Page 11 of Ensnaring Their Rabbit

I carefully ate the chewy meat while I considered what Brynn was saying. Why would they kickstart his heat? Was it to put us into more of a frenzy, or was there something else going there?

“I don’t like the thought of that,” Riven grumbled. “There’s no good reason why they would force that. These assholes go feral enough for any omega. They’re fucking desperate and barely have control over their animal sides.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, there’s something we’re missing here. But that just makes it even clearer, nothing good is gonna come out of them taking you away from us. We just found you, Mate, we’re not letting them take you.”

Brynn’s eyes flashed, “That’s a nice thought and all, but I’m not really sure what you can do about it.”

I ground my teeth, pissed, because he was right. There was very little I could do about it. Riven hated that thought as much as me and dragged Brynn into his lap, his arms tightening around his middle, and his teeth sinking into his neck. The collar prevented his canines from extending so I didn’t have to worry about a mating bite, but the sentiment was clear.

Brynn reacted like my brother bit him for real, sunk into his hold and just melted. It took a few minutes for him to get it back together. With hazy eyes he turned toward Riv with a soft smile, “I like you too, big guy. But I think I need more information, and I’d love a better plan than alpha posturing.”

I grinned. Mate was feisty. He had to be to survive in this world. I didn’t know anything about his life, but no one with a good one and a loving family ended up as bait for a bunch of alpha criminals, so I had to imagine it wasn’t easy.

“Okay, so first thing, what do you think they’re gonna do to me if they take me away? I know you said they wouldn’t just let me go, but I’m nobody. Who the fuck am I going to tell? Maybe they’ll dump me somewhere and then…”

He trailed off, because then what? He’d go back to his life? It wouldn’t work. I hadn’t mentioned it yet, but the claiming bite was a formality at this point. We’d spent days together locked in this room alone, literally tied together. The bite might make it official, but if we separated for any length of time or distance, we’d all get sick and eventually die. He was stuck with us, like it or not, unless we broke the bond, and that needed a mage and a whole bunch of fucking luck. Which, let’s face it, we didn’t have.

I didn’t know how to tell him that. I wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t seem like Brynn felt the bond the way Riv and I did. He felt something, because I could scent how safe and comfortable he was with us. How turned on he was. But it wasn’t the instant knowledge that we felt. He was still doubtful, and I got that. This situation was fucked. If he needed to cling onto the idea that things could be fixed for him, I’d let him. For a few minutes anyway. Time wasn’t on our side. We’d already had more than expected.

“It’s possible,” I finally answered, “but I seriously fucking doubt it. They don’t expect the omegas to survive this.”

Brynn huffed, and threw himself back dramatically against Riven’s chest. “So what, they’ll kill me, because you didn’t do the job?”

I couldn’t help it. I snarled. Just the thought of someone hurting Brynn, made me want to rampage. That hole in my chest that was my wolf tugged again, deep and far away but letting me know that he felt the same way and would basically find a way to kill me if I ever hurt Mate. I rubbed my chest, the ache too deep to actually soothe.

I felt two sets of eyes on me, one confused, one concerned. I waved them both off. Whatever that was going on with my wolf had to wait.

“Sorry. But–it’s possible. We also hear the guards talking sometimes, and well…” I didn’t know how to put this gently, and honestly it was a bigger fear of mine than death. I couldn’t tell you why but something just told me that they weren’t planning on killing Brynn. They would’ve dragged him away after my knot inflated that very first time if that was the case, “There’s a lot of money in the omega underground trade.”

Brynn’s eyes widened, and I could scent his fear. Riv’s nostrils flared, anger radiating off him. He knew I was right. He was there, helping me fix a leaky pipe, since handyman shit was our job in this place, when we heard Erikson, Markel, and a few others whispering about it. They were talking about how omegas disappeared from the omega prisons all the fucking time, and that it was a goldmine. I wouldn’t be surprised if they somehow found a way to make some of their own profit from here.

Something niggled at the back of my mind, something about breedable omegas, ones who proved they could get pregnant fared an even higher price. I hadn’t paid much attention to it, but it could explain why they forced his heat.

It wasn’t a train of thought I wanted to linger on, otherwise it would make me sick. What was done was done, we had to focus on what came next.

Brynn’s expression shifted from being afraid to steely determination, and a little bit of anger, within a second. “Yeah, fuck that. I’ve been surviving on my own since I was ten years old and managed to avoid the omega slave trade. They’re not getting me now. What do we need to do?”

I was proud of my mate while also devastated he’d been on his own all that time. Our childhood wasn’t exactly sunshine and roses, but I’d had Riven and our sister Rella. I was never alone. Never had been except that first week we were arrested, and they tried to separate us. We both got deathly ill, close to what happens when mates were separated for too long. Our lawyer, while not good for much, managed to get the judge to agree that we would be kept together.

I sighed, scrubbing my face with my hands before sitting on the bed next to them. “I don’t know,” I told him honestly. I hated it, but it was the truth. I had little control here, and no bargaining chips. If it was different guards, Riv and I had some favors we could call in, but not with Markel, and the new guy, well he was too new. So far he’d been fair, but I had no idea how he’d swing with something like that. Besides, what could they even do? We couldn’t hide Brynn in our cell forever, and that wouldn’t be fair to him. He deserved to be free.

We went back and forth for a while before we realized there wasn’t much we could do until we got more information. As much as I fucking despised why, we were banking on the theory that they wouldn’t kill Brynn and wanted him alive. All we could do was wait and hope for the best, which was fucking laughable.

All of us were on edge, and I was starting to get claustrophobic in this room. The smell of stale sex was becoming too much. We all needed a real damn shower. We tried to stay distracted by sharing little bits about each other. We learned that Brynn was born and raised in the shifter slums of Ashbrook and had been living on the streets since his mom disappeared when he was a kit. He had no idea who his alpha parent was, and though he was sure he had siblings–rabbit shifters were almost always multiples–he never heard anything about them or met them. Riven shared that we were also from Ashbrook and grew up on the predator side of the slums. It was just us and our little sister for the most part. Mom was there but she was rarely sober enough to remember she had children, and when she did, it wasn’t good for us.

He didn’t tell Brynn anything about our parents though and or how we ended up here in the first place, and our omega didn’t ask. It seemed pointless. All of this did. We had no fucking control, and my wolf and I were fucking livid.

Brynn dozed on and off, still recovering from his heat and the stress from everything. Riven stayed close and napped too, but I couldn’t calm down long enough to even think about closing my eyes.

I had no idea how long it was until our relative peace was disturbed again. “Riv,” I shook my brother awake. “They’re coming.”

Riven was up in a second, once again with Brynn pushed up against the wall and as far away from the cell door as possible. There were more of them this time, and I could hear the clanging of metal. They must’ve brought cuffs. I bared my very human teeth.

“Inmates against the wall!” Markel’s sleazy voice barked out.

I rolled my eyes. “What are you doing with us?” I called back. I wished I could see them. It sucked not having a visual of exactly how many there were and what weapons they had.

“You and your deadbeat brother are going back to your cell where you belong. It’s time to give up your toy.”

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