Page 58 of In Prey We Trust

I stop, narrowing my eyes at the smirking tiger. “If you’re taking me rock climbing or some physical bullshit, I’m going to yank your tail as hard as I can.”

His laughter rolls over my skin and he squeezes me lightly as we walk into the empty locker room. “No, nothing like that. Don’t worry; I’ll feed you and then we’ll have a fucking amazing time, I promise.”

Letting go of him, I hop over to my locker and grab my shit, winking at him over my shoulder. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Play With Fire

Felix

It took immense control to leave her in the locker room to change. My tiger has been pacing for months because he knows my twin and Chess have been with our girl while we have not. It’s not that we can’t share as much as the alpha instinct; I’m the Raj and I should have gone first. But that’s my own fault for pushing Dolly away for so long. All my brothers have experienced more with her than I and the only obstacle was my own stubborn need to punish myself.

It was hard to admit Fitz has been right about letting go of the past for years.

Shaking my head, I make my way to the library to mentally prepare for tonight. One of the Captain’s crew will be there to escort her back and I know she’ll head straight for her room to get ready. Dolly’s consistent ability to distribute her affection to all of us equally is one of the things that finally pushed through my shields. She really cares for each of us in a unique way and makes sure no one feels left out no matter what. It never comes off as forced or fake—despite being so young, our bunny sees us as individuals and treats us accordingly.

Of course, the way she’s helped my twin open up and show the real man underneath is part of why I like her, too.

My smile is genuine as I wave my hand at the scanner on the back door. I hadn’t realized how little this happened before she showed up and blew a hole in our carefully regimented group brooding. But now, it’s coming more easily and more often. Dolly’s effect on even the stubborn ass dragon echoes through our new ‘nest.’ Renard has it decorated to the nines, Chess fills the air with delicious food smells, and Aubrey doesn’t snarl when Fitz bounces around like a hopped up rave kid. Her presence eases us all and I take great pleasure in watching it.

“Felix, is that you?”

I grin as Aubrey calls out from the living room. He’s taken to spending more time in our gathering space on off days than in the library—another change I approve of. As much as the ancient lizard and I butt heads, even I realized he worked far too hard as a result of outliving his past mistakes. “Working from home, Lord Draconis?”

He rolls his eyes at me from where he’s sprawled on the sunken couch with his laptop and a scotch. Jinx is sitting above his head, purring like an outboard as the dragon stabs at his keyboard. “Fuck off, Raj. How did the practice match go?”

My eyes darken as I remember and he laughs in a matching tone. “Our girl conquered her fear and took down a crocodile. It will probably cause her problems later, but I could see how much it boosted her confidence when she won. She should do well tomorrow if she can keep that focus.”

“Shit,” he mutters. “I bet it was hot as hell, but if it was Hercules’ kid…”

I grimace and nod. “There’ll be videos of it. He’ll come down on his kid like a hammer and practices will start being dangerous for the Princess.”

Aubrey sits up and pulls off his glasses, cleaning them on his shirt as he sighs. “We knew this could happen when we encouraged her to join the team. If she did well, she’d shake up the status quo like Zhenga did and it would make her a target for the bigger assholes.”

“But it should ward off the lesser preds. They won’t want to mess with her for fear of getting beat by prey or taking the chance away from one of the head bitches,” I finish for him. “Either way, we knew there was a down side, but we had to take a gamble.”

“Who could have predicted the counselor bitch coming out of nowhere to add another enemy to the board?” Renard walks in with a smile and drops onto the couch in a boneless pose. “Hopefully, Chess will have news that the gangster’s uncle is working his magic. The other professors are child’s play next to that.”

I frown. “We know the History dick is messing with her. Who else?”

He shrugs and leans his head back. “She’s certain she won’t get any good roles from her theater classes because the jaguar who teaches it must be linked to Hecate and her kid. The tiger from her diplomacy class had a good reputation when Fitzgerald checked her out, but ma petite came to my class with a punishment after only two sessions. I’m uncertain what reasons the latter two have, but Dolly will struggle this semester.”

Son of a bitch. When I find out who’s pulling these strings, I’m going to rip them to pieces.

“Perhaps the show tonight will discourage some of these sycophants from continuing their bullshit,” I muse. Stroking my chin, I let a hungry smirk take over my face as I look at my friends. “I’ll have Chess tip the media off beforehand.”

The dragon narrows his gaze at me, looking suspicious. “Where in the hell do you plan on taking the lunchable for a date that the paparazzi will follow?”

I snort. “My dear spicy gecko…it doesn’t matter where I’m going. If I’m there, the cameras will show up. This is one situation where it is absolutely good to be the King.” They both roll their eyes at me and I shrug. “Plus, I might even please my asshole father enough to send another bonus. I’m sure he’d be pleased if it bought our girl another crown.”

That makes them grin broadly and I wink as I leave them, heading for the room Renard cleaned out for my ambush. It was an office before, but when we decided that everyone staying in one place was better, his crew of prey animals took care of it within a day. I shut the door and pull out the clothes I plan on wearing, making a note to myself that I can offer Dolly’s friends a private place in our townhouse just over the academy border. They seemed unhappy with their dorms and if they’re good at sneaking, they can get in and out without anyone knowing.

A rainbow haired bear isn’t exactly stealthy, but we did make our secret entrance in a camera blindspot. That should help.

Now I have an unorthodox date to get ready for and a bunny to surprise.

Time to get clean before I get dirty.

When I emerge from the room, the rest of the guys are sitting in their usual spots trying to pretend they aren’t waiting for Dolly and I to leave. She’s not out of her room yet, so I stride over and give them all a derisive look. “Full house, tonight, hmm?”

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