Page 137 of Let Us Prey
Ugh. Fuck wolves.
My tumultuous thoughts are further complicated by Delores slipping out the door, wearing one of Bash’s hoodies. For a moment, all I can smell is my beta… Bash mixed with Lo… the three of us tangled together in the sheets…
“What’s in the package?” she snaps me out of my primal spiral, pointing at the thin object wrapped in Kraft paper in my arms.
I smile mischievously. “That’s the mystery—come on!”
Fifteen minutes later, we’re in the same clearing where we’d found the dead fisher cat on Halloween. Delores freezes, and I suddenly realize I should have told her exactly where we were going, in case the location triggered her.
I keep fucking this up!
“I’m sorry, I should have been more clear,” I reach for her hand, running my thumb soothingly over her soft skin. “If you want to go, we can.”
“No, I’m fine,” she shakes her head, again looking slightly confused. “It’s… something I can’t quite put my finger on. I’m probably just tired from the show last night and the exhausting conversation I just had with my mother. Lead the way to this mystery, mystery man!”
I laugh, feeling like a kid going on an adventure. “Right this way, my intrepid explorer!” Soon enough, we’re deep in the tunnels and standing in front of the strange alcove Renard showed me weeks ago.
“Cuniculum,”she whispers, running her delicate fingers over the engraved letters on the plaque. “Burrow.”
Well, that clue took her no time at all!
“You got it,” I confirm, carefully laying my package on the floor before sliding it through the crack beneath the wall. Delores watches with wide eyes that only get wider as I remove my clothes. “Don’t be scared, little bunny,” I tease. “Won’t you follow this fox into his den?”
She nibbles her lip playfully, although she makes no move to strip, which is probably a good thing, since she possesses a form that would only resemble a Bernini statue in the flickering torchlight.
Focus, Nico! It’s adventure time, not sexy art appreciation time.
I shift into my fox and wiggle through the gap with a brave bunny hot on my heels. Once inside, I shift back and marvel at how she’s now able to shift with clothes on, like Renard can. Burying my curiosity aboutthatpuzzle for another day, I retrieve the headlamp I taped to the outside of the Kraft paper before securing it to my forehead and clicking it on. There’s actually some weak moonlight filtering into the antechamber this time—casting a dull illumination over the dusty surface of the pedestal—but I still didn’t want to rely on a pack of matches again. Working quickly, I remove the paper to reveal the stained glass panel I’ve been restoring for the Draconis Library all year.
“Ooh, it’s finished!” Delores squeals, bouncing on her toes in excitement, causing other delicious parts of her to jiggle enticingly as well.
Tearing my gaze back to my work, I proudly smile. “Yes, and thanks toyourstudious research in Aubrey’s archives, I believe I finally know where it goes.” Without further ado, I lift the panel and carry it to the pedestal in the center of the room. “Elevate yourpane,”I explain.
Pane—not pain.
The cloistered room is quiet anyway, but you could hear a pin drop as Lo and I both hold our breath. Lining up the bottom casing of the window with the thin groove carved into the pedestal, I carefully snap the panel into place before stepping back.
Nothing happens.
I frown. Every breadcrumb leading to now has felt so serendipitous—too coincidental tobea coincidence. For the pane to fit so perfectly and yet still not reveal its secrets…
“Is there more to the clue you were reciting?” Delores hesitantly asks, slipping her soft hand into my callused one. “I assume it came from your contact in the Capital?”
I nod, once again overwhelmed with gratitude for this bunny. She knows about my letters and where I hide them, as well as the painful reason I started receiving them. Lo knows everything about me, including all of my hopes and plans.
Almost all of them.
“Burrow deep. Elevate your pane. Follow the light,” I rattle off, unable to stop my mouth from twisting with disappointment.
“Hmm... " Lo hums, tapping a finger on her plush bottom lip. “I wonder if they’re talking aboutmoonlight.It’s going to be a full moon in a few weeks—the Blood Moon actually... " She trails off with that odd look on her face again before looking around the darkened room, almost warily. “Nico… do you think this place—these tunnels—have ever been used by anyone other than prey? By a…societyof some kind?”
I smile, amused that the spookiness is getting to her. “These Ivy leagues have all sorts of cheesy secret societies. It wouldn’t surprise me if some preds used to put on dark cloaks and pretend to invoke evil spirits to impress their friends—assuming they could get in.”
“What if there was a door,” Delores muses, releasing my hand to step closer to the pane. She traces her fingertips over the central design—an odd, almost clear shape with no shading or definition hovering over the pictorial pedestal that first sent me down this path. Turning to face me, she smiles encouragingly. “Let me talk to Aubrey again—see what he knows about ‘The Dragon’s Door,’ we read about inA History of the Honorable Academy of Apex Predators.”
I huff, so achingly in love I could explode. “Thank you, Lo. I appreciate you going to bat for me.” Maybe it’s the dim lighting or the silence blanketing my words in solemnity, but I decide to open up to my girl a bit more. “It’s been difficult lately—feeling ostracized from my pack for something I didn’t even know was a faux pas until Renard was kind enough to explain it to me. This entire situation has reminded me I don’t really belong with the wolves… that thisisn’tmy home.”
Delores makes a sympathetic noise, draping her arms around my neck and shifting closer so her pebbled nipples are brushing against my chest.
