to see what the beast would do.

His wet tongue stroked my cheek, roughly licking away the salty tears.

I’m here.

He hadn’t spoken the words, but I read them in his eyes.

Chest rumbling with a low snarl, he turned toward Fletcher, the yellow glow of his eyes having nothing to do with the light from the orb.

My heart twisted with a new fear. Just because I was safe, it didn’t mean Fletcher would be protected. If they saw him as competition for food or sex, would their beasts drive them to eliminate him?

Reaching up, I wrapped my arms around Fletcher’s neck. “He’s mine. Don’t hurt him!” The words came out as a hoarse, shaky plea rather than the command I’d intended, but I hoped the wolf understood my intent.

“Ah!” Fletcher yelped, jerking forward and driving himself hard into me. “He bit me!”

I moaned in pleasure. Yes. This is what I craved—what I needed.

Then Fletcher’s words pierced the fog of lust that clouded my brain. Blinking away the sweat that dripped into my eyes, I caught the glint of eyes behind Fletcher.

The wolf dropped his head, and Fletcher jerked hard, grinding against me.

With what remained of my humanity, I knew I should have been worried, but I almost wished the wolf would keep it up and spur Fletcher into action.

I needed things to get fast and furious before I lost my tenuous grip on sanity.

“Don’t eat him,” I whimpered, wanting to protect Fletcher but struggling to form words. “If you have to eat someone, eat me instead.”

It was meant to be self-sacrificing, but the image that flashed in my mind was the complete opposite.

“I plan to. Over and over.” A low laugh came from the darkness behind Fletcher. “Either finish the job you started or get out of the way, Bunny Boy.”

Anger burned away the fear that had lurked in Fletcher’s eyes since the wolves had joined us. “Who are you to give me an order? You don’t even know her!”

The stranger’s laugh was sinfully sexy. “I know that you have your mate in tears and begging for release while you act as though you’re on a stroll looking for field mice.”

Fletcher snarled something I couldn’t make out, then he turned his full attention back to me. This time, his movements were rough, tinged with his anger over having his ability to satisfy me questioned. I should’ve been upset on his behalf, but I was losing my ability to form cohesive thoughts.

“Yes!” Realizing I’d dug my nails into his shoulders and was likely about to draw blood, I dropped them to my sides.

“There. That wasn’t so hard. Was it?” Arrogance dripped from each sarcastic word, something Fletcher no doubt picked up on if his harsh breathing and fingers digging into my hips as he drove himself into me was anything to judge by.

The shift in pace drew another moan from my throat, and my nails dug at the blanket. The wolf nearest my face pushed his massive head beneath my hand, and as though they possessed a mind of their own, my fingers curled into his plush coat, relieved at having something to anchor myself with.

I whimpered as the pleasure in my core wound tighter with each harsh stroke, pushing us ever closer to the precipice. As my gaze locked with Fletcher’s, I sucked in my breath at what I saw there.

Love.

“Mine!” I screamed as the first wave of pleasure wove its way through the incessant pain of the heat.

“And you’re mine.” Fletcher buried himself deep one final time, his body jerking with release.

If he continued speaking, I couldn’t hear over the crashing waves of erotic bliss that battered my body. Unfortunately, while I was still trembling through my orgasm, the pleasure was violently shoved aside as my blood turned into a living lava that seared every nerve and muscle.

I hadn’t wanted Fletcher to worry after everything he’d risked to help me escape.

And until that moment, I thought I’d been doing a good job of hiding just how much trouble I was in.

But I’d reached the threshold of what I could bear, and the abrupt escalation was too much to process. My lips parted as I cried.

“Charlee!” Fletcher shouted, pushing away from me, his eyes scanning my body for injuries. “Did I hurt you? What can I do? Tell me how to help you!”

I couldn’t have answered if I’d wanted, because the second he’d pulled his body from mine, I’d lost the ability to do anything other than scream from the agony. That first scream was followed by a second and a third until my throat was raw and my ears rang from the echoing shrieks.

“There’s nothing more you can do. Move.” The man shouldered past Fletcher. He grabbed my chin in his rough palm, forcing me to look at him. “We both know I came here to mate you while providing protection. But before I do anything, I need to hear the words from your lips. Tell me you want this.”

His touch sent lightning sizzling through me.

Mine.

I wasn’t sure if it was the heat talking, the pool of desperation I was drowning in, or the tenderness in his brown eyes as his thumb gently stroked my jaw… but I knew I was going to marry this man. And it was going to happen in the next five minutes.

Fine, maybe not marriage in the traditional human sense of the word, but I was going to mate him and tie my heart to him until death did us part.

As I opened my mouth to answer, my muscles seized, sending me into a full-body cramp. My back arched, and unintelligible syllables spilled from my lips.

The fact that the men didn’t freak out over my impromptu reenactment of a horror movie exorcism was a testament to their bravery—or confirmation that men would risk it all if there was a chance of getting their willy wet.

The stranger hissed out a curse and slid his right hand under my back, supporting me. His left hand firmly brought my face back to look at him. “Let me help you! Just give me permission.”

I wanted to sit down and have a conversation about how our life together would look. What expectations he’d have of his mate. Did he truly understand that I was going to bond with him for the rest of my natural life?

For better or for worse, I was about to hop into an unknown future. One thing was for sure, it couldn’t be any worse than the terrible certainty of the future that awaited me if I stayed in the burrow.

The man dropped his head, pressing his face against the side of my neck and drawing my scent deep into his lungs. “Tell me you want this, little rabbit.”

“Y-You… are… mine.” It was a statement, and a warning. For me, there would be no going back.

The stranger sucked in a harsh breath and his muscles went taut as he held me. It was as though his body shut down as his mind processed my words.

Then, as blood pounded in my ears and pain like a thousand knives seemed to pierce my spine, the man came back to his senses.

Raw power rippled around him, and his face settled into a mask of fierce protectiveness.

My heat-addled brain couldn’t process what had caused it, but my body felt the shift in the air.

Danger. Danger. Danger . Every self-preservation instinct I possessed screamed.

Meanwhile, my ovaries took one look at the crinkle-cut-clit-stick between his legs and exploded in a shower of celebratory confetti. Yes, please.

Lifting me so that I straddled his waist and he was cradling me against his chest, my soon-to-be mate’s lips brushed against mine for the first time.

“Yes, I’m yours. And you are mine,” he murmured. “And never forget it. Because no matter how fast your pretty little tail can hop, you’ll never be able to outrun a wolf.”

Was that a threat, or a promise of lifetime devotion? I decided it didn’t matter as he slid his hand between our bodies, aligning himself with my slick entrance.

As he impaled me on his rigid length, I couldn’t even cry out his name… because I didn’t know it.