Chasing His Bunny (4 page)

******

Sniffling, Bethany leaned
into Brock's comforting shoulder while Brice rubbed her back. 
Bailey was curled up on Brady's lap, still weeping while her eldest
brother held her, his dark eyes shiny with tears.  They'd
always kind of suspected their parents were dead - Daddy would have
never stopped searching for them if he wasn't - but hearing it
confirmed had been a blow to all of them.  Apparently they'd
all held out a vain hope that their parents were just fine and that
when they got out it'd be a big happy reunion. 

Life sucked.

Especially because their
grief wasn't even private.  Everyone knew. The soldiers who
had driven in the car with them had kept them company on the plane
and to Steele’s pack. No name for their location, as far as she
could tell. Just “the pack lands.” It turned out to be more like a
town, surrounded by a really large forest.

The town was a little
Stepford, but it was also really pretty and comfortable. Everything
was very cookie cutter, down to the houses and lawns. Built on the
side of a mountain, the main street headed up the mountain,
starting with shops and eventually ending with a small community of
very large houses. More houses, smaller and larger, were spread out
on the offshoots of the main avenue, along with all sorts of other
businesses. On their way to the hospital (which was more like a
very large doctor’s office with extra rooms and equipment, which
made sense since they weren’t a very big town and shifters tended
to heal most things pretty quickly), Bethany had seen all sorts of
stores, an ice cream parlor, and a movie theater. It really was a
thriving little town, just very insular. Seeing the vehicles headed
towards the hospital had drawn a crowd, and a few of the soldiers
had stayed outside, obviously to explain things to the rest of the
pack.

The others had come in and
were waiting for updates from Steele, they’d all been talking and
exchanging theories and gossip, up until a few minutes ago. When
Jordan had come to tell the Bunsons their parents were gone. The
celebratory mood had turned entirely somber, all eyes in the room
turning to the siblings, filled with sympathy and pity.

Bethany, as their leader's claimed
mate, got the most attention, but all of the siblings were being
watched by interested eyes.  At least they were used to it,
although it was strange to have the eyes be welcoming and
sympathetic rather than clinical and scientific.

"I'm very sorry," Jordan
said again, looking extremely uncomfortable.  For some reason,
even though Kasim had been friendlier with the Bunsons in the car,
Jordan had been given the job of breaking the news to them. 
He'd disappeared with Steele at first and then come back,
grim-faced and apologetic.

Even though Bethany didn't buy this
whole mate thing, she was a little indignant that Steele had sent
someone else to tell them.  If he was her mate, shouldn't that
have been his job?  Shouldn't she be cuddling up on his lap
the way Bailey was on Brady's?  Well, perhaps not exactly that
way since Bailey and Brady were brother and sister, and
she-

Oh stop it.

Her parents were dead and she was
thinking about sitting on some overgrown oaf's lap.  God she
was a horrible person.  

Then again, they'd been
mourning the loss of their parents for a long time, even though
they hadn't known for sure that it was a permanent loss. 
Maybe it wasn't her fault her brain was looking for a
distraction.  Especially since today should have been
happy
.

Wherever they were, it
didn't seem like anyone here wanted to experiment on them.  In
fact, they'd all been appalled to find the siblings, and had done
everything they could to welcome them.  Bethany had eaten the
best meal she'd had in years, right before Jordan had shown
up.  Now it tasted like ashes in her mouth, but the gesture
was still appreciated.  Maybe it was just because Mr.
Gives-The-Orders had declared her to be his mate, but everyone
acted like she and her siblings were welcome guests, not the
unexpected surprises that they were.

Bailey let out another low moan; she
seemed to be taking the news about their parents harder than any of
the rest of them.  Curling into an even tighter ball, she
sounded like she was in pain.

"Bailey?  Honey, what's wrong?"
Brady asked, suddenly sounding panicked.  He looked up at his
other siblings who were immediately on alert.  "She's
shivering like crazy - Bailey, answer me!"

Immediately, all three of
them were up from their seats and gathered around Bailey, crouching
and touching her.  Bethany groaned.  "She's burning
up!"

Bailey's skin was hot to the touch as
she shivered feverishly, and tears sprung into Bethany's
eyes.  Dammit!  Everything had gotten so crazy she'd
actually forgotten that Bethany had been taken away by the doctor
this morning before their rescue.   

Behind her she could heard
Jordan, barking orders and demanding a doctor, ASAP.  This was
definitely a side she hadn't seen from him before.  On the
trip, he'd been all lazy male, then so very grim and sober when
he'd broken the news about their parents, and now he was acting
very much like Mr. Large-And-In-Charge.

"They came and took her this morning,"
she told her brothers, tears choking her as she forced the words
out.  "I couldn't stop them.  She's... she's
changing."

The growls and cursing that followed
that announcement made her cringe with guilt.  Sensing her
upset, Brice caught her up in a hug.  "It's not your fault,
Bethy.  We knew it would happen sometime.  The
bastards."

"Let me through, let me see her."
 A commanding female's voice had all of them looking up as a
redheaded woman in a white lab coat came towards them.  She
had a stethoscope wrapped around her neck, under her no-nonsense
bun, but the jeans and t-shirt with Beauty and the Beast on it
underneath the lab coat kind of ruined the whole doctor look. 
Brady scowled at her suspiciously, making another low growling
noise, which she ignored.

"This is Doc," Jordan said, stepping
up behind the redhead, making her look tiny by comparison even
though she was actually fairly tall for a woman even if she was
slender.  Since she was wearing flats, that was her actual
height too, Bethany thought enviously.  "She'll be able to
help Bailey."

He said it with absolute
confidence, but lab coats didn't exactly inspire friendly thoughts
in any of the Bunsons, nor did the outfit underneath inspire
confidence.  But when Bailey let out a high, shrill cry of
pain, Brady groaned at his helplessness and nodded at his
siblings.  They backed up to allow Doc through.

Bethany chewed on her nail
as Doc quickly examined Bailey, as much as she could while Bailey
was curled up on Brady's lap.  As Bailey let out another
tortured noise, the redhead's lips tightened and she took out a
syringe.

"What the hell is that?"
Brady asked, twisting so he could easily turn Bailey around and
block Doc with his body if he needed to.  

"Sedative," Doc said,
without even looking at Brady. He relaxed very slightly.  Doc
picked up Bailey's arm and pressed the needle to her bicep,
emptying the syringe.  Bethany flinched, and beside her she
could see Brice looking away while Brock rubbed his hands over his
face.  After their experiences, none of them liked
needles.

The hairs on the back of
Bethany's neck suddenly stood on end, a tingle going down her
spine, announcing a new presence in the room.

"Let's get her somewhere
more comfortable, Doc."  Mr.
My-Voice-Is-So-Sexy-No-Matter-What-I'm-Saying was standing right
behind her and she hadn't even noticed his approach!  Then
again, she'd been pretty distracted, but that wasn't really an
excuse.  Bethany was furious at how much she'd let her guard
down.  The
thing
 inside of her didn't even stir, the way it normally did
at any sign of danger.  In fact, it had barely lifted its head
since their rescuers had shown up on the scene.  She hadn't
felt it once since she'd first seen Mr. You're-My-Mate.

A trickle of unease went
through Bethany at the realization.  The thing couldn't
really
think Steele was
her mate, could it?

"Can you help her?" Brady
asked, standing and looking back and forth between Doc and
Steele.  Bailey was now limp in his arms, no longer mewling in
pain, her expression relaxed and her head lolling.

"I don't know," Doc
said. 

At the exact same time, Steele said,
"Depends on what you mean by help."

"What does that mean?"
Bethany demanded, turning to face him, her hands on her hips as she
glared up at the behemoth.  The big, strong, sexy
behemoth.  Yeah, she hadn't imagined how hot he was, even
though she'd half convinced herself of that in his absence. 
His dark eyes sparked as he looked at her and then softened as he
took in her obvious anxiety.

“
I’ve
sent you the information we have,” Steele said to Doc. “That should
help you figure out treatment.” Doc nodded and motioned to Brady,
leading him out of the room with Bailey in his arms.
Brock followed Brady while Brice stayed behind,
crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at Steele.
 

"I sent all the information
we gathered from the lab over to my boss, and he’d already been
able to tell me what we’re dealing with," Steele said, looking down
at Bethany and ignoring Brice.  She did not find his intense
focus on her to be sexy.  At least, not
very
 sexy.  "There's no
time to create some kind of antidote; she's going to go through the
change.  What we
can
 do is keep her from feeling
it the way that you all did.  The assholes could have made it
easier for you, but they wanted to study exactly what happened and
they needed you conscious and feeling everything to do
that."

She cringed as she
realized that he must have seen enough of the notes about their
time at the lab to know... well, to know way more than she wanted
him to.  It was her life, dammit!  Even though she
realized others had been reading through them too, it felt more
like an invasion of privacy from him.

"From the notes, it seems
that Bailey's going to be a little different from the rest of
you."

"Different in what way?" Bethany
demanded, her anxiety rising again.  The sympathetic look
Steele gave her didn't soothe her at all. 

"I'm not sure.  The
notes just said she's going to be the 'pinnacle,' whatever that
means."

If Bethany ever found Dr. Montgomery,
she would rip him limb from limb.  And then eat him.  The
thing inside of her stirred, brimming with approval. 
Ugh.  She ignored it.  "So what now?"

"Now, you two can go be
with your sister, and I'm going to figure out a place for you to
stay."  Was it her imagination, or did he just look her up and
down with heat in his eyes?  Like he wanted to suggest she
stay with him, in his bed, under his body -
UGH.  

Bethany repressed the urge to smack
herself across the face.  For one, it would be
embarrassing.  For two, she would be even more embarrassed if
Mr. Too-Sexy-For-His-Own-Good guessed why she needed the
smack.

"Great, thanks," she said
shortly, hightailing it out of there before she could do something
inappropriate.  Her beast humphed and she had the distinct
impression it was disappointed in her.  Well great, it wasn't
like she was thrilled with it either.

******

Staring at the map, Steele
scowled.  The only house that would be able to fit all the
siblings under one roof was clear across the town from him. 
Having his mate so far away... hell no.  His wolf chuffed
agreement.  They needed her close by where he could watch over
her and protect her, and hopefully seduce her and convince her that
they were meant to be together.  Because maybe he hadn't
wanted a mate, but now that he had one, he was damned if he was
letting her get away from him.

Yeah, across town wasn't going to do
at all.

On the other hand, he
didn't think the siblings were going to agree to be separated
either.  He was also going to have to find something
productive for all of them to do.  No layabouts in his
town.  The brothers could probably all join up with his team;
they were big enough and it was obvious they'd had some training,
although they'd need more.  The only problem there would be
convincing them to go to the training center, which was out by Eli,
and separating them from their sisters.  He was sure that he
could talk them into it eventually, even if he had to send them for
training one at a time.

Bailey... well, she was young. 
There would be something she was interested in that she could train
for.  And Bethany... well she could always help out in his
office.  On top of his desk preferably.  Or maybe under
it.

Groaning, Steele shifted his cock as
the damn thing bent uncomfortably.  Just thinking about his
mate sent his mind instantly veering towards sex, and he knew that
was just going to get worse until he claimed her.  The damn
need made him feel like an ass, because intellectually he knew the
timing was shit.