Page 88 of In Prey We Trust

“In fact, I do,” Aubrey says as he looks at me. “He has many reasons to do so now, including protecting our girl. And if the Fae are tied to this fucking bullshit threatening her, he has to come to terms with it so he can help us keep her safe. It might be the kick in the tail he needs.”

I sure as hell hope so. No one in this room has the knowledge he does and we’re going to run out of time, eventually.

Arsonist’s Lullabye

Renard

I’ve been avoiding everyone for the past two days and I know it’s frustrating my family. However, when I left ma petite’s room, I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t bear to be around anyone. My guilt about the past is as fresh as the day it happened and despite knowing I have information they need, I’m unable to face it. Aubrey’s tried to help me address it for centuries, but it’s not in my nature to accept what happened and move on. The choices I made led to consequences I should have expected, but I was too young and arrogant to believe it would come to pass.

The egos of young princes are stroked so often we lose perspective and I paid the price—though she paid more dearly.

The car is quiet as we head to Apex to do another search, and I let the silence hang in the air like the sword of Damocles. My dragon and bunny desperately want to bring it up again; I can practically taste their desire to drag me into a conversation.?? They won’t, though, because we have a mission tonight and anyone being off their game could cause grievous harm. We didn’t run into any traps or enemies last time, but we have no idea if that will be the case again.

“I like all of Raina’s men. They’re great escorts and very kind. I think they like me, too, except Holliday. I can’t figure him out. He says nothing, but I see him watching me when I talk to him.”

I blink. She doesn’t know? Raina usually tells people, but I guess our girl didn’t get to meet him in a group setting. “Mon amie, Holliday is deaf. He’s watching you because he’s an extremely skilled lip reader.”

“Oh, shit!” Dolly gasps and smacks her head. “Goddess, how stupid am I? I thought he was just shy. Now I feel like a complete asshat babbling at him.”

Aubrey chuckles. “You didn’t know, and no one told you. Would you like us to teach you sign language? Our broody friend taught me a long time ago. We can make sure you get the basics pretty quickly.”

“Yes. Yes, of course.” Our girl beams excitedly as she claps her hands. “I love learning new things, but also, I want to communicate with him. I’d hate for him to have to adapt to me—that’s lazy.”

“Fitz can help, too,” I say casually. “He made me teach him the basics a couple years ago when he was trying to nail—” I pause and flush as I realize what I was going to say.

“Trying to nail some chick? It’s okay, big guy. I know no one in our group was a virgin when we started dating. There’s no reason to act like a crazy ass unless someone tries you now.” Her eyes narrow and the looks on her face reminds me of the tiger in question. “Now, they’d better step off or they’ll regret it.”

A deep, dragon chuckle echoes out of Aubrey, and it almost makes me feel better for a moment. He was so fucking serious before our bunny showed up. Every little thing set him off and he had to constantly work to keep from flaming out. Since Dolly joined us, he’s still cranky and ill-tempered, but he laughs more. He even makes more jokes and tolerates the students more easily. She’s changing all of us for the better, and it’s much more visible from my perches.

“No need to get growly, snack size. We’re well aware you’re not willing to share outside of our family—that’s true of us all. But you don’t have much to worry about with Rennie and I. We stayed fairly solitary most of our lives and definitely since moving to Apex.” He winks at her playfully. “Only the tigers have bed posts that look like scratching posts; Chess has kept to himself the entire time I’ve known him as well.”

She pauses, then grins. “Did I tell you guys about Coach Z before the match? I don’t think I did because we had so much to discuss about all this nonsense. I think she might actually like me now. So I’m not growly about her anymore. That’s growth, as Fitz would say.”

That gets a laugh out of me and it feels like a weight lifts. “If you’re gauging your mental health on Fitzgerald Khan’s scale, we’re all in trouble. But tell us the story, ma petite. I’m interested.”

“Well, that witch Selene…”

Once we arrive at the secret tunnel entrance, I feel the pulse of magic again. It’s getting stronger, which explains why the construction is taking so long to complete. Using all prey animals who aren’t affected will exponentially increase the time needed to finish it, but the preds are likely getting weaker faster. The Captain’s crew are walking ahead of us, but he stayed with me, so I look at him seriously. “Your group needs to watch all the predators except Dolly. If they fade, get the radio and check-in so we can convince them to go back to the car. I’m worried the source of this power has been back to add more magic so people will stay away. It will certainly affect them more now.”

“Aye, aye Admiral!”

Shaking my head, I watch him rush ahead to communicate with the other members of his little family. It’s an odd group we’ve formed, but I find it immensely satisfying. I’ve always enjoyed the company of all species—even to my detriment and shame in the past—so seeing preds, prey, and whatever our girl is working together takes me back to a happier time. Sigh. I can’t slide back into moping about what happened so long ago when we have important things to find. Nostalgia will have to wait.

“Team Alphahole is at the entrance. We’re going in and heading down the same path as before. Will check in at the half hour mark,” Dolly chirps into the mic. “Be careful or I’ll kick all your asses.”

“Baby Girl,” Fitz whines. “I’m still peeved you’re not on my team. Your fancy mobster is picking on me.”

“Delta is headed in,” Aubrey interrupts. “Quit screwing around outside and let’s get this done. The air here is worse tonight; I can feel it. We don’t need anyone harmed by this outing.”

“Fine, spoilsports. Badass, over and out!” the hyper tiger crows as his mic clicks off.

This is going to be a long night; I can tell.

The deeper we go into the tunnels under the forest, the stronger the traces of the magic linger. My amulet pulses with the beat, making my gargoyle itch to be free. Obviously, that’s not possible in this space—at least, not fully—but he’s antsy and that’s unusual. Chess is scouring the walls looking for the next Council room and until we find it, we can’t leave. On the last trip, they found the Leonidas vault, and we found Erickson. Combined with Shirdal from the night of explosions, it’s not even a quarter of the highest ranking families. They all have one; I’m certain of it.

“Over here!”

Hurrying along, I join the Captain and Chess as they stare at another door embedded in the rock walls. This one has designs that look like they belong to a temple for Demeter. “This is probably the Charles room,” I murmur. “Their business is all agriculture, right?”

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