Chasing His Puma (Big Bad Bunnies Book 3) Read online

  "We could always try to make him deader," Brady suggested, and Jesse made a little gagging noise from where she was standing under his arm. Looking a little rueful, Brady pulled her in closer. "Maybe not."

  "I wonder why they took the head," Brice mused. "Proof of death maybe?"

  "Ew," said Bailey, delicately wrinkling her nose.

  Yeah, obviously they didn't really need him here if this was all they were going to talk about. "I'm going to go to my room."

  "Okay," said Bethany, leaning over to hug him. "Have a good night. Don't traumatize skunk-baby by doing the nasty with Doc in front of her."

  "As if I would," Brock said, growling a little. He hugged her back tightly enough that she squeaked and Steele gave him a look. Whatever, it was a brother's prerogative to squish his sister a little if he wanted to.

  He gave Bailey the same kind of squishy hug and then slapped hands with his brothers, Steele, and Kasim before heading off to join Doc in their room.

  Chapter 13

  "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream... I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam... and I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem... but if I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream."

  The little skunk shifter—whose name was Mari, Doc had found out by stopping to question the other skunks when they’d arrived—had slept completely soundly in Doc's arms and barely moved through the gentle bath and toweling off Doc had given her. Unfortunately, the moment Doc had laid her down on the bed and tried to leave her there Mari had come immediately awake and started squeaking in alarm. But Doc needed to shower and clean herself off and change her clothes, and she wasn't sure she could do all that while juggling the baby.

  So she'd made a little nest in the sheets and started softly singing the most soothing Disney songs she could think of, and Mari seemed to really like Aurora’s song from Sleeping Beauty. At eight years old, she figured Mari probably had had at least some exposure to the movies, and the little one definitely calmed down as Doc stroked her furry little head and sang to her.

  But as soon as she gently tried to lift herself up off the bed, the tiny skunk shifter jerked awake and started making her pathetic little squeaking noises, crawling out of her nest toward Doc. Which, of course, set off Doc's puma who demanded she take care of what she now saw as 'her kit.'

  "Oh, you..." Doc murmured. "I just need to take a shower and get dressed, I promise I'm not going anywhere."

  She was debating whether or not to just go ahead and try showering with a baby skunk in hand when the door to the room opened.

  Jumping in surprise, she also startled Mari, who immediately squeaked louder in alarm and distress and hurled herself onto Doc's lap, quivering. Making sure she had a grip on the furry little body so she didn't go tumbling to the floor, Doc sighed as she brought the squirmy girl up to her chest to cuddle her. She looked up at Brock and gave him a rueful smile.

  The usual grumpy expression on his face had softened somewhat as he watched her with Mari. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle either of you."

  "It's okay," Doc said, petting Mari who had already calmed down and stopped squeaking. "I was just deep in thought and I think poor Mari here is going to be easily startled for a while."

  Entering the room, Brock closed the door behind him and came over so he could kneel down next to Doc and hold out his hand for Mari to sniff. She did so and then rubbed her face against his fingers, recognizing him and relaxing.

  "So her name is Mari?"

  "Yeah, I asked the skunk shifters. I needed to call her something other than 'the baby', especially since she's actually not."

  Brock tilted his head, studying Mari, and she studied him back as he stroked her head. Then, making a little chirping noise, she started trying to climb out of Doc's hands and to him.

  "Woah there, little one," he said, easily catching her in his large palm. "Man she's small. I don't even remember Bailey being this tiny."

  Like Doc, he cradled the little skunk against his chest, doing all sorts of funny things to the inside of Doc's chest as she watched him. For some reason she'd thought he might see her in here with Mari and go running, she definitely hadn't expected to see him cuddling with the little skunk and making little crooning noises to her. It was infinitely adorable and incredibly sexy all at once.

  "I need to take a shower and change," Doc said a little hesitantly. "Would you mind watching her while I do?"

  "Of course," Brock said amiably, standing back up. "I can take mine when you're done."

  Doc watched, almost in awe, as he sat on the edge of the bed, using one hand to shuck off his boots and then settled back onto the mattress, all while securely holding the now sleeping Mari against his chest. Turning his head toward her, he frowned. "Is there anything else?"

  "No... no," she said, shaking her head and getting to her feet. "I'm… um, just tired."

  Tired and falling even harder for this man in front of her who was so immediately gentle and caring for the orphaned little viper-skunk. Of course Doc knew he had a gentle side, but she hadn't known whether or not that would translate to taking care of a child. She still didn't know if it would encompass taking caring of a child full time either, which was what she already knew she wanted to do with Mari.

  There was no way her puma was giving up what she now considered her cub easily. It didn't want to give up Brock either.

  After so many things going wrong in her life, despite her optimism, she was having a little trouble believing this would all work out to a happily-ever-after. For all she knew, Brock just thought this was a one night thing with Mari and that's why he was being so accommodating.

  But that wasn't really a conversation for right now.

  Glancing over her shoulder as she went into the bathroom, she saw Brock with his head propped up on a pillow, eyes closed, large hand over the tiny black and white fluff ball asleep on his chest. And her whole heart ached for this picture to be real, for both of them to be hers.

  Quickly showering, she came back out to find neither of them had moved an inch. In fact, Brock was half-asleep when she picked Mari up from his chest. They were so cute she hated to disturb them but Brock needed a shower as badly as she had.

  Snuggling into the bed with Mari tucked into a little ball under her chin, Doc couldn't quite fall asleep until a large, slightly damp, hard body slid into the bed behind her. Sighing happily, she settled back against Brock's muscular form, smiling when she realized he'd put on boxers even though he normally slept naked, and fell straight to sleep.

  ******

  Waking up snuggled up behind Doc, his erection pressing into the cleft between her ass, was something Brock had become very used to.

  What he wasn't used to was a ball of fur in his face and tiny claws kneading his cheek. Granted, the claws were too small and soft to do him any harm but it was still a really weird sensation.

  Opening one eye, he grunted as two shiny black eyes set in a black and white striped head peered down at him.

  Cub, his bugaboo said happily. Even though the baby shifter form was barely the size of his nose when he was shifted, the bugaboo had decided it was cute, needed protecting, and was now under his care. Which Brock definitely didn't have any objection to, although he could do without the fuzzy wake-up.

  Mari made a little cheeping noise as he picked her up by her scruff between two of his fingers, which woke Doc up and had her turning to see what was going on.

  "Brock! You can't hold her like that!" Doc scolded, reaching for her.

  "Why not? She likes it," he said sleepily.

  "She's a little girl, not a puppy dog." But seeing that Mari was content to hang from his fingers, Doc just made a huffing noise and didn't protest anymore. "What time is it?"

  "Early enough the alarm hasn't gone off," he said, rolling onto his back so he could set Mari down on his chest. Immediately the little skunklet started her march up towards his face again. S
he was getting the hang of moving on four legs, although he hoped she wouldn't be stuck in this form forever. That couldn't be good for her. Tiny claws explored his chin and lips, and he went nearly cross eyed trying to look at her as Doc giggled.

  "Okay you two, I doubt we'll be able to get back to sleep, so we might as well go get breakfast and see what's going on." Doc hesitated. "We also need to find out what Eli is going to do with the other skunk shifters."

  "Why?" Brock asked, picking Mari up by her scruff and pulling her tiny claws away from his lower lip as he returned her to his chest, this time a little farther down so she had to travel a longer distance. Like before, she started climbing right back up towards his face.

  "In case any of them have a claim to her," Doc said.

  Brock scowled, making Mari halt in her progress—she'd made it just past his nipples—and he quickly softened his expression, giving her a smile. Chirping, she began her advance again. "If any of them do they forfeited it the second they didn't stand up to Riggs and the others and protect her."

  "I'm not going to argue with that, but we still have to ask."

  He grunted as Mari started sniffing around his chin, rubbing her nose against his bristles as she climbed up to play with his lips again. Picking her up by her scruff again, he swore she gave a little skunk-y smile as he moved her back down to his stomach. This time she moved faster than before.

  "You ask. If any of them say yes, I'll be thrilled to have a talk with them." He gave Mari a stern look as she grabbed onto his lip again. "What are you trying to do?"

  "Apparently she thinks it's a game," Doc said, chuckling as she got up, crawling over him to get out of the bed. "I'm going to get dressed and then we can go down to breakfast and figure out what's next. I'd be surprised if Steele doesn't want to get back to the Peak today so that he can check everything out."

  "He already checked in with Jordan last night, on our way here," Brock pointed out. He'd moved Mari down to his stomach again and was now using his arms as additional barriers to her progress up his chest, making her climb over them. Considering how low to the ground she was, it was a bit of a struggle for her, but she persevered. "Their phones are working just fine."

  Doc gave him a look. "He's a control freak. He's going to want to go over every inch of the Peak and make sure nothing weird happened while he was gone."

  That definitely did sound like Steele.

  Playing with Mari until Doc finished getting ready was fun. She was so tiny Brock had to be careful, but she was also a rambunctious little thing even in skunk form. As soon as Doc was dressed, she took over Mari so Brock could go change, shave, and brush his teeth. His bugaboo pouted the entire time he was separated from the little skunk.

  They weren't the only ones up early and in the cafeteria for breakfast. His bugaboo was on high alert at first, but relaxed when he didn't see an immediate threat, instead seeing allies nearby.

  Steele was there with a very grumpy looking Bethany who was nursing a cup of coffee like it was a lifeline. Across from them were Kiara and two of her mates—the twins, Dorian and Gavin. They'd been part of Lakewood when Brock was training there, so he'd met the whole small herd. He was still trying to figure out the shared mate thing. He knew he was way too possessive to share Doc with anyone else, but somehow the five of them made it look natural. Looking up as they approached, Kiara smiled at Doc, but her expression faltered when she saw the black and white fur ball in Doc's arms.

  "Good morning everyone," Doc said, sitting down. Everyone else responded in kind and Brock grunted his own greeting. She smiled at Brock as he placed the tray with her breakfast on it in front of her. "Thank you."

  Kiara leaned forward as Doc put Mari down on the table, setting a few small bowls in front of her with various food. They hadn't been sure what she would eat. There were spinach greens, porridge, fruit, and small bits of eggs and pancakes. Sniffing around, Mari started nibbling on the strawberries, which was the cutest thing Brock had ever seen.

  "Should she still be um...” Kiara bit her lip, looking concerned. Funny enough, Kiara actually looked a little bit like the opposite of a skunk. Her hair was very pale blonde but there was a dark stripe down her part which Brock was noticing for the first time. Apparently she'd dyed her hair that color and now the darker roots were coming through.

  "A skunk?" Bethany finished the question, frowning over her coffee at the baby, looking just as concerned as Kiara. "That can't be healthy, can it? Although she's pretty damn - I mean darn - cute like that."

  "I'm hoping she'll shift back when she feels completely safe," Doc said, stroking the stripe down Mari's back. "We have medications that can force a shift when it's absolutely necessary, but that's only done in extreme emergencies because the side effects aren't always predictable."

  Brock didn't like the sound of that at all, but there wasn't really anything they could do but wait and see what happened. He didn't want to dwell on it though. So he changed the subject. "What's going to happen to the other skunks? Do we know?"

  "They're being questioned today," Dorian answered. He was the older of the two twins. They were easy to tell apart, despite being almost completely identical because Dorian always had a goatee and mustache whereas Gavin was always clean-shaven. If there was a difference in their dark gazes and the rest of their features, Brock couldn't detect it. Other than their facial hair, the biggest difference between them was that Gavin smiled a lot more often than Dorian did. "Eli thinks a good number of them were just panicked and trying to protect their own families. Which doesn't completely absolve them, but..."

  Next to Brock, Doc grimaced. "Extenuating circumstances. Especially for those with their own children. Since she didn't actually come to any harm, he's likely to be a little more lenient on the parents."

  "Not people like Riggs though," Brock said, half making a statement and half asking.

  Across the table, Gavin snorted. "Riggs is going to be made an example of. Bigoted leaders don't get the same kind of understanding treatment that parents with their own young do." He grinned. "I'm sure we can find him a nice roommate in the cells."

  "Damn straight," Bethany muttered under her breath.

  ******

  At the end of breakfast, Eli came to them with bad and good news.

  "I haven't really started questioning the skunk shifters yet, but I did go through and speak with all of them briefly. Mari’s parents didn’t make it through the experiments and all of the others are all satisfied with Mari being adopted outside of their surfeit. The only woman who was concerned relaxed immediately when I told her who was interested," Eli said to Doc, giving her a small, encouraging smile.

  Even though her heart ached to know Mari’s parents had been killed by The Company, she was also glad that none of the skunks were going to try and fight her for the little girl. Because it would definitely have been a fight after the way they’d failed to protect her.

  "Thank you," she said fervently, cradling the tiny, sleeping body closer. Mari had fallen asleep again right after eating. Doc had no idea whether or not that was normal, but then again Mari wasn't exactly going through something normal right now. She looked down at the tiny shifter and whispered. "I’m so sorry baby… but I promised you I would keep you safe and I will. You're coming home with us."

  Beside her, Brock slung his arm over the back of her chair, leaning in to stroke Mari’s head with his free hand. "She's going to be spoiled rotten."

  Warmth surged in Doc's chest. Apparently even knowing she was adopting the little orphan wasn't going to send Brock running. In fact, he almost seemed to take it for granted that of course Mari was going to be Doc's and of course he was going to be right there next to both of them.

  Swoon.

  Or, purr, as her puma was doing.

  She should probably eventually clarify with him that he definitely meant what she thought he meant... because her hopes were getting so, so high.

  There wasn't a chance to talk to him about it though bec
ause Steele wanted to get back to the Peak and he didn't want anyone traveling alone from Lakewood, which meant they all had to leave together.

  To Doc’s amusement and arousal, Brock fashioned a little sling out of a scarf he found and was carrying Mari around on his chest while keeping his hands free. Like the night before, she’d resisted being set down completely on her own, so while Doc had been trying to reason with a non-vocal shifter cub, Brock had found the scarf, wound it around himself, and stuffed Mari into it.

  She’d fallen asleep almost immediately.

  Doc was starting to get the unsettling feeling that Brock might be better at the whole child thing than her. Maybe because he had younger siblings? As far as she knew he didn’t spend time with the kids at the Peak the way Brady and Jesse did. Doc hadn’t either really, other than when they came to see her.

  He just kept surprising her at every turn. Which definitely wasn’t a bad thing. Seeing him walking around with Mari sleeping in her makeshift sling was sexy as hell to her. If she hadn’t already been pretty much in love with him, this would have done it. As it was, she was so far gone that if he broke her heart now she might just stop believing in fairy tales.

  She didn’t miss the admiring looks he was getting from other women too, as they realized what was going on with the sling.

  Mine! Her puma snarled possessively inside of her head, and Doc was pretty clear she meant both Mari and Brock with that statement.

  Maybe it was a good thing they had a long car ride back to the Peak. Hopefully she could use the time to get her libido and her puma under control. Otherwise, the fight with her animal to not mate mark him the next time they had sex was going to be more uneven than Shang Li and the army recruits against the Shan Yu and the Huns… but without Mulan’s decisive avalanche.

  Chapter 14

  “Brock!” Doc’s excited hiss—like she was trying really hard to stay quiet but was really excited—had him running into the living room. He’d been in the kitchen making popcorn between movies.