Page 44 of Chased

“The reason the Renards have gotten away with being how they are, is that rabbits are usually easy to break. Their flight and freeze modes are way stronger than their fight mode, and they’re motivated by fear and survival. You have to be, when you’re prey.”

She was petting Sanchez’s head, and got up the nerve to fondle his ears. He leaned against her harder, so she guessed he liked that too.

“For domesticated rabbits, if you scare them enough and there’s no safe place for them to go, they can literally die of fear. Did you know that?”

He pulled back his head and looked at her quizzically. “Most people don’t,” she said. “But here’s another thing most people don’t know. If you corner a wild rabbit, sometimes they’ll fight. Turns out that Vixen and me, we’re fighters. Rabbits can be very aggressive if you piss them off. If you’ve ever heard a rabbit scream with rage, you will not forget it. And they hold grudges.”

That got some more wolf huffs.

“It’s not funny. It’s true. In fact, the day Henri and I got engaged, he tried to hurt me and I stabbed him with a cake fork.”

That made Sanchez lick her face. He obviously approved of stabbing Henri. “Finally. Someone else who thinks it was awesome. My family did not. That’s when I knew I had to leave.”

Her hand on his fur slowed when she got to the next part. She said, “But what bunnies like most of all, is to feel safe. It’s why we love burrows and enclosed spaces, because they make us feel safe.” She stroked his ears again. “And from the very first moment you rescued me from the lavender and brought me to the Ridge, you’ve made me feel safe. You make me feel it when you’re a human, and you make me feel it when you’re a wolf.”

She turned and got on her knees, taking his wolf face between her hands. “So I wanted you to know, whichever form you’re in, you’re still Sanchez to me.”

He growled a little and started to pull away, but she didn’t let him. She stroked his cheek ruffs until the growl dropped to almost nothing. “Man or wolf, you’re the guy who helped me and protected me and brought me oil paints just to make me happy.”

She could feel herself getting choked up, but this time she didn’t mind if he saw. “It might seem like a stupid little thing to you, but nobody’s ever done anything like that for me before—understanding what I love and wanting to give it to me. To me, that’s big. So if you have an issue with controlling your Changes, we can work it out. Take our time. If you want to. Because I would really like for this to be something. If you can handle me being a rabbit, I can handle you being a wolf. Although, no offense, but I prefer you in human form if we’re going to do the nasty.”

She hadn’t known until now that wolves could roll their eyes.

“I told you I was drunk. Anyway, that’s all I had to say, I guess. It’s pretty late, and it’s cold out here, so… I’m going to go. But think about what I said, okay?”

He gazed at her for a moment out of those bright golden eyes, and then he lowered his head and pressed his forehead against hers.

A wolf hug.

And then he turned away and melted into the forest.

She knew he wasn’t gone, though. She could feel him there, in the darkness, watching until she was safe in her cabin.

She was just getting into bed when her phone beeped with a text alert. Sanchez.

You want to go on a date?

Madison hugged the phone to her chest. Then she typed, Sure. When?

Tomorrow night? No, fuck, I guess it’s tonight now. Sunday.

Okay. Yes. What are we doing?

Carrot-picking? Or we could shop for lettuce.

She sent him a gif of a cartoon rabbit looking all cute and big-eyed, and then its face morphed into a demonic sharp-toothed monster before going back to looking cute and innocent.

He sent her back a laugh emoji. I’ll think of something.

I’m sure you will. Looking forward to it. I’m going to paint in the morning. She added a bunch of happy smiley faces to that one.

Good. See you.

Sanchez?

Yeah?

Do you have a first name?