Chapter 79 - The Bunny

When August came hopping down the steps, Graeme was waiting for her on the couch. "Can we bring this with?" August held the rabbit in both her hands, flopping his ears back and forth to the side as she approached him.

Graeme chuckled lightly. "I forgot about him."

"Him?" she smiled playfully. "And what is his name?" She turned the bunny to look at its worn face.

"Uh… it's escaping me at the moment," he said with a small laugh.

"Are you blushing?" She teased, sitting down next to him on the couch. Graeme took the bunny from her, feeling the familiar texture of its stuffed body in his hands, which had grown much larger now since the last time he remembered holding it.

"My mom made it for me when I was about three," he said. "I didn't like sleeping alone. Greta and I had shared a room up until that point—even sleeping with mom and dad sometimes. I had a hard time adjusting to my own room, so she made me this to cuddle with. At least that's what she always told me."

"Poor guy has been lonely here waiting for you to return," August smiled. "A bunny is an interesting choice for a future wolf."

Graeme chuckled. "But the long ears made it easy to drag him around with me. I guess even then I was partial to harmless little creatures like yourself."

"Harmless? Me?" August scoffed. She thought about bringing up how she had recently been accused of depriving Marius of his wolf, but she thought better of it.

"Mmhmm," he hummed in agreement. "But you're much more fun to cuddle with than Bun Bun here," he leaned over and nipped her ear, sending a shiver down her back.

"Bun Bun?" she raised an eyebrow, smiling as he continued kissing her neck. "Even so, Bun Bun is coming with us," she declared, taking the stuffed toy back and standing from the couch. "Shall we Bun Bun?" she looked down at the bunny in her hands as if waiting for a reply.

Graeme groaned as he straightened up next to her. "I'm going to regret telling you his name, aren't I?"

"Why would you, Bun Bun?" she tilted her head to look at Graeme.

"You're not calling me Bun Bun," he countered.

"Why not? You're cute and furry and cuddly just like this guy," she said. And Graeme suddenly lifted her over his shoulder and carried through the house to the back doors.

"Hey, put me down!" she laughed, trying to wriggle free from his arms, but he wasn't budging.

"Not until you promise not to call me Bun Bun," he said, opening the back doors to an outdoor cobblestone patio.

"Okay, okay," she laughed, and he finally set her down. She whirled around to see a breathtaking view of the forest rolling below them with the lake and the pack house in the distance. "Wow. This is incredible. You can see everything." They stood for a moment appreciating the view. "So where's your car Bun Bun?" August turned to him with a smirk.

Graeme raised his eyebrows. "You're asking for it," he warned, and she scampered away from him, running off the patio and into the overgrown garden before he caught her and collapsed into the weeds with her against him, tickling her mercilessly to hear her laugh.

"Okay!" She finally surrendered, and he let her catch her breath as she smiled up at him. "How about just one Bun?" And she giggled, raising her hands with the stuffed bunny in them, ready to ward off another tickle attack. Instead, Graeme caught both of her hands and pressed them to the ground as he gazed down at her. Her flushed cheeks and sprawled hair turned his eyes deep again as she panted underneath him.

He let out a sigh. "I'll allow you one Bun," watching as the stardust in her eyes danced happily. "But if you use more than one, there will be consequences."

"What kind of consequences?" she gave him a crooked smile.

"Tickling for one," and he poked her again in her side to hear another yelp as she wiggled under him. "And then the punishments get increasingly more severe," he said before lowering his head to kiss her, lingering against her soft lips for a moment before pulling back to gaze on her again. The pair stayed smiling like this until Graeme collapsed next to her, both of them staring silently into the cerulean sky.

"I definitely don't spend enough time looking up," Graeme said quietly.

"It's so calming, isn't it?" August responded by his side. "I find myself drawn to lying in the grass a lot to watch the leaves flutter overhead."

"And on rooftops," he smirked. She smiled without responding. "Well you are welcome to stay here. I am going to see if I can get the dinosaur started."

August sat up to watch him approach a blue shed in the far left corner of the property. When he swung open the doors and disappeared inside, she followed curiously. Inside was what almost appeared to be an elevated 80's station wagon but boxy like an SUV.

"Is this a Wagoneer?" August asked.

"You know it?" Graeme leaned out from the open driver's door in surprise.

She shrugged. "A little. You don't think it's going to start do you?" she laughed lightly.

"I have a friend who sometimes drives it while I'm away. It might take a few tries, but we should be good," he replied. Sure enough, a short time later they were on their bumpy way to meet Sam and Jack with Bun Bun jostling along in the back where August had buckled him in.

The amusing contrast of seeing Graeme driving a car, especially one like this, was a gift in itself. August watched him from the side—the tendons in his neck and arms that bulged slightly without effort, the serious expression as his eyes focused ahead of him that caused his eyebrows to pull down in the center, that broad curve of his neck into his shoulder, the shape of his ear and angle of his hairline against his temple, the dip in his collar bone and shade of his skin… Graeme turned to her with one of those thick dark eyebrows raised. Somehow his eyebrows were even alluring…

"Lost in thought, Moon?" And his voice… that voice that seeped deep inside of her. All of that masculine perfection, and he was driving this car. A Wagoneer. She snapped out of her daze and chuckled to herself.

"Just thinking about that adorable Bun Bun of yours," she said, turning back to the road ahead.. Graeme glanced in the rearview mirror at the bunny and groaned.