Page 4 of The Buck Stops Hare

“I don’t know!” I snarled and, against my better judgment, dissipated into dust and slipped away from her, sneering.

She startled for a second and scrambled back. “Not a shifter…”

“You know abou—”

“Fuck, yes, I know about shifters! What are you?” She brushed herself off and braced herself, a fire in her eyes so dark and vicious.

“A god.” A slight pressure nudged against my leg and I glanced down to witness the hare, mouth full of salad greens, head-butting me. Before I could reach down, the rabbit ran off and pressed one of the many buttons.Friend.

“Jacque likes you…” She narrowed her gaze at the hare and he thumped his back feet in protest. Still no coherent thoughts.

“What’s wrong with the hare?” I glanced down.

“Kestrel dropped him as a baby. Cliff has a soft spot and nursed him back, but he’s unreleasable.” She eyed me warily. “A god, really? Of what?”

“I’m the Buckling Stone. You may call me Buck. Rayne sent me.” I stared her down, but she didn’t relent, gaze as doubtful as anything.

“Rayne. Really?” She sneered and pulled her phone out, giving me awaitgesture. She dialed and frowned at the phone before glaring back at me.

“Need his new number?” I huffed and she glared before I produced my phone to show her. Relaxing marginally, she added the number to her phone. “You’re Eve, I believe?”

She nodded. “He knows everything?”

I nodded. “Surprised you do too, to be honest.”

“Haven’t figured out what I am, but I’ve got shifter friends.” She dialed and held her phone to her ear.

“Rayne? It’s Eve.” She raised a brow for a second. “I’m staring at a god here in Cliff’s apartment… Yeah.”

She tapped her foot. “Yeah, yeah, I know all about shifters and shit. Now why is a god in Cliff’s apartment? Someone fucking nabbed him a few days ago and I’ve been searching.”

“Right. And you trust him?” She glared up at me and froze. “What? Really? How… I thought you were— Oh fuck, okay. We got talking to do when I come down, bro, but I’m going to take mister Buck here and we’re going to nab Cliff.” She huffed.

“Don’t distract me! Bye. We’ll talk later, fartsniffer.” She hung up with a flourish of her thumb and glared at me. “Rayne is a god, too?”

“An aspect, yes.” I bent down to scoop the hare, Jacque, up. “He is powerful.”

“So what the fuck am I?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t think his siblings were anything.” The hare snuggled contently in my arms and barked. “Aspects are flukes.”

“Fuck. Okay. Any idea what happened?”

“Rayne had a stalker about a year back. He skipped town, met his mate, and then the creep found him again. He killed Rayne, but he pulled through—the stalker, not so much. A boar shifter.”

“It was self-defense! What’s their problem?”

“God stuff. Their god, Grim, is not the kind sort and is demanding repayment, life for life.”

“Ew. No. Where do we find them?” She eyed me up and down before gesturing me to hurry up.

“North Texas.”

She grabbed her keys and shook them. “Hop in. Road trip time.”

“Or, I can travel how gods do and be there in minutes.” I hefted Jacque and moved to pass her when she blocked my path.

“If you’re going, I’m going.” Her glare grew more intense.

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