Chapter 6.

Pascale.

I'D TOTALLY FORGOTTENthat I even had a telephone in the burrow until the shrill sound of the old thing in my office rung, making my ears hurt. No-one ever called that line, so this was a strange occurrence to say the least. It rang again and again, and I groaned, reaching for the silly contraption. The ringing finally stopped when I picked up the receiver and held the ancient, corded device to my oversensitive ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Pas! It's Amery, how are you?"

I frowned at the sound of the familiar voice practically singing across the line, perplexed as all fuck. "Um, I'm okay... Is everything all right with you and Val?" I wracked my mind trying to think of a reason as to why the ex-cupid might want to call me. This phone had been installed for real emergencies only.

"Oh yes, we're fine!" she reassured me brightly. "But we really need to get you a cell phone, Pascale. It's a necessity in this modern age and it'd make this a whole lot easier."

Um... where is this going?

"Ah... why?" I asked, dumbfounded by the very idea that someone would want or need to be able to communicate with me at any time of the day or night. Had people forgotten the concept of peace and quiet or privacy?

"So that we can contact you when we need you, silly!" she exclaimed through the phone, sounding positively exasperated by my line of questioning. "Do you have any idea how many people I've had to call before I could even get this number? It was insane. Let's just leave it at that!"

I would assume a lot. It's not like it was a readily available number. It was relegated to magical business only. "Speaking of which... how did you get this number, angel?" I'd like to know who had our emergency number and would give it out when asked. I had no idea who would betray the trust of our secrecy so readily.

"That's not the point, Pascale," she said, still sounding too excited for this early in the morning.

I rubbed my head with my fingers where pain pounded behind my temples. "Then what is the point, angel?"

"Something awesome!" she declared. "Can you guess what it is?" she paused, I assumed for effect, then continued, the words practically spilling out of her in a torrent. "Abby wants a date with you! So, I told her I'd set up a lunch between you both A.S.AP. So, are you free today?"

My jaw dropped and the began to spin. "She... what?" My ribs squeezed tight around my heart and suddenly the headache that had been bothering me didn't matter anymore. I'd been going crazy the last few days staying away from my mate. I was working my tail off with my eyes fixed on the prize.

Easter.

After that I could do what I wanted to do—but not yet.

I must focus.

"She wants to meet you for a date, and I recommended lunch," Amery babbled on, oblivious to my situation. "I think she feels the mating call, even if she doesn't know how to identify it yet. But the great thing is, she's most definitely into you! Isn't that great?"

I coughed to clear my throat and bought myself a second to think, then swallowed hard. "Look, Amery, I appreciate your help, but I can't date anyone right now. We're just two weeks out from Easter Sunday!" I reasoned. "There's a lot on the line."

"And?" she said, sounding annoyed. "You're letting something like that get in the way of claiming your fated mate? Are you for real right now, Pas?"

I closed my eyes and damned myself for telling Amery the truth about Abby being my mate. "Amery... I can't shift back at the moment. At all. If I'm going to pursue Abby..." and I definitely was going to, "then I need to be a man."

"You're a man, Pas. You're a shifter, and she needs to see and appreciate you in both forms, don't you think? If you're going to be together forever, she needs to get to know all of you. Love knows no boundaries, no shame, or hate. Love is everything you could ever dream of and so much. Trust me, okay? Ex-cupid and all that."

I couldn't deny the truth of her words, but that didn't mean that I agreed with her. If I'd had my way Abby would have met me in my human form first, and not seen my rabbit for as long as possible. It would have been different if she was a shifter herself, or part of the paranormal world more directly, but she wasn't. She was human, albeit with a gift, and I needed to connect with her in that way!

I took a deep breath and tried to explain to Amery how I felt. "But if I wait until after Easter Sunday, then I'll have a choice when and if I shift."

"Hm... Okay. If that's what you think is best, then... that's fine, I guess."

There was a long, dramatic, and silent pause.

Damn it.

"What is it Amery?" I pressed.

"I just agreed with you," she said. "It's fine."

"Oh, come on! What now?" The girl was holding back on me, and it was as obvious as the day was long. I wasn't an idiot, and I certainly wasn't born yesterday.

"Well... Val and I, and all the other ex-angels have decided to help out in a big way with the rescuing angel services."

"That's smart," I said, not understanding what that had to do with me or my present dating predicament.

"Yeah, thanks," she said. "But that means that Abby—and her family—don't have half the reasons they used to, to stick around here anymore. They'll have money for the first time in a long time... because I'm encouraging all the angels who've been buoyed by them over the past fifty years to pay them back. It'll be wonderful for them to have that kind of financial freedom, don't you agree?"

My heart pounded inside my chest, slow and too hard. I could scarcely catch my breath. There was a worrisome inference to Amery's words, and I wasn't liking it one bit. "What are you trying to say, Abby?"

"I'm saying," she stopped to sigh loudly, "that Abby's cousin Billy told us that Abby's always wanted to travel the world but has never been able to even take a decent vacation." She stopped and I knew it was to let me digest that information.

I tried to rationalize my choice. "It's only a few weeks, Amery. I can wait a few weeks to date her. It will be fine." My mate... just thinking about her again hurt.

Damn, I miss her so much and I hardly even know her!

I'd barely slept at all last night from all the thinking about her, and fantasizing about what I'd do to her when I finally got my human body back.

"Only a few weeks?" Abby's snort was far from elegant. "Sure thing, Pascale. Good luck with that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped back as anger swirled in my gut at her obvious disdain for my decision.

"Honestly, don't worry about it. I'll just let Abby know that you're not interested in dating her, and that I was wrong about you. I guess my cupid radar isn't what it used to be."

For fuck's sake!

"That's not fair, Amery. I don't have a damn choice."

"Yes! Yes, you do," she fired back. "And if you think you can stay away from your fated mate for two whole weeks, you're bloody well delusional. And if you also think you're going to be okay once Abby takes off travelling the world and meets someone else, you've got another thing coming, bunny boy!"

"She won't meet another man," I growled back at the ex-angel as my irritation grew. "I'm the one she's meant to be with."

Amery's tinkling laugh sounded at the end of the line, and it grated on my nerves. "Well, enjoy your work Pascale. Chocolate and all that is obviously super important. You can't say I didn't try. I mean, why should you listen to someone who was once a cupid? It's not like I know anything at all about love!"

I opened my mouth to say something back, but the phone clicked and a bleak, stagnant silence followed.

She didn't just hang up on me?

I words I wanted to give voice to froze in my mind. "Hello?" I called desperately into the phone. "Hello? Amery!" But there was no-one there. She was gone. And worse still, she was going to tell my fated mate I wasn't interested in her! My world came crashing down as I slammed the receiver back into its cradle, overwhelmed and frustrated. "Fuck!" I yelled at the top of my lungs into the empty room.

A nearby assistant opened the door and stuck her head into my office. "Hey EB! Are you okay?" she asked, obviously having heard me shouting.

I grabbed my ears and squeezed tight, a growl of anger rolling through my vocal cords as I tried desperately to contain my rage.

Her eyes widened, then she turned tail and ran, closing the door behind her.

"Fuck." I collapsed into the chair, my head spinning. Amery had just poked a sore spot that was simply impossible for me to ignore. I didn't have time to pursue Abby two weeks out from Easter, it was just too much! There were still a million things left to do. It was the most stressful and hectic time of year for rabbit shifters! And she wasn't being fucking fair at all.

Chocolate and all that?

She knew it was so much more! How dare she? And aside from all that, I didn't want to date Abigail when I couldn't get naked and fuck her with my human body.

But could I really wait until after Easter and risk losing Abby to her vacation plans?

Surely, she won't find a lover in that time?

That wasn't going to happen, I consoled myself. But my stomach twisted at the thought, and I reached up and squeezed my ears, again. I could tear my fur out right now!

Most of my life I'd always been grateful for my magical lineage; for my rabbit shifting powers and my calling as the Easter Bunny. It brought happiness, hope, and chocolate treats to so many children, but in this moment... it really felt like everything sucked. Hard. And though I was loathe to admit it, Amery had me second guessing my own damn plans, and more than anything that was the cherry on the cake of a very shitty day.