Charlie's nose twitched frantically. He needed to go back. Needed to help. Needed to?—
Footsteps crunched on the gravel path.
Every rabbit instinct fired at once.Predator. Hide. Don't move. Don't breathe.
"Charlie?" Viktor's voice. "I know you're here somewhere. We need to go. Now."
Charlie wanted to respond, to hop out and shift back and ask about Simon. But his rabbit brain had taken the controls and wasn't giving them back. All it knew was: big thing approaching, stay hidden, survive.
The footsteps got closer.
"Come on, Charlie," Viktor said. "They've got Simon. We can't help him if we get caught too."
They've got Simon.
Charlie's foot thumped the ground.
"There you are."
Viktor's face appeared through the hedge bottom. Charlie's legs bunched to run, but Viktor was faster, scooping him up before he could bolt.
"No biting," Viktor warned, though his hands were surprisingly gentle as they held Charlie's frantically kicking form. "We're leaving. You can panic in the car."
As quickly as he could, Viktor carried Charlie across the grounds.
"Shift back," he muttered, ducking behind a gardening shed as a pair of hunters rushed past. "I'd really prefer you with opposable thumbs right now."
Charlie tried. He genuinely did. But every attempt to reclaim his human form met a wall of rabbit panic. His consciousness felt trapped behind furry ears and twitching whiskers.
Viktor cursed under his breath and continued his careful progress toward the parking area. Charlie caught glimpses of tactical gear through the hedges. Hunters were spreading out across the property, some on their knees examining undergrowth.
"That fucking rabbit took out Johnson and Peters," came a voice from nearby. "The director wants it captured alive."
"It's just a rabbit," another hunter complained.
"It's a vampire rabbit, you idiot,andit's a priority target now."
"Who's ever heard of a vampire rabbit?" somebody moaned unhappily. "What's the world coming to?"
Viktor tensed, holding Charlie closer to his chest. "So much for flying under the radar," he whispered. "You've been promoted to most wanted bunny in the state."
He stopped at the edge of the garden, where manicured lawns gave way to gravel. Three black SUVs were parked beside Viktor's borrowed car. Organization vehicles, clearly.
A team of hunters stood between them and escape.
"Change of plan," Viktor said, crouching down and bringing Charlie to eye level. "I need a distraction. Something to draw them away from the vehicles."
Charlie's ears twitched anxiously. The cotton-wool feeling in his bond with Simon had grown worse. Not pain, exactly, butabsence. Like Simon's consciousness was retreating somewhere Charlie couldn't follow.
Viktor's hand stroked between Charlie's ears. "He's not dead. He's too valuable for them to kill him. But we can't help him if we're caught."
He set Charlie down in the mulch beneath a shrub. "Stay here. When you see an opening, make for the car. I'll find you."
Before Charlie could protest—not that rabbit form allowed for much protest—Viktor was gone, moving silently through the garden toward the main building. Charlie huddled deeper into the mulch, his rabbit instincts warring with his need to help.
A minute later, an explosion rocked the far side of the property. Hunters shouted, most of them running toward the sound.
Charlie knew this was his signal to go.
