Page 5 of Let Us Prey

A pungent odor slaps me in the face as I head down the hallway and when I get to the last suite, my excitement has faded to fury.

The door is open and Baby Girl is sitting just inside of it with her face buried in her palms as she growls softly. Her shoulders shake as the tiny sound increases from that baby snarl to a full-on scream of fury that makes my ears hurt. She lifts her hands and makes fists, pounding on the floor with her eyes closed as the howl of indignance continues. It’s all I can do to hold my cat back as I watch the pain and anger roil in front of me and fat tears run down her lovely features.

“Who. The Fuck. Did. This!” I roar as I take in the decimated dorm room full of shredded, piss-soaked uniforms, furniture, and surfaces. Claws pop free on my hands as I look around, noting that not one inch of the damn place isn’t completely fucked beyond repair.

Her eyes pop open and she scrambles backwards at first, putting distance between us until she recognizes me. Heaving a huge breath, she straightens her shoulders and wipes her face before she plasters on a fake smile. “Hey, Fitz. Sorry about the mess. And the screaming. It’s been kind of a day.”

Hell no.

Striding over to her, I hold my hand out, hauling her up and into my arms. It’s hard to push back my need to murder someone, but I can wait for revenge. Right now, what my baby girl needs is someone to let her get it out. No one can function if they tuck all their shit in a box and pretend—I should know, because it’s what I’ve been telling Felix for almost a decade.

Her arms go around me tentatively, and I sit my chin on her head. “Delores, don’t pretend around me. You don’t have to be anyone but who you are when I’m here. Got it?” A small nod and a sniffle are my answer, so I go on. “I don’t care if you scream the fucking roof down, but be real. Get that shit out so you don’t end up carrying a wound that will cripple you. No one here will show mercy if you have a sore spot.”

“Thanks,” she whispers hoarsely. “At home, letting people see they upset you leads to bad things. I’ve learned to lock it down.”

Boy, does that sound familiar.

“Yeah, that’s how it was at my home, too. Lucky for me, I had Chess and Felix to help me figure out hownotto be an emotionless psycho.”

Delores lifts her head, and I’m delighted when she lets out a tinkling laugh. “Fitz, you left me severed fingers with a note that said ‘thinking of you’ written in sparkly purple marker.”

“See? Not emotionless.” I give her a proud grin.

That makes her smile again, and she pulls away, looking around the room with a frustrated sigh. “This is a nightmare. No flowers or air freshener in the world will cover up this stench.”

Frowning, I scratch my head. “Should I have bought you flowers? I have to admit, I’m a bit out of my depth with this whole courting shit.”

Her laugh erases my worry, and she shakes her head. “I can buy my own flowers, buddy. Don’t worry.”

I snort at the reference, liking the sass she’s picked up since we talked last. My eyes rake over her, taking in the short pleated skirt, ripped fishnets, baby doll tee, and tall combat boots. She doesn’t say anything as I look at the fruits of her visits to that tattoo parlor—multiple shiny earrings, a tiny silver nose stud, and a sparkling diamond Playboy bunny hanging from her belly button like a siren song.

I will not make it through this if she gets any hotter.

Pushing the image of her with her legs flipped over my shoulders as I feast out of my brain, I arch a brow at her. “What kind of girlareyou, Delores Drew?”

“The kind who gets tingly when psychos leave me severed fingers withXOXOat the bottom.”

Her bravado falters for a moment, and I see the uncertainty cloud her features. That jackhole did a number on my girl and she’s obviously still healing. She’s covered herself in armor to force people to think she’s got a hard shell, but underneath, she’s still forming steel in her spine.

Not surprising given Aubrey, and I figured out the prom was right after her eighteenth birthday.

“Good. Because I promise you, I’ll do my best to figure out the boyfriend thing. I’m a quick learner,” I say with a playful wink.

Her brows furrow, and she looks away, glancing at the state of her dorm again. “I don’t know what it should look like, either, to be honest.”

I suspected the walking corpse was her first and only boyfriend, but her reaction now confirms it. That stupid motherfucker dated her, took her virginity, and dumped her on her goddamned prom night. The urge to find out if you can actually kill someone more than once pumps in my veins, but I don’t want to upset her again. If I find out the canine scent of piss in here belongs to him andhis friends, I’m going to rip his cock off and shove it up his ass so he can truly go fuck himself.

But Delores doesn’t need to know that right now.

“Baby Girl, I give you my word: if your ex so much as sniffs in your direction, I’ll take the rest of his fucking fingers and let you feed them to the shark shifters.” I see the tiny shiver run through her and the scent of arousal floods my senses.How is a man supposed to keep his dick in his pants when she smells like fucking honeysuckle?“I’m coming for the idiots who trashed your room, too. I don’t care who it is—they’re going to suffer when I find them.”

Her expression tightens, and she waves a hand dismissively. “I know who did it. They’re Council heirs and it’s not worth the punishment they’d mete out for you to get involved. I’ll deal with this in my own way eventually, but it will take some planning.”

Blinking at the change in her attitude, I tilt my head to look at her again. Where she’d been at the edge of hysteria or shyness before, now she’s got a cool, calculated look on her face. Her back is straight and her shoulders are squared as if she’s preparing for battle—something I know a hell of a lot about. Being a Khan and Pred Games champion, I’d call this ‘game face’ and my gorgeous girl has it in spades as she glares at the mess. Sheneedsto handle this problem herself or she won’t get closure.

“Okay, baby girl. You take care of the snooty heirs and I’ll hold off my baser instincts—for a while.” Her impish grin makes me happy, and I wave at the pile of shredded shit. “But first, we have to find you a place to stay because this shit reeks. You’renotsleeping here until it's clean andsafe.”

That earns me a pointed look as she says, “Where exactly do you propose I go, Fitz? The owls in the office said the dorms are full when I asked if I could have a ground floor back corner instead of this bird’s nest.”

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