Page 106 of In Prey We Trust

“Are you ready?”

Felix arches his brow as the polar bear calls out from the bedroom. Her nest of curls has been slicked into a solid white pointy hairdo and she appears to be airbrushed purple from head to toe. Given the apparent theme of our group costumes, I can guess who she’s supposed to be by the penciled eyebrows and blue shadow. The Raj waves the hook hand at her, his lips quirking under the tiny mustache. “As our resident Frenchman would say, entrez-vous1.”

“Stealing my thunder. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because I’ve been sentenced to… you know…the Underworld!” Renard snarks. He’s been in character from the moment he put on the toga and arranged his flaming hair. Aubrey may murder him before the end of the night because he’s bad enough without being dressed as the most sarcastic god of death ever.

The door opens and we all hold our breath until Dolly walks out. My eyes widen as I look at the transformation from our sweet, sexy bunny into a towering shadow of imperiousness. The large black horns cover her rainbow hair and end in the mask that highlights her high cheekbones. Her friends have applied dark, sparkling smoky makeup and bright red ‘fuck me’ lipstick, making her haughty expression seem mysterious and sensual.

But the outfit is much less accurate, and it’s making my dick twitch.

Dolly’s curves are poured into a short, tight black dress with cutouts in the best places, a plunging neckline and straggling organza trailing in strips to her feet. The cape swirling around the thigh-high black boots is shiny and lined with deep purple silk, so it flows in the light when she strides towards us with a magical staff in hand. “So?”

I’m flabbergasted, so I fumble for words to answer her. Ren lacks a quip for the first time in hours and Felix is gripping the pommel of his pirate sword as if he’s going to run someone through. Even Aubrey, in his half-shifted form as the demon from the magical mouse movie, is dumbstruck.

Of course, Fitz is the one who leaps over the couch in character to charge forward. “Baby Girl, tonight you’re gonna find out no oneeee fucks like…”

“Shut up, Fitz!” The chorus from all of us makes my angel blink in surprise, then break character to giggle.

“Oh, dear. Has he been singing that song the whole time?” She grins at me and I nod, rolling my eyes. “I bet the words are hysterical. Maybe you can sing it for me later, Fitzy?”

His grin widens, and he sweeps her into a bridal carry, cape and all. “Anytime. Coco-cabana and the Moonshine Mobster made us fucking badass! I’m not even wearing heels this time.”

“You rocked those heels,” I murmur as I approach them. The thick lion skin and scar makeup make our girl smile as she looks me over. “But I like them on my angel much better.”

“Damn right I did. We all made hot AF chicks and anyone who says differently can taste my blade.” My mate pauses for a moment and adds, “The fake one, not the real one. That one’s for running you and Baby Girl through.”

“Fitz!” She smacks his shoulder lightly. “Put me down so Cori and Rufus can come out. We have to go.”

He pouts but does as she says, wrinkling his nose. “They promised me inappropriate behavior, and it’s Halloween. As long as no dead bodies appear, everyone needs to let me party.”

“An interesting proposition,” Felix says as he strolls over to kiss Dolly possessively, then lets her go. “Do we let him go wild? It has been a while.”

“Let me?! I’m Fitzgerald Khan, enforcer of the Khan ambush, and second in line to—”

His tirade is cut off as Cori and Rufus emerge from the bedroom.? Our costumes are gorgeous, expensive, and clearly tailored to fit us, but theirs are the piece de resistance. It’s obvious the two of them put an enormous amount of time and effort into transforming store bought items into bespoke wonders because on Cori’s dress, the goddamn tentacles move. She’s holding a glowy trident with a smug look as she damn near floats over to us.

“Holy shit, Coco-cabana! You’re smokin’ hot tonight,” Renard says as he finally finds his tongue. “I’d remember making a bargain with you, but hey, who knows? I’m unpredictable.”

“Someone stop him, for the love of Jupiter’s sweaty ballsack.” Aubrey straightens, his size imposing as his eyes glow like the music wielding demon. He’s barely dressed and even I have to admit, it looks seriously hot. I assume Rufus had something to do with the male choices because he winks at me as he steps out from behind the sea witch.

He’s clad head to toe in a tight, snow white suit pants with random cutouts in the shape of spots. His skin is airbrushed black in the voids and he has on black shoes so shiny you could probably see up someone’s skirt with them. His vest is also white with mesh spots and he’s not wearing a shirt under it—probably because he has a white and black fur cape attached by a thin silver chain at his neck. They spiked his hair up, half white and half black with short flopped black ears coming out of it.

If any man alive could pull off the skinner of puppies without being morbid, he’s standing in my living room with an evil grin full of fangs.

“You know, I can see him peeling puppies,” Felix murmurs. “It’s fitting, gangster.”

“Since we’ve had our great reveal, we should get to the cars and head to the cemetery,” he replies drolly. “I have triplets waiting for me, and I’m in the mood to get dirty tonight.”

That said, he turns on his heel, taking Dolly and Cori’s hands so their capes flutter in front of us as they sashay to the door.

We are in so much trouble tonight; I can feel it in my bones.

1 Come in

Killer

?????

The moment my prey arrives, I can feel it shimmering in the air. I have been living in the shadows so long that even small shifts in energy ripple over me like electrical jolts. The power that has been growing within me over the centuries amplifies every sensation, and since we found the key, it’s even more sensitive. We attempted to influence Fate many times over the years to start the prophecy, but it never worked—not until three decades ago, when we stumbled on the perfect solution to our waning magic.

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