Page 68 of Let Us Prey

“They made you exactly how you needed to be; that’s what my mama says. I wasn’t meant to be a skinny-mini ‘cause polar bears are self-insulating, and you have big tootsies because you gotta hop away. Now, let’s plan how to bring these alpha doggies to heel.”

I ponder for a moment, considering her words. Perhaps she’s right that I’m built exactly how I needed to be to support my animal when it emerged.

Maybe all I needed was a shift in how I was looking at it.

As for what to do with the guys—I already have ideas. This will be a perfect opportunity to teach them a lesson, I think. “Whatever we do for Felix has to be girly. He’ll flip his lid because he’s so ‘I’m a big, bad king. I’m the strongest shifter ever’. Blah, blah, blah.”

“Oooh, if we do that, maybe he’ll get annoyed enough to turn you over his knee!”

Her excited clapping makes my eyes widen and I trip over my words for a few minutes before I can even plan an answer to that. I mean, I’m definitely notaverseto that scenario, but I don’t think I’m quite ready for it, or to discuss it with anyone out loud. The best I can do is hiss at her. “Cori!”

The ongoing cackling from my friends makes my cheeks flame red as I add a few ideas to Rufus’ notepad. I can’t even look at them as Rufus smacks his ass and squeals like a girl on purpose before Cori follows up with a well-placed spank of her own.

Hera, help me, I’m going to die on the spot.

“Dollypop, loosen up! You’re never going to fill ‘er up with five dudes if you can’t even take us handing out spankies in front of you.” Rufus snorts and turns his attention back to the website, pinning me with a look. “Time out—let’s talk aboutourcostumes for a moment.”

Cori grabs the list and scribbles a few things on it as she mutters to herself. When she finishes, she gives me a bright smile. “Just making some notes on materials. Rufus and I are doing 80s cartoon characters.”

I look at the pink metallic material, finally understanding what she’s been hemming while we talked. “Ooooh! I wanna be a cartoon character. Can I do it with you?”

A slow grin creeps over Rufus’ face. “Oh, definitely. That’ll get their goats; you won’t matchtheirsexy vibes. Good idea!”

My brows furrow and I pout. “I wanna look cute. Lucille never let me dress as hot as the Heathers—not that I wanted to go as far astheydid—but now that I can, Iwantto be sexy!”

A flash of multi-colored hair is all I see before Cori barrels into me with a laugh, squeezing me into a tight hug. “I don’t know if you could be any damned cuter, but we will make sure you look both sweet and smoking hot, Dolly. Trust me. I’ll come up with something perfect.”

“Okay, now back to torturing your harem. Tell us what evil schemes are in that cute wittle head of yours and we’ll start ordering the supplies, stat. We’ll have to bust our fabulous asses to get all of this done in time,” the badger tilts his head, looking at me expectantly.

I grin broadly, thinking about what I can put each guy in that will make him squirm—besides Fitz, of course. The Halloween party sounded like a nightmare when they first brought it up, but now I’m actually looking forward to it. Maybe it will erase the memory of the shitty prom I attended here in the spring.

I can finally move on as I was meant to.

Love Her Madly

Fitz

I wantto go inside that damn auditorium and see what she’s doing, but Chess told me not to. Being stuck out here in the shadow of this dumbass eagle statue is making me antsy, but I’ll endure. If I didn’t know it would end up being a problem for my consort, I’d defile it because whichever Shirdal commissioned this piece of crap deserves the comeuppance.

As if eagles are worth something this grandiose in the pred world.

Baby Girl is in rehearsal until five thirty and my brother had the brilliant idea I should meet her afterward to give her some hand-to-hand lessons in the gym. I was all in until I figured out he meant actual self-defense, not the fun hand-to-hand.

He should do it himself, but I don’t think he trusts his tiger alone and sweaty with our girl.

Mores the pity for him, because I intend to have a fucking great time pinning her to the floor after she gets all violent with me. My cock’s hard just thinking about it, and it feels nothing like a punishment for either of us. Though, I’m more the light BDSMtype compared to my control freak twin, so he’s probably misjudging my kinks again.

My eyes narrow as I realize yet again that I have no idea what those overgrown moths do for a good time. They don’t share a fucking thing and it’s not fair. But it seemed like Dolly got under their thick ass armor a little because she’s hiding something big they let her know about. Her fumbling over what she knows in the Tower didn’t fool anyone, least of all me.

I can smell liars, and she was fibbing.

Chess says we’ll find out eventually, and he’s probably right, but I want to know now, damn it!

Does the giant gecko wear frilly thongs? Is that obsidian asshole sporting a multi-headed, sentient dick?

Inquiring minds want to know, and I’m going to find out if it kills me.

I’d settle for knowing what the hell they eat besides the smattering of normal food they occasionally consume in front of us. I mean, we’re all preds—who cares if they eat roaches or cute kittens? We’d get over it; just quit hiding it.

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