"No, the tailor forgot them."
"That's unfortunate."
I offered my hand. "Give me the clovers, Leveret."
"I thought your cape had nowhere to put them," he said, running his gaze along my lower half to find the non-existent pockets.
"It doesn't."
Summoning a flare of magic, shadow wings manifested on my back. I reached up. A long black tendril curled around the clovers, drawing them into the wing like prehensile feathers.
"Oh! That's convenient," Leveret said. He stared at my wings, dazzled by them.
I suspected he was curious about the sensation of touching magic wings until I recalled he often babysat his niece, Celeste, who had the same style of wings, and thus already knew what they felt like.
Which meant Leveret stared at me simply because he wanted to.
Ignoring the flustered feeling in my chest, I said, "Go ahead and shift. The sooner we get this over with, the better."
The alpha before me transformed into a lanky, fluffy hare. His big ears tilted back as he looked up at me expectantly. I picked him up, trying not to enjoy the soft warmth of his fur as much as I did. But I couldn't stop myself. It was so pleasant to the touch that I shivered.
This was a terrible idea.
Yet that didn't stop me from leaping off the cliff's edge and flying Leveret to my closest 'brother.’
Paranoia nagged me once we looped around and descended upon the forest. We were closer to Leveret's pack than we were on the cliff, and if they caught me now, they'd fight tooth and nail to ‘save’ Leveret from my ‘evil clutches.’
I wondered what he would do in that scenario. Would he willingly leap from my arms and go back to live with his family, happily ever after? Or would he defend me?
Would he stay?
Only until this quest was finished, of course.
Fortunately, I spotted none of his pack's flying members in the air. My hunch was that they'd track Leveret's scent straight to the cliff. They had no reason to detour. If they left the moment he was kidnapped, they should've been well on their way to the desolate cliff. We wouldn't cross paths.
Once we were close enough, I hovered towards the forest floor and deposited Leveret safely on the ground before my wings disappeared. I huffed. Even with Leveret in his lighter hare form, it took more magic than I expected to maintain them.
But once this was all over, I'd have all the magic I deserved.
"Are you okay?" Leveret asked.
He'd shifted into human form, eyeing me in concern. I steadied my breathing. I hadn't expected him to notice, but now that he did, I put on a front. I couldn't appear weak in front of mortals, especially not alphas.
I walked past him. "I'm fine. Let's keep going."
"Okay." A pause. "Where are we going again?"
"To a cave."
"Does your family live there?" Leveret asked.
"Not all of them. But it was the last place I sawhim."
"Who?"
Leveret asked a lot of questions, but could I blame him? I hadn't filled him in on the details of my "family." He didn't know how dangerous they could be.
A brief flicker of unease wriggled inside me. Was this a mistake? None of my "brothers" were exactly pleasant to talk to, buthewas the most volatile. He didn't even try to act cordial—the last time we spoke, our conversation ended with him trying to kill me.