Chapter 17 Daisy
Daisy
After the Easter Egg hunt, which we lost, of course, on account of Briar handing out all the eggs we found to all the kiddos, we went to the lodge café for a much-needed rest.
My feet are killing me, and what a day to wear heels. I suppose I just wanted to make an impression, but I always feel more comfortable in sneakers.
As we sit by the window, I reach down, wincing as I rub at my ankle.
I have a blister.
“Are you all right?” The question comes from Briar.
I meet his bright hazel eyes, smiling. “Yeah, I’ll live.”
Ash peers down at my heeled shoes, a furrow forming between his eyebrows. “Are those shoes hurting you?”
I shake my head. “No, no... I’m good...”
What a terrible lie. My feet are on fire.
The Alpha’s brows crumple further. “Are you sure? You have a blister. We… we can clean it up for you, if… if you want.”
Briar and I regard the Alpha next, confused. He’s such a contradiction. All big, burly muscle when it matters, yet asking me such an innocent question humbles him.
Well, it couldn’t hurt in the end, right? So, Ash gets up to find the first aid kit at the café. When he returns, he hands it to Briar, who gets to work.
I concede at last, taking off those infernal shoes, and then Briar cleans up my blister. When he’s done, he places a band-aid down, patting my wound gently. “All better. You don’t have to wear heels around us, Daisy. Just so you know.”
I bite my lip. Well, then, in that case. “Fine. But now I have no other shoes to wear. How will I walk back to my cabin barefoot?”
Ash smiles shyly. “You don’t have to. I… I can carry you. I’m quite strong.”
“He is,” Briar chimes in. “You should see him hauling logs.”
Now that I would like to see.
Ash’s face blushes bright red as he looks me up and down. “You look remarkably lighter than a log, so it should be no problem, Bumblebee.”
Bumblebee. There he goes with that little nickname again.
Upon his request, I place my feet on his lap, giving him permission to give me a foot massage. The Alpha stumbles at first, unsure of where to start, but then he gets to work with his fingers, pressing his thumb into the heel of my foot.
Damn. All the tension leaves my foot at once.
The amount of willpower it takes to contain my pleasure. We’re in a family establishment, after all.
Luckily, all the children’s attention is diverted to the door, and then I have the shock of my life when a giant pink rabbit enters the restaurant carrying a basket filled with eggs.
The thing of nightmares.
Briar shudders on my right, having the same feeling. “Fucking freaky. Why would they think kids would like that?”
At the sound of his disgust, the rabbit turns toward our table, and we all freeze on the spot. Its big cartoon eyes of blue stare deep into our souls, and all three of us shiver at once.
It’s like the temperature just dropped.
I snort. “I think he has it out for you now, Briar, or her...”
Some of the kids are obsessed with the giant lapin, but others scream in terror. Those children are smart.
I spy Noelle next on the other side of the café with her Alpha, Robin, making a hopping motion.
The rabbit glares at her hatefully with those big soul-sucking eyes, and then… it hops. The kids laugh, hopping around with the creature, and now they follow it around the café. The Easter Bunny passes our table, and it gives me a low bow.
Then it hands me an egg. “Um… thanks, I guess.”
It just stares with those uncanny eyes. And then it resumes its hopping. The kids follow.
An older boy, around the age of nine, trips the rabbit up with his leg, and then the creature falls to the floor. Unfortunately, its head comes off.
The kids stare, frozen, but I can’t take my eyes off the person beneath the rabbit. Or Alpha, for that matter.
Ash and Briar gasp. “Rowan?”
The Alpha doesn’t even look at his brothers. His eyes just find mine. He sighs. “Hey, Delta.”
I have so many questions. Why did he put on that stupid bunny mascot?
Wait… did he do it for me?
Quickly, Noelle rushes forth, affixing the bunny head back onto Rowan’s shoulders before any further damage is done.
“It’s okay, kids. The Easter Bunny just lost his head for a moment.”
The kid who tripped Rowan up is still laughing. In the end, his mother scolds him, handing his egg back to Noelle, and then she drags him out of the café.
Serves him right for ruining everyone else’s fun.
“Rowan, it’s okay,” Noelle reassures next. “It was just a minor mishap. You’ve got this.”
Yet the rabbit just continues looking at me. His face is lost to me now beneath all that pink fur. He takes a few moments to compose himself, and then he starts hopping around the room. All the kids start laughing and playing along again.
Crises averted.
Briar, Ash, and I just watch in stunned silence.
Briar scoffs. “When you think you know a person, but it seems they had a secret identity all along.”
Ash chuckles. “Like a superhero…. Rabbit Boy.”
“More like Rabbit Bastard,” Briar laughs.
I reprimand them. “That’s enough. I think it is… sweet. He wants to put a smile on the kid’s faces.”
“More like your face, Daisy-chain.”
Now Briar is calling me Daisy-chain?
I narrow my eyes at him, but Briar keeps his attention on his brother. They both do.
Honestly, I can’t look away from Rowan either. What a true enigma… I just can’t figure him out. He acts cold and indifferent toward me, yet he dresses up as a big pink rabbit for the enjoyment of children.
Yet Briar is right about one thing. Rowan has brought a smile to my face.
Perhaps there is more to the Alpha than I thought.