Sometimes love arrives in the cutest bundle of fur.
Alpha rabbit shifter Jungkook only plans to stretch his legs when he pulls to the side of the road. When a quick shift turns into a brush with death, he's left in the hands of a young boy who vows...
Supply chain coordinator sounded impressive in theory. And really, it wasn’t hard work. It was actually kind of fun to organize the suppliers and the orders and mix and match until all the right parts were sent to all the right manufacturers at all the right times.
But nothing in my life actually felt right.
I woke up. Mindlessly showered, dressed, and made coffee. Then I drove to work on auto-pilot and worked my ass off to stay distracted. But five o’clock rolled around every evening, and when it did, all bets were off. I was a fucking mess.
Not only did I hate the situation I was in, but my bunny hated me for leaving Jimin. He knew where we needed to be, and he was determined to get us back there. I hadn’t shifted once since moving because I wasn’t sure I’d be strong enough to shift back if he decided to go rogue and hop all the way back to Jimin. It was the first time in my life I regretted having to share myself with someone else. My pain was intense enough. Feeling it doubled was too much to bear.
Since the moment I pulled out onto the road and Jimin disappeared from my rearview mirror, an ache had been welling up inside me. It started in my chest and extended out to every finger and toe. Even my eyes felt gritty from rubbing them so much. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was allergic to my new town.
But I did know better, and I knew exactly what was wrong with me. Alphas weren’t meant to be separated from their mates for any length of time, and certainly not by any significant distance. With every mile that I drove farther away from Jimin, the invisible tether he’d unconsciously wrapped around my heart grew tighter and tighter.
Most of the time, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to take another breath. And when I wasn’t gasping for the relief that only proximity to Jimin could provide, I was trying like hell to forget about it. That seemed like the only way I’d be able to survive without it. For a few days it worked. I even passed the one-week milestone without picking up my phone and calling just to hear his voice.
But by the time time a second week was closing in on me, I knew I couldn’t last without some professional help. So I called in the only professional I knew that might be able to help.
The phone rang four times before he answered. “Doc, here. Can I put you on hold for a minute?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” He seemed busy, and I felt bad for intruding on his time, but I was at the end of my rope. If he couldn’t help, I wasn’t sure what I’d do.
Several minutes passed before he picked up the phone and sighed into it. “Sorry about that. What can I do for you?”
Namjoon, hi. It’s Jungkook, uh, Jimin’s friend.” I realized he barely knew me and probably wouldn’t be able to place me by voice alone. “Is this a good time?”
“kook, of course. I’m glad you called.”
“You are?” That seemed weird. Maybe he didn’t know I’d left town and needed to talk to Jimin about something. “Um, I’m not staying with Jimin anymore. I moved to the coast a couple weeks ago.”
“Oh, I know all about that.” He chuckled softly. “I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long. You must be a stubborn one.”
What the hell did that mean? “I’m sorry, but I don’t follow…”
“Just come home, Jungkook. We both know that’s what you need. Staying away any longer is just unnecessary torture for both of you.”
I closed my eyes and swallowed back the sudden rush of emotion I felt. “He’s not doing well either?”
Namjoon scoffed at my idiocy. “Of course not. His mate left him. What do you think he’s feeling right now?”
If it was anything like the pain I was in, I’d never want to inflict that on my worst enemy...much less the man I loved. Dammit, why did I have to go there? I’d been doing so good. Well, trying to do good. “I want to, Doc. So badly. But I can’t. The sheriff basically kicked me out of town and made it clear I wasn’t welcome to come back.”
“Screw the sheriff. That miserable coot wouldn’t know a happy couple if it bit him in the ass, and if he keeps up his power plays, he’s gonna be out anyway. He thinks he knows things he doesn’t, and it’ll be his end if he doesn’t watch it.” Namjoon just somehow managed to say a whole lot without saying anything, not that it mattered. He was giving me the advice I longed for but was too scared to even think about on my own. “Just get back here, pronto.”
“Are you sure?” I thought about how hard it was to leave Jimin. I wouldn’t be strong enough to do it again if he didn’t want me back. “Chim has so much going on. He doesn’t need me in his way, mooching off him.”
“You know computers?” Doc clearly wasn’t good at taking no for an answer.
“Yeah, why?” Please don’t ask me to explain how email works.
“I just upgraded my CRM to some fancy program that meets HIPAA requirements, but it takes me forever to input all my patient files from my paper notes to the damn computer. If you don’t mind reading chicken scratch, you can work for me as a data entry clerk for now, and we’ll talk about a promotion to office manager once that project is finished.”
“Seriously?” I didn’t know what to say. It was so much to process, but there was only one possible response. “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
I hated to leave my new boss high and dry, but I couldn’t go on like I had been. And now that I knew I could go back to Jimin and I had a job lined up, the twenty minutes it took to pack up and let my landlord know I was leaving felt like an eternity.
Every minute I was away from Jimin was an eternity. But by morning, I’d be pulling into his driveway and hopefully starting the real eternity I had always dreamed of living.
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