Chasing His Squirrel (Big Bad Bunnies Book 2) Page 9

  "That's not what we're here to talk about is it?" Jesse asked, squeezing her hands together to keep from covering the mark. Not that she was embarrassed of it, but that didn't mean she wanted everyone focusing on it and thinking about how she'd come by it.

  "No," Eli said, his expression abruptly becoming more serious and Jesse felt her body tense. Tapping his fingers on his desk, Eli considered her, his head slightly tilted to the side. He sighed. "I'm really sorry, Jesse, I know you're not going to want to be separated from your aunt, but we think you and Daniel would be safer if we moved you away from the hospital and out of Lakewood altogether."

  Her lips formed a small 'o' although no noise escaped. This was the last thing she'd expected!

  ******

  "Where do you want to move us to?" Jesse asked, her voice a little tremulous, while Brady tried to sort out his feelings about this.

  "The pack Brady and Brice's sister mated into," Eli said. "Steele and his pack are moving to a secondary, more secure location. After the attack on his pack lands and the attack here at Lakewood, we'd like to take some precautions until I can find out more information. Steele's pack has been vigilant ever since the attack to try and take back Bethany and Bailey, but we don't know how much whoever is in charge of The Company knows about that location. Dr. Montgomery says he never gave them the exact location as he was trusted to retrieve Bethany and Bailey on his own with the mercs they provided him with, but Steele and I don't want to take any chances that he's wrong or lying."

  "Where are they moving to?" Brady asked, squeezing Jesse's shoulder in reassurance.

  "There's a mountain stronghold near his parents' pack, that's always held in readiness in case someone needs it. In this case, his whole pack will be moving there, although it's big enough to house several more packs in case of emergency."

  "Like Helm’s Deep," Jesse murmured under her breath. Brady didn't know what she was talking about, but assumed she'd tell him about it in detail later when he asked. Lots and lots of detail, in that adorably excited way of hers.

  Looking up at Brady, Eli met his gaze and Brady could see the seriousness in them. He was seriously concerned about Jesse and Daniel's safety, especially with this evidence that The Company knew where Lakewood was and of Dr. Montgomery's presence in the hospital. Whoever was funding the attacks had deep pockets, because words should be getting around to the other agencies that no mercy was going to be shown.

  "I'm sending you, Brice, and Brock along with Meredith's team to take Jesse and Daniel to Steele and then help Steele with the move to Cryus Peak. After that you three can decide if you want to stay with Steele's pack at the Peak or if you want to come back here."

  "I'm coming back here," Brady said immediately, almost at the exact same time as Brice did.

  "Brock will probably want to too," Brice tacked on.

  The scent of distress wafted up to Brady's nose and he tensed slightly. Apparently Jesse didn't like his decision but... well... he wanted to come back and make sure The Company didn't get their hands on Dr. Montgomery again. He wanted to be in the thick of things, not shunted off to the side at some out of the way mountain, which sounded like it would be way too protected. Once he explained, she'd understand... right?

  Chapter 6

  There's no reason to be upset, Jesse told herself as she left Eli's office, a couple steps ahead of Brady, with Brice and Daniel trailing behind. It's not like we're a real couple after all. We haven’t talked about anything. Made no promises.

  And she could think of all sorts of reasons why he'd want to return to Lakewood (and obviously his brother agreed)... but couldn't he have taken just a second to be torn about it? Couldn't he have hesitated just a moment with a desire to stay at the Peak, with her?

  Because if she'd been presented with a choice, she would have chosen to stay with him, even though she would be a little scared and it probably wouldn't be safer. But Eli hadn't phrased it as a choice. He wanted her and Daniel in a different location than Dr. Montgomery and since Steele's pack was the one headed for a fortified, secure location, that's where he wanted to send them. Especially since, apparently, Steele's pack was run more like a military unit than a pack; Eli thought they'd be safest there.

  "Jesse? Can I talk to you a minute?" Brady sounded almost nervous. Taking a deep breath, Jesse stopped walking and turned, pasting a smile on her face.

  "Yeah, sure." She caught Daniel's eye. "Go make sure you have everything you want to bring with us and pick up some new clothes from supply." Eli wanted them to move out that night, under cover of darkness. The man was not one to waste time apparently.

  "Okay just..." Daniel made a face. "Be good. Please."

  A.k.a. in teen speak - don't bang your new boyfriend again because if I see another hickey on my big sister I'll gag.

  When she picked up the clothes from supply, she definitely needed to make sure all of the shirts were high-necked. Definitely not her preference in the summer, but there was no way she was going to be showing off her hickey-covered cleavage to everyone if she had anything to say about it. Otherwise, she'd be hearing nothing but gripes from her brother.

  Although it was nice to hear him griping about something inconsequential. When they'd been sick, he'd done his best not to complain at all. The normal teenage behavior was kind of nice. She should probably enjoy feeling that way before it started getting obnoxious.

  Daniel and Brice headed off down the hall, Brice with a comradely arm around Daniel's shoulders as he told him about all the cool stuff they had in supply, which Daniel could take with him. Of the three Bunson brothers, Brice seemed to be the only one who really cared how he dressed. Brady wore his training uniform most of the time, even when he wasn't training, and Brock wore jeans and black t-shirts when he was out of uniform. Black and slightly darker black t-shirts, all of them. From the way Daniel was listening to Brice, it was likely he'd end up better attired than she would be.

  A light touch on her shoulder had her turning around to face Brady. His expression was blank, although she definitely thought he seemed a little wary. Like he was worried she was upset with him.

  Well at least he felt like she might have a reason to be, which made her feel a little less unreasonable for being upset when it's not like they'd had any kind of relationship talk. They'd just made out, she'd swallowed his cum, and he'd covered her in possessive hickeys and claw marks. No biggie right?

  "Here, let's step in here real quick," he said, opening a door and turning on the light.

  It turned out to be a small conference room; just a table and eight chairs with a whiteboard on one of the walls. If they got loud, other shifters would be able to hear them but otherwise it did offer a bit of privacy. Way better than trying to have a serious conversation in the halls, especially since Trudy had earlier informed Jesse that everyone at Lakewood was gossiping about her and Brady.

  Closing the door behind them, Brady strode forward and pulled out one of the chairs for her. Trying not to be too touched by the gentlemanly gesture, Jesse sat and pasted a smile on her face as he sat down beside her, turning the chair to face her.

  "So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked in a sunny tone.

  Brady gave her a look and she subsided. Just a little. "I really like you, Jesse, but -"

  "Always the 'but,'" she muttered, slouching a little. Giving her another look, Brady grabbed her hand from the table where she'd started tracing circles with her fingers, and laced his fingers through hers.

  "But I need to make sure Montgomery doesn't get away. If The Company sends more men here to take him, I need to be on site." His dark brown eyes pleaded with her for understanding.

  Which, she did, she totally got it. Because if somehow The Company did reacquire the doctor, and Brady was at the Peak instead of Lakewood, he'd be convinced he could have done something to prevent it if he'd been on site. This wasn't about her, this wasn't about him playing super-beast, this was just about his need to keep Montgomery out of the hands
of The Company. And she couldn't really blame him for that.

  "I know," she said softly, looking down at their joined hands. Hers looked so tiny in his giant palm. "I mean, I'm not saying I like it, but I get it." Tilting her head, she let out a sigh. "If The Company doesn't come back though... I mean, how long are you going to hang out here? Didn't you say Steele wanted you and your brothers to join him once your training was finished?"

  "Yeah, but he'll understand," Brady said, his expression darkening as he thought about Dr. Montgomery. He looked intensely fierce. "It's not just about Dr. Montgomery, it's about The Company. They obviously want him back, which means they want to continue their research. You heard Eli, he's going to be evacuating as many people as possible so he can set a trap for them here."

  "So, after the trap is sprung... you'll probably want to go after The Company with whoever is doing that," Jesse said slowly, thinking aloud. Giving her hand a squeeze, Brady nodded. "And what if The Company doesn't come back here? How long do you stay here, waiting to see if this trap is actually a success?"

  "As long as it takes."

  "So like, a month? A year?"

  "I doubt it will take a year; it's only been about a month since Steele's pack was attacked."

  "But what if it does take a year?" Jesse asked, pushing, starting to feel nervous.

  She liked Brady - a lot. They hadn't known each other long so she didn't expect that they would jump into a relationship, but if she was going to wait to date him, she wanted some idea of what his plans were, of what his vision of the future looked like. It was scary enough knowing he was going to want to go off and fight, even though she'd seen how well he could handle himself. Jesse didn't want to lose anyone else in her life, but she wasn't going to ask him to stay away from his rightful justice either. Still, he was thinking he could stay at Lakewood for an undetermined amount of time and she was just supposed to - what? Sit at Cryus Peak and twiddle her thumbs?

  This was not how she imagined her first attempt at a relationship in her second chance at life going. She liked Brady… she really liked Brady but… maybe he didn’t like her as much as she liked him.

  "If it takes a year then it takes a year," Brady said firmly. "I'm not saying you should wait for me." Jesse blinked at him; he sounded completely serious, not at all like he was expecting her to protest that of course she would wait - which she would absolutely not blurt out, even if a small part of her kind of wanted to. She had a tiny bit of pride that kept her from doing so. "I like you a lot, but this comes first for me, before everything else and that's not going to change. Honestly, you probably shouldn't wait for me to come to Steele's pack, I don't know how long it will be before I do and I don't know if I'll be able to be with you once I'm there. It all depends on how things go with taking down the Company." The fierce light in his eyes burned. "I'm taking them down, if it's the last thing I do."

  "Right," Jesse muttered, feeling her chest tighten.

  She felt very small all of the sudden.

  Everything he was saying made sense. Of course he would feel that way. The Company had imprisoned him and his siblings, experimented on them, and killed their parents. That had to come before everything else, right?

  Logically, intellectually, that was how she felt. Her emotions on the other hand... she was disappointed, hurt, and a little insulted. After all, she was willing to put aside her anxiety about him being a soldier, she would be willing to try a long-distance thing until he could come to the Peak, but he'd already nixed that idea without her saying a word. He wasn't even sure he'd want a relationship with her when he got there. And it sounded like he was totally okay with the idea of dying as long as it meant he took down The Company. Apparently she wasn't even worth living for.

  Having so many people leave her involuntarily, the idea that the guy she was interested in - okay, be honest with yourself, Jesse - that she'd fallen half-in-love with when she'd been sick would be willing to die and leave her... that was kind of a kicker.

  "Little bit, I'm not saying this to hurt you, I never want to hurt you, which is why I don't want you to wait for me." His voice had softened, his fingers stroked her hand comfortingly. Jesse pulled her hand away, into her lap with her other hand, and gave him a tight smile.

  "I know. I appreciate that," she said, her voice as neutral as she could make it even though she felt like bursting into tears. It was so silly... but he'd been such a pillar of strength in her life since she'd come to Lakewood, such a constant part of it and now she’d thought they were building towards something but apparently she’d been wrong. She believed that he liked her… just not enough to continue building on whatever was between them. And he didn’t want her to wait, because he couldn’t guarantee anything. Unfortunately, that didn’t make it hurt any less. "It's fine. Like I said, I get it." When he opened his mouth to speak again, she stood up, pushing the chair she was sitting in back with her legs. She was really, really tired of this conversation.

  She stepped back as Brady stood up too, his eyes full of regret and sorrow, but there really wasn't anything she could do about that. At least it was nice to know he felt some regret.

  "I'm sorry about marking you all over when we're not-"

  "Right. Apology accepted," Jesse said shortly, clapping a hand over the mark on her neck as she turned and stalked towards the door, tears pricking the backs of her eyes.

  Yeah, she was so not going to cry over this.

  ******

  That went about as bad as could be, Brady thought glumly as he followed Jesse down the hall. As much as he wanted to catch up to her and walk by her side, he didn't think that was a good idea right now.

  Brady had missed a lot of his formative dating years in captivity; the last time he'd had a girlfriend had been high school, but even he knew the signs of an angry woman. He understood that every time he'd opened his mouth he'd made things worse. He just wasn't entirely sure why.

  The more he'd talked to her, the more he realized it wasn't fair to ask her to wait. She obviously hadn't been happy that he couldn't give her a timeline, but it's not like The Company's movements were up to him, so he'd told her she shouldn't wait for him. The idea of her with someone else... well it burned, but it also made him realize that her happiness was more important to him than anything else. Especially because it was just her and her brother. If something happened to him, she deserved to find someone who would love her and care for her.

  His beast was huffing at him, angry as all hell, demanding that he grab her and mark her up some more at the mere idea of another male touching what was his...

  But Jesse hadn't seemed to want to just sit around waiting for him.

  She'd also been hurt when he'd made it clear taking down The Company came first for him. Although he was pretty sure she understood, even though she hadn't liked it. After all, how could he really relax when The Company was still out there? Knowing his family was still in danger? Knowing Jesse and her brother were still in danger? Knowing any cubs they had would be in danger?

  WOAH.

  Blinking rapidly, Brady pulled on his mental reins hard. Cubs? How had he gotten there? His eyes scanned over Jesse's slim figure, her hair swaying down her pack in a curly pony-tail. A little girl, just like her... his beast chuffed approval.

  She'll make good cubs.

  Cubs, not kits. Interesting. Eli would probably say his bear side was in charge of the beast when it came to Jesse.

  At any rate, he was pretty sure Jesse wasn't interested in talking possible cubs right now. She stalked all the way to supply, while Brady brought up the rear and silently argued with himself about what was the best way to initiate a new conversation with her. One that ended with her happy with him again.

  It was just another reason to hate The Company and Dr. Montgomery.

  Brady didn't really know how to interact with anyone outside of his siblings. Not in a meaningful way. They'd been so sequestered for seven years, in the past month they'd all spent time re-learning how to b
e a part of society. It wasn't just that they'd become used to only having each other for company, they also had trouble relating to others because they didn't know the slang, they didn't know the culture references people made, and they hadn't even known who the president was when they'd been rescued.

  Cell phones didn't flip open anymore; they were now tiny screens that had to be delicately touched. Not an easy task with his big fingers. For the most part, he and Brock used their phones as little as possible other than making calls - Brice was the only one who'd really started using his for things like listening to music or playing games. Jesse had thought he was funny when he grumbled about all the new technology, teasing him that he sounded like an old man.

  She was really the only person, outside of his siblings, that he felt truly comfortable with. Eli was a confidant of sorts, but since he was also in charge of Lakewood and technically Brady's superior, it wasn't like they were best buddies. Although he did go to Eli for advice sometimes.

  Maybe he should ask Eli what to do. Or Steele.

  For all his popularity with the ladies between being freed from the lab and meeting Jesse, Brady didn't actually know how to pursue a woman. Neither he nor his brothers had had to. They were good looking and with a tragic back story that had the ladies lining up to provide what they'd been missing out on. That was just sex though.

  This thing with Jesse was way more complicated than a high school relationship, so his only firsthand experience didn't really cover what was happening to him now.

  When they got to supply, Daniel and Brice were still shopping around. Brice raised his eyebrows at Brady, although Daniel was too focused on picking out clothes and other items to notice his sister's attitude. Shaking his head at his own brother, Brady followed Jesse around the warehouse-like space as she started picking out all the things she'd need. Toiletries, shampoo and conditioner, underwear (everything they offered was pretty plain and utilitarian unfortunately), pants...