Page 5 of O Holy Spite

My face is flaming when I lift it and I glare at all of them. Picking up my fork, I stab my sugary cereal crepe then point at them. “I cannot control what makes me embarrassed. I’m learning, but if you don’t quit making me self-conscious, you can all play with each other while my door stays shut. Assholes.”

Felix comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist as his lips brush my ear. “Eat, Princess. They tease you because they adore you, but you’re right to keep them in line. Plus, you’re the only person who can keep my twin in line. It’s good for him.”

“Weird, bro. That’s just weird.”

Everyone chuckles and I put the bite in my mouth as I lean against the tiger king as the flavor bursts on my tongue. “Rennie, this might be the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”

“Hey!”

“Fitz!”

I blink as I look at both my crazy tiger and the guys who knew to admonish him before he finished speaking. “That was spooky, guys. Maybe we are spending too much time together.”

“Never,” Fitz says as he leans over and gives me his ‘stalker’ look. “There’s so much bullshit outside of our family and circle. Even with these dipshits, it’s perfect when we’re together.”

“I loathe agreeing with Fitzgerald, but he’s right this time, bite size.” Aubrey gives me a fond smile as he pauses the devouring of his food. “My dragon despises being away and he’s already a grumpy fuck.”

“As opposed to you how?” mutters Rennie and I almost spit my drink out.

This. This is what a family should look like. I didn’t know until them.

Chess clears his throat, trying not to laugh as he scoops more food onto his plate. “Do you think it will keep snowing? It wasn’t predicted and it seems fairly out of the blue. Is… is it possible this has something to do with the term supposedly starting soon?”

I frown, looking over at the resident magic expert. “Could that be true? I mean, water is an element and snow is frozen water. Do elementals or any of the others have magical weather abilities? That would be both cool and scary as hell.”

My gargoyle sighs and leans back in his chair. “They do, ma petite lapin. Some more than others, but a random snowfall isn’t out of the skill set of even the less threatening magic users. The same thing occurred to me as we were flying back with frozen asses.”

“Not to sound dumb, but how the fuck would we know?” Felix says as he squeezes me closer. “It’s not like someone sent a video with maniacal laughter to claim credit. Plus, it’s just dusting so far. Global warming is a more likely culprit.”

“Another reason to dislike humans.” Fitz steals a strawberry from my plate, holding it up for me. Once I take the bite, he shrugs. “What? They’ve been useless from the beginning, but I’m not trying to exterminate them or anything. It’s not worth my time.”

I wrinkle my nose at him. “I have the least experience with them, obviously, but discounting entire species is never something good guys do. They’re inconvenient to us, sure, and we have to stay under wraps because they make poor decisions. But I don’t think it makes them all evil, just misguided.”

“That’s our girl, always defending the weak, even if they’d kill you the first chance they got.” Rennie smiles softly as he reaches for my hand. “Don’t let anyone change your soft heart, Dolly. You give grace to everyone and ask for nothing in return. That makes you special and it’s part of why we love you.”

My face turns bright red and I bury my face in Felix’s chest.

What the hell am I supposed to say to that?

Snowfall

Renard

After we cleaned up the mess, I cornered the blushing bunny before she could escape. With all the negative things happening lately, it’s been difficult to take time to do things just to spend time with one another. There are far too many enemies between the magical rebels, her mother, the blasted mean girls, and conniving counselors. I’m not the only one feeling the pinch, but unlike Fitz, I didn’t feel the need to rush.

Fate says we have a very long time to get to know one another, even if current circumstances are threatening that prediction.

Besides, Aubrey and I are far older than the cats, so our sense of time is much less urgent. We know that our lifespans are longer than they can truly fathom and suspect that theirs will all change when this bond is complete. My dragon cautioned me not to express that theory yet because there aren’t many sources to cite for proof—a prey animal born of predators with magic mated to multiple predators species isn’t something we can simply Google on the PredNet. Tossing two mythicals in the mix complicates it further, especially with my own connection to magic.

It wouldn’t do to make people get overconfident in dangerous situations because we’ve said something before there’s more evidence. Aine knows Fitz is already damn near a kamikaze force when it comes to protecting our girl; if he thought he was immortal, I shudder to think what shit he’d get up to. The workings of his mind are best interpreted by Dolly and Chess, followed by Felix. My mate and I are still learning how to unravel his neurodiversity using Dolly’s advice—we’re nowhere near experts.

“Ma petite, there is something I’d like to show you. Since we have a small lull before the semester begins and we are faced with infinite challenges, I thought today might be an opportune moment.”

Her face breaks out into a bright, curious smile. “I’d love to! Are we going to your bell tower? What should I wear? Is Aubrey coming?”

Chuckling at her exuberance, I tap my finger on my lips, pretending to think. “In order: no, casual clothes but we need to go outside, and not this time.”

“Oooh, mysterious. I like it. Give me a few to change, Broody Big Man.” She winks and takes off towards her room.

---