Page 94 of In Prey We Trust

Renard chuckles, his eyes sparkling with mischief I haven’t seen for a while. “The rat’s nest bun really tops off the look. We should send your designer friend pictures.”

Luc would die on the spot, and I’d never be able to face him again.

“I haven’t showered since Thursday, so that’s going to be a ‘no’ from me. Don’t even think about it. I know I’m a mess.” Narrowing my eyes at the gargoyle, I make sure he knows I’m not joking. “But I can’t hole up forever, even if I need to study. Brooding this long is not a healthy way to cope.”

“Ouch, ma cherie.” Rennie clutches his chest and falls back dramatically. “Right in the heart.”

“You’ve both been ridiculous and you’re lucky everyone puts up with you,” Aubrey says, as he stacks his paperwork neatly.

“This from the man I learned sign language for because I thought he was deaf?”

Our grumpy mate rolls his eyes. “It was useful once Holliday came around. Don’t whine; it’s unbecoming.”

“At least someone would come in this house,” Fitz grumbles as he strolls in. He winks at me before walking over to drop a kiss on my head. “Good to hear you sounding normal again, Baby Girl.”

“Where did you go this morning?” I ask as he heads for the fridge to grab a soda, then pour himself a scotch. “You left way early.”

My crazy tiger gives me a sly expression as he brings my soda over, hopping over the back of the couch to sit next to me. “Being sneaky. I broke into the admin building again and rifled through the bitch’s office. Farley wasn’t joking, by the way. He’s sent those giants to her publisher and agent, too. She’s scrambling to prove her book is worth going to court for freedom of speech rights. His shit is tight—he’s also fighting her false copyright claim to the manuscript she has so far.”

“Dear god, there’s a manuscript?” I groan and bury my face against his shoulder. “I’m going to die of embarrassment when I have to be associated with this nut job. Everyone is going to read her tripe and think I willingly helped her write it. I’ll never live it down.”

A snort makes me lift my head and Rennie shakes his head. “It’s almost illiterate and everything in it screams ‘I write about things I’ve never seen or done outside of porn.’ We’re all going to be humiliated if she gets to publish our story in her early 2000s MySpace style. The last one I read was so plotless and full of gross, inaccurate smut that I had to force myself to finish it. I imagine teenagers write better sex than this woman does.”

“That does it.” Aubrey rises to his feet, looking at Renard and me with a pained expression. “Rather than sit here and shrivel everyone’s sex drive for months, we’re going hunting. Snack size, go get cleaned up; as much as I adore you, you’re smelly.”

“Hey!” I protest as I lean in to smell my armpit. When the scent hits me, I turn bright red and hide behind my hair as I climb over the couch. “Nevermind. I’m going.”

Fitz grabs my hand, pressing a kiss to my wrist with a cartoonish grin. “Baby Girl, don’t listen to these prissy pants old farts. I’d fuck you upside in the sewer if you wanted. Needing to shower will never stop me.”

“Thanks for sharing, you whacko,” Aubrey mutters. “However, if we’re going at dusk, she needs to get a move on.”

“Who’s getting a move on?” Chess comes in with Felix, both of them looking deliciously sweaty from what I think was a run.

“Zeus’ toga, let the girl shower!” Rennie says playfully. “We’ll fill you in while she’s gone.”

Winking at him, I sashay over to the cheetah and the king, giving them each a light kiss before I head for my room. I may not get away from my problems for long, but I haven’t been hunting with my flying men for quite some time. I’m looking forward to watching them devour their dinner now that maybe I’ll get to do more than rub my thighs together when I get worked up.

That shit is definitely the pred in me—the blood makes me horny as hell.

The night air is bracing—winter is coming faster than expected and the closer we get to Halloween, the more apparent that becomes. I didn’t dress for this chill, but AubreyDragon’s scales are keeping me warm. He’s literally a built-in furnace in dragon form and I absolutely love it. Rennie’s been taunting him as we fly far from campus into the less populated area where they’ll be less noticeable. That makes me smile, too, because I know he’s been brooding as much as I have since we made our second trip to Apex.

It’s like he knows the time for facing his demons is coming and there’s no way to stop it.

“Stop squirming up there, appetizer. You know the rules.” Aubrey’s voice in full shift is dark, rumbly and full of menace. If he wanted me not to wriggle around on his back, talking probably wasn’t the right move.

Renard darts in close, his electric blue eyes flashing as he makes a show of sniffing the air. “You’re making her wet, love. I can smell it from here.”

“Good. Behaving the past few times we did this was painful,” the dragon growls.

Squeezing my arms around his thick neck, I lean in to whisper next to his tympanum as I grab his short horns. His hearing is even sharper in this form, but I’m purposefully teasing him. “No one is behaving tonight, big man.”

His head rears back, and he lets out a bone-jarring roar followed by a quick burst of flame that Rennie barely ducks. The gargoyle swoops in close again, giving me a reproachful look. “Bad girl, ma petite lapin. Flames has almost no self control when he’s in full dragon mode. That’s why he doesn’t let the lizard loose in front of most people.”

I shrug at him, smiling wickedly. “I don’t know if I’m ready for both of you in just fed, huge ass dude mode, but I’m sure as fuck going to find out.” He groans and a sound that is suspiciously like a half-chuckle, half-snarl comes from my ride. “See? DragonMan agrees.”

“DragonMan would agree to racing the capital if he’d get what he wants. He’s got a two-track mind when he’s scaly, cherie, and food is only one of them.”

“Here,” Aubrey says, ignoring our banter. “We land here. I smell campfires.”

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