Page 42 of Freed By the Witchbone Knife

“Did you even hear me?”

“You said you pinned the list to the refrigerator.”

“Right. Yes.”

The list. The one she’d handed to him to look over earlier. An entire fucking schedule oriented around her god damn little morsels of food. Things like, 10:30 am: puzzle activity, 12:00 pm: snack before lights out, 12:30pm - 5:00pm: nap time, et cetera.

“Obviously I can’t follow it every day since I’m working. But I do my best to pop home in between classes when there’s time. They thrive on structure, you know. The last thing we need is a grumpy bunny going into stasis because we were an hour late with their dinner.”

“Wouldn’t want that.”

“You don’t even know what stasis is.”

“Thank fuck for that.”

“I’ll have to train you on what to do if⁠—”

“No training, Rebecca. If they get sick, you’ll be there to see them through.”

He was not, under any circumstances, nursing a fucking rabbit.

“Right. Yeah.” She was fidgeting with her fingers and her scent had changed.

He placed his free hand over hers and she froze. When he next spoke, his voice was low and sincere. “I’ll take care of them. I promise.”

She seemed to deflate. “Thank you. Really.”

“In exchange, you need to promise me you will not go anywhere alone, under any circumstances. Not your office. Not the bathroom. Nothing.”

“You want me to hold my pee all day?” They were already pulling into the campus parking lot. The drive was over already?

“Don’t women use the buddy system or something?”

“God, Axel. This isn’t freaking high school. I’m going to have to use the restroom.”

“Right. Well. Just text me when you do. And then that you’re okay afterward.”

A laugh burst from her chest. He didn’t find it funny at all. Especially since he couldn’t be in two places at once. He couldn’t take care of her bunnies and shadow her all day.

Everything in him was screaming in protest as they pulled into the fire lane near the campus quad.

“I’ll be fine, Axel. I promise. I don’t think Ambrose would try anything this soon, out in the open.”

Maybe he could find a way to get another protection artifact. One meant for a person. Then he could rest easier knowing Ambrose Blackthorn wasn’t hiding around the corner waiting to pounce.

Speaking of. “I’ll walk you to your class.”

“What? No.”

“Yes. It’s not up for discussion.” He shut off the ignition.

“You can’t park here.”

“It will be fine.”

“You’ll get a ticket.”

“Then I’ll pay the fucking ticket, Becca. Let’s go.” Gods. She calmed him. But she also sent his emotions into overdrive. In a different way. Not like when his skin itched and he needed to shift, to move, to run, to embrace the wildness.