Page 56 of Let Us Prey
Sighing, I pinch the bridge of my nose. Aubrey isn’t trying to screw up our relationship—whatever they are—with this girl. He’s testing her covertly to find out if she can handle the aspects of our animals that very few know about. If she can’t, the question of her presence in our life is answered before either of us gets too invested. The mere act of inviting her tells me he is more interested in her than he will probably admit to anyone—including me.
Sly dragon.
When I don’t protest, he turns back to her. “You may join us, little one. But Rennie here isn’t meant to carry even a girl as small as you for too much of a distance. You’ll have to ride me.” Her eyes pop open and I choke, making him howl and puff smoke as he laughs. “Meaning I’ll fully shift; both of you read far too much smutty romance from my stacks.” Delores flushes, then scowls, pointing at me as if it weremyfault.
Feeling playful, I point back at her, and Aubrey snorts again. “You look like two-thirds of the Spiderpred meme Bash sent me the other day. Own your word porn addiction so we can get moving.”
I shrug. “I’ve been alive a long time. It’s hard to find a mystery I haven’t solved yet and I don’t care for blue aliens. It seems a little farfetched.”
Dolly looks at me, partially-shifted and obsidian, then at Aubrey in his winged, scaly half-shifted form. “Oh, yes, totally unbelievable. I can see how you’d have to suspend your disbelief, Rennie.”
Aubrey rolls his eyes and huffs. “Stop flirting. We need to get going if we want to return with enough time for you to get decent sleep, bite size.” With that, he turns and allows her to climb onto his back, grunting as she finds a hold. “I’ll finish my shift as we gain altitude, so hold on to my neck tightly if you don’t want to fall to your death.”
“Thanks for the warning,” she mutters, right before he leaps into the air and flaps his large wings to propel them higher, tearing a scream of half-terror, half-elation from her throat.
I grumble. I’ll have to catch up with them after I hike back up the Tower for altitude. After all, I’m a glider, and that asshole damn well knows it.
Cheater. He’s a godsdamned cheater.
THIRTY-THREE
Pussy Liquor
Sebastian
Ilove the smell of fresh blood in the morning.
Sucking in a deep breath, I allow the scent to rile up my wolf as I await my turn in the fall Pred Games of the new school year. From what I hear, Apex started the event decades ago as an outlet for the more bloodthirsty predators working here—since teachers killing each other all the time caused staffing shortages. There are simultaneous matches being held down at the lakes, for the aquatic species, and in the air for the winged shifters, but the only one that interests me is inmyfamily’s fighting ring.
We grew up with a version of these games as part of our daily life. Death matches were encouraged on the island to settle grievances, although a simple maiming usually got your point across when needed. Fighting is as natural as breathing to a Romulus, and the Bloodstone Brawlers are one of the toughest teams in the Pred Games professional league. I could have been a star player myself, if I hadn’t chosen to focus on my true calling in life—as Cash’s beta.
An honor far greater than any trophy.
My wolf stirs impatiently as I watch the unconscious body of a rhino shifter get dragged from the ring. The tiger he was up against is barely conscious either, but all that matters is who the last man standing is. Or, in this case, the lastwomanstanding. But gender doesn’t really matter if you have the right skills, killer instincts, and balls the size of Bloodstone Island.
A gong signals the end of the tier, and I have to physically refrain myself from clapping in excitement like a godsdamned pup. After a quick break, we’ll enter the final tier—the one reserved for the baddest motherfuckers like Cash and me. My gaze drifts over the packed stands surrounding the Romulus Training Ring, and my chest puffs up with pride when I find my Cherry laughing with Rufus and Cori as they munch on stadium snacks.
Of course, I marked Delores’ location the instant she arrived, but the thought of her witnessing my brother and me fight is giving me a bigger boner than the anguish flavoring the air. D has been coming to the townhouse almost every night for dinner—usually followed by dessert with me and Nico. I haven’t been able to convince her to spend the night yet, but fully intend on moving her in by the end of the school year.
How else am I gonna start every day with my face between her thighs?
Something about having both her and Nico in my bed makes my stomach do backflips. It feels like I’m on a crazy-ass rollercoaster that never stops, but I don’t want to get off the ride, anyway. It’s not just about watching the two of them in the sheets—although fuck me, they’re hot together—but my fox has been so…happysince she’s arrived.
And that makesmehappy, for some weird reason.
The only pred who seems grumpier about the whole thing is Cash. I can’t figure out what his fucking problem is, since you’d have to be a blind mole rat to not see him salivating for Delores. Plus, I thought I made it perfectly clear that first night at dinner—I want her to beours.
Sharing is caring!
Knowing my brother, this self-mortification is part of his never ending penance for putting his D in the wrong V back on Bloodstone. If anyone bothered to ask formyopinion, I would suggest he solve his ‘problem’ with more of the same.
‘Hair of the dog’ and all that.
“Oh, interesting… they’ve matched Cash against Rusty,” Nico muses from beside me. My fox rarely likes to watch me fight, but he said something at breakfast about ‘reconnecting with his primal self,’ which sounds good to me.
Especially if it means I get to see him dominate our little bunny.
I glance up at the board, frowning when I see I’m matched against a mountain lion in the fitness department who’s barely worth the fight. But I also can’t be mad about the Cash-Rusty matchup, because those two are like oil and water, and it looks like they’re going on first.
