Page 117 of In Prey We Trust

I want to shove my win so far up the asses of my mother and my enemies that they taste it for months.

“If you come for me, I’ll hit back twice as hard and leave you bloody in the dirt like her,” I shout as the audience goes wild. “Nobody puts this bunny in a fucking corner again!”

The words echo in the room as my men come leaping over the ring, smashing me between them as I pant. Fitz grabs me around the waist and hauls me up on his shoulders, whooping like he’s headed into battle with the fucking infantry. His voice carries as he winks at me, and Aubrey shoots a ring of fire around us.

“All hail, Delores Drew, queen of the Pred Games!”

Oh, shit. He just had to scream that, didn’t he?

Now I’m definitely going to get killed.

Glory & Gore

Delores

The trip home was a blur and to no one’s surprise, I was out before I got there. My body seems to drop into a healing stasis after fights and when I woke the next day, Felix assured me it was normal for a shifter who’s only been emerged for a year, especially a powerful one. The guys all swear it’s my body and my animal trying to protect me, but it makes me feel like a weak little girl who has to be carried out every time she does something big.

I was supposed to go home for the holiday—Lucille’s text decree—but given I didn’t wake until late in the day, it didn’t happen. Chess made us all a big spread, and we lounged in our huge couch nest, ignoring the internet and my phone’s constant buzzing as my mother tried in vain to reach me via text or calls. I knew it wasn’t the best way to handle her, but I just did not have the spoons to let her screech at me for not getting killed at the fight night like she planned. Whatever plans she and the Raj cooked up, the Khans and I were unwilling to allow either parent to ruin the comfy family day we were all enjoying.

We’ll pay for it later, but fuck them and the stick up their ass, too.

The decision to stay at Cappie seemed even more prudent when the Captain and his crew rushed into our home late in the evening on Thanksgiving night, eyes glittering with excitement. Holliday witnessed a conversation between some of the prey staff in their quarters, discussing the tunnels they would use to leave campus without being seen by any remaining students. They weren’t being careful about their chat because, as expected, people vastly underestimate anyone they consider disabled. He memorized the markers on campus they mentioned, and the crew went out to check as soon as the staff left for the break.

Today, we’re going to explore those damn passages, even without Cori and Rufus. If possible, I might be more excited about the prospect of finding more clues about the maelstrom of bullshit being thrown at us in this war than I was about beating Fallon. I’m still a bit of a mess of bruises, knitting bones, and scrapes, but I’ll hobble through with everyone to find out what the fucking shit is going on and why everyone seems determined to make me the center.

Pain heals, psychos dig scars, but preventing a civil war is glory that lasts forever, right?

I give Jinx a last pat on the head, then walk over to the dresser to make sure my braids are tight. I’m wearing clothes that are easy to move in because we don’t know what the hell is in Cappie’s tunnels, be it residents or booby traps. I smell like arnica and ointment under all the bandages Argyle re-applied this morning. It’s stifling to be bound by gauze, butterfly clamps, and braces under Fitz’s hoodie and my skinny jeans, but Chess insisted. His worried eyes were more effective than any of the blustering and commands the rest threw at me.

Fitz shrugged them off as usual, vowing to ‘unwrap me’ when we return and despite myself, I let them have the skunk bind me up like a fucking mummy. He stayed with me while the nurse fussed, regaling me with tales of his fight victories and gross ‘finish him’ moves, while the others printed the maps and gathered supplies. It occurred to me while he babbled excitedly that just like I know how to soothe their fury and fears, the guys have learned which one of their special touches are needed to make me agree.

It’s sweet and I kind of love it.

“Hey, Baby Girl, you ready to go?” Fitz pokes his head in, clad all in black and ready to drive Aubrey nuts with his secret agent playlist humming.

“I am. I was just making sure everything’s secure so I don’t get caught on something.” I pick up my crossbody with my phone and the supplies, chuckling to myself. Someone bought us fucking spy gear after the last outing to Apex and I’d love to know who it was. Anymore, I can’t figure out where anything comes from because they’ve all started randomly buying shit. “Who did this?”

“Not I,” he sing-songs. “It appeared and hell if I’m not gonna play with the new toys, though.”

“Okay, Indiana Fitz. Let’s go spelunk some caves.”

The entrance Holliday sussed out was under House Avian. Their dorm was deserted—birds definitely like to migrate home to friendlier climes in the winter—so we could take the elevators down to the basement and enter without being seen. Fitz jammed the security feed with some whizbang he found in the spy gear and we ducked into the secret opening behind the drying racks in the laundry. The tunnels here feel a lot more like servant paths than passages to protect the prey staff; it’s creepy as hell.

It makes me thankful I had Mattie as a kid; she kept me from buying into Lucille and Bruno’s rich people's bullshit.

“Since we’re missing a few people, we’re going to stick together in a single group, but as we find rooms, we can cover them in small clusters. We don’t have to worry about the magic toxins here as far as we know, but we also have no idea if there are traps. Stay focused and don’t let your guard down,” Felix says as he peers down the darkened walkway.

“Should we use the flashlights, or are we worried we’ll tip someone off?” I ask as I put my earpiece in. As people peel off to examine family vaults, we need to keep in contact.

Rennie tugs on a braid, giving me a small smile. “Just shift your eyes, ma petite. Chester has excellent night vision and the prey animals will be fine. We’ll save torches for when they are necessary.”

I nod, looking at him earnestly. “No matter what we find, none of us is to blame for this bullshit. Not me, not the cats, or you—even if our parents or our pasts are tied to what’s going on. We cannot be held responsible for what others do. None of us are clairvoyant, nor are we omniscient, so don’t look so worried.”

His lips curve up, and he grabs my hand, kissing my knuckles gently. “The fiercest warriors can have the souls of poets, cherie. Your compassion does all our hearts good.”

“Amen to that, Stony Sulker,” Fitz says with a toothy grin. “Baby Girl makes all of us assholes feel like kings.”

I blush and swat at him playfully. “Okay, okay. Stop blowing sunshine at me and let’s get moving. You’re going to give the Captain and his crew cavities.”

---