Page 50 of The Buck Stops Hare

Baby!

Jacque barked once and leaped off when Cliff leaned up to dig into the takeout and juice.

In the nine weeks since River had given me his humanity, I’d been what Cliff had assured me wasdepressed. My heart ached like it did when I recalled the blood that made me what I was, the blood they continued to spill. Like River, I was a death god, but my sacrifices came willingly.

River had been trying for a child, had been accepted into his new land, reviving himself, and all of it went to me. It made a pit drop in my stomach when I thought about Cliff’s impending heat. A heat that I realized we’d ended short, due to the incident.

Cliff was prone to bouts of surliness, affectionate when in private but plain-spoken. He was also an unmistakable lush during his heats, and I’d had him through three as they regulated, a seasonal night or two of passion. Usually, two. I’d not been with him long enough to have run the gamut of his lusts.

Not wanting to distract him from his studies, I shuffled closer to him and inhaled, scenting him as I leaned in, disguising my effort as a quick kiss. It was hard to tell over his natural scent and the cloying spices in the takeout, but he did smell sweeter. I wouldn’t know for certain until he shifted. The question was, if true,how?

We’d switched roles during his heats. It’s not likeIwould get pregnant.

Then again… We did experiment in our feral forms a little… A lot.

Yeah. That should have been obvious.

We had a few days until the full moon, when we would shift and run, and I could let someone else be the bearer of news. Good news? Bad news? I knew he didn’t want to be pregnant. Guilt sweltered in my gut.

“Come on, get ready.” Cliff stood and dusted himself off, a few grains of rice hitting the floor much to Jacque’s delight. He nibbled a few pieces covered in some variety of beef’s sauce.

Most lapins were herbivores, but it appeared Jacque was an omnivore.

Between one step and the next, his clothes shifted from cozy pajamas to a shirt and jeans. Not in the way of illusion like I did, like most gods did, but he discorporated clothing he already owned and let it cover his form. He was growing to enjoy his gifts and I grew to love watching him use them.

“Always ready.” I gathered Jacque into my arms and smiled as he packed a backpack and jogged up to me, resting a hand on my arm.

I took the cue and let our powers mingle, drawing our being into dust in the wind, from earth and stone of one place into the earth and stone of another.

When we arrived, he patted my shoulder, gave me a kiss, and ruffled Jacque’s ears before jogging off to get the keys to Dani’s car.

“Good luck!” I raised an arm and let Jacque down to nibble the lawn weeds while I loped off to finish packing his belongings. And, as a god, I could do things much more efficiently.

***

I sat on the couch in his apartment, surveying the pile of boxes that I’d stacked in the center of the room. Dust in the corners swept into the air and made its way outside to drift off into the unknown. Cabinet doors opened, dirt and debris in the corners there doing the same thing as the remnants of spices and sauce packets tumbled free and onto the floor at my guidance,into a box I’d earmarked as trash. There was no need to buy more spices and things as neither Cliff nor I cooked and the pack always had meals available for dinners and the like.

Where Mama?Jacque climbed up into the windowsill and peered out, his little claws scrabbling at the glass.

“Home soon.” I kept my answers short with him, since he understood me so easily.

He glanced back at me and sighed.Mama, another baby? Jacque baby.

“Don’t know. Yes, you’re baby.” I stared the hare down before he barked in frustration and thumped his back legs. “You’d know better than I would at the moment. You’ve been around him longer.”

Jacque stared at me, head tilted as if he were contemplating what I’d said. He’d understand a chunk of it and muddle through the rest like a child might.

Yes. Another baby. Jacque know.He snuffed sharply, the puff of air almost a hiss.

I stood and stretched, eyeing the boxes as I went about carrying a few down at a time, keeping it in the realm of believability. I could have moved them downstairs with my powers, but the effort and risk of being spotted wasn’t worth it.

And so I spent the rest of my day the same, moving boxes, telling dust and dirt to abandon the place, and finally settling down to visit with Dani on her porch.

“I got something for ya, but you gotta promise me you ain’t going ape shit.” Dani rocked back in her chair. “I figured out who cursed your land.”

I froze in my seat and glanced over at her grim, yet smug, expression. “Best to give it to Grim Dawn before me. I cannot keep that promise as he endangered my well-being and the time I spend with my mate.”

“Your hogs are out contracting any witch that’ll take a dime. They’re out for blood. You’ve got Ida Maye and Mama Vy’s protection so nobody wants money that dirty.” She cracked her neck and sighed. “But between that and the boy’s momma asking all kinds of questions, one of them Wyoming witches out in the desert took the contract.” Her mention of Deborah, Cliff’s mother, made me perk up. We knew she’d been avoiding contact.

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