Chasing His Bunny (5 page)

His mate had just been
rescued from a lab where she'd been experimented on.  She'd
just found out her parents were dead.  Now her baby sister was
in pain and going through some kind of change that would turn her
from human to shifter - and there was no stopping it; she'd already
smelled like shifter when Steele had met her.  

But however much he wanted
to slow down and let her have a moment to breathe, especially since
she knew nothing about mates, his body just wanted to finish what
had been started the moment he'd gotten her scent.  If Steele
didn't have so much self-control, he probably would have already
carried her off to his bedroom the moment the plane had
landed.  Fortunately he hadn't lost all sense of
responsibility and, even though he couldn't stop his mind from
wandering, he wouldn't allow himself to shirk his duties.  As
Alpha, he had to look after both the men and women on his team as
well as the men and women of the town.  No matter how much his
cock wanted to go find one particular woman and shut out the rest
of the world until they were both satiated and limp from
pleasure.

Ha.  He was the
farthest thing from limp right now.  Bethany's gorgeous face
with those sweet lips and her hot little curvy body kept jumping
into his head.  The sweatpants and t-shirt she'd been wearing
when they'd rescued her hadn't been able to hide just how bountiful
her breasts were, or the sweet curves of her ass which was ripe for
a spanking, or-

The door banged open and
Steele actually jumped in his seat.  His immediate response
was guilt, as all three Bunson brothers pile into the room, as if
his dirty thoughts about their sister had somehow called
them.  Scowling, he glared at them, shifting slightly in his
seat, grateful that they wouldn’t be able to see below his waist,
thanks to his desk.

"Haven't you ever heard of
knocking?"

To his surprise, all three of them
looked startled and then abashed, shifting slightly back and forth
on their feet.

"Sorry," said Brice, the youngest and,
as far as Steele could tell, the most affable.  He glanced at
his brothers.  "We haven't had a whole lot of practice with
ah, manners in a while."

Now Steele was the one to
feel abashed.  Of course they hadn't - why would they need to
remember to knock while they were being held captive for seven
years?

"No, I'm sorry," he said,
shaking his head.  "I'm sure there's going to be a lot of
things you're all going to have to readjust to, and we should all
be patient while you do."

"We do know our manners," Brady said,
running his hand through his dark hair.  "It's just... been a
while.  We'll try to remember."

Brock just grunted.  Steele had
pegged him as being the silent, brooding type.  He definitely
didn't talk as much as the rest of his siblings.  

"So," Steele said, turning away from
the subject.  He leaned forward on his elbows, nodding at the
chairs arranged on the other side of the desk.  The three
brothers sat down.  "What can I do for you?"

After glancing at his brothers, Brady
took the lead.  No surprise there.  "We want to help find
Dr. Montgomery."

Not entirely surprised, although he
hadn't expected them to jump into this so soon, Steele leaned back
and studied them.  They all met his gaze steadily, not the
least bit intimidated.  Seeing them again just reaffirmed his
thought about how well they would fit in with the other soldiers on
his team.  They were strong, self-assured, and extremely
fit.  Brock's hazel eyes were more brooding than his brothers;
if any of them were going to be a problem, Steele guessed it would
be him.  Everything about him screamed that he wanted
vengeance.  Although Brady was used to taking the lead, he
also seemed to have a great well of patience inside of him,
and the determined look of a man who would do whatever he
needed to in order to reach his goals.  Unlike Brock, his
anger seemed cold rather than hot.  Brice looked the most
eager, as if this was a big adventure for him, but even he had an
edge of anger to him.  

It was a good thing that Steele
already wanted them on his team, since he was pretty sure they'd go
off on their own once they were assured their sisters were safe if
he didn't.

"I'd like to accept your
help, but I have a few conditions."  As expected, Brock
scowled, Brice sat up eagerly, and Brady nodded his head
thoughtfully.  "First, I need to send you to our training
camp.  Basic training will take you about a month.  I'll
make sure you're put on my team after you go through with training,
because Eli has tasked us with hunting down Dr. Montgomery and the
rest of the staff who escaped from the lab.  Second, we need
the doctor alive."  Brock growled at that, a strangely
unnerving sound... there was just something
wrong
 with it.  It wasn't
just Brock either; whenever one of the Bunsons growled, it set his
teeth on edge. The sound wasn’t entirely natural – which made sense
considering what he knew now, but it didn’t make it any less
disturbing.  "We've been dismantling this organization one
location at a time, although this was the biggest and most
successful bust we've made.  Usually we're just recovering
stolen research and the staff knows nothing.  Obviously, this
lab was different, because you were there.  We're hoping that
Dr. Montgomery knows more about whoever's funding this shit,
because just stopping the doctor isn't enough, we have to get to
the man on top."

"So there might be other labs out
there, with more... more people like us?" Brice asked, sounding
horrified.  The look of anticipation was wiped from his face
by the reality of the situation.  Steele was almost sorry to
see it go; as the second youngest, Brice's childhood had been cut
short by their capture and imprisonment.  Although he was only
a year younger than Brock, according to the files, he still had
more of the cheerful optimism of youth than his
brothers. 

"We haven't seen anything
confirming another lab location with prisoners, but we can't rule
it out either," Steele said grimly.

Brady nodded.  "We won't kill him
if we get to him first."  Brock shifted in his chair, but then
sighed and nodded when the other three men looked at him.
 

"Third, you sign the standard
contract, which puts you on my team for two years.  If after a
year you want to change teams or do something else, that's fine,
but if we find Dr. Montgomery before that, your job isn't over
until the contract is up."

"That's fine," Brady said.  He
glanced at his brothers.  "I don't think any of us will want
to get out just because we found the doctor, especially if we can
get to his boss.  Plus, I don't know what else we'd
do."

"You might think of something, now
that you have options," Steele said neutrally.  Especially
once they'd seen some action.  It wasn't for
everyone.

"When can we start training?" Brock
said gruffly, ignoring Steele's comment.  

"I can send you out in two days or in
about a month," Steele said.  "The basic training runs on a
circular schedule."

"Can you guarantee we'll come back
here?" Brice asked, looking anxious.  There was an air of
anxiety around his older brothers too, but they hid it a little
better.  Brady was especially good at a stoic expression,
something which Steele admired.  

"Definitely," Steele said,
nodding firmly.  That would be no problem.  Each team
recruited their own unless they sent out a special call for help,
which was rarely done.  Even if that hadn't been the case,
Steele would make sure that the Bunsons were returned to their
sisters, which, in this case, returned them here because there was
no way he was letting his mate go anywhere else.  His wolf
growled at the thought of Bethany even attempting a relocation.
   

The three bothers exchanged a
considering look.  "Excuse us," Brady said, giving Steele
another glance.  "We'll talk about it and get back to
you."

"That's fine," Steele said with a
smile.  He didn't doubt what the brothers would choose, but he
understood that they felt the need to weigh their
decision.

******

Two days later, Bethany
was surprised when she found herself holding back tears as she and
Bailey said goodbye to their brothers.  After all, she had
been the one to tell them they needed to go ASAP - and en
masse.  The stupid Neanderthals had been considering taking
turns going to the training, so that one of them could stay and
watch over Bethany and Bailey, but they'd been arguing because none
of them wanted to be the one to go to a later training and possibly
miss out on finding Dr. Montgomery.

Overhearing their argument, Bethany
had stepped in.

One - She could take care
of herself.

Two - She could take care
of Bailey too.

Three - If all three
of them didn't go together, she was going to make whoever stayed
miserable.

With that kind of
encouragement, it was no surprise when they reluctantly decided
that the best course of action was to go together. 

Maybe it was naive of them
to trust Steele and his people so quickly, but it was hard to do
anything but.  Most of them seemed incredibly friendly and
welcoming, when Bethany actually went somewhere other than the
house she and her brothers were staying at or the doctor’s where
Bailey was still spending her time.  The women were thrilled
to meet the Bunson brothers, that was for sure, and her brothers
were thrilled to meet them right back. They took turns staying with
Bailey and Bethany, so one of them was always on
“break.”

More than once she'd heard someone
refer to one of her brothers as "going at it like bunnies" and it
was all she could do not to snort.  If only they
knew.

It was amazing how much
sex her brothers could pack into two days.  It was also
amazing how fast a man could run from Bethany when she suggested
the same thing.

Nothing personal, of course, it was
just that they'd heard Steele had claimed her for his own. 
All said with a strange, wondering look at the fact that she wasn't
falling into line with this whole 'mate' thing.  

Well, fine.  But she
was horny like you wouldn't believe and she was going to get her
cherry popped one way or another.  To be perfectly honest, she
hadn't found a man in the town that she was as attracted to as
Steele, so why not him?  Not that it meant she was going to be
his mate, but hopefully if they got it on and then the others saw
that they weren't mates, she could find some more bed
partners.  Bethany fully intended to enjoy everything her new
home had to offer, in the same way her brothers were.  This
was one itch that needed some serious scratching, in as many
different ways possible. Every day of freedom just had her more and
more horny as she was denied the release her body was
craving.  Playing with herself and fantasizing (always about
Steele it seemed) just wasn't cutting it anymore.

Plus she didn't want to be
all alone every night in the house they'd been given, at least,
alone until Bailey was released.  The youngest Bunson had been
in the infirmary for the past two days, weak but recovering and no
longer in pain, which was a huge relief to all of them. Bethany was
spending most of her time there too, once it was clear that the men
weren’t interested in her. A few of the older women in the pack had
been very friendly, but they’d also been making all sorts of hints
about an official mating ceremony for her and Steele, so she
escaped conversations with them as quickly as she could. They all
were very understanding when she explained that she needed to be
with her sister.

So far, there were no
clear signs about what had been done to Bailey, not even the hint
of a shift, which had relieved their brothers.  Bethany was
pretty sure they were all hoping whatever “different” serum the
doctor had given Bailey had somehow failed.  Then they could
feel less guilty about leaving their sisters in someone else's
hands when they went to training, even if they'd deemed those hands
trustworthy.

Overprotective, but
sweet. 

Bethany was selfishly glad
that they were finally leaving because she was tired of watching
them get their rocks off while she was denied!  It was like
they knew the other men in town were safe, but the second Steele
appeared at her side, suddenly so did one of her brothers. 
Followed quickly by at least one eager lady.  It super sucked
that her brothers could get laid so easily with the whole "rescued
from captivity" thing whereas she was STILL a virgin.
 

But now that they were actually going,
a part of her was aching and wishing they weren't.  They'd
been in this together for so long, in the same place even if they
were separated, that it felt wrong to know that she wasn't even
going to know where they were!

"Aww, Bethy, it's okay," Brock said,
squeezing her even more tightly.  "We don't all have to go,
one of us can stay here with you and-"

"No!"  Bethany shook
her head even as she squeezed him tightly back.  "You're all
going, and when you get back, I'm going!"

Behind her, she heard Mr.
Soon-To-Get-Lucky-As-Long-As-He-Keeps-His-Mouth-Shut grunt
disapprovingly.  She rolled her eyes, even though her face was
buried in Brock's chest and Steele couldn't see her.  Like
he'd be able to stop her from going to get the training if she
wanted it.  The only reason she wasn't insisting on going with
her brothers right now was because she did think someone needed to
be with Bailey, and - honestly - she was a better choice than the
overbearing, overprotective, thickheaded alpha males that were her
brothers.