Page 105 of In Prey We Trust

“Carina, I don’t understand. I’m not gatekeeping anything. I just felt like I had—”

“Stop talking! I won’t listen to you stand here and play the victim any longer. I have far too many important things to do. I require space, so get out of my office and don’t return until I instruct you to do so. You need to take a good, long look in the mirror, Chester Khan.”

Shock slams into me as she literally pushes me back until she can slam the door in my face and I hear the lock click. The escalation was so rapid and so off-the-rails that I can’t even process how it happened, much less why. Between her accusations and bullshit psycho-babble diagnoses, I have no idea what I could have done to slow that train wreck down, much less stop it.

And now I’ll have to watch what she does with paperwork and the admin office.

There are many things due in the upcoming weeks because the end of the semester is in six weeks. We’ll have appointments about poor exam performance and a shit ton of other things I have to complete to make sure we stay on track. If she isn’t speaking to me or allowing me access to the office, I’ll have to figure out how I can satisfy my position requirements on my own. It will double my workload and I won’t get an ounce of credit or extra pay for it. She’ll either sing her praises if it’s done well or destroy me in private if it’s not. I’m fucked if I do and fucked if I don’t—all because she seems to have an inferiority complex and a severe case of narcissistic personality disorder.

I have no idea how I’m going to survive this year if she continues to behave like this. There’s far too much stressful shit in my real life to let her abuse me this way for an extended period. Now I get why my angel looks like someone beat the shit out of her every time she comes home from her appointments—this must be what happens to her and she’s keeping it quiet to prevent Fitz from eviscerating this cunt.

That stops now.

I won’t destroy this party for Dolly, but tomorrow, I’m going to have a long talk with our family about how we’ll take this bitch off the boards for good.

Chester Khan may not be the future Raj, but he has a few tricks up his sleeve.

“Where’s my angel?” I ask as I walk into the annex. “It’s been a bitch of a day.”

Fitz leaps over the couch, tugging me into his arms immediately. His hand strokes over my curls and I sigh as the touch helps melt away some of my tension. I smile against his tee shirt, knowing he’s holding back the urge to shred whoever upset me until I feel better. When I raise my head again, he kisses me softly before replying with his typical response. “Who am I killing? I haven’t killed anyone in weeks. I’m itching to mete out justice.”

“No one at the moment, love. You can’t kill the counselor cunt for me anymore than you can for our girl.” I rest my forehead on his, basking in the strength he provides. “But I don’t want to ruin her chance at a normal, fun holiday party by going into it now. Can we decide how to handle it tomorrow?”

His snarl is unhappy, but he nods a little. “We can. But I swear on Apollo’s shiny dick that I’m going to tear that body snatcher limb from limb once we’re out of here. I’m going to take my time with it, too. I love hunting them for months, making them wonder if I’m lurking around every corner ready to introduce them to their maker. “

“Going to give Rockland the full Fitz, eh?” Felix strides in, carrying a bunch of garment bags on one arm and an armful of boxes in the other.

Rufus, Cori, and Renard are trailing behind him with even more shit, and I almost choke when I see Aubrey bringing up the rear stacked with luggage and boxes so high that he can’t see where the hell he’s going. As if he just remembered, the badger yells, “Step!

“Thank Christ he didn’t fall,” Ren says as he dumps his load on the ground behind the couch. “He would have bitched all night. Dragons have the worst pride buttons I’ve ever seen.”

“We do not. We are simply better equipped to exist without as many flaws as other species.”

“See what I mean?” Ren hops over the back of the sofa and sprawls out lazily. “Unable to admit to failure or mistakes without blustering and a face full of fire. It’s why he pouted for over a thousand years in that damn castle before he came to Apex.”

“Castle?” Dolly looks at all of us in surprise. “What castle?”

“Someone’s in trouuuuuuble,” Fitz sing-songs as he lets go of me to sweep her into his arms. She jumps up and wraps her legs around him, making Felix scold her when the robe she’s wearing goes slack.

Aubrey looks like he’s going to strangle Ren and Fitz both, but can’t decide where to start. He finally sighs heavily and looks at our girl with a sheepish expression. “Dragons have hoards—usually a bunch and they vary in size. The one I started when I first crossed the Atlantic in my childhood is quite large and it lives in the castle I… commandeered when I arrived. The ones you know of at Apex are minor hoards.”

“There was more than one at Apex?” Fitz glares at him as he sets my angel down. “Dude, you’ve been holding out on all of us big time. I demand to see this shit.”

“Me, too! I want to see the castle,” Dolly pouts as she approaches the grumpy dragon. He’s puffing smoke like a stack and fiddling with the squishy in his pocket more than I’ve seen in months. This is pushing his dragon’s boundaries something fierce, but he sighs as our girl continues to make a face worthy of a cartoon woodland creature.

“Go get dressed with your friends and perhaps we’ll discuss it tomorrow if you behave,” he relents and Ren snorts so hard he doubles over. “What are you laughing at, Chuckles?”

“It took me centuries to get that out of you! One fat lip and some enormous eyes and you fold like a lawn chair. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Tsk.” Aubrey swipes at him with a huge hand as we all start snickering and my angel claps her hands in excitement.

“He said I have to behave, but not how I have to behave—no take backs!” Her expression is smug as he fist bumps Rufus and they take off for her room with Cori.

Fitz turns to us with a knowing smirk. “We’re all in trouble now, you know. She’s going to be incorrigible and we can’t say a fucking word. I love it.”

“Me, too,” Ren says as he rubs his hands together. “Chaos is delicious, and I’m going to take a huge bite.”

“Fuck,” Aubrey mutters at the same time as Felix.

Me? I’m good no matter what—I have my family and nothing else is important.

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