It's A Hoot (mxm)

Chapter 19

The Mexican wolf held his hand out and slapped on a teasing grin that made his features feel more wolfish and wild.
Toren could easily see the young man preferred his animal side to his human, from his unkempt hair, down to the relaxed posture and predatory instincts glimmering behind his human eyes. Even if he was small, Toren was beginning to see why Nick said he'd be safest here.
These shifters were the most likely to notice anything out of the ordinary and would react faster. Outside of the fact that they were surrounded by an open field.

"I'd introduce myself and everyone, but you're probably going to forget and we can be super overwhelming." He scratched at his ear and tilted his head like a curious puppy. He couldn't have been much older than eighteen. All of the others seemed relatively young as well, but it was difficult to tell with them in their wolf forms.

Michael crouched down, facing the rabbit. "Who's this?"

The Mexican wolf lowered himself as well, going down on all fours. "Hasn't told us his name," he shrugged. "Pops found him a few weeks ago, injured in the woods. Timid little fella. Hasn't shifted yet, either." He flopped onto his side and rubbed his back on the dirt to scratch an itch. One he could've easily reached with his hands, which were curled against his chest. "He likes Deck, though." He wiggled his eyebrows at the Eurasian wolf, who only huffed.

The rabbit let out a soft squeak and bolted behind the big brown wolf's hind legs, his little pink nose twitching as he peeked out. His fur was a reddish brown with warm honey highlights that reminded him of Michael's eyes. His paws and ears looked like they'd been dipped in the liquid gold. On the topic of eyes, it was easy to see that the rabbit was, in fact, a shifter, not just by smell, but by his very unusual, bright green eyes.

He'd never met a rabbit shifter before. Without warning, he felt the changed overcome him. He shivered and his bones snapped, crackled, and popped as they rearranged themselves.
Popping his feathery head from his pile of clothing, he shook out his wings and hopped from them. Blinking his large eyes, he got quite the few curious stares.
The Mexican wolf chuffed and hastily shifted back into his animal, bounding up to shove his big wet nose into Toren's feathered neck.

The rabbit perked upon seeing Toren's animal, not nearly as frightened as he had been before, though there was still a considerable amount of caution, especially towards Michael.

Toren hop skipped across the ground towards the rabbit, lowering his body to look small. Although shifters tended to be larger than their wild resemblance, the rabbit was very small. It almost made him wonder if he was just a child, which tugged at his heartstrings. A child, found alone, injured in the woods? What could've possibly happened to him?

He hooted softly and opened his wings in an invitation. The rabbit gave him a hesitant look, glancing up at the wolf, Deck, as the other had called him.
The rabbit lifted a tiny paw and wiggled his nose. He hopped a step forward, lifting up onto his hind legs and sniffing at the air before taking another step closer.

Toren cooed in encouragement until the adorable fluff ball was nestling into his side, under a wing, rubbing his cute little head against his feathers.
What a sweet little thing, he couldn't have been very old. Maybe nine or ten. He curled his wing over the little rabbit and tucked him safely under it, stretching his neck down to gently groom his furry little head with his beak.
The little rabbit's nose twitched and he made a little chattering noise, reaching up to paw at him. Such beautiful green eyes that glittered with wide wonder. So innocent and so small. Toren wanted to keep him snuggled safely under his wing forever.

A deep chuckle resonated nearby, followed by an unfamiliar voice. Deck had shifted into a human, his large frame coiled where he crouched, watching them with amusement. While he was bigger than Toren in his human form, he was still young. Maybe even younger than the Mexican wolf, who was now wrestling with the other two in the dirt, tugging on ears and pulling tails.