Rabbit could escape from it all, from his mother and the prince.
From the haunting memories and the ghost that wouldn’t stop calling his name whenever he let his guard down.
From himself.
It was that last one especially that he needed saving from. Only a fool would play straight into Baikal’s hands like he was doing.
Rabbit never would have been able to guess he’d be one of those people, the ones who turned into a completely different person after sex. The kind that suddenly lost their brain and reverted to animal instinct where the only thing that seemed to matter was rutting. But here he was, already anticipating tonight and what might happen between him and Void. He imagined there was no way he could convince the other man to use the guestroom, meaning they’d be sharing his bed.
It’d almost be like they were really dating.
He stopped strumming, giving up on practice, and cursed himself. Baikal had told him just this morning that he’d planned all along to trap him permanently, and yet here he was, fantasizing about what being the guy’s boyfriend might be like.
What the actual hell was wrong with him?
Rabbit still barely even knew him.
Baikal Void had a close-knit friend group, was a hard worker and a straight-A student, and fucked hard. He liked making Rabbit squirm and got off on seeing him cry—not a lot, but a little. His dad and he had a close relationship and he preferred alcoholic beverages. That was pretty much the extent of Rabbit’s knowledge.
That wasn’t enough for him to be developing feelings over.
It didn’t matter that there was sometimes a lonely edge to Baikal’s gaze when he thought no one was looking, or that Rabbit had noticed a time or two the worrying way he nibbled on his bottom lip, lost in thought. Baikal had yet to share anything truly personal about himself, too intent on getting Rabbit to spill all of his secrets first.
It wasn’t fair.
And, Rabbit didn’t want to know anyway.
Damn it.
How was Rabbit supposed to keep his attraction a secret in such proximity? If he didn’t, Void would eat that shit up and hold it over his head, but there’d be nowhere to hide if the Brumal Prince insisted on becoming his roommate. Plus, for how long? What if Rabbit started getting used to having him around and then hedidactually get bored of him?
He couldn’t afford to believe Baikal when he said this was meant to be forever between them.
Hell, Rabbit didn’t even fully comprehend what the word forever meant. To him, his entire life, that word had been synonymous with trapped.
His mom would never allow it, even if this was something Rabbit decided he did want to explore.
Everything seemed to darken around him, and at first, Rabbit mistook that darkness as the beginning of one of his panic attacks. Until he realized he wasn’t hyperventilating. Frowning, he turned away from the window he’d been standing in front of, taking in the small square space that was his practice room.
Sure enough, tendrils of black were snaking their way across the marble floor and over the high stone ceiling. They slunk over the piano set in the far corner, encased the single stool in the middle of the room in front of the music stand Rabbit had walked away from a few minutes ago when his mind had first begun to wander and the tune he’d been playing had altered on its own.
His arms dropped to his sides, the beiska in his left hand hanging forgotten as he stepped back, trying to escape those black strands as they came toward him. Rabbit’s back hit the window a moment before that darkness engulfed the panes of glass, blocking out the midafternoon sunlight.
In less than two minutes, the entire room was bathed in a thick, blackness.
Rabbit started panting then, the fear gripping him tightly. When the instrument was plucked from his finger by some unseen entity, he gasped and tried to stumble through the darkness blind. He only made it a single step before strong arms captured him around the waist and swung his body around. His shoulder blades hit the wall and he brought his hands up, grabbing fistfuls of a silky material.
He was about to call for help when the familiar smell hit him, woodsy crisp.
“Void?” his voice sounded strange in the dark, too loud. He didn’t get a reply, but the person confining him stepped closer, bringing more of that scent. “This isn’t funny. You know what turning the lights off does to me.”
“Use logic next time. There’s only one person in your life who can do what I just did. Avoidance only feeds anxiety in the long term, little bunny,” Baikal finally spoke, and though his heart was still pounding, Rabbit let out a small sigh of relief. “Hasn’t anyone ever taught you that?”
“You have no idea what I’m actually running from,” Rabbit said. “And it’s none of your business anyway.”
“Wrong,” he clicked his tongue.
Sensing that was going to do nothing but spur on an unwinnable argument, Rabbit switched tactics. Anything to get Void to lift the darkness he’d created with his Shout ability.
