Page 4 of Ensnaring Their Rabbit

Something hard and heavy barrelled into my side, taking me by surprise and knocking me to the ground. By the time I scampered back to my feet, Riven was in a defensive stance in front of me, snarling at a massive white and gray wolf.

Claws. My wolf helpfully supplied me the name prison nickname of the mean fucker who was getting ready to attack my brother. He was called Claws, because he was famous for using them to disembowel his victims. It was how he ended up here in the first place.

And now he was pouncing at Riven, those deadly claws out and ready to prove his namesake onmy brother.I didn’t fucking think so.

Riven could handle himself, obviously. But tell that to my wolf who was already on guard with our omega alone, in heat, and terrified. Both Riv and I were alphas, but I was ourAlpha, and my wolf wouldn’t tolerate anyone threatening what was his.

Just as Claws’ back paws left the ground, and Riven prepared to defend himself, I leaped over my brother, my teeth sinking into Claws’ neck, stopping him midair.

Claws screamed, the high pitch painful sound only a wolf could manage as we both went tumbling to the ground. I tore my jaw away, flesh and fur coming with it. Claws gave a sharp ragged yowl and tried to pounce again. He never got the chance. Riven was on his jugular before I spit out Claws’ flesh. The wolf’s pained cries rang out over the din of the rest of the chaos as Riv showed no mercy and put the fucker down. Good fucking riddance.

I approached Riven, who was still growling at the remains. I nudged his face with my snout, trying to get his attention away from the corpse, but he was too focused to even notice I was there. No doubt his wolf taking point during the fight. I growled a little as I nudged harder. He hesitated but still hadn’t looked away until I nipped his ear, a little reminder of what was going on. Finally, Riv got it together enough to shake his head, droplets of blood shooting across the room, before turning his attention back to me. I jerked my head in the direction I thought Mate was and we both took off.

I froze. The room divided into two different paths that could lead to Mate. He was down one of these hallways. His scent was everywhere, making it hard to think, but it saturated the area, and I couldn’t figure out where he was.

I growled in frustration. My wolf was losing it. He wanted to tear apart everything until Mate was underneath us, safe and satisfied. I wanted that too, but destroying shit wouldn’t solve everything. I fought to keep some semblance of control. It was harder in this form, especially since my other half got so little freedom, but I somehow managed.

A cry, one that almost sounded like a baby crying, cut through all the other noise. Instantly, my wolf was on high alert. Mate. Mate was hurt.

Someone roared, a bear most likely by the sounds of it, and Mate cried again. I didn’t need to look at Riven to know he was having the same thoughts as me. We both took off down the hallway on the left, Mate’s scent and cries getting stronger by the second.

My wolf was panicking, and there was no way I could keep it back much longer. We turned the corner, and I saw fucking red. A massive grizzly stood on his hind legs, teeth bared as it cornered a tiny gray rabbit, who cowered against the wall, his mouth open as angry hissing sounds escaped his tiny body.

I couldn’t help but beam with pride. Mate was so brave. He wouldn’t back down, wouldn’t stop fighting even under the most hopeless situation.

I howled, loud and angry, hoping to grab the grizzly’s attention away from Mate. It worked. His big head whipped in my direction. I snarled, teeth bared, ready for an attack.

The grizzly’s attention was fully on me so he didn’t notice my brother sneak around him and out of his line of sight. While the bear lumbered in my direction, Riven leapt, landing right on the bear’s back, his claws cutting into the fur.

The bear roared and tried to knock Riven off. But he wasn’t going anywhere. His teeth locked into the back of the bear’s neck, ripping out a chunk of flesh and fur as he did.

The grizzly managed to knock Riven off this time, my brother went spinning to the ground on his side. I couldn’t spare a second to check to see if he was okay. I attacked, my wolf out for blood after this bear tried to attack our mate and then hurt my brother. He would not get out of this alive.

The bear made a swipe at me, but I managed to avoid it, my bite landing on his upper arm. The grizzly growled and swiped with his other hand, his massive claws searing through my fucking back, but I hadn’t survived 10 years in this fucking place by being weak, and I held on, even as the bear tried to grab at me again.

He didn’t get the chance, because Riven was back, and this time he landed right on the jugular. The bear roared again in pain, and fell to the ground. I finally let go of his arm and joined Riven at his throat, tearing at his flesh, until the bear was no longer moving.

The bear was dead, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. I wanted to tear him apart until his limbs were spread throughout this prison.

I growled, blood coating my fangs and fur. Before I could get another go at the now dead bear, Riven whined and nuzzled at my head. He lolled his head to the corner where our mate still sat huddled.

Sometime during our fight he had shifted back to his human form and now sat half crouched, his eyes wild with lust and fear. They bounced back and forth between my brother and I, and I could tell he was trying to decide if he should run again.

Fuck, Mate was beautiful in both forms. He was tall for an omega, but lanky, all sun tanned skin and slim limbs. His shaggy brown hair hung to just below his chin in loose waves, sweat matting it to his face. Large blue gray eyes stared back, a little unfocused. His naked body was covered with a layer of sweat, from his heat or running, I didn’t know, but I did know I wanted to lick it all off.

Shifting back to my human form when the collar wasn’t activated was fucking hard. More than that, until that moment I’d thought it was impossible. But I couldn’t approach my mate like this. I’d only scare him. I’d probably scare him in my human form, but I don’t know, maybe not. We were mates after all. Even if he was too far gone to recognize that now, he shouldn’t fear us, right? Well, there was only one way to tell. Focusing all my energy and concentration on the shift, I started to slowly and painfully come back to human. Until finally, I was crouched on all fours, naked and just feet from my mate.

CHAPTER4

BRYNN

I didn’t meanto shift back to my human form. It was the last thing I needed. But, fuck, my body just wouldn’t listen. It hadn’t listened to me since that fucking asshole injected me with something that kickstarted my heat early. It had only gotten worse the more I ran, the more scared I became, and then when I saw the two wolves that fought off the bear and–fuck–killed him, my body and brain decided it was the perfect time to shift back to human.

Which, body, it really wasn’t. I was so much more vulnerable in this form. My rabbit might be small, but it was fast and agile in a way I wasn’t. Especially now when all I could think about was getting a knot in me ASAP.

Someone whined, and after a horrifying moment, I realized it was me. This…was terrible. This was why I always took heat suppressants. I didn’t want to deal with this on the streets, but it had to be better than here, in this jail with hundreds of feral alpha criminals chasing me.

After the blackness took over, I eventually woke up in a dark and damp cell, sore, hungry, and scared out of my mind. I don’t know how long I was kept there, in the empty cell with nothing but a dirty mattress on the floor, not even a blanket. No one came to get me, not for a long time, possibly even longer than a day. All I knew was that my stomach started to cramp from hunger as I shivered constantly from the cold.

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