BUNNY

The house was a whole mess. The Beackmans were excited by the arrival of Keegan so much so that even the kids had woken up pretty early to tend to the house and hang ‘welcome home’ decorations all around the house. Even the room where the alpha’s old room had gotten a good cleaning and a new set of fresh blankets. Timing had been great, though, because today was a day off in The Ranch; no customers or guests to visit meant more time to prepare for the alpha’s arrival. 

Of course, I understood their excitement. It had been ten years since they had seen him. It was odd to me that the man didn’t even know his nieces and nephews in person. As an orphan, if I had a big family like the Beackmans, I would have made sure to come visit at least once a year. To be honest, knowing the man hadn’t come back after he had left Bramville gave me a bad impression of him. In my head, I tried painting him as a smug big-city money guy version of his twin brother, Owen, but I couldn’t quite picture it.

‘He sounds hot to me.’ Mir, my animal self, said in my mind. ‘Owen is fine as wine.’

‘If Cecil heard you, you would be roasted rabbit, Mir.’ I said. Owen was happily mated with an omega bear named Cecil, and they had two lovely sons, Chase and Avery. 

‘Chill. God/dess forbid one appreciates the view.’ Mir said sarcastically. ‘A great view.’

In that, Mir was right. The Beackmans had incredible genes. From the head of the family, Jeremiah, to his omega mate, Gary, and even his youngest omega son, Emil. Beauty and handsomeness ran in the Beackman blood. But even with the temptation right there, I never dared to mess with any of them. I loved my job too much to ruin it that way. Luckily for me, all of their alpha sons were happily mated. And Emil, well, first, we were both omegas, and second, he was my best friend. 

“Papa! Papa! Is Uncle Keeg coming soon?” Chase, Owen, and Cecil’s oldest son asked. Cecil had been helping me feed the horses and other animals on the farm. Chase had tagged along, and now we were on the way back to the main house. 

“No, dear. He is not arriving yet.” Cecil answered.

“Then when is Uncle Keeg coming?” Chase asked with a pout on his lips.

“Later today. He will be here for dinner.” Cecil mentioned and caressed his son’s hair.

“Are you excited to meet your uncle, Chase?” I asked the kid with a smile.

“Yes! I want to play with him and ride Blizzard together.” He answered excitedly. Blizzard was one of the horses that not everyone could ride, especially since his owner had been gone for so long. 

“Your uncle might be rusty in the riding-a-horse part.” Cecil mentioned, but before his son would get sad, he added. “But we can make that happen.”

“Blizzard’s mood is probably going to improve with his owner’s arrival.” I mentioned with a smile to Cecil.

“I hope so.” The omega said with a sigh.

Once we got inside the house, there was a circle of people surrounding a sad Gary. My heart dropped seeing the man in a bad mood for a day that was supposed to be happy. I worried something might have happened. My mind went to bad places, thinking maybe Keegan had once again canceled his visit. Anger filled my chest, but I tried to remain calm and find out what had the old omega in a bad mood.

“What’s wrong? What’s with the sad faces?” I asked, approaching the crowd. Cecil went to stand next to his mate, and Chase ran to play with his little brother and cousins in the corner of the room.

“Keegan’s flight got delayed. He will be arriving a little bit later than what we expected. We can’t go pick him up because it's at the time of the last round of checking the animals and horses.” Jeremiah explained, his arm wrapped around his mate, trying to comfort him. 

“And I have to take Jeremy for a check-up and won’t be able to get to the airport on time either.” Conner, Jeremy Beackman’s alpha mate, mentioned. A very pregnant Jeremy sat next to him on a sofa close to where the group was.

“I can’t drive yet because of my ankle injury.” Maverick, the oldest son of the Beackmans, added. “And you are not taking my car.”

“And my car is at the mechanic still. Dumb battery. Why did it have to die on me at times like this?” Owen let out a huff of frustration. 

“It’s okay, hon. It’s not your fault.” Cecil hugged his mate and then asked. “What about Jeremiah’s car? Can’t we use that one?”

“Over my dead body I would let you kids drive my car, not after what happened the first time I let you.” The old alpha said with an arched brow. I had heard stories of one of the Beackman kids forgetting to put Jeremiah’s car in park mode, and the car had gone downhill and crashed into a tree. Luckily, no one got harmed, but the car was wrecked.

“I can take care of the horses and animals. That way, you can go pick your son up.” I offered. It was my job to help around the farm anyway. It wasn’t my turn today, but I would do it if that made Gary feel better. “I will just need help with Kevin. You know he is a bitch sometimes with the feeding.”

“I’ll help you with Kevin.” Elise, Maverick’s mate, offered.

“Sounds like a plan.” I said to Elise with a smile and then looked at the older couple. “Are you okay with that, Gary?”

“Yes, thank you. I don’t know what we would do without you, Bunny.” Gary said with a big smile. 

KEEGAN

Despite my flight’s slight delay, it had gone calm, and I was starting to get excited about seeing my family. Nervous too. Ten years away from home had been way too much. Time had gone by fast without me realizing it, and being married to my job had stopped me from coming back to Bramville in years. I had missed major events like my brothers’ weddings, my nieces and nephews' births, and many others. Deep inside, I felt remorseful at myself for being so stupid as to miss out on those moments, and that's why I had decided to take a long vacation. Not only because of my friend and family’s nagging, but also because of the guilt of missing out that much. After getting out of the plane and picking out my luggage, I took a deep breath. I had to get a taxi and go to the ranch.

“Keegan!” I heard someone scream my name in the airport. I looked around until I saw my parents, standing next to each other. Papa was crying already, and Dad held a sign that said ‘Welcome home’. I got teary-eyed looking at them and quickly approached them.

“Hello, Dad. Papa.” I said when I was close enough and hugged both of them. “I missed you.”

“We missed you too, son.” Dad said with a soft smile.

“Look at how big and handsome you are. My baby is so grown now.” Papa said between sobs, tears ran down his cheeks, and I used my hands to wipe them away.

“Not a baby anymore, Papa.” I said with a chuckle.

“You and your brothers will always be my babies.” He said with a frown and a pout. I gave him another hug and then pulled apart.

“I didn’t expect you to come pick me up. I thought you couldn’t make it.” I mentioned it because they had panicked when I announced my flight’s delay.

“Bunny offered to take our places in the animal rotation check so we could come.” Dad spoke this time, and that name came up again. 

“That’s nice of him to do that.” I said with a smile.

“Bunny is truly the best. I don’t know what we would do without him.” Papa said this time with a big smile. “You are going to like him. Trust me.”

I nodded, and then we walked to my dad’s car. On the ride, I couldn’t help but be confused as to why Papa had said that about the bunny person who worked on the ranch. There was enough help with my brothers and their mates, so what would having the rabbit shifter help make a difference? My family talked about Bunny this and Bunny that, making me think the man was an angel. If anything, it made me feel more curious about the man. 

‘Do you think he is cute? I heard rabbit shifters are cute but wild in bed.’ Keith, my animal self, mentioned in my mind.

‘Why are you even asking, Keith?’ I asked, rolling my eyes. 

‘Just curiosity.’ He said. But I felt a little mischief in his voice. But I had no intentions of hooking up while in Bramville. It was all about recharging and spending enough time with my family.

Upon arriving at the house, I noticed the welcome home banner on the front door. It brought a smile to my face. I took a deep breath and looked around. The Ranch had changed a lot, and I was happy the business was going well. As soon as I stepped into the house, all the kids jumped at me. My brothers standing from afar entertained with me trying to catch up with all of them. My heart felt full being able to hold my nieces and nephews.

“I bought presents. They are in that bag.” I told the kids, pointing at a bag Dad left next to the door. “Amy, Ansel. Please help the younger ones.”

“Yes, Uncle Keeg.” Amy and Ansel, Maverick’s twin kids, said in unison, and then took the other kids to the bag to check their presents. 

“Nice strategy.” Maverick said with a chuckle and then hugged me. “Good to see you, brother.”

“What’s with you Beackmans being so tall?” Elise mentioned. She was a petite woman. She looked fragile, but I still hugged her. 

“Nice to see you again, El.” I said with a smile. Out of all of my brother’s mates, I did know Elise. She had gone to college together with Maverick. “My brother treating you well?”

“Always.” Maverick was the one who answered, wrapping his arm around his wife. 

“Ouch!” I said as I felt a punch on my arm. I turned to look at the aggressor, finding my little brother, Emil. Last time I had seen him, he was 16, and now he was an adult.

“That’s for not coming home for ten years, asshole.” Emil said with a frown.

“Hey, language! The kids are going to hear you.” I said and then took my omega brother in my arms and spun with him, just how he used to like it. “I missed you, too, baby bro.”

“Stop! You are making me dizzy.” My omega brother screamed, and I let him go. He ran away before I could do anything else to him.

“Emil has a strong punch, right?” The familiar voice of my twin brother, Owen, said. “Took you long enough, bro.”

“Missed you too, bro.” I said, hugging him, and then noticed the omega standing next to him. “So this is the one that got my brother bonded? Nice to see you in person, Cecil. I apologize for my brother being an ass to you.”

“Nice to meet you, Keegan.” Cecil said with a gentle smile. 

“Okay. Now me!” I heard Jeremy say. He was sitting on a sofa in the room. I walked up to him. “Come here, because I’m too cozy to stand up.”

“Hey, Jer. I missed you. You are looking beautiful.” I hugged him carefully so as not to hurt his pregnant belly. 

“Oh please, I’m a freaking whale.” Jeremy mentioned rolling his eyes.

“No, you are not.” Conner, my brother Jeremy’s alpha mate, said. Then he turned to me with his hand extended to mine for a shake. “Hey, Keegan. Nice to finally meet you in person.”

“It’s great to meet the alpha who got our Jeremy knocked up for a second time.” I said, shaking hands with him. The rest of the family laughed.

“And we are only missing Bunny. Where is he?” Papa asked, looking around.

“He is checking out the horses one last time. Especially Marey Poppins because of her pregnancy.” Elise mentioned.

“I see we are still using silly puns and names for the horses.” I mentioned with a chuckle. 

“Always.” Maverick said, and I remembered the question that I’ve had since I first heard the name Bunny.

“Now that I can finally ask, is his name actually Bunny?” I asked with curiosity. The whole room laughed, and I was confused.

“Of course not, his name is Meadow, but the kids use the nickname Bunny because of his animal self nature, and it stuck to all of us.” Maverick explained. 

“And he doesn’t have a problem with it. He is basically part of the family.” Jeremy added. “So we call him Bunny.”

“Oh. I understand.” I said, understanding.

We continued talking until dinner time, catching up on each other's lives. It was fascinating to hear stories I'd missed being so far away from my family. With the dinner table set, we all sat down, but there was one chair still empty at the adult table. I assumed it was Bunny's chair. Emil let us know that Bunny was on his way; apparently, he had taken his horse on a short walk, and that’s what had taken him so long. Suddenly, the dining room door opened, a scent leaked into the room, and it flew all the way to my nose. A sweet, warm, and floral aroma that was also rich and earthy. Honey. The scent of honey. Followed by the scent, walked inside an omega that took my breath away. Pale skin, pink lips, his hair two colored; white and black, and his eyes, his heterochromic eyes, one blue and the other brown. He was beautiful. 

‘Mate. Mate. Mate.’ Keith chanted in my mind. 

“Mate.” I said unconsciously, my eyes unable to look away from the beautiful omega at the door.

“Mate.” The omega said with a soft voice.

“Mate?!” I heard my family say in shock.