Page 132 of Let Us Prey
And I pray the La Preyla stays on as well.
Normally, I’d enjoy the pseudo striptease happening in front of me, but these Heathers make my balls shrivel up to the size of raisins. It’s not just that the way they treated Delores makes them dead to me—even if she had me swear I wouldn’tactuallykill them—but allothers now pale in comparison to my perfect little Cherry.
Well, all except one… who I also wouldn’t mind killing.
Like a moth to the fucking flame, my gaze finds Nico in the opposite wing. He’s busy with Rufus, the two of them looking down at the clipboard he’s holding, discussing show business. Their heads areveryclose together—so close it would only take that slutty honey badger a second to get his mouth on what still belongs to me.
Despite the possessiveness flooding my veins, I haven’t touched my fox since he betrayed me. The mate marks he and D gave each other may have faded, but the knife he drove into my gut is still firmly lodged in place, probably permanently. I grit my teeth, physically willing myself not to react to Rufus hanging on him, even as my rage increases. All the years IsupportedNico—after saving his worthless life on Bloodstone—and he repaid my selfless generosity by awakening his predator with someone else.
Why didn’t he want to claimme?
The traitorous thought is so random, it snaps me back into the present like I’ve been punched. “What?” I bark at Renard, earning me an amused smirk in return. “Uh… nothing suspicious, nope—everything’s fine.”
The gargoyle gives me an incredulous look. “That last bit is debatable, but it’s good that Henny finally hired somepropersecurity on campus, if only for the night.”
I grimly nod, the effort it’s takingnotto look at Nico again making my head hurt worse than this never ending performance. Security was increased for the talent show, but the guys and I volunteered to lend our eyes and ears to the cause as well.
Anything to keep Delores safe.
The shitshow finally ends to scattered applause—and some well-deserved laughter—and the Heathers prance offstage in our direction. I step aside to let them pass, my gaze snagging on anewHeather who looks vaguely familiar, but one bimbo stops in front of me, for some ungodsly reason.
“Hey, handsome,” she croons, her makeup caked on so thick it’s cracking as she attempts a sultry smile. “I hope you liked what you saw out there.”
“I abso-fucking-lutely didnot,”I snap, crossing my arms and murdering her with my eyeballs.
True to her clueless existence, the Heather flips her hair and continues flapping herotherlips. “Speaking offucking,the girls and I would like to invite you to ourexclusiveafter party tonight. Room 973 in the CHUM. Let us show you howrealwomen handle big wolf cock.”
My nuts officially disintegrate into ash at the thought of her Flea Press-On Nails touchinganypart of me, and I do not have time for this when D is about to go on. “Move along, clone,” I growl, allowing my big wolffangsto elongate in my mouth. “I couldn’t belessinterested in whatever dollar menu roast beef special you and your nasty friends are offering.”
She huffs and slides a judgmental gaze down my body, as if I don’t know I’m the best cut of meat on campus. “Fine. Your loss. Although... " she shifts her focus across the darkened stage to where Nico stands. “Rumor has it a certain fox has let his wild side out to play, so maybehe’dbe interested?”
My vision goes red, and the next thing I know, the half-naked piranha is dangling in mid-air, gasping for air with my hand around her throat.
“Sebastian, calm... " Renard is suddenly so close behind me, I can feel his breath on my neck. “She’s not worth the attention. We have more important issues at hand.”
I instantly relax, unceremoniously releasing the Heather and impassively watching as she stumbles away, babbling about lawsuits that won’t do shit against a Romulus lawyer. Renard just demonstrated some major alpha woo over me, but I can’t be mad about it. Even Cash has been struggling to soothe my wolf recently, and I know I’m one stressor away from beating Nico until he can’t remember his own name.
I wish I could forget it too.
“Ihatehim,” I croak, glaring daggers across the stage as a baby grand piano is rolled out for Delores’ solo performance.
Nico is watching me with an infuriatingly unreadable expression, while Rufus simply smirks and blows me a kiss before slinging a tattooed arm overmyfox’s shoulders to draw his attention back to the clipboard. My eyes narrow, but I keep my cool. The honey badger would be a dead man walking right now if his family wasn’t as notorious as mine.
Backwoods martial law and organized crime are pretty evenly matched, unfortunately.
“No. You don’t,” Renard purrs, his hand now firmly gripping the back of my neck, bringing me to heel. “And youshouldhave listened to what he had to say about what we found in the tunnels.”
I scoff, turning to face the gargoyle. “Since when does Nicoevencareabout being a part of our group decisions? There’s a killer loose, and he wanted to give a fucking Pawerpoint presentation on some dusty old cloak and dagger shit. I completely agree with Aubrey—nothing that fox has to say is important whenour mate’slife could be in danger.”
Renard’s lips are pressed firmly together, although I assume some of his annoyance is also aimed at the book dragon. It’s rare that Aubrey and I see eye to eye, but both of us are still pissed over Nico’s actions on New Year’s Eve. Besides rudely earning his red wings with D before I did, he hadnoright to take such a huge step with our girl, especially not before his own alpha did. And speaking of the rightful heir, instead of punishing Nico like he should, Cash is back to blaming himself for all the things—and back to avoiding Delores like the plague—neither of which is helping my mood.
Since I can’t claim her untilhedoes.
It’s not like I can’t keep enjoying my girl, but she’s been so busy with exams and practicing for tonight that I only get her in my bed once in a blue moon. The new logistic of her now visiting Nico without me only adds insult to injury—while increasing the severity of my blue balls.
I will never forgive him for pulling this shit.
Before I can continue arguing about my big feelings with Renard, Delores walks on stage, fully capturing my attention. She looks nervous as hell, so when her big blues drift my way, I give her a cheesy thumbs up and an encouraging nod. I’ve never actually heard her play, but she’s mentioned a few times how much she loves writing her own songs, so I assume she knows what she’s doing out there.
