Page 35 of Ensnaring Their Rabbit

Being free was harder than expected. Pearl City was a lot, and I was thrilled most of our construction jobs kept us out of it. The first time Reeve and I went to visit Brynn at work I had a panic attack. There was just…too much. Reeve seemed to be handling crowds better than me, but he couldn’t keep the bedroom or bathroom door closed, as he had a hard time in tight spaces. And the first time we walked past a cop he ended up puking behind our construction site.

It would take time, for all of us. But we were patient with each other and were adjusting.

We finally arrived home. We had been slowly doing repairs outside, but we were taking our time with it. It became something of a family bonding time, especially after finding out that Brynn definitely wasn’t pregnant from his first heat. That was when we allowed him to go all out, and he seemed to really enjoy the work. Maybe once he was ready, he’d want to go into something in landscaping or gardening.

I shook the thoughts away. Now it was time to see what our mate was up to. We got out of the car and quickly hurried up to the front door and went inside.

Nothing looked different at first glance. It smelled like us and the tea Brynn really liked.

“Brynn?” Reeve called out.

There was a pause and then, “Read the damn note!”

I squinted in the direction his voice came from. Was that our room or the nest? I took a step in that direction until Reeve waved a folded piece of paper in front of my face. “The note.” He grinned, clearly amused by Brynn’s games.

He opened it, frowning slightly. “It says for us to take a shower and then wait for him in the hallway. Naked.”

My lips twitched. “Bossy.”

“You love it!’ Brynn, who was doing a terrible job hiding, called out.

“I do!” I called back.

Reeve rolled his eyes and took my hand, dragging me into our bedroom…where Brynn was nowhere to be seen.

“Fuck, Reeve.” He squeezed my nape.

“I know. C’mon. Let’s not keep the boss waiting.”

We hurried through a shower. Both of us washed quickly but well. Then we brushed our teeth also, because, well, it seemed important.

Before I knew it we were standing naked in the hallway waiting for instructions.

“Okay, sweetness,” Reeve called out when he didn’t immediately appear, “We’re ready.”

There was another pause, and then the door to the nest opened, “Come in.”

I froze. After waiting for so long for Brynn to share with us what he was doing to his nest, it was finally happening. It felt so big, way too big to walk in naked with no ceremony.

“Um, I’m kind of freaking out over here,” Brynn said from just inside the doorway, his voice unsure. “Like I understand if you’re mad I kept this from you, but can you please come in at least, and we can–”

We didn’t let him finish before we were both barrelling toward the door, and almost got stuck trying to go in at the same time.

Brynn was standing just inside the doorway, looking down at his feet, his arms crossed over his bare chest. I’d never seen our omega look so unsure, and I needed to fix it immediately. Instantly Reeve and I were there and on our knees in front of our mate. Reeve cupped his cheeks as I took his hands.

“Sweetness, what’s wrong. Why do you feel scared?” We had gotten much better at controlling the flow of emotions through the bond, but sometimes it was harder than others, and it seemed like Brynn was struggling now. The bond was a mess of contradicting feelings but scared and guilt seemed to be the strongest.

“I-I should’ve told you what I was doing with the nest earlier. I didn’t mean to keep it from you, it just felt so personal, and then I started to get insecure and then–”

Reeve stopped our mate’s babbling with a kiss. At the same time, I latched down on the spot where our bites were, and Brynn’s knees nearly gave out. But we were there to keep him from falling.

I unlatched my canines, and Brynn flashed me a look of exasperated fondness, “You gotta give me some warning, baby. Otherwise that happens.” He waved at his legs.

“That’s okay, we’ll catch you.” He rolled his eyes but also snuggled close.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I wanted this to be a sexy surprise, but then my thoughts got the best of me and…yeah.”

“None of that. We’re not mad,” Reeve told him, his voice full of love and feeling.

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