Chasing His Squirrel (Big Bad Bunnies Book 2) Page 10

  "Anything I can help you with?" asked Vernon, the grey-haired hyena shifter who ran the place, ambling up to Jesse as she studied the pants options. "Eli gave me a heads up you were coming down here, and to give you anything you wanted as long as it would all fit into a suitcase."

  "Thank you," Jesse said, giving Vernon a smile. Brady scowled. It was stupid to feel jealous that she was smiling at Vernon when she was obviously mad at him, but that's the way the cookie crumbled. "Do you have any shirts with high necks?"

  Brady's beast growled and he felt like howling along with it - she wanted to cover up their marks! Which only made sense... and he'd told her not to wait for him... but... He wrestled down the impulse to speak up and say something. He didn't have the right and he knew it would be stupid to speak up. He might not have any real experience in a relationship - or even a non-relationship - but he wasn't dumb either.

  Once Jesse had picked everything out and packed it into the bag Vernon provided for her - with her many thanks and even a hug for the gruff older man, who smirked at Brady as she did so - she wanted to go up to see her aunt. Her brother and Brice were waiting just outside the supply room, chatting. A bag sat on the ground at Daniels' feet, bulging with what he'd taken from supply. It looked like he'd picked out even more stuff than his sister.

  "Hey, we should go visit Aunt Penny," Jesse said, hefting her bag on her shoulder as she looked at her brother. The unhappiness in her face grew as she spoke and Brady almost reached out to put a supportive arm around her, but - as if she'd sensed his thought - she shifted her weight away from him, putting distance between them. "We... unless she decides to do the procedure, we probably aren't going to see her again."

  Ah fuck it. Brady reached out and pulled her into his side as he heard the tears in the back of her voice as she choked out the words. She barely resisted, and only for a second, before she let him hold her comfortingly. Brady rubbed his chin on her head as he moved his hand up and down her arm.

  Daniel's expression went from happy to a bit haunted, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. Like Brady, Brice reached out to pat him on the back. He turned apologetic eyes to Brady.

  "I just got a call from Meredith, she wants us to come meet up with her team so we can go over the plan for tonight and tomorrow," Brice said, sounding torn. He obviously wanted to go with Jesse and Daniel too, to provide support.

  Straightening, Jesse pulled away from Brady while he hesitated over how to respond. His first instinct was to tell Meredith she would have to wait, but he didn't think that was the right way to start a good working relationship with his temporary commander. It definitely wouldn't help him if he wanted to work with one of the teams against The Company.

  "You guys go," Jesse said, her voice back under control. Her face was carefully blank. "We can get to the hospital room on our own."

  "Right..." Brady hesitated. "If-"

  "Go," she said, her voice stronger, waving a hand at him, but she didn't look him in the eye. "I'm sure we'll see you later."

  It was a definite dismissal, and it felt like more than just a little separation. Without waiting for his response, Jesse was already off and moving, leaving her brother to grab up his bag and go trotting after her. Daniel waved a goodbye at Brady and Brice over his shoulder. Jesse didn't look back.

  Brady and Brice watched until the siblings turned the corner at the end of the hall and then Brady let out a sigh.

  His youngest brother raised an eyebrow at him. "Trouble in paradise already? I guess she doesn't want you to come back here after we drop them off, huh?"

  "I don't think so, no," Brady said, feeling more than a little forlorn now that Jesse was out of his sight, knowing that she was upset with him. "I told her not to wait for me."

  Nodding, Brice clapped Brady on the shoulder, turning him around so they could head back towards Meredith's team's meeting room, which wasn't too far from Eli's office. "Don't worry bro, she likes you. She'll get over it."

  The brotherly support was appreciated, but it also occurred to Brady that Brice knew just as little, or even less, about women and relationships than he himself did.

  ******

  "So you're mad at Brady, huh?"

  "I don't want to talk about it, Daniel."

  The bag she was carrying bumped against her hip as she walked down the hall as quickly as she could. It hadn't felt that heavy when she'd first started carrying it, but it definitely felt like it was growing in weight. Daniel was struggling to keep up, but it looked like he'd stuff every square inch of his bag and then struggled to zip it close. She bet once he opened it, things would come popping out like a jack-in-the-box.

  "I wish he and Brice and Brock would stay with us too."

  Jesse sighed. "It's not just that and I really don't want to talk about it."

  "I just don't see why you two crazy kids can't make it work just because he's going to be here," Daniel said, his tone light-hearted and teasing, but she could hear the seriousness behind his statement.

  Stopping, she turned to face him. "He doesn't want to make it work, Daniel. I would be willing to try. He is not. I can't entirely blame him either. There's no way of knowing how long he'll be here or whether or not he'll even live through trying to take down The Company. Even if we did make a go of it, there's no saying things would work out." Turning back around so she didn't have to face her brother's shocked expression, she shrugged the shoulder unburdened by a bag. "It's not a big deal. Maybe I'll meet someone I like even better once we meet up with this Steele's pack."

  Walking again, she could hear her brother's footsteps, slow at first, and then speeding up as he came up behind her.

  "If he was just going to ditch you, why'd he spend so much time with us?" Daniel asked, sounding just as bitter as Jesse secretly felt. Not that she wanted to share that bitterness with anyone.

  "Because he liked us. And we are the first people that Dr. Montgomery did the procedure on. He and his brothers wanted to see if it worked." Jesse could hear the minor hint of wistfulness in her voice, wishing that Brady's interest was enough to make it more than that. Yeah, he liked her... just not enough to make a difference to his life plan for himself.

  "That's fucked up."

  "That's his decision," Jesse said gently, realizing her brother was probably dealing with some of the same abandonment issues she was - only not as well because he was a teenager and hormonal, now to mention now housing a giant, predatory squirrel in his head. "It's not like we'll never see him again. I'm sure we'll keep in touch with him and Brock and Brice, and eventually they'll be rejoining Steele's pack. We'll all be friends."

  Catching up to her - practically trotting to do so - Daniel finally made it to her side and shot her a scornful look.

  "I'm not an idiot Jesse, I know you two... did stuff. He shouldn't have done that if he wasn't going to stick around."

  Oh good grief, she thought, as amusement trickled through her. Her brother was seeing her as some sort of damsel. Probably not helped by all the markings Brady had left all over her, literally right before he announced he wasn't going to stick around with her and Daniel. Okay, his timing sucked and he probably shouldn't have done that, but in his defense, he probably hadn't been thinking about that at the time. Jesse knew she hadn't been. They'd just acted on impulse.

  "We probably didn't do as much as you're thinking," she responded, teasing her brother because it made her feel better.

  "Ew, gross, lalalalalala," he said, covering the ear closest to her with his free hand. She was relieved to see his expression lighten a little. It only made sense he'd be protective of her, but she didn't want to ruin his relationship with the Bunsons just because she and Brady weren't going to be getting together. Daniel practically worshiped them and she didn't want him to give that up.

  Which meant she would definitely have to watch herself and not show that she was hurting. She really did believe Brady didn't mean to hurt her.

  As they approached Aunt Penny's room, Jesse found he
r steps slowing a little. It wasn't like Aunt Penny meant to hurt them either, but that didn't change the outcome. Yet, here she was, trying to be a good niece and do the right thing.

  Setting the bag down on the floor outside of the door, Jesse glanced over at the nurse's station, which wasn't too far away. Trudy was there, with a couple other nurses, but no one looked her way. Leaving her bag there, Jesse knocked softly on the door to the room and opened the door. From the soft thud she heard as she entered the room, she knew Daniel had followed suit with his own bag.

  "Aunt Penny?" she asked softly, coming into the room.

  The lights were dimmed, to help her aunt rest. Jesse's eyes adjusted and she could only think about how much she hated the dim lights, which reminded her of her own illness and how brighter lights had stabbed into her brain, making her feel like her eyes were burning too. The lumpy shape on the bed stirred, and her aunt let out a soft, pained moan.

  Stifling the tears that automatically sprung up in her eyes, Jesse instinctively reached for her brother's hand. He gripped her fingers in her own, the connection warming and strengthening both of them. Even though she and Aunt Penny didn't always agree and Daniel often butted heads with her, they both loved their aunt. She was their last connection to their family, their scurry.

  They approached the bed together.

  Chapter 7

  Another sniffle, full of grief, had Brady's heart breaking. Jesse was curled up under his arm, her head on his shoulder, but not in the way he wanted. Not for the reasons he wanted. He rested his head on hers, wishing he could do more than just hold her.

  Beside her, her brother stared out the window. He was leaning against the cool glass, watching the darkly silhouetted scenery go by as they whizzed down the highway. The siblings were holding hands, but leaning away from each other, as if they wanted each other's comfort but also wanted their space. At least Jesse didn't seem to want space from him now; he didn't think he or his beast would be able to handle that.

  Their aunt had refused the procedure. Again. Said she was glad Jesse and Daniel were going to live, but she wanted to die as herself.

  Brady thought she'd probably given up. Maybe she was just too old or too set in her ways, or maybe she just wanted to join her parents, siblings, and friends... maybe it was depression... Not that her reasons really mattered. The end result was the same - Jesse and Daniel losing another family member.

  All things considered, Brady counted himself lucky Jesse was willing to accept comfort from him after being faced with yet another loss in her life. He felt more torn than ever about returning to Lakewood after delivering Jesse and Daniel safely to Cryus Peak. On the one hand... taking down The Company had to be the most important goal, didn't it? How could he really think about a future for himself when the danger still existed?

  On the other hand, Jesse was very much here in the present, she was hurting, and... being her shoulder to cry on felt good even though he didn't like that she was crying.

  Taking down The Company as his first priority was easy in theory, but he was finding it more difficult in practice. The goal was worthy, valid, but it was also kind of indistinct. Jesse's questions from earlier whirled around his head... what if it did take a year? He'd told her not to wait for him, but with her body tucked into his, her obvious desire for his company and comfort... well, he'd already known, deep down, that he still hoped she did. Now he felt more like demanding she wait for him because he hated the idea of her happy with someone else, even though he also knew that wasn't fair.

  And here he'd always thought life would be so simple and easy if they ever escaped the lab.

  Instead he was torn by shifting priorities, changing desires, and the ever-present looming danger of The Company.

  Jesse sniffled again, making his beast want to howl in misery at its inability to help her. He tightened his arm around her. There was too much damn silence in the car. With Jesse and Daniel grieving, the pop song blaring when they'd first gotten in had seemed incredibly inappropriate and Meredith had immediately turned off the radio. She was driving the SUV, one of her platoon (a hardass puma shifter named Pablo) sitting in the front seat and the rest of her team spread out around them. Brice and Brock were in two of the other cars; they hadn't even minded when Brady had immediately chosen to go with Jesse and Daniel rather than them. They'd seemed to expect it.

  Which meant Brady's priorities were already changing, because a month ago he definitely wouldn't have put anyone in front of his siblings. But he'd wanted to be with Jesse. Even if he was failing at really being able to comfort her.

  His own thoughts chased themselves around his head, making him wonder if she was struggling with the same thing.

  Brady cleared his throat. "Hey Pablo, there's a TV and DVD player on this thing right?"

  Meredith's eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, looking back at him, as Pablo half turned.

  "Yeah, TV's right up here," Pablo said in his gruff voice, his dark brow slightly furrowed. He tapped the ceiling. "You bring some DVDs?"

  "A couple," Brady said. He loosened his arm slightly on Jesse as he leaned forward to his backpack, which was sitting on the car floor between his legs. Eight DVDs to be precise. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Jesse and Daniel both watching him, curiosity and relief in their expressions.

  Yeah, it was definitely time for a distraction.

  He tilted his head towards Jesse with a grin as he held up his prize, and was rewarded when her eyes widened with delight.

  "Harry Potter." The words were a reverent whisper said with a faint British accent, and Brady heard a slightly choked noise from the front seat. If Pablo laughed at her - hard ass or not, fully trained or not, Brady was gonna beat his ass.

  "It's a little too dark to read and I know you said I should read the books first, but since I've read the first few..."

  "No, this is perfect," Jesse said, reaching out to grab the DVD case. The look she gave him almost broke his heart again, because it was so perfectly Jesse, like everything was okay between them again even though he knew it wasn’t. But he was happy to pretend for a few minutes. On the other side of her, Daniel caught Brady's gaze and gave him a tired grin and a thumbs up, gratitude in his eyes.

  Pablo helped them get everything set up and the very air in the SUV seemed to relax as the opening music played. This time when Jesse snuggled in to Brady's shoulder, she didn't feel as tense or as droopy, her eyes trained on the small screen dropped down in front of them. Beside her, Daniel leaned against the window but his attention was no longer focused outside. Even Meredith and Pablo seemed to relax.

  And so they drove through the night.

  ******

  When Jesse woke up, she was curled up in the crook of Brady's arm, her head resting on his solid chest, and she'd slept surprisingly well considering they'd been driving all night. She blinked, yawned, and quietly extricated herself from Brady's embrace so she could stretch. Beside her, Brady had his head against the headrest and was still completely out of it. Daniel was the same; his mouth was hanging completely open and she almost giggled at the comical way he looked. There was even a little bit of drool sliding out of the corner of his mouth.

  Looking at the front seats, she caught Joe's eye looking at her in the rearview mirror and realized she must have slept through stopping and changing drivers again sometime during the night. The last she remembered, Pablo had been driving after switching places with Meredith just after midnight and in the middle of the second Harry Potter movie. Now the sun was coming up and Meredith and Pablo were in the backseat sleeping. Joe flashed her a quick smile in the rearview mirror before turning his attention back to the road.

  Leaning forward, Jesse peered out the front window and then the side windows. Dense forest obscured most of the view, but she was pretty sure they were on the side of a mountain, from the flashes of grey sky she saw through the foliage. The misty morning was fog-ridden between the greenery, tendrils of dense grey air sliding around the SUV
in front of them.

  Ana, a stern-faced and beautiful wolf shifter, was sitting in the passenger seat, and she turned to look at Jesse, a slight smile on her face.

  "We're almost at the entrance to the Peak," Ana said, her voice so soft it was barely audible.

  "Thanks," Jesse murmured back, just as softly.

  A few minutes later, the SUV came around a curve and Helm’s Deep came into view.

  Okay, it wasn't actually Helm’s Deep, since the opening was halfway up the mountain rather than at the base of it, but close enough. A large, flat shelf of cleared earth was spread out in front of the entrance; the giant metal doors were huge and currently open, but closed they'd probably be nearly impenetrable. The shelf looked entirely natural rather than man made, and it didn't jut out from the mountain which Jesse found reassuring. It was as though someone had sliced part of the top of the mountain away, stopping about halfway down and leaving the bottom untouched, which created the natural shelf. As they drove closer, she realized the shelf was a lot larger than it appeared from a distance, too - probably a little bigger than a football field.

  The edge of the shelf was line with a stone wall, which would make it easy to defend from anyone trying to come up the mountain. The road they were coming in on approached from the side, but Jesse didn't doubt it could be easily defended. Even if someone did manage to make it to the shelf, getting through the foot-thick metal doors would be really freaking difficult.

  No wonder Eli thought they'd be safe here.

  She wondered if the interior of the mountain was filled with secret passages and escape routes. Probably. An itch to go exploring filled her... it had been so long since she'd been able to do anything. She wanted to explore the tunnels, climb the trees, whatever physical activity she'd be allowed to do.