Snowflake was a little white and brown spotted bunny who loved to play. She wasn't always the best behaved bunny in the burrow. In fact she was quite a naughty little bunny. She loved to pull tricks on the other baby bunnies such as eating their carrots before they got to eat them, and then pretended she didn't eat them.

She also likes to hide their little fluff pillows and not tell them where she hid them. She would get punished sometimes, but most of the time she would whimper her way out of trouble. She was often resented because she didn't get punished, but she shrugged it off and continued to play on her own.

Many times she was told to be a good bunny, but she never could be good longer than one day.

She knew she was a really desirable bunny too, and that the boy bunnies always tried to get her attention. But she didn't like them that much because they were always trying to get her to do things that she didnt want to do.

They were quite often competing who could jump the farthest or the highest. They were loud and rough and they never smelled nice. She was sure they skipped bath time some days.

One day Snowflake snuck out of the burrow and was sitting in the sun, and heard some footsteps. She thought for sure it was one of those obnoxious boy bunnies, so she just didn't bother to look up.

She heard someone clear their throat, but she still didn't look up. Why should she have to, she was very comfortable and they just wanted silly game watchers anyway.

When she heard him clear his throat again, Snowflake opened one eye. her eyes trailed all the way up to the very tip of his ears. He was gigantic! He was dark brown, almost black in color. He sat very straight and very large, gazing into Snowflakes eyes.

She lay there, staring at Him for a moment, before she stammered out a hello to Him. She felt her face get hot under his gaze. She didn't know who He was, she had never seen Him before.

She quickly scrambled up to her little paws, and lowered her head under His gaze. He looked at her and reached His head forward. She could feel Him sniffing her scent, and she was as still as she could be. Instinctively, she was quiet and didn't fidget much.

He sniffed her nose and then licked the very tip, and she cringed, but her insides went all wibbly wobbley and she flushed from the tip of her tail to the tip of her ears. She startled, glanced at Him, got scared and hopped back quickly to her burrow, only stopping once to check to make sure He wasn't following her.

When she got back to the burrow, her heart was pounding, and she was out of breath. her Mommy hopped over to her, to see what was wrong, but Snowflake just hopped to her fluff pillow to calm down. It took her some time to calm down, and when she finally started breathing normally again, she started to try to figure out who that bunny was.

And why did He have such an effect on her tiny little heart? She decided that He must have been from a different burrow and the sun must have just had that affect on her and she would have to be more careful about sitting out in the sun too long.

The next day, Snowflake had already figured everything out in her head and just moved on. She was in a particularly tricky mood and the other bunnies in the burrow were really frustrated with her. She couldn't even eat her own breakfast because she had tasted so many other carrots, and she had hidden almost every little fluff pillow she could find. The rest she just switched around so none of the bunnies had their own pillow.

One bunny tried to bite her, but got caught by her mommy, and Snowflake just giggled and ran away. By noon, every bunny in the burrow was not going anywhere near Snowflake, and no one wanted to play with her. If she walked in, they would turn their backs to her. She was sad, but she knew that no one would understand her anyway.

After she got her lunch and brought it in to sit with her mommy to eat, her mommy told her that Snowflake was on her own again. Snowflake sighed, mommy was always so busy with her triplet bunnies, and she never had time for her oldest. Snowflake decided it was a good day to find the sun again, and just stay out for a shorter time.

Snowflake peeked her nose out of the entrance to the burrow, and sniffed the air in all directions. This was normal for a bunny to be cautious like this, but if He was out there, she was not going. She sniffed carefully, and did not detect any strange scents. So she popped out of the bunny burrow hole and proceeded to hop to her own sunning spot. As she got closer to it, she could smell His lingering scent, but could not see Him anywhere near. She sighed with relief and stretched out her little paws and settled for a nice warming soak. She almost fell asleep, was getting really drowsy when she heard bunny paws. She looked up with one eye, and discovered that He was back. She hopped to her feet, and His deep baritone voice stopped her. “Stop.”

She stopped moving and looked up at Him, but quickly averted her eyes.

“Yes?” she mumbled, her heart was thumping in her chest.

“Stay.” was His only reply.

Snowflake wanted to run away so bad, but she was curious and decided to stay for a time.

“My name is Snowflake” she stammered out.

“Dominic” was His reply.

“Where are you from?” she managed to squeak out.

“Near” was His short answer.

Snowflake just looked at Him. He looked back at her. They stood facing each other, staring each other down for what seemed an eternity, but in reality was a mere minute. In that time, Snowflakes heart was doing gymnastics! She had never met any other bunny from the area. Most burrows kept to themselves. She felt His gaze move to every part of her body, and she was feeling so shy! She fidgeted, and tried to make herself smaller, and He looked at her, locked His eyes on hers, and said in His deep voice,

“Be still.”

Snowflake stopped moving, and held her breath. She lowered her eyes, and started to shake from fear. This tall, dark stranger was ominous. After a full minute, Snowflake allowed her eyes to trail up His body all the way up to His eyes.She caught His gaze, and couldnt turn her eyes away from His. This time she did not look away. Instead, she sat up straight and smiled, allowing her nose to twitch and smell His scent. “Hello, Dominic, how are you today? she stammered out, shyly.

“You can call Me Sir, but I am fine.” His voice had a deep authoritative tone to it, which commanded respect. “Where do you live little one? Who is your Father?”

“He is dead” she said with a sad tone. “My mother is over in the burrow.”

“Why are you out here alone, do you not know there are dangers out here?” He asked her gently.

“I know there are dangers, but I enjoy being alone”. She answered quietly.

“That is dangerous, little one. Where is your hole?” He said in a quiet but friendly tone.

“Just over that hill,” she said with a bit of caution.

He nodded, and said, “I have to go back home. I will see you again soon.” He simply turned and hopped away from her. He stopped once, turned and wiggled His nose at her, and hopped out of sight. Snowflake stood there a second, then turned and hopped back home. She didnt know what to think of the stranger.

Chapter 2

“Snowflake, honestly get your head out of the clouds before you dig to China!” Snowflake's mommy was very irritated with her today. It seemed like every thing she did took longer than usual, or she just plain forgot what she was doing. She was distracted, there was no doubt in her mommy's mind that was true; but what was causing that distraction was not known. Presently Snowflake was cleaning out the hovel and was raising a huge amount of dust in the air.

“Snowflake, would you take the twins outside for some fresh air, so I can bathe the baby and put her down for her nap?” Snowflake's mommy asked, from sheer agitation from the young bunny's distracted musings.
Snowflake smiled, and went to go take the 10 week old twins outside. They were both white with black spots and one black ear. Marcy's black ear was her left ear, and Darcy's black ear was the right. That opposite was true in their personalities as well. Darcy was the active one, while Marcy was the quiet, alone type. They were really well behaved little bunnies, and hated going outside, but Snowflake would always think of new games to play with them so mommy had more time to herself. Snowflake thought about what game they could play today, it was a nice, pleasant, sunny day, but just warm enough to be pleasant. There were very few clouds in the sky, and the sun was not beating down. As she was soaking in the sun, she decided on a game to play.

“Okay, I am going to hide this pebble, you two go cover your eyes while I hide it. Remember to use your nose to sniff it out. Go on over by that big tree.” She let her eyes trail up the tree trunk, and caught herself thinking of how tall Dominic was. She huffed, and proceeded to find a spot for the pebble. She found a very shallow hole, and dropped the pebble in. She pulled some grass and covered the pebble. She wanted them to take a while to find the pebble, so she made it hard. She quickly hopped over by the tree where the twins were hiding their eyes, and said slyly, “OK”, she said, “the rules are simple. Only on the grassy area, and no wandering off. I will let you know how close you are by colors today. Blue is cold, meaning not close. And red is Hot, meaning you're really close.” She watched them to make sure they understood the instructions, then said, “Okay go find the stone”. She sat back to get some snoozing and daydreaming in, when the twins hopped right for the pebble. She gasped and yelled out “blue” and laughed when they turned the other way. She stretched out and closed her eyes, and hollered out “blue”.

“Not very kind of you to cheat”, said a very gruff and almost familiar voice.

Snowflake's eyes popped open and she groaned to herself when she saw Dominic. She sat up quickly, and stammered, “Well, my mommy wanted me to keep them busy for an hour, and if they found the stone right away, they would be bored quicker.” She looked up, gulping, into His very deep, penetrating, green eyes, cringing until she saw the hint of humor in His look. She sighed from relief, thinking to herself that His slight smile took her breath away; and she could not keep His gaze very long because He seemed to look right through her. She always felt so small around him, but she didn't understand why. None of the boy bunnies made her feel all fluttery inside.

They sat in silence as the baby bunnies hopped around, every few moments one or the other would holler out blue. When the bunnies started getting tired, she allowed them to find the pebble.

The twin bunnies giggled when Snowflake introduced them to Mr. Dominic. He just stood quietly and smiled. He enjoyed watching the lively little bunnies, but was constantly drawn to watching Snowflake. She was mature in some ways, very young in other ways, and she appealed to the Dominant personality inside him that has lain dormant for so long. He wanted more than anything to reach out to her, but he sensed she was hesitant, perhaps because he was quite a bit older, perhaps she was not mentally ready to leave her mother. Maybe even she was not attracted to him.

She could see the faraway look in His eyes, and wondered what He was thinking about. She loved to watch Him, He was strong, and quite handsome. He was older than she was used to, but that appealed to her. She saw a quiet strength and a sense of security enfolded in His paws. She would enjoy being scratched and caressed with those paws... she then snapped to, and found Him staring at her. She cast her eyes down, and stammered out a quick excuse. “Come on girls, momma is waiting for us by now. Say goodbye to Him, and let's go. Goodbye, Sir” she managed, and felt her face get hot when He nodded to her.

She quickly hopped away, and stopped to take a glance back. He was standing there, staring at her and watching her go. She wiggled her ears and hopped away. “Surely, I can find someone closer to my own age” she thought to herself; but those strong paws were really distracting her thinking.

Chapter 3

“Those silly twits”. Snowflake was appalled at how the little girls were throwing themselves at “Jax” the new guy. Several new males had joined the hovel. Momma thought it was time to add some new dominant males, but didn't really get a chance to interview them first.

Snowflake caught Momma's eyes rolling at the silly girls. She saw Snowflake, and gave her a little wink. Snowflake knew that wink was meant to tell her that Momma was pleased that she was not flirting along with the fawning fools. Snowflake had been taught how to be submissive, without being a doormat, but she was also taught how to act like a well behaved bunny.

When Jax approached her, it was with four little twits following behind. He smiled at her, and she just nodded.

“Hi” he said. Snowflake looked at him. Casting her eyes down, as she was taught, she said “Hello Sir”.

“What is your name, little lady”? He asked in his soft voice. She looked up a little and answered in a very quiet voice, but loud enough to be heard, “Snowflake, Sir”.

He smiled at her, and waved the twits away. They left feeling dejected, but quickly noticed one of the other new males that was sitting alone. Snowflake kept her eyes cast down, and did not fidget, as he looked her over.

“You are a very pretty, and delicate flower, little lady. Have you been spoken for?” His tone was caught by Snowflake and her heart started pounding.

“No Sir”. My mother is over by the hovel door. She knew that would be his next question. She was so used to hearing it, and they never went to that next level of protocol. She watched her toes wiggling a little bit. She didn't dare look up, but when she sneaked a peek, she noticed he had hopped away.

She looked up and around, but didn't see him anywhere. She shrugged and left to go back to her cubby. On her way home, she got the idea to sneak outside and soak in some fresh air. She took the turn, and was poking out the hole in a minute and a half. She sniffed the air, but didn't smell anything. She ventured out slowly, and listened for any sounds. When she heard none, she found her favorite spot and stretched out to enjoy the soft grass. She left an ear up so she could hear noise, but began to warm in the sun, and got relaxed.

She didn't hear or sense anything until she felt the net around her. She tried to hop back into the hole, but she couldn't get free. She screamed and fought and bit and tried to get away, but the net only got tighter and constricted her movements. She fought and bit anything she could get her teeth on, but couldn't get free. She fought until she passed out from exhaustion.

She was highly aware of her surroundings, she felt something scratchy on her feet, but the smell was new, and she was terrified. She looked for a spot to hide, and found a little hole that was dark and tight, she sat there trembling, whimpering, and not sure what to do. She finally fell asleep from total exhaustion.

Snowflake woke up, not recognizing the smell in her area. She tried to look around, but it was dark, and wasn't home. She remembered what happened and started to tremble again. She didn't move until she was so hungry, she couldn't stand it. She walked to the edge of the hole, and looked out. She was surrounded by wood and metal, it felt so strange on her paws. She could smell something that smelled like food, but didn't know where that was. She poked her nose out the hole to sniff for danger. She didn't know any of the smells.

Snowflake stuck her nose out further towards what smelled like lettuce and seeds, but she couldn't see it, she hopped once, and stuck her eyes out of the hole. She found the source of the food, but it was tiny little pebbles. She wanted to go sniff further, but she was terrified, she hopped back into her hole when she heard a sound.

A very strange sounding human voice spoke out, and Snowflake crawled all the way into her hole.

"C'mon, out you come. You'll be OK little girl, I wont hurt you. Out you come and I'll get you some yummies for your tummy"

Of course, Snowflake had never heard a voice before, but she liked the sounds he was making. She wouldn't go out to see him, but she didn't mind so much listening to the sounds he was making. She smelled him and then she smelled the food that he put out for her, it was very tempting, but she was not going out there. She watched him poke some food into the hole of her cave, and shrunk back further. She sniffed the air, and caught his scent, she smelled danger, and would not move.

The man was not surprised that she would not come out. He just placed the new food, fresh water, snacks and fresh hay in the cage. He started whistling softly and move around the yard, and Snowflake sat and trembled. She listened to him moving around the yard, and didn't move.

Snowflake didn't dare move all day, and she stayed in her box until the sun began to go down. Then she dared to venture out and sniff the food. It smelled wonderful, and she was starving. She started to nibble on the food that the man stuck into the edge of her hole, it was a root that was sweet and was crunchy. She enjoyed eating that, and would take a few bites and then look around a little bit to see what was happening around her.

The area she could see was a green grassy area, with a large open field behind it. Snowflake was on the edge and towards the back of the yard, as far away from the house as she could be. She could see the field behind, but in the dark, she couldn't orient where she was. She heard little squeaks, she heard some large animal making noises, closer to the house. She sniffed the air, and all she could smell was strange smells, mingled with a very familiar smell, but she couldn't place it. She continued her snack and ate until she was full.

She found the water but it was in a round container, stuck to the side of her cage, that she wasn't sure how to drink. She touched her nose to it, and a drop of water went up her nose. She sneezed and huffed at it, but still didn't know how to drink. She pushed it again with her nose, and again, the drop of water went up her nose. She huffed and bit the metal straw and was delighted with a drop of water on her tongue. She reached out with her tongue, and another drop fell on her tongue. This seemed like the hard way to get water, but she was thirsty.

Snowflake finally got her fill of water, and proceeded to go back to her hole. She sniffed the air one more time, and heard some thumping on the ground below. Squinting into the night, she saw and heard at the same time, “Well little one, you are sure in a pickle this time.” Snowflake was surprised and looked down in the yard. There was Dominic, of all the bunnies in the world, He would see her in a cage! Snowflake flushed and ran to hide. She could swear she heard him chuckle, but she just ignored him.