What Does Rabbit Want?

~They crave me enough that Katy, Alana, and the other females can’t satisfy their hunger?~ Though that made things so much more complicated, there was an element of pride in that.

~I’m the one they need.~

My brow knitted as I attempted to decide if this was some game he was playing. But I’d never known Victor to be anything other than ruthlessly blunt.

“Besides, if we’d left you be, who’d bring you food? Who’d take you out for fresh air? Who would you speak to?” his voice dropped.

“I don’t speak to you now!” I objected.

“You speak to no one. But us more than any other. No packmate should be so isolated. We worry for you.”

~Worry!~

I looked at him, wondering if he was truly worried about me. I couldn’t imagine Victor worrying about anyone except his brothers.

They were all thicker than thieves. Moving as one. Living as one.

~And fucking as one,~ I realized, swallowing the cold lump that had formed in my throat.

~Could he really care for me?~

I had no one to really talk to about it, except Martha. And she’d just say all the things she’d told me before.

~Maybe Laura…~

But I considered Victor’s words. When wolves were too isolated they became increasingly aggressive, a danger to the pack.

My hands trembled.

He sat next to me and stared at the opposite wall. “Take your time.” His voice was soft. “Think. Until you know what you want…”

But I didn’t have time. ~They’ll be coming any minute.~

The decision Victor wanted me to make was clear.

~Do I want him enough to let him mark me? To lay claim to me for the rest of my life?~

~Or his?~

I feared this was all some form of manipulation.

~I’ve never seen patience from him. At least not for me.~ But that was a sign of weakness within the pack, for a male to show anything but strength.

This intimate look inside the Faber brothers’ deeds and motives made me feel different. It made me feel as though they weren’t the villains I’d always perceived them to be.

“You’ve been cruel to me!” My voice broke as I tried to regain my fears and weak tremors of resentment. They were all quickly waning in the face of his cool logic.

I didn’t like the warmth growing in me toward this aggressive male.

Victor looked as though I’d punched him. “Cruel?”

I nodded.

“Valerie, we’re cruel to males in this pack and even some of the other females. But we only play with you. Tease you. You’ve never seen us be truly cruel. You should’ve seen what Huntley did to Bryan last eve for sniffing around your hut.”

“To Bryan!” He was one of the ugliest wolves in the pack. Known to be violent with even the willing breeders like Katy.

“Why was he looking around my home?” I retreated until my back was to the wall, fearful at just the thought.

“Why do you think?” He eyed me askance. “You smell amazing.”

Bryan was worse than any male in this pack.

Victor tugged on his shirt. “Don’t worry, Rabbit. We wouldn’t let any other male anywhere near you.”

“What if the alpha wanted me?”

Victor’s eyes snapped to mine. “Then one or several of us would not end well.”

“You’d risk the alpha’s wrath?”

“You think we haven’t already done that?”

I blinked at him, astounded.

“All this time, when you wouldn’t engage with the majority of the pack, or actively seek a mate…We were the ones showing him that you had promise.”

I licked the blood off my lower lip.

“None of that’s really relevant to the question I asked. What do you want, Rabbit?” His green eyes leveled on me in that way that felt like they were cutting through me. “Do you want my mark?”

He made it sound so intimate.

I couldn’t think of a single time that Victor had ever asked me for anything. He was always the terrifying presence commanding me. Dictating my movements. Forcing me to leave my hut, to eat, to socialize. ~The one insistent on knowing my every thought.~

“W-what d-does that m-mean?” I stuttered out. I thought I knew what it meant, but I was desperate to know for certain.

~I barely remember who I am.~

~Do I even fully understand anymore, what it really means to be mated?~

~Would having this powerful, terrifying male as my mate be so bad?~

I understood the gentleness he’d just tried to exhibit with me. I had some concept of how hard he was trying to control himself to make sure I wasn’t hurt despite that my whole body ached anyway.

I had an idea of what it took for a male wolf to contain himself under the moon. That made the gravity of it more impactful.

~Would he still be kind later?~

“It means you’re mine. To possess, to mount, to protect, to breed, to care for. And that you’ll willingly allow no other male to have you.”

I licked the blood from my lip again, nibbling at the tender flesh.

He growled low in his throat before snapping. “Stop that!”

His brow was knitted with irritation, and his mouth tightened.

“Why do you get so angry with me?” I stared at him.

His face relaxed and he straightened. “I’m not angry with you, Rabbit. I’m aroused, and want you again. So, if you don’t want me throwing you to the floor, I’d suggest you stop tempting me.”

He warned me so calmly it was hard to believe he’d seemed so aggressive mere moments ago.

“Now,” he said, sniffing the air near the window. “Decide quickly if you want my mark. My brothers are coming for you.”

My eyes rounded. “M-mark me, V-Victor.”

“I like the sound of that.” He growled again as he descended on me. Scooping under my knees to set me flat on the bed. His chest landed over mine, suffusing me with his heat.

Without further warning, I felt the sharpened points of his teeth sink into the tender skin of my shoulder where it merged into my neck.

I yipped, but the pain was mild and quickly banished by a pleasant sensation spiraling through me amidst a warm tingling.

I knew the sudden pain made my eyes flare yellow. The pupils narrowing to slits was the reaction of my wolf to being marked.

When he tossed up his head and snarled, I heard the reciprocating whines of other males in the pack.

Saddened that I’d been claimed.

I wasn’t surprised at the thud of a boot against my door.

“Valerie!” Chase snapped. “Who’s in there with you?”

“Let us in!” Huntley shouted. “Who has claimed you? We want a word with him.”

“If he’s dead, you’re free to claim again,” Chase said decisively.

Rising onto a knee, Victor brushed his dark hair from his forehead and smoothed it back. He gave me a long look.

Victor opened the door and let his identical brothers in.

They both eyed him with blatant betrayal.

“What have you done?” Chase asked.

I tugged on the tunic and scrambled to cover myself.

Huntley passed by them arguing and ripped it off, revealing I was naked. All could see that my upper shoulder bled from Victor’s mark.

He turned to Victor. “How could you?”

“We share everything!” Chase shouted. “Why would you mark her for yourself?”

Chase shoved him.

“She asked me to,” Victor admitted, only pride in his voice as he lifted his chin.

“What?” Chase shoved him again, looking from me to him. “We were all going to mark her tonight. We agreed on it!”

“She belongs to all of us!” Huntley said, looking from me to Victor in disbelief. “You can’t have her!”

“I already did.” Victor gestured limply. “Every inch of her.”

Chase descended on him. “You’ve betrayed all of us.”

Huntley sat on the cot next to me, eyeing me as if I’d cut him to the core. All while the other two were arguing.

“Huntley, please,” I said.

“You let ~him~ have you?” Huntley gestured behind him. His face twisted with confusion and betrayal. “Why would you choose only one?”

“I—”

“Valerie!” Chase turned to chastise. “You have all of us.”

“I’m marking her too.” Huntley twisted around me.

I froze in horror.

“No!” Victor roared, charging over to rip a shirtless Huntley from next to me. “She’s mine.”

They both eyed him, stunned.

“I’ve marked her. You can no longer have her without both she and I consenting to it.”

~Me?~

The fact that he would allow me to have a say in it was a complete shock. I thought he’d just hand me over to them when he wished.

The look on his face said otherwise.

“She belongs to me now…” his voice dropped as his green eyes landed on me. “I possess her.”

“You can’t possess her!” Huntley launched to his feet. “She isn’t yours to own! Not like a cloak or a fine bit of rope.”

~That much was true.~ Yet, I was still touched by the fact that Victor, in all his fierce beauty, was now standing up for me.

~Ready to challenge those he holds closest.~ I was astonished.

~I never thought he’d stand against them for my sake.~

It would’ve never occurred to me to ask it of him for just that reason.

They were staring at him in confusion. Blatant disbelief on their face.

I could see his anguish. There was a hollow look to his eyes that bespoke the truth.

~He’s never done it before.~

Both Huntley and Chase were written over with rage, unable to accept it all. Their bodies tensed as they circled Victor like prey.

I realized then, what I thought would be so simple, was much more dangerous than I’d anticipated.

Chase and Huntley both shoved him back.

~Willing to attack him for rights to have me.~

Surprisingly, it was Huntley that threw the first punch, hitting Victor squarely in the jaw. He connected with a loud smack that made my stomach sink.

I gasped and took a step forward to stop them.

Beneath my skin my she-wolf was alive and writhing.

~Wanting to intervene immediately.~

Victor pushed Huntley away, sending his brother sliding backward.

Huntley and Chase exchanged a look. Then they were on Victor, overwhelming him. They both leapt to him, catching his shoulders and forcing him to the floor.

As strong as he was, Victor was no match for his brothers who had the precise same build as him.

Both the blue-eyed brothers were soundly thrashing him. Hitting him methodically, his head turned one way then snap the other while they immobilized his arms.

They showed no sign of stopping.

I was still. But my she-wolf howled in objection.

Victor roared and stood, throwing them off him.

~He’s strong.~

There was a burst of motion, and they were all abruptly fighting. Everyone was hitting someone and there was mass chaos unleashed in my hut. They bruised and bloodied each other.

I launched to my feet, tossing the tunic on me as I marched between them. Forcing them all apart, I wedged between the bunch.

They stood over me, towering silhouettes circled in tight. One at each of my shoulders and one facing me. Their fury was so stifling I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

~They have to stop fighting.~ Despite everything I’d thought before, I couldn’t bear the sight of them all hurting each other.

“What is it, Valerie?” Huntley shifted.

Looking at the three of them, I registered each one of them was barely holding it together.

~Hurt, jealousy, anger, betrayal.~ Everything they were feeling was written on their faces.

Faces which were almost always playful or severe.

~But never emotional…~

“You can’t do this to each other!” I pushed Huntley and Chase.

As much as they aggravated me, taunted me, and treated me like their plaything, I didn’t want to see any of them dead.

~Torn apart or ravaged by the other two. ~I couldn’t bear that.

“We will. He’s stolen from us!” Chase was outraged.

“Betrayed us. As brothers, we share. That’s what we do.” Huntley’s voice cracked, thick with rage and hurt.

“Now he is no longer one of us!” Chase spat.

“Unless he can make this right.” Huntley looked from him to me, hope on his face.

I couldn’t imagine one without the other.

~They’re never apart.~ ~They do everything together.~ ~They need each other.~

~And perhaps…I need them.~

“How can he make it right?” I asked, looking from Huntley at my right to Chase at my left.

~This is my fault. I did this.~

~He’d only done what I’d asked him to… Was I going to let him die for it?~

They looked over my head at each other before their gazes landed on me.

Chase said decisively, “We will do as planned. We all mark you. All taste you.” His voice dropped, “All have you.”

“And all take care of you,” Huntley said. “Together.”

I looked at his face and knew he meant it.

Huntley would make sure I always had the things I needed. Before today, I would’ve said he was the kindest among the three. Now I wasn’t so sure. My eyes lifted to Victor before me.

His green gaze was intent on me, waiting for me to decide.

“What will it be, Rabbit?”

If I said I wanted to be only his, he would fight the others and one or more would come out gravely wounded or dead.

~Do I want to be only his?~

They were all beautiful.

Huntley’s teasing nature ~did~ make me laugh. Even when I didn’t wish to admit it.

Chase’s agility and loyalty were unmatched. He was surprisingly thoughtful.

Victor was so fierce and severe, yet somehow, secretly, the most compassionate toward me.

~Do I like any one of them more than the others?~

I couldn’t stand the idea of them all fighting over me. ~But could I take them all? Sate their insatiable hunger?~

~Was it even possible for one woman to do so?~

“I-I can’t—”

“You could.” Chase cut me off.

“If we’re gentle,” Huntley said.

“And we go slow,” Chase added. “But if you agree, then Vic can sit his ass down and waits for us to have a go.”

“We’ll see about that,” Victor crossed his arms in disapproval. “It’s her choice.”