Part 1
A mid-January blizzard in bumbfuck nowhere Appalachia. That’s right, I didn’t even know which state I was in anymore. Only that I drove by plenty of abandoned towns surrounded by mountains. And snow, of course. No way to know how much would fall for how long. My phone was lost earlier this week. It was discarded by my captors soon after my kidnapping.
How did I get in that blizzard so far from home? Long story short, I went to a bar teeming with other supernatural creatures for personal reasons. All that to be kidnapped by a couple who had some distant lineage of ogres. IVF had failed them, so they decided that forcing surrogacy unto a fertile young thing would solve their problems.
Sadly for them, I was a shapeshifter, much stronger than them once the alcohol was gone from my system. Their plan was doomed to fail anyway. Shapeshifters could only reproduce with their own kind. I knew that too well. And even rabbits like me could go feral under the circumstances they imposed upon me.
The husband was dead now. I was running from the human authorities after I tied up the wife and washed off the blood. That kind of scene would be hard to explain.
In her clothes, I stole their car and switched up the plates in a small-town middle-class neighborhood with old pick-up trucks and rusty sedans. You’d be surprised how some people don’t have cameras aimed at their driveways. I picked up four license plates and played a game a switch-a-roo with the five cars. It took me all night.
Still afraid the authorities would catch up on me, I drove into country roads, lumbering roads, and found my way back on a hopefully different country road. All these efforts to roll right into a blizzard and drive off the road due to a snow dune.
I thought I would die of the cold or get caught the next day. With plans to pray to all the deities I knew, I wished the moon would not be obscured by the snow clouds. It would have been nice to actually see something in the dead of night. Therefore, I started with the goddess of the moon.
“Please Luna, if you can hear me—”
A truck’s horn blasted nearby.
“That was quick.” I muttered rolling down my window to watch a black box truck come to a stop next to the car I had stolen.
I hurried out climbing out of the slight divot of a ditch. Snow got all up inside my loose boots, but salvation was upon me, right?
I climbed up to the open door and pulled myself up into the passenger seat.
“Thank you so much.” I said, closing the door while shivering like a damn newborn fawn.
“No problem. Do you know the mile marker for your car?”
“I have it noted somewhere.” I put on an act patting my pockets.
“Did you try calling for help?”
“My phone’s dead.” I tried to explain away, “Not that there are any bars to get in these parts.” Maybe that was not the brightest thing to tell a stranger while hitch-hiking.
“Right… I’ll drop you off next heated building we come across.”
“Thanks.”
The air had an odd taste to it. Tangy and spiced, in a good way. My nose was too stuffy from the cold outside for me to smell much of anything. The driving glasses I had snatched to look a little different were all fogged up. This man’s voice, though, sent shivers down my spine that weren’t from the cold.
“Last chance if you want to return to your car.” He spoke low and slow.
“Please! I’ll freeze alone outside.”
“Fine,” he shrugged, “but don’t go regretting it later.” He stepped on the gas as I blew my nose with a tissue from a pack I found in my stolen coat.
“Why would I?” I wondered.
One deep inhale through my nose and I knew why.
I froze.
Eyes growing wide. I could feel a frown etch itself upon my brow.
A wolf. I had jumped right into a wolf’s den, me a rabbit. Mom always said to stay away from carnivores. They tend to be rough around the edges. Well, that one smelled like blood. Human blood, but still. Enough to say he could have stabbed someone, wiped his hands dry and went along his drive.
I took the glasses off to get a better look. Gods, he looked so big, plush and warm… Oh. Oh no. I tore my eyes off him to hug myself.
“Calm down bunny.” He tried to make his voice soothing. I gulped scenting more blood all around the space. That and a strong musk so tantalizing, it was triggering my— “Don’t worry sweetheart. I don’t eat my own kind. Leads to madness.”
My tears escaped me, flowing down my cheeks. I had run away from the cops to end up in a serial killer’s truck. He must have been on the run too. And with the state I had left that human male… they would think I was his accomplice or something.
That was one unlucky streak. All mine to deal with
“There’s no need to cry,” he cooed. “Like I said, I won’t eat you.”
“Sorry,” I said with a sniffle. “This has been a rough week and this is the cherry on top the shit parfait.” I sobbed into my hands.
“Listen,” he rumbled all annoyed. “Next rest stop, I’ll drop you off. You can call—”
“Please don’t!” I squeaked. “I can’t stay in one place too long.”
“Why?”
I frowned, not wanting to reveal that stuff to a stranger. Yet. Surely, he would understand my predicament.
With a deep breath, I confessed, “I killed a human… I ate part of him.”
He let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a question. “Here I thought bunnies didn’t eat meat.” By the sound of his voice, I could tell he had a smile.
Hopefully, this revelation would wipe it off his rugged handsome face, “Not when we are starved.” Tears still rolling down, I stared into the distance, which wasn’t that far with all the snow blowing at the front window.
“Who?” he growled. “Who starved you?”
I sighed my hands growing tighter around my top half. Feet soaked and frozen, I told him a snippet of how my week had been, “The wife, she’s the one who locked me in their basement. Days later, her husband came down. When he tried to touch me. I aimed for the throat. Then there was no throat anymore, and I swallowed something crunchy. I don’t want to describe what happened after.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “And you ran because the human authorities don’t take too nicely to this type of self-defense.” He guessed right.
“I tied up the wife to buy some time… Which I realize now is incriminating.”
“Have you eaten since?”
I shook my head with a renewed sob. The cold sucked, the hunger was tiring. Both discomforts were heightened with my rising heat.
“I just want to hide in my nest and eat.” The words burst out of me.
I was a little glad I managed to skip over the fact I would soon need somebody to share that nest with. And more tears followed as I realized, I would never see my home again. All I had were the clothes on my back and they were not even mine aside from my bra.
“I’ll get you something to eat, sweet bunny. I might not have a proper nest,” He gestured towards the back hidden behind a set of blackout curtains. “I got a little den set up in there.” Glancing at me wiping my tears the best I could, he added, “You cry like you haven’t slept in a good while.”
“I’m fine—”
He cut me off with a curt warning growl, “Go sleep.” Followed by an annoyed sigh, “There are plenty of blankets and pillows to get warm in there.”
“Okay.” I looked down, proceeding to peel my boots and socks off.
Crawling in between the seats, I entered the sleeper box. This wolf was a big fan of fleece blankets and furry pillows. The bottom of the bed had a big sheep’s skin. I lay on top of it, piling fleece over my shivering body.
The whole den bore his strong scent. It worsened my heat. But the warmth and softness of the blankets quickly lulled me to sleep.
When I woke up, the truck was parked, and I heard a cry for help. It came from the truck’s box outside. Panic struck me at the thought someone might hear that, and I would be toast. I jumped out. Soon feeling faint, falling in the snowbank.
An abandoned road stop with an abandoned gas station. The blizzard had let up only a little. The cold shot through my bare feet. A loud bang came from the cargo, like a body was thrown against a wall. The cries stopped. That was probably the truck’s owner. Crap, I had found myself in another stolen vehicle, now with a dead body, I assumed.
I shivered profusely on all fours, unable to get up. The cargo door closed and locked. Within seconds, I was plucked off the ground by the coat on my back.
“Looks like I’ll have to tie you up bunny.” The wolf complained, flinging me onto his shoulder. “You don’t seem to know what’s good for you.” He scoffed at me melting into his warmth. Especially since his hot palm clamped down on my freezing toes. “Really? You’re going to try to act all docile after you tried to run off hungry and dehydrated?”
He shoved me into the sleeper, ripping the handle off the inside of the door to slam it shut and lock it. The stern expression he had in the methodical process. It sent a wave of molten gold down my spine.
I gathered myself by the time I heard him open the driver’s door.
“I wasn’t trying to run from you.” I waited for the door to close to begin my argument. “I heard a scream, and it spooked me.”
“Drop the act will you—” his tone was harsh, and he didn’t even bother to say it to my face.
Tears prickled my eyes as I asked, “Why are you being mean to me all the sudden?” I didn’t have the habit of being a crybaby… My heat was heightening all my emotions.
“Why do you keep crying like that? You think it’s going to help your case? I’m dropping you off—”
Now anger surged through me and I cried out, “I’m going into heat you clueless wolf!”
“What?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “How?”
What did he mean, how? The answer was so obvious. There was only one.
“You smell.” I tried to explain.
“Wolf’s musk stinks to you, Bunny?” he mumbled his words like he was talking through his teeth a little.
He was handsome and his pheromones were the most potent I had encountered. How could he not know this? Had nobody ever told him? He looked about to past the forty-year marker.
“No. I mean your pheromones. They are strong. It’s like you have not been around females of our kind in a while.”
“It has been quite a few years.” He whispered before apologizing, “Sorry. I heard going into heat can be painful.”
“It’s even worse for bunnies.” I complained while he was willing to listen. “Two weeks out of every month we go through our regular heat. Those are easy enough to handle on our own. Working from home is a must. Usually, I buy a crap ton of snacks and hide in my nest for days. Then there are the ones that get triggered. Those are a pain in the ass. They make everything so intense… especially the loneliness.”
“Well, then, I best take responsibility.” His words had my breath hitch. “I’ll keep you warm and fed…” then he added, “and fucked if need be.” That one had me squeak out of the lush heat pooling in my lower belly. “Or not on that last one.” He rectified. “I doubt you’d want to fuck a murderous, blood thirsty wolf.”
“No!” I peeked out of the curtains, “I mean, yes? Uh, you’re triggering my heat because I want to fuck you.”
There was a moment of silence where he just blinked.
“Best eat up then,” He handed me a plastic bag out of his coat with a smile cracking on his face. “I went into the cargo box and got you carr—”
“Parsnips!” I cheered, tearing into the bag.
“They’re not carrots?”
“No,” I smelled them, “Parsnips are my favorites!”
“Good then,” He opened a cooler in between the seats and gave me a water bottle. “I want you alive and kicking when I bed you. I can be a little rough. Wouldn’t want you to get exhausted easy.”
“T-thank you.” I blushed hiding back in the sleeper.
“I’ll find us a spot to sleep at. At least to park without getting snowed in.” He said, starting the engine.
