The Unlucky Rabbits Foot

THE UNLUCKY RABBIT'S FOOT

" I t's your turn," Cooper says, adjusting his glasses. When I look up at him he tosses the rabbit's foot over to me. I catch it out of instinct, groaning as I realize this means I'll have bad luck and misfortune heading my way.

This magical rabbit's foot is the result of our latest hunt. As hunters, it's our job to take care of supernatural beings or instances that could one, allow unsuspecting humans harm, or two, draw attention to the secrets of the supernatural world. This rabbit's foot has been cursed to give the person holding it bad luck. Cooper is working on making a box to keep it locked away in but until then, we're all taking turns holding onto it. We thought it would be best to spread the bad luck between us instead of one of us having to deal with it alone. Lately, I can't help but rethink that stance.

"Damn," I murmur, staring down at the rabbit's foot. How the hell can something so small and unassuming cause so much damage?

My mate, Jude, giggles and I give him an unimpressed look. "I'm sure it won't be that bad." He just had to tempt fate, didn't he?

My stomach rumbles, reminding me I was about to get myself a sandwich from the cooler. As I stand up I begin to stumble, realizing far too late that somehow while I've been sitting here, my laces have looped under my chair leg. My arms flail as I try to keep my balance to no avail. One moment my momentum is being used to stand up and the next it's projecting me forward and down until I'm face-planting into the dirt.

I lie there a moment, trying to catch my breath and finding it difficult. Fuck. It's been awhile since I've had the wind knocked out of me like that. As I flip over to my back, staring up at the sky, Jude's face comes into focus.

"Jesus, Carlos. Are you okay?"

I give him a thumbs up. "Never better," I gasp out.

The rabbit's foot is still clutched in my right hand. My left dusts myself off as I gingerly get to my feet. My mate does his best to make sure I'm alright and despite the bad luck, I'm overwhelmed with warmth at the care he's giving me. He kisses me on the tip of my nose before pushing me back into my seat and grabbing me a sandwich so I don't hurt myself further.

Axel and Jeff step out of their camper, walking over to the fire. They're vampires which means they're far more resilient than the rest of us.

"Heads up!" I toss the rabbit's foot over to them, watching as Jeff steps in front of Axel, grabbing the cursed object right out of the air before it can hit his mate.

Jeff freezes but Axel keeps walking, the two of them colliding. My eyes widen as the two of them tumble forward, Jeff cushioning Axel's fall with his back. They land in a heap in the dirt, grumbling about this damn rabbit's foot. As Axel tries to stand, his elbow collides with Jeff's nose which immediately begins to bleed.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Jeff gets out, tilting his head back to keep the blood from dripping onto his shirt. "This stupid thing! Cooper, how close are you to finishing that runed box?"

Cooper adjusts his glasses, clearing his throat. "I was just going to work on it now, boss!"

Jude snickers again, giving me a wink before pushing Cooper toward his camper to work on our lockbox that'll finally rid us of this stupid cursed foot.

Axel helps Jeff onto his feet. "I'm so sorry, baby. Are you okay?" Axel puts his hands on Jeff's cheeks, looking at him but his right hand seems to slip and he ends up poking Jeff in the eye. Watching them makes me almost feel bad about tossing the rabbit's foot at them.

Almost .

"I'm fine, it's not your fault," Jeff says right away, taking a step away from his mate, putting a bit of distance between them.

"It's the rabbit's fault," I tell them with a grin. Jeff turns towards me, narrowing his eyes.

"Actually, I'd argue it's your fault for tossing it to me before your time was up." Once he's done, he flicks it in my direction. Part of me thinks about ducking out of the way and letting it fall to the ground, keeping the bad luck on Jeff. But I'm feeling bad after watching him struggle to even touch his mate.

I catch it, feeling a shiver go through me as the bad luck lands on me. I sit as still in my chair as I can, my eyes glued to the fire. "If I just sit here and do my best not to move, surely nothing bad will happen."

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize my mistake. Never tempt a cursed object! How many times must I learn this lesson? My chair creeks before a loud snap sounds. My ass hits the ground in record speed as my lawn chair breaks beneath me. Axel and Jeff both chuckle, watching as I struggle out of the confines of the chair which is now hugging my ass like nobody's business. I groan as I roll away, trying to dislodge my rear end.

"Oh wow. Didn't realize you and that chair had those types of feelings for each other," Dorian says as he wanders out of his camper and towards the fire. Martin is right behind him, the two of them probably wanting to give Cooper some space as he works on the rune box with my mate.

Once I'm finally free of the chair, I sit on the ground pretzel style, just trying to catch my breath. "Here. You take a turn," I say, tossing the foot in Dorian's direction.

The toss is a bit too low for him so Dorian has to duck down to catch it. As he does, there's a loud ripping noise that makes everyone pause and look over at Dorian. His face turns bright red as he straightens, tossing his blue hair over his shoulder.

"Before you all ask, yes, that was indeed my pants ripping down the seam of my ass." Dorian lets out a long sigh as he makes his way over to the fire and flopping down into his seat. Martin sits down beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, babe. That gave me a great look at your ass."

Dorian snorts, shaking his head in amusement. He leans over and gives Martin a kiss, leaving the rabbit's foot in his lap. Martin smiles softly at his mate until he looks down and sees the little gift left for him. The smile fades and is replaced with a groan of frustration.

"What is this? Are we speed-dating this thing? Passing it around as quickly as possible?"

"That isn't a half bad idea," I murmur with a shrug. "Might mean that Jeff ends up with two black eyes though."

Axel pouts. "I'm so sorry, Jeff. I swear I'm not doing this on purpose."

"I know, baby, it's totally fine," he says, leaning over and kissing his mate on the cheek. Now that the rabbit's foot isn't in their possession, the two are free to kiss without fear of headbutting each other. "I know it wasn't your fault. Plus, with my vampire healing, they wouldn't stay bruised for long."

Martin looks down at the rabbit's foot and then over at Jeff and Axel as they hold each other. "Would be kinda funny to toss it over to them right now while they're having their moment."

"It would be hilarious, but you're not mean enough for that."

Martin sighs. "True." He stretches his arms over his head, leaning back in his seat. I watch with wide eyes as the biggest fly I've ever laid eyes on flies directly into Martin's open mouth.

Martin sputters, his face turning bright red as he stumbles forward, trying to hack the thing back up. Based on the noises he's making, the damn bug just lodged itself into his throat. For having two mates, I would assume he'd be used to having things in his throat, but apparently not!

Dorian pats him on the back, doing his best to comfort him but I don't think there's much to be done for something like that other than washing it down with a cold beer. At least he didn't have to taste the damn thing.

Dorian grabs the rabbit's foot from Martin's lap. That seems to dislodge the bug as Martin sits back, sucking in a huge lungful of air. "Jesus Christ on a cracker, what the fuck was that?"

"Sorry, babe. I'll take the blame for that one."

"I need a beer after that," Martin murmurs, standing up and making his way to the cooler. Okay, so maybe being physically in pain from the rabbit's foot isn't the worst thing after all. I'll take that over deepthroating a bug any night!

Zander and Ronny step out of their RV. They're really cute together, always hip to hip and tonight is no different. "The kids are asleep," they say as they step over to the circle and find their seats.

Dorian doesn't miss a beat, tossing the rabbit's foot over to Ronny who catches it more out of instinct than anything else. He groans as he realizes what's in his hands. "I don't want this thing," he says with a whine. "Last night I nearly fell into a porta potty while having this cursed thing in my pocket!"

" That's what was taking you so long last night?"

Ronny looks at his mate, running a hand over the back of his neck in embarrassment "Yeah. Now you know, your mate almost fell into a porta potty full of shit. You still love me, right?"

"It takes a lot more than that to turn me off," Zander says with a smile, leaning over to kiss Ronny's cheek. As he's leaning over, his chair leg snaps and he crumbles forward into Ronny's lap, his face somehow planting right into Ronny's crotch. Normally I would crack a joke at this moment, but from the look on Ronny's face, Zander must have nailed his family jewels pretty hard.

"Oh. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Everything's fine," Ronny says but his voice is way higher than normal and his face is bright red from the pain.

"Here, let me just take this," Zander says, tugging the rabbit's foot from his mate's hand. He goes to stand up only to trip over his chair straight into the cooler behind his chair, tipping it over and spilling ice all over himself and the ground. Somehow he's managed to wedge his ass perfectly into the cooler and even when he stands up, the cooler comes along with him.

From the outside, we must look incredibly foolish. We're like a circus display filled with clowns all hitting each other and falling over dramatically. We're so clumsy we're becoming a true danger to ourselves.

Ronny helps his mate up off the ground and tugs the cooler off his ass. Then he gently pushes Zander back into a seat that's not broken. "If you stay as still as possible, surely nothing bad would happen, right?"

Ronny really shouldn't have said anything because as soon as he asked the question, a bird flies over head, depositing a streak of shit across Zander's head and cheek. We all stare for a long moment before bursting out laughing.

"You really shouldn't have tempted fate!" I can't help but say between wheezes, watching as Ronny glares at me before doing his best to wipe the shit from Zander's face.

"I wasn't thinking! Gods, I hate this damn foot!"

"Not into feet? That's fine but don't kink-shame," Dorian says with a giggle.

"I hate you all," Zander murmurs. He sounds so done with all of us that I almost feel bad for teasing him about the bird shit. Almost.

Ronny picks up the rabbit's foot, tossing it over his shoulder and it perfectly lands in my lap without having to grab it. I stare down at it, shivering as the bad luck magic washes over me. I brace myself for the worst. I can feel everyone look at me. I hold my breath.

But nothing happens.

Cooper and Jude step outside. My stomach floods with hope that they've finally succeeded and based on Jude's proud smile, I think I'm right. Cooper adjusts his glasses with one hand, the other holding a black box covered in chalk symbols that only he and my mate understand.

"Is it done?"

"Yep! Cooper did it!"

All of us collectively cheer, giving Cooper a round of applause. He opens the box, holding it out for me. I gingerly place the rabbit's foot into its new tomb, hoping like hell this actually works. As he closes the box, I feel that magical shiver run over me again, leaving me feeling better than I have since we found this cursed thing.

"I think it worked!"

"Of course it did! Were you second guessing my spark?"

"Absolutely not, baby," I tell Jude with a grin. Wanting him near me, I grab his waist, tugging him into my lap. My plan is to have him in my lap so I can cover his cheek with kisses. Only, in my excitement, I may have snagged him just a tad too hard.

I let out a groan of pain as Jude's hip collides with my balls, pain lancing through me and making my stomach cramp. He tries to adjust himself but his elbow collides with my nose, and fuck, now I'm the one with the bloody nose.

Jude quickly stands, turning around and looking at me with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," I tell him, standing up and tilting my head back. It's a shame I can't blame this on the rabbit's foot. Maybe my body got used to being clumsy as fuck. Or maybe this is the universe having a bit of a giggle, wanting to have the last laugh. Either way, I can't be mad because the rabbit's foot is officially taken care of. People are safe, even if my nose isn't.

If you'd like to read more about Carlos, Jude, and the rest of their hunting crew, check out Hunting for Redemption , book one in my Collection of Hunters series! Or you can skip right to Carlos and Jude's book: Hunting for Magic !