Page 3 of Let Us Prey

I leave the golf cart keys in the ignition because I honestly don’t care if another student takes it on a drunken joyride. Hefting my bags again, I maneuver up the ramp to the furthest building at the end. Not convenient for lifting and carrying large items, but its location makes it pretty defensible. I turn to the area just past the elegant windows and smooth bricks, and see the next closest building is the Leonidas Gym, which makes my stomach flip-flop.

Sexy tiger man Fitz was in the gym that day. Maybe he works there?

Oh, stop it, Dolly.

I’m a fool to think much older, super fucking hot professors are going to come anywhere near my almost virgin ass—even if it is pretty juicy after all that heavy lifting this summer at work.

Get your shit together and get into your room before someone comes along and pushes you into a fountain.

I sigh, using the card to swipe myself in at the main doors to Gazelle. The common area is empty, which suits me fine. As I head towards the elevator, I note all the potential places some asshole could corner me, trying to make a name for themselves with the Council heirs. It sucks that I have to do it, but my safety has been my responsibility for a while now, and my parents won’t care if anyone hurts me while I’m here. When there are no consequences for inappropriate behavior, it encourages the vicious to be as horrible as they can.

The ding of the elevator brings me out of my reverie, and I step on, pushing the number six button. It’s the top floor and I can’t decide whether that’s strategically useful or imminently dangerous. There are stairs at either end, supposedly, and that adds two more escape routes if I need them. I may have to invest in some sort of rope ladder I can toss out the window for emergencies. Chewing my lower lip as I scroll through the options on Amazon, I almost miss the doors opening.

So much for being cautious.

I grumble under my breath as I haul my shit to the room at the end of the hall, swiping my card in the reader, and breathing a sigh when it beeps green. My relief is short-lived. When I open the door, I find the entire room trashed—from furniture to broken glassware—including a scrawled message across the glass balcony in what I suspect is blood.

“Welcome to Apex. Run, rabbit, RUN!”

Dropping everything, I simply gape at the destruction in front of me. I have no idea who to call or how to deal with this, much less what I’ll do about my accommodations for the evening beyondsleeping on the floor. I’ll need a broom, trash bags, replacement linens, cleaning supplies and…

A feeling of hopelessness creeps over me. I lean my head against the doorframe, closing my eyes as I remember what it was like to have a bright future ahead of me, to be so full of blissful ignorance about the world I was living in. Everything was so much simpler, even when I was under the thumb of the malevolent queen Lucille. I didn’t have to worry about the nearest exit or who else is rooming on this floor, or how I’m going to get the smell of rancid urine out of the carpets in my bedroom.

Does this mean someone else has keys to my room?!

How am I going to trust my food in the cafeteria or my clothes going to the laundry service? I’ll have to do everything myself. I’m not lazy, but I have no idea how much schoolwork I’ll get in my classes or how difficult my courses will be. I’ll be the only freshman—no, the only student—who will dart around campus with laundry bags, brown bag lunches, and an umbrella to prevent random aerial attacks.

That might sound paranoid, but they covered my room in piss, so it’s justified.

I sink to the ground with my skirt splayed over my thighs and my combat boots pushed against the opposite door frame. I spent my whole vacation shoring myself up for this day, this moment, but look at me.

Why am I such a fucking failure?

All I had to do was roll up to this place like a badass and kick in the door, but here I am, crumbling like a graham cracker at the first sign of trouble.

The unexpected arrival of my stupid moontime delight last night isn’t helping—the implant Lucille had put in years ago issupposedto control this. Unfortunately, it isn’t and my hormones are all over the place, making me a weird combination of angry, weepy,and horny. Being a girl and a shifter sucks hairy grizzly balls, and I’ll be damned if I let anyone say any differently in my presence.

“Oh, well. It’s not like I was getting laid soon, anyway,” I mutter to myself as I wipe the snot off my face with the sleeve of my hoodie.

It’s just me and my toys, probably sleeping in my car together.

How romantic.

Somebody’s Watching Me

Fitz

After I leftthe necklace on her windowsill this summer, the temptation was too great. If I hadn’t known where my baby girl lived, I might have been able to control myself more. Unfortunately, self-control has never been one of my marketable skills. So I spent the rest of the summer sneaking away to leave special gifts for her, so she’d know she has one ally when she arrives.

How did I know nothing changed? Easy… bribes.

The nerdy owls in the office adore Chess, and he used that to help me keep tabs on her admission file. Ineededto make sure Delores Drew shows up for the campus move-in day today without having to ask her. We haven’t spoken since the prom, so I don’t know if she realizes the tiger who saved her sweet cheeks was me. I’d rather tell her that myself if she doesn’t, because I’ll have to smooth over my uncontrollable urge to stalk her all summer long when I do. Some women consider that a turnoff and I have to explain that it was to keep her safe.

She’ll get that, right?

Of course she will. The girl seemed pretty smart even if her previous taste in men was tragic. Plus, scores of women would give their dew claws to have the enforcer of the Khan ambush watching over them. Chess and I are catches, even in exile at this bullshit school. Once I figure out how to throw in the three grumpy ass kings, it will be even more impressive.

All I have to do is show them how fucking cool this chick is and we’ll have a cozy little polyamorous ambush that will make everyone in the universe seethe with jealousy. Even my asshole father will have to bow to our royal fuck nest… and I’m looking forward to that shit.

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