Page 57 of Let Us Prey

I shrug. “I’ve been alive a long time. It’s hard to find a mystery I haven’t solved yet and I don’t care for blue aliens. It seems a little farfetched.”

Dolly looks at me, partially shifted and obsidian, then at Aubrey in his winged, scaly, half-shifted form. “Oh, yes, totally unbelievable. I can see how you’d have to suspend your disbelief, Rennie.”

Aubrey rolls his eyes and huffs. “Stop flirting. We need to get going if we want to return with enough time for you to get decent sleep, bite size.” With that, he turns and allows her to climb onto his back, grunting as she finds a hold. “I’ll finish my shift as we gain altitude, so hold on to my neck tightly if you don’t want to fall to your death.”

“Thanks for the warning,” she mutters, right before he leaps into the air and flaps his large wings to propel them higher, tearing a scream of half-terror, half-elation from her throat.

I grumble. I’ll have to catch up with them after I hike back up the Tower for altitude. After all, I’m a glider, and that asshole damn well knows it.

Cheater. He’s a goddamn cheater.

Hail to the King

Fitz

Closing my eyes,I breathe deeply through my nose. My tiger is ready and raring to go, riled up by the knowledge that this is the first staff Pred Games match of the year. Chess would tell me this is the point of Apex holding these games—helping the more violent residents get some of their aggression out in a controlled setting, so that we don’t tear into their little darlings. This one is the first of six held throughout the year and the winners take home both the glory and the women.

I should know; I’ve won six of them since we arrived.

Felix won the first three years, of course. He needed that outlet more than anyone and plenty of staff met their end when my exiled Raj took his anger at our asshole patriarch out on whatever pred he could prod into getting in the ring with him.

Oddly, Zhenga’s the only one who’s survived him all these years, and that tells me she should be in charge of her people, not her dimwit siblings. That woman was not made to be married off and sentenced to raising cubs she doesn’t want. She’s annoying, but she’s a force of nature and the Leonidas’ are as stupid as the other fuckwits on ouresteemed Council.

The swimmers and winged preds have already headed to their own fighting spaces. I’m sure the gargoyle’s prey friends are wrangling the ring they place in the lake for that arena and who the fuck knows what the fliers do. My focus is the ground game here in my family’s arena—this is my space and I refuse to do anything but dominate it.

Sadly, we’re not supposed to kill people here.

On Bloodstone, death matches were how they settled damn near every conflict. My father and the rest of the family sat on high in our boxes like the emperors of old, watching the players go at one another until one paid the ultimate sacrifice. Felix and I watched tigers, rejects, criminals, and more tear each other to pieces from the time we could walk. Violence is not only in our blood, but such a part of lives that we breathe it.

Khoon mein, ham bandhate hain; mrtyu mein, ham vijayee hain.?1

The Khan motto is branded on every feline in our ambush at birth and we’re expected to live it every moment of every day. Our Pred Games team is the dirtiest, bloodiest opponents in the entire league, and I used to lead them. When Felix and my father started fighting over his consort, I quit the team and came home to show them Felix would have a strong enforcer to back him up. I thought it might change things, but it didn’t.

I don’t regret it for a fucking second, though.

Walking away from the trees, I approach the stands, watching one of the male lions go after a grizzly bear. I’m fairly certain the lion will win—bears are vicious when cornered, but slow and easy to wound if you know the right spots to hit, then dart away. I do and I’d be willing to bet any cat trained by Z knows that as well. She’s thorough as hell and won’t let one of her pride make the family look bad.

I squint at the smarmy looking fennec foxes running around taking bets as usual. Foxes make up for being some of the smallest preds at Apex by being criminals. They run sports betting,bootlegging, black markets, and even procure skin for the right price. Something about them makes my fur itch, but I recognize their place in our ecosystem. Adults trapped with teenagers have needs and their vices are being tended to by a species who would otherwise make a good snack.

Que sera and all that shit.

The bell clangs when the bear finally taps out and I smile as Zhenga runs over to check out her fighter. He’s a little torn up, but not bad, so she’ll have someone run him to the infirmary. This fight was the last one before the intermission and after that, comes the ultimate battles. The biggest, baddest preds take these two slots and it’s where Felix and I usually dominate the field.

My eyes roam to the crowd, drifting back to where Chess is sitting with my woman and her two weird friends. I like that she has them, but I set the spicy lizard on checking them out despite Chess’ vouching for them. The gangster badger worries me a little because his reputation with the students is like mine and he looks like three miles of dangerous road. The colorful polar bear is less worrisome and I enjoy the way my girl giggles when she’s talking with the curly haired thespian.

I lift a hand, nodding at Chess. He smiles broadly, elbowing Dolly so she looks over at me. I see her cheeks flush and it makes my dick jump in my pants. I can’t believe one brief trip to town to grab shit helped my cheetah get comfortable with her, but since it did, I can put my master plan in effect. If I can get my darling feline on board, I can get my brother on board, and then the two ancient assholes.

Then we’re one big banging family and everything I want will be in place.

Chess says I miss having the whole ambush to curl up in more than I want to admit and this is ‘transference', but he’s wrong. I love being in the enormous pile and sometimes Felix will let Chess and I do it with him as long as I behave.

What I really want is a family—one I choose who won’t drop one of us for some bullshit ‘flaw’ or a disagreement. The Khan ambush is the antithesis of that, but if getting his throne back will make my twin happy again, I’ll do anything to make it happen. At least, I thought I would until this leggy bunny walked into our lives and changed everything.

Now I’m not sure and that makes me irritable.

Using that, I bounce on my feet as I keep my adrenaline flowing through the break. I don’t want to lose momentum because after Felix told me about all the trouble those idiots on the far side of the stands have caused my girl; I knew I had to show them what happens when you piss off a Khan. He said she held her own, but I don’t give a fuck. They tried to hurt my baby girl and I will make sure every single one of them pays dearly.

Especially that little shit from prom night who dared to mouth off in Felix’s class.

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