Page 51 of In Prey We Trust

“That means we can star the Blitzen fool, Chess,” Aubrey muses. “Do we think we can leave the dingbats to fight each other but keep an eye on them? Outside of talking to the creeper, they haven’t done anything you can’t ignore, right, Nibblet?”

I think about it for a moment and nod. “For the moment. But I think we have to add someone. I didn’t get to tell you guys about it yet, but the more it stews, the more I believe this is important.”

Everyone looks at me in concern and I clear my throat. Going to the dorms alone wasn’t smart, but I can’t always call people every time I move. If my enemies force me to have a twenty-four hour bodyguard, they’ve won. I’ll be in a cage of my own making and I can’t allow that. It gives weight to the claim that I’m weak and maybe I was last year, but I’m not now.

“I went to the Reptile Pit today after class to futz with my stuff.” Fitz starts to protest and I hold up my hand. “Don’t get mad; I know I asked you to come but I wanted to get it over with, so I did it.”

“What did you find? I don’t know anyone from that place so far.” Cori frowns as she looks at Rufus. He shakes his head in agreement. “What the hell classes do they take?”

Felix strokes his chin, thinking for a moment. “I’ve had a few in Shifter Studies. They’re quiet and shifty. I met a few snakes and a gator. Apparently, the crocs prefer Aquatic and the gators always go to Reptilian. No one mentioned why, though.”

“I haven’t seen any in the library.”

Rennie shrugs. “Some lizards and snakes in the lower English courses—one Gila Monster, which I found fascinating. Crandall or something.”

“That’s my roommate!” I whip my head around, eyes wide as I think about the possibilities. “Her desk was full of chemical molecules and equations and shit that looked suspicious. I got this weird vibe from the dorm and it got worse in my room. I took a bunch of pictures so you and Aubrey could check this shit out.”

“Your bunny?” Felix asks curiously and I shake my head.

“No. It wasn’t her. I had this overwhelming feel of foreboding in the dorm, but when I glanced at her side of the room, I was drawn to the desk. I haven’t ever felt anything like it, but I knew I had to check it out. Once I did, I couldn’t stop myself from documenting everything. It felt so important.” Chess walks over and I hand him my phone so he can send the pictures to everyone. “I really think Kinsley Crandall has something to do with… part of this… but I don’t know what or why.”

“Baby Girl, you know that’s the only poisonous lizard, right?” Fitz sits his chin on my shoulder. “I mean, we still haven’t figured out the poison shit. A Chemistry major would be a perfect puppet for creating a poison no one has in their databases.”

“Fitz, you’re a genius!” I grin and turn my head to give him a smacking kiss. He flushes and shrugs while the rest of the room breaks out into loud chatter. I clear my throat and they all look at me again. “Okay, so Aubrey and Rennie will look into this poison stuff then?”

“We will, ma petite. That’s another star we can add.”

My stomach growls abruptly and Fitz pats it lightly. “I say we eat, then we’ll do the rest. Our girl is starving and since we have guests, I can’t feed her my cock. I suppose pot roast will have to do.”

“Fitz,” Felix sighs in exasperation. “For the love of everything holy…”

“It’s okay, Sir.” I wink when his eyes flash. “I’ll keep him in line until we get our work done.”

“I’m holding you to that, Princess.”

Rufus frowns and kicks the table. “So fucking unfair they’re all taken. I’m registering a complaint.”

My crazy tiger looks over with a smug smile. “About that…”

1 Exactly

2 Also known as ‘Go’

Problem Child

Fitz

I’m pretty fucking pleased with myself this morning.

Not only did I help solve shit for my baby girl, but I even did her punky friend a huge dick-flavored favor. She was extremely grateful this morning in the shower and Chessie was similarly happy with me last night. I need to get the two of them in my bed together when we’re not all sacked out, but I was waiting until I thought my girl was ready. Given her recent behavior in the boutique, I think it’s time. I grin to myself as I walk across campus at a leisurely pace, dreaming up scenarios that make my cock twitch eagerly. A random student gives me an odd look as I whistle a jaunty tune, so I snarl in his direction. It makes him scamper off like prey.

What a fucking waste. At least the rich kids at Apex had a little backbone—Cappie kids are soft as butter.

My two classes this morning were a drag. Not only do Cappie kids have no balls, but their computer science department must have been run by a total moron. None of my advanced kids have a fucking clue how to do anything not based in the Erickson Tech OS. Their hacking skills are nil, so they won’t be worth spit when they get out of here. No wonder U&M is the choice of the geek squad preds. All these fuckwhistles are good for is mid-level management, not actual programming.

That sounds like I care, but I honestly don’t. I can revamp my curriculum to allow for their many deficiencies and assigning them a bunch of crap they’ll struggle with means I can cancel in person classes while they work in the lab. It’s exactly what I did this morning so I could take this stroll over the green to study the patterns of the avians overhead while I made my way to the admin building.

Chessie isn’t here today, so nothing I do can be linked back to him if I’m caught. Baby Girl had class early with my brother and right about now, she should be in a three hour block with our cheetah. I didn’t tell anyone about my plan, but I definitely checked out the schedules on the fridge to make sure no one would get blamed but me. This little stealth mission is all Fitz Khan.

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