Page 71 of In Prey We Trust

“Yeah, but now he’s so attached to his phone that he’s gone deaf,” Cori grumbles as she takes a bite of the food, then moans in happiness. “Thank hell Chess remembered my non-meat loving preferences by substituting cheese.”

Wrinkling my nose, I pluck a pepperoni and cheese stick up as I wink at her. “Chessie is good at making sure everyone has exactly what they need.”

That gets Rufus’ attention finally, and he looks up from his phone with an eager expression. “Do tell, Dollypop. We’d love to hear about it rather than everyone talking around me.”

“Perhaps they wouldn’t if you put down that wretched thing for five seconds?” Aubrey says as he downs two pieces of the ‘Heat Lover’ pizza Chess made for him and Felix. “I believe Fitz would call it… hashtag rude?”

Felix and I laugh, barely avoiding getting crushed by Fitz’s rush to get to Aubrey to fist bump. He flops back down next to me as he sighs happily. “Nice one, Tangy Tightass. Very topical for an old fart.”

His taunt earns me a sharp glare from my winged warriors. Fitz overheard me teasing them when we got back from the Library and he hasn’t stopped poking at them since. It’s probably going to get his ass fried or dumped in the river, but my playful tiger isn’t one to back down simply because there are unpleasant consequences. I lean back into Felix, trying not to giggle as they both grumble under their breath.

“I hate to quash the fun,” Felix begins, but Fitz’s snort stops him. He reaches over me, his fingers giving the closest nipple a hard twist.

My jaw drops as Fitz yelps and I turn to look at the Raj. “Did… did you just give your brother a purple nurple?”

The entire table bursts out laughing, and I lean in to nuzzle his jaw with a soft chuckle. His expression is smug as he shrugs. “Perhaps even I can be taught new tricks, Princess.”

“I’m definitely quacking about this,” Rufus mutters as his fingers fly over the screen of his phone. “And yes, it’s the stupidest fucking name possible. That’s what happens when morons like the Ericksons let their bimbo daughter re-name their products. Quacker sounds like a little kid wants a saltine.”

Cori rolls her eyes and steals the phone, tucking it under her butt. “No more quacking, asshole. We’re here to spend time with Dolly and make a plan for Sunday.”

“She’s right,” I reply before he can shoot back with a zinger. “And our Tiger King has a royal decree, so zip it.”

Felix pinches my ass this time, giving me a stern look. “Don’t call me that. But yes, I was about to open the floor to plan our raid on Apex. If we get it over with, we can be merry and shit afterward.”

“Be merry and shit,” Fitz says, as he rubs his nipple. It must have been a hard one, because he’s still pouting. “You’re such a buzz kill, bro.”

“The Captain says there’s a tunnel on the northwest end that will take us through the sections under the woods.” Rennie looks at each of us, making sure we’re paying attention before he goes on. “But that won’t get us everywhere we want to go in a straight line. There’s another at each corner and he recommended we split into groups to meet in the middle so we can explore all of it in one go.”

I frown. “Splitting up is never a good idea. It’s what gets people killed.”

“Only if they’re virgins and that ship has sailed in this room,” Rufus snarks.

The guys guffaw at his quip and Cori elbows him again. “Don’t be a dick. Professor Renard is right and so are his prey friends. Well… but so is Dolly.”

My dragon looks amused as he looks around. “So all us non-virgins should be safe to split up or…?”

“I don’t know,” Felix says as he scratches his chin. “The tunnels are long and winding. Some sort of weird magic is making preds sick according to the rumors. We have no idea how many hidden places could hide hooded freaks or booby traps. It feels dicey.”

This is getting us nowhere—it’s dangerous no matter how we do this and we have to do it.

“Okay. Maybe the answer is we need four groups with enough strength for us to feel relatively safe.” I sit up, grabbing a notebook and pen off the table. “If we also ask the Captain’s crew to come, we have fifteen people. It’ll be uneven, but if we have Aubrey, Fitz, Rennie, and Felix lead the teams, we can organize by strengths.” I draw a little combo on my paper, sticking my tongue out as I decide who goes where.

When I finish, I hold the list up.

AubreyRennieFelixFitz

CoriChessieDollyRufus

BanjoCaptainKirbyRaina

PercyHollidayBowser

“That’s… brilliant,” Chessie says as he looks at the list. “It’s fairly even in terms of attack power—I think—and each group should be able to defend themselves. Do we have something to communicate underground, Fitzy?”

“You paired me with the crazy gangster, Baby Girl,” he pouts and crosses his arms over his chest. “Maybe I don’t want to share my toys now.”

“Fitz, I cannot think of a single moment since I’ve met you where you didn’t want to share your toys with me,” I drawl sarcastically. “Answer Chessie, please?”

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