Page 21 of In Prey We Trust

“Fitz!” The elder twin gives him a stern look. “Your orders were to pack everything she needed.”

“Felix, we’re all rich as fuck with nothing to do but spoil our girl. Why would I bother gathering up a bunch of shit to move it again later?”

Aubrey is the one who jumps in. “I agree with the lunatic. Rennie loves shopping and would enjoy tagging along. I have no qualms with splitting up the gifts.”

Chess and Felix look dumbfounded, but my crazy tiger beams. “That’s the spirit, you old penny pincher! We’re going to give our girl the full Pretty Woman treatment—minus the snarky sales person. Otherwise, we’ll be removing blood from the purchases.”

My face heats and I look at them all shyly. “You don’t have to. I mean, Luc pays me well enough to avoid using Lucille’s blood money… and I’m not asking anyone to—”

“Angel, we’re not offering. We’re insisting.” The cheetah scoots over and takes my hands as his eyes meet mine. “I know we didn’t get to really discuss this last year because of all the chaos, but you are going to be our mate. That’s how this works.”

Annnnd now I can’t look at any of them because the emotions running through me are so huge it feels like I’m going to burst.

“He’s right, Princess. Protecting and taking care of you are our chief priorities, so stop worrying about whatever has you twisted up. None of us were raised to allow a mate to want for anything.” Felix arches a brow at me, his lips curled in a smirk. “As my brother keeps saying, you’re the queen of this ambush—start acting like it.”

“Hell yeah!” Fitz whoops as he grabs me away from Chess to plant a smacking kiss on my lips. “I knew these assholes would all get on board eventually. Get ready to be pampered, baby girl.”

I must look startled because Chess scoots close to both of us and smiles gently. “Let’s start with shopping for her rooms and such first, love. I think an avalanche of presents is making our bunny nervous.”

Nodding, I give him a grateful smile in return. “Yes. Starting with necessities and school stuff would be good. We can discuss other things…later.” The word presents sticks in my mind for a moment and I gasp. “Speaking of that, where is Jinx?”

Aubrey harrumphs. “The little fuzzball is sleeping on a ridiculous bed in your room. Just wait until you see it—Rennie spent the last few weeks getting it ready.”

“Can we go now?” I clap my hands, excitement filling me at the prospect of seeing what on earth the gargoyle thought a room specifically made for me should look like.

“Of course, ma petite. We’ll show you, then we can come back to finish going over your schedule and the forms.”

I cannot wait to see this.

Of all the things I could have imagined, this was not in the realm of possibility.

When they opened the door to what was obviously the largest room in their annex, my jaw dropped. They painted the walls a deep blue that stretches to the high ceilings, where tiny stars and a bright, luminescent moon have been painted in painstaking detail. It fades towards the floor, where soft grass meets matching plush carpet. All the furniture is handmade, carved to look like climbing trees with little hollows and painted moss as accents. And the bed… the bed is enormous, with a sprawling head and footboard designed to resemble my midnight dragon with his head at the top and tail curled around the end. Huge, fluffy white bedding with mounds of colorful pillows and stuffies in the shape of all of their animals rest, just waiting to be cuddled.

There’s even a big, climbing treehouse with levels for Jinx in one corner and a shelf for my Fitz trophies over the bedside tables.

“Rennie… oh my goddess…” I don’t have the words to describe how this is affecting me; my heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest and run away. “This is… perfect.”

His smile is brilliant as he reaches out and pulls me into his arms to drop a kiss on my temple. “Fitz told us your room at home doesn’t look like it ever ‘fit’ you. I left space for your keyboard, music, and plenty of accouterments in the closet you can pull out to organize your girly things. He helped me choose the books to add to the ones you left in the Tower. We brought everything left over from last year and put it away to the best of our knowledge.”

Tears fill my eyes as I look at Aubrey, knowing the big bookshelf and study area on the other side of the room were likely his doing. He smirks a little, winking before he ruffles my hair. Fitz leans in to kiss me despite being held by the gargoyle, then bounces into the room to leap onto the bed. Laughing at his antics, I turn to Felix and Chess.

“That bed is big enough for all of us, you know,” I murmur as my cheeks heat. “Monsieur Laveaux has plans, it seems.”

Felix chuckles, his eyes dark as he leans in to feather a kiss on my mouth. “Indeed, Princess. I think perhaps we should plan that date sooner rather than later, don’t you?”

Excitement courses through my veins and I murmur, “Yes, sir.”

His growl makes my thighs clench and Rennie squeezes me close. “We can smell that, ma petite.”

“Goddamnit,” I mutter as I bury my face in his chest. “A pox on all your sensitive noses. It’s not fair.”

“You can do it, too, bite size.” Aubrey looks mightily amused as he tilts his head. “Train your nose as you did to identify species. Didn’t Fitzgerald tell you?”

My eyes narrow as I glare at the lounging tiger on my dragon shaped and sized bed. “No, he absolutely did not!”

All of my men look amused and I frown, pulling out of Rennie’s arms to playfully stomp to the bed. I know they want to laugh and I don’t blame them. My asshole parents taught me not one fucking thing about being a predator outside of killing people who disobey. The longer I’m around other preds, the more I realize that it’s like I was raised with no knowledge that would keep me alive or even help me understand who I am. I’m a literal tourist in the world I was supposedly raised to be a ruler of. It’s infuriating as hell.

“I don’t think we grasped just how little they taught you about being a pred until now,” Felix says as he scratches his chin. “Everything you’ve done so far is based on instinct or what you’ve learned from Fitz and your friends, isn’t it?”

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