"You mean to have had your sister thrust me upon you," Sabrina said wryly, but Luke shook his head.
"No, I promise, even if Emmy hadn't gotten involved, I would have approached you the moment I saw you."
"You think?"
"Iknow. I'll explain why when we get to your place."
"You can't explain out in the open?" Sabrina smiled, but Luke shook his head.
"Not and have you believe me."
Sabrina drew her eyebrows down curiously, but nodded, though she was clearly just about itching with anticipation by the time they got to her apartment. It was a nice space, with lacycurtains and soft tablecloths which gave it a homey touch, even if he knew she didn't expect to be living there all that long.
But she has to stay,his rabbit said woefully.She's our fated mate.
Or maybe we'll have to move,Luke said.It'll work out somehow, assuming she doesn't throw me out the window as soon as she sees me shift.
The rabbit gasped in horror.She WOULDN'T!
Probably not. But just in case.
By that time, Sabrina had locked the door behind them and turned to him with that curious smile in place. "I've been trying to figure out what it could possibly be. We already discounted married or prolific baby daddy, so…what? You're a secret billionaire and need to show me your bank account in private? You're actually from Mars and have to shed your human disguise to show me your true self?"
"Aaah, that second one is…closer than you think."
Sabrina's eyes popped. "You're analien?"
"No! Oh my God, no. I'm human. Mostly. More or less. I…"
"Superhero?" Sabrina asked. "I don't know what else might be 'mostly' human. Wait. Cyborg? Do you have a prosthetic…" Her gaze raked him. "No, sorry, I mean, I've seen quite a lot of you already and the only thing left that might be prosthetic is…well. I hope it's not."
"Not a superhero either," Luke said with a slightly panicked laugh. "No prosthetics. It's not actually that…normal."
"Oh, uh, okay! Vampire? Werewolf?"
Luke blurted, "Sort of," and before she could make another guess, shifted into his rabbit form.
CHAPTER 17
Luke Jones was a rabbit. Ahuge, muscular, fluffy rabbit. One who looked abjectly terrified right then, if flat ears and enormous eyes and a general quiver was to be interpreted as terrified.
Sabrina couldn't help it: she burst out laughing.
Luke, in bunny form, looked left and right and then up at her again, as if there might be something else she was laughing at. Sabrina couldn't help laughing again, though she crouched so the rabbit didn't have to crane its neck quite so badly to look at her. "'Gym Bunny,' huh? Oh my God, Luke, I…you're arabbit? How? What…how?"
He shifted back to human. Sabrina fell over, suddenly faced with a tall man's knees instead of a bunny's face, and Luke, gasping an apology, offered her a hand back up to her feet. He still looked incredibly nervous, or worried. "I'm…we call ourselves shifters. You're laughing."
"Well, you named yourself 'Gym Bunny' for your social media handle! Don't tell me that's not supposed to be funny! A very, very inside joke, obviously, but c'mon! It's funny!" Now that she knew the absolutely bizarre but wonderful truth, Sabrina rather thought she could see the softness of the rabbit's brown eyes inLuke's. "It's funny anyway because yes, big dude as gym bunny, but c'mon!"
His ears slowly went red, although he also gave her a shy, hopeful smile. "Well, yeah. It was supposed to be funny to my family, anyway. And to my…friends…"
"Okay but how! How are you a rabbit? Why are you such a big rabbit? Oh my God, does this mean your whole family are rabbits?Oh my God,is that why Emmy thinks it's so funny to call herself fluffy? Oh my God!" Sabrina walked in a circle, waving her hands and half-shouting 'oh my God!' a few more times.
Luke, cautiously, said, "Magic, more magic, yes, and…yes. She's always thought that was funny."
"It is funny! What a bunch of dorks you are!Magic? Of course it's magic, but…magic?"
"Um." Luke looked around nervously again. "You know, I didn't think…laughing?"
