Page 6 of Prey It Ain't So

I give him an unimpressed look. “Are you telling me you didn’t pack ties or socks or books or glasses cleaner or that fussy hair stuff you use?”

This time,heturns red. “Well, I…”

“Exactly, big guy. We all have our little quirks. Rennie will want his Frenchie cologne, Felix and Fitz will have Chess pack a ton of hair ties for them all…”

Aubrey grins broadly. “I love that you know poor Chester is doing it all while the Raj barks commands and Fitz bounces off the damn walls.”

“And probably tosses weapons and sex toys in,” I mutter.

His laugh echoes off the walls as he strides closer to tug me into his arms again. “You’re definitely right, lunchable. And I don’t hear you complaining, either.”

I make a face at him, and he laughs again. “It would be stupid to complain about things that will make our big train voyage infinitely more fun.”

“And we’ve established that neither of us is stupid, so we’ll finish upyourpacking, then go check in on our mate. He’s chaotic as fuck when he’s doing shit like this, which is why I came to see you.”

“Rennie chaotic? Never,” I reply snarkily. “I don’t believe you.”

Aubrey harrumphs and points his finger at the bathroom sternly. “Go. If you don’t bring out everything you think you need so we can pare it down, we’ll never get done.”

“This might be frustrating,” I sing-song as I head in the direction he ordered. “I won’t be able to live without my industrial strength hair dryer.”

“We havegotto limit the amount of TV you watch with that tiger.”

He can say that all he wants, but I’m hysterical and he knew exactly what I was talking about.

Wrecking Ball

Aubrey

I wasn’t lyingwhen I said assisting my mate gave my dragon immense satisfaction. He preened the entire time we worked on her packing, despite it being such a little thing. Rennie is much less amenable to that sort of thing, and his frenetic vibes were exactly why I sought our adorable bunny. She soothes him differently than the gargoyle, which I needed after watching him zip around muttering in French while ignoring my very useful commentary.

It might have been snarky, but it was still helpful—a fact he did not appreciate fully.

“Are we going to see if Rennie is done now?”

Dolly looks over her shoulder at me, the long rainbow ponytail bouncing just above her curvy ass. I adore that she’s not breakable—even more so since she’s embraced her body healthily. When she first stepped into our lives almost three years ago, it was plain to see her mother and friends had bullied her into hating damn near everything about herself. Mentally and physically, her self-esteem was decimated, even as she put on airs that she was fine. Now, she’s so confident that shewears whatever she wants, does what she wants, and stands up for herself, not just others. The transition has been absolutely stunning to witness.

My proud thoughts make the dragon rumble happily again, and I have to clear my head so I can answer rather than focus on that damn swinging hair I want to yank. “Uh… Yes. I mean, we definitely should check in on him and the others. Since you and I are so efficiently taken care of, it would be selfish not to see if they also would like us to help.”

Her brows furrow as I fumble over my words. After she sets the last bits of the things she packed for Jinx’s mini-vacation with the nurses, she comes over, standing in front of me. I’m sitting on the bed so she’s looking down atmefor once, combing her hands through my annoyingly lengthening hair. “You know, just because the others grew their hair out doesn’t mean you have to. It seems to irritate the hell out of you, big guy.”

I give her an unimpressed look. “Bite size, I don’t do a damn thing I don’t want to, and you know it. Ilikethat you enjoy longer hair and as such, I am committed to getting mine in line with that. Do you not wear things we like or groom yourself in ways that we enjoy?”

Her face turns bright red at that statement, and I grin wickedly as she sputters. “I-I… Well, I do. I mean, of course I do. You all have different quirks and no one asked me, but I?—”

Reaching up, I bop her nose with a fingertip. “Exactly. You’ve let your hair get even longer because some like to wrap it around their fist. You buy underwear in bulk because everyone enjoys destroying it. You wear things to show off your delectable ass, especially when you’re feeling saucy and let your cottontail out.”

“Stahhhhp,” she groans as her flush spreads to her neck and shoulders. “Okay, okay, I give up! I just didn’t want you to do something you hated because of me.”

I wink at her playfully. “It’s in the ‘grow out’ stage, lunchable. Rennie tells me this will pass once it’s past the point of being longer than the tops of my ears. Not too much longer now, I think.”

The beautiful bunny steps back, holding her hand out. “Well, I love it no matter what length it is.”

“That’s not somethinganymale wants to hear from their mate,” I grumble as I stand.

She blinks, her hand flying to her mouth as she giggles. “Aubrey! That isnotwhat I meant. Oh, my fucking goddess!”

Her amusement makes me grin even when the point of humor rankles the dragon’s pride. “I couldn’t help myself. It was a perfect opening, as Fitz would say.”

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