Page 109 of Let Us Prey
FIFTY-EIGHT
You’re in Trouble
Sebastian
“How doesno onehave a fucking handle on this shit?!”
Sipping my beer, I silently watch Cash rant as he stalks across the Tower’s living room. I may appear relaxed, but one word from my alpha and I’ll kill every last motherfucker responsible for what’s happening on campus.
The only problem is, we don’t knowwho’sresponsible.
“This is precisely why I insisted on officially joining the investigation,” Aubrey sighs, eyes glued to his DiePhone. “Henrietta is far too concerned with keeping Apex’s growing body count under wraps for the sake of wealthy donor reputations. The current ‘team’ they’ve assembled is an embarrassment. I don’t believe any of those idiots know the first thing about deadly toxins, which is what we’re probably dealing with here.”
“Or magic... " Renard mumbles, his gaze riveted on the flower he keeps under glass.
For brooding purposes.
“I don’t give a good godsdamn if the murder weapon is a pair of chopsticks,” Cash bellows. “We can’t have a serial killer loose on campus, picking off students!”
My brother’s wolf keeps flickering over his skin, making mine pace in agitation. It’s unusual for him to lose control like this, but the other alphas in the room seem unconcerned, so I don’t intervene.
I glance at Nico over my shoulder, expecting to find him cowering in the corner from all the testosterone flavoring the air. Instead, he’s casually leaning against the archway leading out to the balcony—which puts his back to the room, and the very volatile alpha burning a hole in the Moroccan carpet.
A bold move, coming from him...
“How fascinating that youcare,Cassius,” Aubrey smirks, his self-righteous tone making me bristle. I don’t know what’s gotten into the lizard lately, but his extra spicy attitude feels like it came out of nowhere.
Cash halts his stalking to shoot the dragon an incredulous look. “Every student who’s disappeared has been a lesser pred. While no staff has been attacked—yet—it’s pretty safe to assume anypreyon campus would be an even easier target, don’t you think?” We all sit up straighter at that, and even Nico turns around to better pay attention.
“You don’t think Dolly’s…unusualattributes would be enough to defend herself?” Renard carefully asks, as if we all don’t know my Cherry has hottie fangs and claws.
The scratch marks down my back kind of gave it away.
“It’s hard to say... " Cash runs a hand over his face. “She kicks serious ass during exercises, but still has very little control over her shift. If something were to corner her… somethingpowerful... "
He plops down on the couch, dropping his head into his hands with a defeated groan. I whine and immediately kneel in front of my twin, nuzzling against his arm until he drops a reassuring hand to my head. Cash hasn’t been this worked up since the Bloodstone trials, and my wolf doesn’t know how to handle my alpha acting worried and unsure.
This is not the Romulus way.
“We could all start chaperoning her,” Nico startles me by abruptly chiming in. “Lo won’t like it, but if we time it around the classes or work studies we already have with her, it won’t feel overly intrusive. I bet Cori and Rufus would take some shifts, too.”
We all stare at the fox. Nico has never had an opinion before—not in our discussions, not in life, notever. He’s allowed to be present when alphas are talking, sure, but that’s mostly so I can get cuddles and have my beer refilled when I want it.
Come to think of it, I need a new beer.
“That’s, uh… not a bad idea,” Cash nods at Nico, and my jaw hits the floor. “Okay, so between the four of us—”
“Five,” Nico barks, and my jaw drops past the floor and through all eight million stories of creepy clock tower before burying itself six feet underground. “I can defend her, too.”
Whatever spicy bug crawled up Aubrey’s ass must be parasitic, because now Nico’s come down with it.
Cash nods again, slower this time. “Yes, five. We’ll figure out a rotation that works best with our schedules, but we all know our bunny won’t be pleased if we try to be sneaky about this. Who’s game for breaking the news?”
“I’ll do it,” Renard replies so quickly, I get whiplash turning to look at him. “I’ve been wanting to ask Dolly if she’d like to accompany me to a new outdoor French restaurant that opened up in town, perhaps on the 14th.”
“A date on Valentine’s Day, hmm?” Aubrey teases. “With French food, no less. Don’t forget the single red rose and beret, Monsieur Laveaux.”
The gargoyle narrows his eyes before settling back into his goth-boy throne with a smirk. “Simmer down, Flames. You can take Dolly out for barbecue after she’s enjoyed somehaute cuisinewithmoi.”
