Maxi’s ears twitched at the sharp, pained cry cutting through the twilight hush of the border woods, the scent of iron and fear threading between the ferns. He moved low and silent, paws barely disturbing the damp earth as he followed the sound, golden eyes narrowing against the fading light. The village warnings about wolf scent-marks along the ridge echoed in his mind, but the distress was raw, omega-sweet beneath the blood, pulling him forward despite every instinct to turn back.

He broke through a screen of brambles and froze. A white-furred wolf lay tangled in the rusted jaws of a bear trap, one hind leg crushed and bleeding freely into the moss. Reverie’s breath came in shallow gasps, his slightly long hair matted with sweat and dirt, soft red eyes glassy with pain as he clawed weakly at the metal. Maxi’s own alpha scent surged, thick and protective, rolling out in heavy waves that made the wolf’s nostrils flare in instinctive recognition even through his haze. The rabbit crouched closer, murmuring low, “Easy, now,” before prying the trap open with powerful hands, the snap of releasing steel loud in the quiet grove.

Reverie’s body went limp the moment he was freed, slumping against Maxi’s chest with a shuddering exhale. The alpha caught him easily, one arm sliding beneath the smaller male’s knees, the other cradling his back as warm blood soaked into his own fur. Reverie’s scent—wild, sweet, and wounded—wrapped around him, stirring something deep and territorial that made Maxi’s heart pound harder than the run through the woods. He pressed his muzzle briefly to the wolf’s temple, breathing him in, then rose and turned toward the hidden paths that led home, the weight in his arms both burden and promise.

Maxi carried the unconscious wolf along the winding root paths that led back to the village, each step stirring the damp earth and releasing the mingled scents of pine and his own protective alpha musk that clung to Reverie’s battered form. The smaller male’s white fur was streaked with drying blood, his soft breaths shallow against Maxi’s chest, but the bond already hummed faintly between them—an instinctive pull that made the rabbit’s golden eyes scan the shadows for threats even as he cradled the omega closer.

Days blurred in recovery within the secluded burrow Maxi had claimed for him, the wound cleaned and bound with poultices from the healers. Reverie stirred at last under the woven grass bedding, red eyes blinking open to the low light filtering through the entrance. Whispers had already spread through the village like wildfire through dry ferns; rabbits peered in with flattened ears and twitching noses, their voices sharp with distrust at the presence of a wolf, an outsider whose kind had long marked the borders as enemy ground. “He’ll bring trouble,” one muttered from beyond the threshold, while another spat about omega wiles and hidden agendas. Maxi stood guard at the burrow’s mouth, his tall frame blocking the view, black ears angled forward in suspicion even as he allowed the wolf to sit up and speak.

Reverie’s voice came hoarse but steady, laced with quiet determination as he explained the trap’s accidental trigger during his desperate flight from a rogue bear pack, his tail curling beneath him in submission. Maxi’s dusty golden eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring to catch the lingering sweet omega scent that warred with his instincts to drive the intruder out, yet something territorial and warm stirred in his chest at the gentle resilience in those words. He let the explanation unfold fully, one paw resting on the wolf’s shoulder to steady him, the touch sparking a low thrum of connection that neither could ignore amid the growing crowd’s hostility.

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Trap of the Heart