Page 158 of Let Us Prey

She stumbled on her least favorite professor and tore him to bits.

Shaking my head to dispel the primal urge to chase her until she submits, I slowly move towards our girl, keeping my voice level as I speak. “Ma petite, drop the head. You’re done for the night.”

“Tasmanian devils are stringy and tough anyway,” Aubrey offers as he follows me. “And the hairballs are murder.”

Her furry face twitches with what appears to be a fangy grin, but she doesn’t let go of the gruesome trophy.

As I reach the edge of the courtyard, I try again. She seems to recognize us at least, as she’s not attacking, and that’s a point in our favor. “If you drop it, perhaps we can dance again? The moonlight is?—”

A roar echoes off the stones of the surrounding buildings, and I have to bite back a sharp retort. I don’t dare look away from the rabbit to see why Aubrey lost his temper, but as the blur of scales passes me, I know our luck just ran out. “You will calm down!”

The fully shifted dragon grabs her in his talons, and he pushes off the ground as his enormous wings propel them into the sky. Delores drops the head, and it bounces off the ground at my feet, causing me to grimace and back away.

So much for being the older, calmer shifters who can talk her down safely.

I watch the two of them soar high into the atmosphere. Moonlight glints off his midnight blue scales as he swoops and dives with her clutched against his chest. She must be fighting him—unsuccessfully—because though he throws his head back in pain and shootsfire across the starry sky, he doesn’t drop her. I consider heading into the Tower so I can get the height needed to join them, but I can’t take my eyes off of the scene unfolding above.

Another column of flames shoots through the air, and twin growls pierce the night as Aubrey lands on the roof of the Tower with a deafening thud. His form changes to a half-shift in a blink, and as I watch from the ground, the wererabbit does the same. My lips curve when my old friend yanks our girl closer and kisses the living shit out of her.

Well played.

Shifting back to human form as I walk towards the Tower entrance, I smirk at the raccoon guarding the door. “Have the Captain dispose of that...” I point at the head and then gesture at the trail we followed. “... and the rest of the mess immediately. Nothing we did tonight can be traced back to us.”

The crew member salutes and takes off toward the lake to inform the others, and I step inside my home, wondering what the Khans found on their hunt. Though the danger of her true nature may be abated, Dolly still isn’t safe until we find out more about what happened tonight.

Especially when everything in that circle felt so fucking familiar…

If she’s not really dead, we’re in alotof trouble.

Thunderstruck

Felix

In our rush tofind the hooded figures and Chess, Fitz and I tear up the ground when we burst out of the forest. Huge paws slap the grass and tight muscles bulge as we leap through the air into the Shifter Training Circle. An unfamiliar scent greets me and I catch my twin’s eyes as we prowl around the stone arena. He peels off, checking the perimeter while I stay out in the open.

There’s something here, and it’s angry.

Sitting in the middle of the battleground my family built, I let out a bone jarring roar as only a Raj can. Hopefully, it draws our enemy out of the shadows for a fair fight. If not, I’m going to hunt it down and rip the eyeballs out of its sockets.

No one threatens our girl on my watch.

The night is still, and I huff in frustration. Shifters and magic users split over the bullshit tactics of their kind—shit like attacking then hiding from the fight. As much as I don’t want to admit the gargoyle is right, everything about the air in the circle feelswrong.

My brother’s head pops around the corner of a bleacher section, shaking to let me know he, too, came up empty-handed. Tigerscan’t frown, but I would if I could. Joining him, I take a deep sniff of the weirdly sweet yet musky scent, then pad across the circle. I know my twin has my flank without words; it’s part of our bond as Raj and enforcer. When I reach the outer edge again, I try to catch the smell, but it isn’t there.

I may have to explore other senses—not that I know if I have them.

Walking out of the battle arena, I track the feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. When it lessens, I change course, correcting until it gets worse. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing exactly, but since I occasionally get a whiff of the prey I’m seeking, it must be working. We pass the Shird, stalking away from the lake and Tower towards the middle of campus. This is where we had the snowball fight and I realized Delores was meant to be in charge.

Of what, I don’t know, but between her command of the team and using alpha power on Chess…

It’s not hard to put together that she’s not normal prey; the question tonight poses is what the hell is she then? Her longer bunny fangs, the claws, her half-shift—all of it pointed to something I’ve never even heard of. That was before she turned into a ball of blue bunny lightning in the moonlight.

Wait. There it is.

The aroma hits me again, and it’s strong, so I take off across the wide expanse towards the Honeywell Admin building. When I round the side to face the freshwater lake, I’m too dumb founded to stay in my full animal form. Fitz skids to a stop, shifting to stand next to me as we look at the scene in shock.

An island has risen in the center of the water and on it is a group of hooded figures chanting. The blue light from before surrounds them as the sound gets louder and when one moves, it reveals Chess lying on the ground in their circle. Fitz lets out a snarl, but I put my hand over his mouth.

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