Page 20 of The Buck Stops Hare

Buck felt over my forehead and cheeks before brushing his fingertips down my neck and chest as if searching for something. “Definitely not carrying. Vida doesn’t need a cousin just yet.”

“Vida…” Buck had said the name a few times and shown me photos. The sweet little starry-eyed girl had many of Rayne’s tawny features and a trace of thick curls that I assumed came from her father…other father. “Wait. Rayne’s been a god thing…aspect for a while now. How is he like… Can he do the god stuff?”

Buck nodded his head from side to side before shrugging. “He’s not fully at home with his gifts yet. But he can do many things. When he’s angry, the sky clouds and the wind crackles. When they’re together and lose track of themselves, it rains and storms. When he’s angry, though, he can unleash his godbeast and lightning inhabits his soul. Also, he can understand Pecker.”

“I think he understood pecker long before he was a god creature,” I snorted, sidling back into the car as Buck stifled a laugh. Jacque stamped his back feet in disapproval, ready to move once more. He didn’t want to be in the car much longer, was my guess.

As we conquered the final few miles, trudging through risen, dead weeds, depleted cattails in ditches, and stringy forests hanging with kudzu, we approached the statuesque white-painted antebellum home that I’d been looking for. And on thewrap-around porch sat Rayne, legs crossed, arms folded, and a wry smirk slashed across his smug, bastardy little face.

“No!” I charged out of the car, Jacque in my arms, the moment Buck came to a stop, pointing an accusatory finger his way.

“What? I didn’t say anything.” Rayne kept that shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

New hen!A braying crow of excitement came from nowhere before a flash of feathers grazed my head in a suicidal spill before slamming into the side of my car.

“Pecker! No!” Rayne lost all smugness before leaping off the porch to run after the wayward miniature chicken as it fell to the ground in a heap.

“Did that little fucker just talk? Did I hear a talking fucking chicken?” I stared at the clucking bird and stepped back while Rayne scooped him up, his face flushed brightly.

“Haven’t you heard Jacque talking? It’s part of the whole aspect thing, right?” Rayne glanced over at Buck and shrugged, earning a sage nod from my—Buck.

Buck made ashut upgesture that had anger burning under my skin. “No! No secrets. Tell me.”

“Jacque won’t… He cannot.” Buck drew a hand down his face and breathed sharply. “Jacque is damaged. His thoughts should be clear to hear, but he does communicate more effectively than Pecker in other ways. He’s learned to use the buttons to talk with us. I hear things, but they come in static. It doesn’t mean something iswrongwith him. It means he’s different. Remember when I said he’d been infantilized?”

I hesitated as I glanced down at Jacque, who blinked up, eyes not quite focusing on me but rather out to his sides. He tilted his head to lock one eye on me and blinked.

Pecker’s angsty clatter clucked out a few bitten swears.Hen! Lemme do my dance! I will add this one to our flock! Moreenormous young!His little spindly legs flailed, spurs biting at the air.

Rayne sighed in defeat and let Pecker down where he dropped his wings and did a little strutting dance for me. He preened and fluffed, earning a half snort of laughter.

Hen approves. Good. You are part of flock now. I shall mate you later.

Buck stepped forward and rested a heavy hand on my shoulder.

Pecker stared at buck contemplatively for a long moment before clucking once.Nevermind. This one will reside in our flock, and I shall share with the big quiet rooster. This is hen I shall not breed.

“Good bird.” Buck sneered and Pecker preened a wing for a moment before scuttling off as fast as his little feet could carry him.

“So, about Jacque… Is he like…special?” I didn’t know the appropriate terminology because he didn’t seem differently abled, disabled, or handicapped in any significant capacity. He was perfect to me. Just… I’d spoiled him, and his little seizures made him a little less capable of hiding from predators.

Rayne reached out to me and offered to take Jacque, who went limp as he lifted him. His ears perked and twitched before going flat down his back with nerves. Squinting at the hare, Rayne scrutinized him until he gave a bark of tentative greeting.

“Eh. He never learned to speak rabbit.” Rayne handed him back to me and smiled. “Now that I’ve met my nephew… Storm?”

Buck released my shoulder as I took Jacque and ran forward.

Passing both of us by, a wide grin splayed across his face, we turned as one, Rayne and I, just in time to see who I assumed to be Storm, from pictures I’d seen, strolling up with a baby strapped to his front.

“I have missed you so much!” Buck spread his arms, and Storm blinked in bewilderment for a second before he stole Vida from my brother-in-law’s carrier in a swift gesture.

“Missed you too, brother!” Storm sneered and glanced back, eyes going soft as he swept in to give Rayne a hug and turn toward me, dark eyes taking me in with shrewd interest. “Well, that’s why Buck stuck around. You do feel interesting.”

I stepped back as Jacque wriggled about in my arms to get comfortable and stare at the new visitor. Rayne’s godlike partner seemed to stare into my soul in some ways, scaring me far worse than Grim ever did. Violence, death, and destruction lay dormant in his eyes, all fading away like the wisp of smoke off a match head the moment he set eyes on Rayne once more.

“Storm, right?” I adjusted Jacque to offer my hand out to the dude. Unsure of what I expected, he met me halfway and gave me a firm shake.

“Cliff, I presume. Rayne has been worried sick about you.” Storm pulled me in for a one-armed hug and clapped my back before giving Jacque a scratch between the ears. “And this is Jacque? Huh.”

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