Chasing His Squirrel (Big Bad Bunnies Book 2) Page 4

  Jesse couldn't help but grin. "Well that's true too, I am kind of a special case; shifting always came really naturally to me, and it doesn’t to everyone. He had been getting better at controlling his shift before we got sick, but I'm betting he'll be even better once he finishes puberty. Most shifters don't have total control while they're still in puberty."

  "But let me guess, you did?" he asked, sounding amused.

  She smirked. "I did say I'm kind of a special case."

  Brady's smile tilted slightly, his gaze traveling over her face in a way that made her blush. "Oh, you're definitely special."

  Okay, that was flirtatious. He was totally flirting with her. Right? There was no other explanation for saying something like that, was there? And the smoldering look in his eyes... was it a real smolder or was it an in-her-head smolder? It seemed real. Jesse smoothed out the sheets over her lap as she struggled to come up with a witty and flirtatious response, especially difficult when she was feeling so tongue-tied.

  "Yup, well, I just worked really hard at it. I always like being the top of the class. I'm kind of a Hermione that way. Except that I would have been in Ravenclaw, because I'm so not a Gryffindor." Jesse felt her cheeks grow even hotter as Brady's smile ticked up a notch in amusement. Good job, Jesse, can't think of anything good to say so just go straight for the nerd gate. Men love that, along with greasy hair and a desperate need for a shower. At least she knew for sure Brady had read some of the books, so he had some idea what she was babbling about.

  "Not a Gryffindor? I think you're pretty brave."

  Jesse shook her head. "Brave yes, adventurous... not so much. I'm more like a Ravenpuff. Half Ravenclaw, half Hufflepuff. Really, people and my friends are more important to me than intelligence and learning, but sometimes I choose reading over spending time with people, and I know I definitely would have chosen Ravenclaw as my house because I would have wanted the best education possible and..." Her voice trailed off and she gave a little cough of embarrassment as his grin widened. "I'm sorry, you can't possibly be interested in this." They’d talked a lot about Harry Potter before, but that was when they both thought she was dying. She’d been happy to have even a few minutes of his attention and hadn’t been embarrassed because, well, she’d been dying. So it hadn’t mattered what he thought of her. Now that she wasn’t dying she just felt kind of silly for thinking he’d want to keep talking about kids books. No matter how freaking awesome she thought those kids books were.

  "Why not?" he asked, reaching out to take her hand. Jesse almost jumped when they touched, and then her heart started racing as his fingers curled around hers. Holy crap! He was holding her hand! "I've thought about what House I would be in. I didn't realize people could combine them."

  Immediately her eyes lit up, the way they always did when she talked about something she loved. "I mean, sometimes it's more fun to, especially when you feel torn between two houses." She gave him a considering look. "You're definitely all Gryffindor though."

  "I agree," he said cheerfully, and his fingers caressed her hand, sending a warm shiver of sensation through her.

  He was so totally flirting with her. This was real, right? This couldn’t just be pity flirting, the way she’d thought it was before… she wasn’t dying anymore. However, she was wearing a baggy hospital gown, no makeup, her hair was full of knots, and even though she'd been given plenty of sponge baths she still really needed an actual thorough scrub down. Yeah, he wouldn't be flirting with her when she looked like this unless he actually meant it... right? He actually really liked her. Wanted to talk about Hogwarts houses with her. Wanted to hold her hand.

  "Miss O'Neal! You're awake! Finally!" One of the pretty hospital nurses Jesse had spent weeks being jealous of was beaming at them from the doorway. Jesse automatically tried to yank her hand away from Brady, she didn't even know why, but he held on tight. The nurse's gaze dropped to where their hands were together and her smile grew even brighter as Jesse’s heart thudded with a kind of hopeful excitement. Brady didn’t care that the very attractive young woman could see him holding Jesse’s hand. He really liked Jesse, that clinched it. "Well, we're so happy you're up again. I'll let Dr. Tran know... if Mr. Bunson doesn't mind giving you some privacy I can bring in some clothes and get you in the shower... unless he'd like to help with that?"

  Oh god... she was going to die of embarrassment... but Brady didn't seem phased at all.

  "We're not quite there yet, Trudy, so if you can help Jesse out with everything that'll be great," Brady said, giving Jesse's hand a kiss before he gently released it and stood. Okay, yeah, he was totally into her and the second he was out of sight she was doing a happy dance. "I'll go check in with my brothers and be back in a bit."

  Trudy mouthed the words 'Oh My God' to Jesse before Brady turned to face the door, pretending to fan herself with her hand. Yeah, that pretty much summed up how Jesse felt too. Like, holy crap on a cracker, she wasn't dying, she no longer felt like her body was burning up, and Brady was totally into her.

  This was turning into the best day ever.

  ******

  With a stupid grin on his face, Brady sauntered down the hallway, pretending he couldn't hear the excited girlish squeals behind him. Trudy was a sweet girl with light blonde hair and big blue eyes, and if he hadn't met Jesse he probably would have hit on her. But he had met Jesse and he was glad she was in capable and obviously friendly hands.

  Once he'd realized his very presence was making Jesse nervous, and in a very good way, his natural confidence and suaveness with women had jumped up to its usual level. It also probably helped that this time neither of his brothers had been in the room. His sweet little squirrel liked him just as much as he liked her, thankfully. Brady hadn't missed the shiver when he'd pressed his lips to her knuckles and the way her big grey eyes had filled with interest.

  Swaggering into Daniel's room, he was surprised to find Eli there, rather than Brice or Brock. The shifter leader just waved his hand at the empty seat beside him when he looked up to see Brady entering the room. Daniel was still asleep, his breathing regular, and his heart rate steady.

  "He's still out?" Brady asked, a little surprised.

  Eli nodded. "Is Jesse up?"

  Brady felt his face break out in a broad, dopey grin he couldn't stop. "Up, moving, and pain free."

  The sudden smile on Eli's face nearly matched Brady's. "It worked." Then his smile faltered and Brady knew they were both thinking of who they had to thank - Dr. Montgomery. Who was definitely going to want to see both patients if he was going to continue being helpful.

  Bastard.

  Pushing that thought aside for now, Brady went to sit by Eli. "It's good to know everything we went through wasn't for nothing, at least."

  "Oh really?" Eli asked, his tone turning teasing. "Your brothers gave me the impression that your interest in Jesse went a little beyond that." Brady shot him a look that made Eli laugh.

  The blond shifter commander was an interesting man. He always wore a suit and had movie-star good looks, but when he sparred with the other men he almost never lost because he went from looking like a corporate playboy to acting like a vicious killer. His muscles were lean, rather than bulky, but he was fast, ruthless, and skilled when it came to fighting. Despite that, he was also kind, gentle with younglings, compassionate, and constantly trying to do right by his shifters. And, so far as Brady could tell, Eli considered all shifters to be 'his', regardless of species or location.

  "Why is everyone so interested in Jesse and me?" he asked grumpily. He definitely hadn't figured Eli for a gossipy old lady.

  "Because it's better than television," Eli said with a short laugh. "We don't get too much romance around here. Violence, injuries, sickness, plotting... but we're low on romance. And with the whole tragic backstory thing you two have going on, it just makes everyone that more interested. Gives us all something to root for."

  Okay, well that was kind of nice. It had been a long time since anyon
e other than his family was rooting for him. Not that Brady was going to admit his warm fuzzy feelings out loud. He didn't do mushy. Well, unless Jesse wanted mushy. He would make an exception for her, but only in private.

  Lucky for him, Daniel groaned and started stirring on the bed before Eli could say anything more. Immediately, both men jumped up as they heard the discomfort in his voice as he slowly woke up, both of them concerned for slightly different reasons. They both glanced at each other, and Eli visibly constrained himself from saying anything, forcing Brady to follow suit. Neither of them wanted to disturb the teen in case he was just turning over or something.

  But they didn't need to worry. With another groan, Daniel blinked and opened up his eyes, grimacing slightly.

  "Are you okay? Did the burning come back?" Brady practically jumped forward to ask the question, ready to sprint back to Jesse's room just in case the answer was yes. His hand gripped the metal rail at the foot of the bed and it creaked ominously. Eli's hand came down on his shoulder, both comfort and a warning to calm down.

  "No burning, but I'm sore like crazy," Daniel said, tilting his head back and forth and stretching out his arms in front of them, twisting them at the elbows and wrists, as Brady's pulse stuttered and slowly returned to normal. He hadn't even realized it had started racing until he felt himself relax. Under the covers, he could see Daniel's legs moving too, as he stretched them. "It feels like my muscles are all cramped, all at once."

  "Totally normal," Brady reassured him. "It'll go away if you can manage to shift now."

  Daniel's grey eyes, so much like Jesse's but without her self-assurance, flicked towards the door. "Do you think the doc will care? If I don't have to wait..."

  "Go ahead," said Eli, his voice making it almost an order. Brady was glad the other man was there, because he would have told Daniel to shift too, but, unlike Eli, he wouldn't have really had the authority to. He just didn't like seeing the kid suffer, and he remembered firsthand how bad that ache was. Obviously whatever they'd given Daniel to help with it had worn off; no point in torturing the kid since Dr. Tran had already examined him earlier. She might not agree, but she wasn't here either.

  With a look of relief on his face, Daniel closed his eyes, concentrating. Unlike last time, he was well-rested and there was less of an audience. Brady didn't know how much of a difference that made, but it did mean he was able to shift.

  One minute they were standing there looking at Daniel, the next second there was a crashing sound and copious amount of reddish fur in Brady's face.

  "Pff, pff, what the hell?!" He shouted, batting in front of him at the grey fluff filling his vision and tickling his face. Some of it had even gotten in his mouth. "What just happened?"

  "Daniel?" Eli yelled at the same time.

  Brady's beast stirred as footsteps came running down the hall, but when it immediately relaxed he knew there wasn't a threat. With some effort, he finished pushing the fluff away from his face and found himself staring at the biggest, fluffiest squirrel tail he'd ever seen.

  "Oh my god, Daniel?!" Jesse's shocked shriek from the doorway caught his attention, and he was about to make his way over to her, when her next words froze him. "What the hell?! That's not- that's not what was supposed to happen! Why is he like that?!"

  Ice encased Brady's chest as he took in Jesse's horrified expression. Beside her, Trudy looked just as shocked, her mouth hanging open as she stared at the tiger-sized squirrel. Well, tiger-sized in body, with a proportional tail, which meant the bushy appendage was fucking huge. Monstrous, really.

  "How did he get that big?!" Her shrill exclamations were drawing more people towards them, going by the footsteps coming down the hall at a brisk pace. "We're practically pure squirrel! I didn't grow like that, why did he?!"

  Agitated, Daniel's giant squirrel body swung around and he chittered at his sister, who took one look at the saber-tooth like incisors in his mouth and promptly burst into tears.

  Brady had told Jesse what had been done to him and his siblings, but he'd never shifted in front of her. Now he was really glad he hadn't, because apparently she was in possession of more of those pure-blood squirrel hang-ups than he'd realized. Okay, sure it was a little shocking that her brother's squirrel had turned out a lot bigger and deadlier than hers, but rather than getting over the shock she was becoming more upset, not less.

  He didn't even want to think about how she would have reacted to his beast if he'd shown it to her.

  Inside his chest, it felt like his heart had just cracked in two, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe.

  ******

  Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit...

  This was the worst.

  Jesse could tell Daniel didn't agree with her. His tail flashing had stopped almost as soon as it had started, and now he was examining his new, huge, body with squirrely curiosity and glee. Her own squirrel was just as disturbed as she was. Sure, she'd gotten some retractable fangs and claws with her new DNA sequencing, but her squirrel didn't feel any different and those changes were tiny compared to Daniel's differences.

  How was she supposed to be a big sister to him when he was now literally many times her size in squirrel form? Hell, she was pretty sure she could ride him right now! Maybe not quite like a horse, but definitely like a pony! He'd been hard enough to keep track of when he'd been normal sized!

  Learning how to climb trees and jump from branch to branch was hard enough in a squirrel body when the human's mind could freak out and fight letting their animal's instincts take over - would Daniel even be able to climb trees now? The thin, whippy branches Jesse loved to fling herself between would never hold his weight. Even the hospital bed hadn’t held his weight.

  Although he did have pretty long claws, so he should still be able to climb…

  Sitting back on his haunches, fluffy tail obscuring Brady and Eli, Daniel examined his long claws, which definitely looked more tiger than squirrel. And very, very sharp. His tail flicked, causing the two men behind him to protest and, if she wasn't so upset, Jesse would have giggled at the absurdity of that situation.

  The worst part though, the very worst part, was that she didn't know how she was going to be able to keep Daniel away from the mercenaries now... she'd managed to convince herself they probably wouldn't want a squirrel. A squirrel wasn't a whole lot of good in a fight after all. But this squirrel? Well, it was huge. And shifters tended to respect size when it came to fighting.

  "Daniel, shift back immediately," she demanded, her voice so high she was hurting her own ears.

  Behind her, she heard some startled exclamations as people skidded to a stop and peeked around her and Trudy into the room.

  "Well that's unexpected." The acerbic tones of Dr. Tran made Jesse turn around.

  "Can you make him small again?" she asked, her voice pleading, slightly hysterical.

  Yeah, hysterical was a good idea of how she felt. How was she supposed to take care of her little brother when he was this big? And clawed? And unable to climb trees? Sensing her distress, her own squirrel was starting to spin around in her head, tail flashing this way and that. The animal side of her wasn't particularly bothered by Daniel's new appearance, but it didn't like Jesse's upset (which was starting to verge on panic, because the expression on Dr. Tran's face didn't look promising).

  A small noise behind her had her turning around to see her brother standing there, snatching up a hospital gown to cover himself. At least he looked like himself in this form - skinny, lanky, barely haired adolescent with bright red cheeks.

  "I like my new squirrel! I don't want to change back!"

  Jesse opened her mouth to argue, but Dr. Tran was already pushing past her. "Everybody out! I need to examine the patient."

  Letting Trudy pull her back, Jesse found she was shaking. The blonde murmured sympathetically about how it was probably a shock seeing the changes in her brother, and led her to one of the plastic chairs lining the hallway. She told Jesse to stay put while Trud
y got her some coffee and immediately dashed off. A moment later, Brady and Eli came out of the room and the door shut behind them.

  Whatever the two men were saying to each other, their tones were low enough that she couldn't hear a word. They obviously didn't want to be overheard. They better not be thinking about recruiting Daniel already! She didn't care how big his squirrel was or that it had tiger claws and teeth... taking a deep breath, Jesse forced herself to calm down.

  Of course they weren't going to recruit Daniel just because he was showing some tiger characteristics and wanted to be a soldier. He was only fifteen. There were a few more years before she had to really worry about that, right? They hadn't even done the procedure to save his life without her signing off on it.

  Which reminded her, she should really ask someone how Aunt Penny was doing. Actually, she should really visit Aunt Penny, but she really didn't want to. She was pretty sure her aunt was not going to be happy about the choice Jesse had made, no matter that it had saved her and Daniel's lives and ended their pain. Although, maybe seeing Jesse recovered and pain-free would convince her aunt that the procedure wasn't such a bad thing after all...

  Jesse was jolted out of her thoughts when Brady and Eli turned away from each other and started walking away, going in opposite directions, and Brady didn't even glance at her.

  "Brady!" She called his name without thinking, hurt and a little surprised he was just going to walk away and leave her sitting there by herself in the hallway. That just didn't jive with the way he'd been acting before and she didn't know what to make of it. The blank expression on his face didn't jive either and made her feel even more worried. When she stood up, her legs trembling, his expression cracked for a moment, showing concern as he quickly walked towards her.

  "Sit down, you look like you're about to fall over," he said gruffly, almost briskly. Jesse sat, frowning up at him.

  "Can you sit down too? I feel like a house elf standing next to Hagrid with you looming over me like that." She said it teasingly, trying to lighten the mood, but Brady didn't even crack a smile. He did sit down at least, but she still felt like he was holding himself apart from her and she really didn't like that. "What's wrong? Did Eli say something?" Panic started to threaten again. "Is there something wrong with Daniel?"