Rabbit Season Read online

  As it was technically a guest room, the shower was larger than his. Definitely big enough for two, but not big enough for three. He was plenty happy to think about what two could do, even if his dick couldn't offer more than a twitch in response.

  Sidney washed quickly, wrinkling his nose at the weird, flowery smelling bodywash the twins had. Rabbits. Whatever, clean was clean. If he could survive smelling like raspberry bubblegum he could survive flowers.

  When he came out of the bathroom, his clothes were piled on the corner of the bed, and the twins were sprawled across it. Sidney pulled on boxers and a t-shirt before he got too caught up staring. Ugh, they were so stare-at-able, the stupid jerks.

  Colby lay on the bed, face up, and Brook was half-draped over him, head resting on Colby's chest. Their eyes were closed, and Brook looked more like a cat than a rabbit, smiling as Colby idly stroked his hair. The soft, intimate moment punched Sidney in the gut in a scary but good way. Think about whether this is going to be worth a lifelong fight, Troy had said. Sidney was pretty damn sure he'd already made that decision.

  There were approximately five thousand details that would have to be worked out, but baby steps, baby steps. The twins had way more important shit to worry about for the present.

  Colby opened his eyes, smiled at Sidney, and crooked a finger at him. Happiness and a sudden, sharp wave of shyness washed over Sidney, but he moved to the far side of the bed and stretched out on Colby's other side. Brook cracked one eye open and smiled at him, reaching out to take Sidney's hand before letting his eye close again.

  Lying in bed with them, doing nothing at all, was even better than dozing by the pond.

  "Sorry for causing drama," Brook eventually muttered.

  "Shut up," Sidney replied, smiling. "I'm a duck. All we do is drama. We need it like water. Just last week everyone was in a tizzy because Rosy Jefferson got caught making out with a grizzly bear. Her momma almost killed her. Rosy is still muttering about running away. Even worse, Mr. Lester repainted his house, turned it from a nice, respectable maroon to lime green. People have been harassing my dad, the city, they're thinking about going to talk to him all 'stage an intervention' style. And wait until you hear the scandal about the new restaurant opening up on Lily Pad Street."

  Colby snorted. "Let me guess. It's not owned by ducks?"

  "Frogs actually, but that's not the scandal. The restaurant is vegan." The twins gasped. Sidney giggled, head pressed into Colby's arm. "It opens next month. Want to go?" Panic hit him as he realized his assumption. "I mean, um, if you're still here. Which you probably won't be. 'Cause I mean you have shit to do and all of that. Uh—" He stopped as they drew away and sat up.

  They shifted to sit facing him, and Sidney slowly sat up as well, heart thudding, pounding, as they reached out and took his hands. "We'll be here," Colby said. "Not our style to seduce the town prince and then run off. Mom will cut off our feet and sell them as keychains."

  "That's terrible," Sidney replied. "You shouldn't joke about that."

  "Who the heck said it was a joke?" Brook muttered, then grinned and leaned in to drop a quick, firm kiss on Sidney's mouth. He ran a thumb along Sidney's cheek right below his eye. "You smell like lavender."

  Sidney wrinkled his nose. "Ugh, flowers."

  The twins laughed. Colby pulled Sidney in close, kissed him slow and sweet. Sidney was pretty sure he could spend the rest of his life just trading kisses with them, though he would settle for kissing every single freckle on their bodies.

  He drew back, licked his lips, happily watched as Colby twined his fingers into Brook's hair and tugged him into a kiss. Sidney might have whimpered, and he definitely reached out to touch, caressing and petting them, loving the way they still smelled like grass and sunshine. They made it so easy to do whatever he wanted when normally he was so impeded by his shyness that he could barely get two words out. He'd had a grand total of three relationships, and that was being overgenerous. He'd sort of quit dating indefinitely after his first (and probably last) girlfriend hadn't been able to stop talking about his dads being 'totally bangable'. So many levels of please dear god stop. And he'd always kind of known that his half-hearted attempts with the waiter were never going to go anywhere.

  The twins stared at each other a moment, then turned to share a smile with Sidney. He cupped the sides of their faces, leaning in to give them each a brief kiss. "Go get clean before we're summoned to the principal's office."

  Making faces, they nevertheless obeyed after kissing his cheeks. Once they were in the bathroom and he could hear the shower running, Sidney rubbed his flushed face then grabbed his jeans and pulled them on. Flopping back on the bed, he stared up at the ceiling. How was his dad doing? Probably not well, especially since the others had made Troy leave. His dads always did better when they could do stuff together.

  Someday it would be Sidney at the head of the table, telling people to sit their asses down, stop yelling, watch their language, and demanding to know if they had gone insane. If there was one thing he had learned about heading the flock, it was that the job was really fucking hard. Sometimes he still wished he had a sibling to con into doing it instead. Or that he could feasibly hide under his bed for the rest of his life.

  But… it got a little less scary when he pictured Colby and Brook with him. Wasn't their job to lead the flock, but they could help him, have his back. Brook would be right there with him keeping the discussions going, charming and soothing but not afraid to go all the way to the ground if an argument was necessary. Colby was more likely to hang back, observe from the desk across the room, keeping notes on his laptop, occasionally offering up a single, sharp comment that got everyone's attention.

  The daydream fractured, interrupted by a sudden burst of obnoxious dance music. Ugh, that had Brook written all over it. Sidney looked around the room for the source and finally saw the phone on top of the dresser. Snatching it up, he read ICE Nancy (Mom).

  Hitting accept, he said, "Hi, Aunt Nancy."

  "Sid," she said, barely getting the name out she was sobbing so hard. "I need my sons now."

  "Getting them." Sidney turned and threw open the bathroom door. "Your mom is crying."

  The twins didn't even bother to shut the shower off, just burst out of it soapy and wet and frantic. Colby snatched the phone from Sidney's hand. "Mom, are you—mom! We're fine. It's okay, it's okay." He pushed Brook and Sidney out of the steamy bathroom. "Mom, I'll put you on speaker so you can hear both of us." He pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the button for speaker.

  "Mom, we're here, we're fine," Brook said, sharing a wide-eyed look with his brother, reaching out to take his free hand, his other reaching out to hold painfully tight to Sidney's hand, and Sidney rested his remaining hand on the small of Colby's back. "What's wrong, mom? Are you hurt?"

  "Just scared for you," she said, sobs calming down to sniffles. "I'm tired of people fucking with us. I knew it was just a fucking prank, but I had to make sure. I'm headed there now; my flight leaves in an hour. I've got a couple of friends coming with me." She gave a shaky laugh. "They refused to let me travel alone. We'll be there later tonight. I'll text the details."

  The twins replied, "We'll come—"

  "NO!" She shouted. "You stay in that house and do not leave it. Not for any reason unless it's on fire or something. You understand me? Troy or James can pick me up, or I'll just rent a car."

  "Yeah, mom," Colby said quietly, then grinned a little. "We were gonna be staying in anyway. Caused a bit of drama, so now we have to super extra behave ourselves."

  There was a pause, and then Nancy gave a small laugh. "Does this have anything to do with Sidney answering Brook's phone?"

  "Maybe a little bit," Brook replied.

  "A little bit?" she asked.

  Brook made a face. "Okay, okay. Yes."

  "Troy and James are going to kill me," she replied. "But if house arrest for inappropriate behavior is the worst that's going to happen to you, I'll take
it. I'll call you when I land, okay?"

  "Travel safe, mom. We love you."

  "Love you both. Be careful. Bye."

  They stood there, phone still held up in Colby's hand, their faces pale, drawn tight, trembling faintly. Sidney took the phone and tossed it on the bed, then tugged them in close. It seemed all the permission they needed to wrap around him like a couple of octopuses. Sidney held on tight until trembling eased and they drew slightly back again.

  "I wish they'd fucking stop," Brook said, voice rough, shaky. He pulled back enough to swipe angrily at his wet eyes

  Colby's eyes were clear and cold. He didn't reply except to wrap a hand around the back of Brook's neck and pull him in to gently kiss his temple. "Come on, let's finish showering and then we'll go find Uncle Troy." Brook nodded and they slipped back into the bathroom.

  Sidney looked at his damp clothes, shrugged, and left them.

  The twins reemerged just a couple of minutes later and quickly dressed, shoving their phones into their pockets, hair still dripping water as they hustled out of the bedroom. Brook grabbed Sidney's hand, holding on tight, and Sidney squeezed reassuringly as they headed to Troy's office.

  When they got there, however, the door was wide open and the office empty. The smell of garlic and onions, however, made it obvious where he'd gone. Still holding Brook's hand, he led the way downstairs to the kitchen.

  "Uncle Troy is cooking, oh man, life just improved," Brook said. "I want six helpings of everything."

  "Trust me," Troy said as they entered the kitchen, looking up from a massive pot he was slowly stirring. "That's been accounted for." His smile faded as he took in their faces. "What's wrong?"

  "Mom called," Colby said. "She was threatened, didn't say how, and scared out of her mind that we'd been hurt. Called us crying. She's catching a flight, should be here tonight. She said two friends are coming with her but didn't specify who."

  Troy's face turned into what Sidney had always privately referred to as Final Boss Mode. He turned off the stove and crossed the kitchen, sweeping each of the twins up in a tight hug. "Nothing is going to happen to you or your mom. Come on, let's go interrupt the meeting. Their stupid, pissy behavior could use the interruption anyway."

  They followed him back upstairs and down the hall to the main office slash meeting room. Sidney could just barely hear shouting as they reached it. Jackson, by the sound of it. He always thought he was more impressive when he was loud. Troy rolled his eyes, grabbed the door handle, and threw the door open.

  The room fell silent, and seven people turned to look at them, five with annoyance, two with concern. It was Jackson who spoke first. "What do you think—"

  "Shut up," James cut in, voice quiet but hard. Jackson shut up.

  James crossed the room to them, reaching out to wrap his fingers around Troy's elbow as he looked at them all. "What's wrong?"

  "Nancy's shaken pretty bad," Troy said. "She apparently got a threat bad enough she called Brook and Colby in tears to make sure they were okay. She's flying here with a couple of friends."

  Colby added, "She said you guys could pick her up, or she could rent a car. Got really upset at the idea of us leaving the house."

  "Yeah, neither of you is so much as going near a window if I can help it," James replied. "I'll pick her up, take suitable protection with me. What exactly happened?"

  "Don't know," Brook said. "Didn't want to upset her more by asking."

  Troy nodded. "I'll look into it." He squeezed James's arm then pulled away and dug out his phone, slipping down the hallway as he started talking to whomever he'd called.

  James beckoned them into the room as he returned to the table. "I'm tabling this discussion until further notice."

  Bristling, Jackson planted his hands on the table and leaned in. Sidney barely kept from his rolling his eyes. "James, you cannot table a discussion about the future of the flock."

  "This past hour you haven't mentioned the future of the flock once," James replied coldly, folding his arms across his chest. "You've just been discussing my son's sex life. And as I have told you, over and over for the entire hour, it's none of your business. Who he sleeps with has no bearing on how he will lead this flock."

  "That isn't true," said a tall, thin, imperious woman with gray hair and bright green eyes. "We've had trouble before when the chief entered into an unwise relationship."

  James sighed. "Yes, because the chief was a seventeen year old boy dating someone twice his age while the rest of the flock clutched their pearls and shrieked but didn't do anything to fix the problem. As I recall, Marlowe, all your family did was leave the flock. Do you still want to use that as your argument?

  Marlowe pinched her lips and conceded the point with a bow of her head.

  "I don't think—"

  "Enough, Jackson," James cut in, voice gone creepy-quiet again. "I told you this discussion was tabled. Right now I have more important matters to address. If you dare try to tell me that who my son sleeps with is more important than the fact lives are being threatened, I will see to it you are removed from this flock as a danger."

  Jackson said nothing.

  "Who is threatening what?" asked another woman, only a couple of years older than Sidney. Wendy had looked out for him when he'd been in school, the cool, pretty senior girl who didn't take any shit from George and his crew, who laughed in their stupid faces when they called her the Beached Whale. George had shut up fast when his older brother had come home after ten years in the Marines and not nine months later he and Wendy were married and a few months after that expecting twins. She liked to call them her mini-whales whenever George was around. She was still Sidney's favorite person in the world. If she was there, it was because she knew James would need the support. "What's wrong, Chief?"

  James dropped his folded arms. "Nancy Ackerman and her sons are being threatened. They were attacked in their home a few days ago, and today she received additional threats that have forced her to abandon the conference and come here. I want the whole flock on high alert. Report anything even remotely suspicious to me or Troy at once. Wendy, I'll probably be pulling your husband and his crew for security for the next few days, possibly a couple of weeks."

  "I'll call him," Wendy said.

  "Thank you. This meeting is adjourned, but it's possible I'll be pulling in the entire group later depending on how this matter plays out. Everyone should stay close to home."

  "Yes, Chief," everyone at the table chorused, then they all stood and slowly left, a few touching the twins' shoulders or arms or otherwise offering them comfort. Only Jackson and his obnoxious buddy Dumass pointedly ignored them.

  When they'd gone, James sat down in his chair and heaved a long, loud sigh. "Sid, I don't suppose you'd get me a beer?"

  "Sure thing."

  "Bring everyone a beer, actually. We could all use one."

  "Yep." Sidney headed back downstairs to the kitchen, went over to the smaller fridge that held all the canned and bottled beverages. He pulled out five Coronas, shoved a church key in his pocket, and carried them upstairs.

  When he got there, Troy had joined them. Sidney opened and passed out the beers, then settled in the seat between Colby and Brook. Troy took a long swallow of his beer, then said, "Okay, I called up friends who were there. Apparently right in the middle of a supper some of them were having at the hotel, a waiter delivered a message. All it said was Your sons are dead.

  "Jesus fucking Christ, what in the goddamn hell is wrong with people," Brook demanded. "What sort of sick fuck—"

  "We'll figure it out," James interjected, voice calm, soothing, though Sidney recognized the look in his eyes that said he was feeling not even close to calm. "You're okay, your mom is okay, and she's traveling with people she trusts. We'll pick her up, bring her here, and everyone will be fine until we figure out who is behind the threats. That's the important part." He looked at Tracy. "Who is she with?"

  "Brady Collins from the Tethers Pack, and… I think
the guy is his boyfriend? Nancy wasn't clear, but his name is Skylar. Sounds familiar, but I can't remember why."

  Brook and Cody lit up, all but vibrating in their seats. "Skylar Trapp. He's the cottonmouth who recently adopted two werewolves. Their mother tried to frame him for kidnapping them. It was a huge mess. Brady helped him out, and he's part of the reason the adoption went through. It's really fucking awesome 'cause it opens the door for more cross-species adoptions. People are going nuts about it, mostly in a good way."

  "I remember that now," Troy said. "Should be interesting. Wish the circumstances were better, we could have had a party."

  "What the hell is wrong with the shifter community?" James scrubbed a hand over his face and took a pull of his beer. "Kidnapping, death threats, vandalism, arson… I thought we'd managed to become more civilized than this."

  Troy snorted. "You're still part human, sweetheart. Only so civilized you can get."

  James shot him a grin and a look that Sidney really did not want to see, TMI alert, release the brain bleach. "Ugh, stop it, there's been enough sexual oversharing today."

  "And whose fault is that?" James asked, quirking a brow at him.

  Sidney pointed his thumbs at the twins. "Theirs. They're older so it's their fault."

  "Jerk."

  "Vile betrayer."

  Sidney grinned and drank his beer.

  "I just hope nothing happens to Mom before she gets here," Brook said.

  "Nothing will happen, if only because she's either in the air or in an airport, and nobody is going to risk doing something in either of those places. Once she lands, she'll be safely with us. Hopefully we can get the DPRS involved."

  "Already on it," Troy said. "They should be calling me back soon. I'm sorry you guys are stuck in the house."

  Colby shrugged. "Better than being dead. Most of our work can be done anywhere, and the stuff that can't, our coworkers won't mind covering us for a little while. I'm sorry this has all been dumped on your doorstep."