Page 32 of Eat. Prey. Love.
“Fucking Fae and their ilk,” he snarls as he pushes back from the table. “That’s who you think will hide there.”
“Indeed. If they truly are larger in number and hiding all over the world, this would be a perfect place to infest to spy on our bunny.” Squinting, I look at the massive amount of trees that stretches formiles. “And since it’s so damn large, we’ll have a shit time trying to pin point where they all are.”
“Goddamn, I hate this. Dolly has enough to do to catch up here without worrying about rebel Fae or hungry vampires.” Aubrey scrubs his hand down his face, looking annoyed and exhausted at the same time.
He’s right, but we don’t have an option.
“If we hunt down the bloodsuckers and they’re benign, we can cross them off.” My eyes close and I imagine Chess’ list. “The ex boyfriend and most of her ex-bullies are done, thanks to the Fae kidnappers. We’ve got Farley helping with the corpse licker. The tigers are laser focused on the crooked staff.” I tick things off my fingers, trying to re-group.
“Her bitch mother took her asshole father off the board permanently.”
I growl softly. “That one was both helpful and irritating at the same time. I think we all wanted a piece of the brutish croc.”
“Agreed. Though, he was nothing in terms of enemies. Her mother is the real problem.” There’s a slight pause as my mate thinks about his words before he says them. “Will we have to deal with your clutch here?”
I shake my head. “No. The last nests were in Bavaria. Notre Dame was rebuilt, but I cannot imagine the clutch returning to Paris even if it’s just as magnificent as it’s predecessor.”
“You’re certain?”
I nod. “I am, Flames. The gargoyles love the mountains and their home there. They would not return here, and definitely not without a word, even if I am exiled.”
At least, I fucking hope theywouldn’t.
Lose Yourself
Coach Zreally put us through the paces at the practice today. By the time we finished, I was soaked in sweat and cursing under my breath. We spent most of the time working on endurance and cardio—something that I’ll have to keep in mind since it follows my Tap Practicum two days a week. Professor O’ Shea is energetic asfuckand he kept the steam rolling through the entire two hour block with very small breaks for water.
I feel like a limp noodle and I’m not in such bad shape that I should be panting.
“Alright, gather up!” Zhenga yells. She’s eying the competitors who are much worse off than me with thinly veiled disgust. “You people, with very few exceptions, are the most poorly trained team I’ve ever worked with. The previous trainers should be drawn and quartered—it’s no wonder the school withdrew before the finals last year.”
“Bitch,”a girl in the back mutters and my head whips around. The girl is doubled over, her hands on her thighs as she struggles to stay upright. I don’t know what her major is here, but she’s got a long road to hoe if she wants to stay out of the hospital.
The lioness smirks, waiting for any other commentary before she continues. “You’re right; Iama bitch. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. I grew up in these games from being part of the Leonidas family as a child to competing in secondary school to competing in the male professional Games as an adult. None of you would survive my childhood coaching, much less the actual players in school. You’re going to get hurt, but worse, you’ll embarrass your families. We all know that’s a much worse sin than ending up on crutches.”
There’s a lot of mumbled whispers and I wonder why the hell these people are even here if they don’t want to be the best. It wouldn’t have flown at Apex—not even for something as small as a newspaper position and Cappie was just as bad.L’Academie’s focus is so heavily on the arts that it seems like the students are completely indifferent to everything else in the world.
Would have been nice, but I wouldn’t trade all the bad shit at Apex for my guys or my friends.
“Coach, what do we need to do before Wednesday?” I ask, hoping to cut this pity party off so I can trudge home and die inmy own bed.
Zhenga grins toothily. “For those of you lacking, I’d suggest running the campus perimeter in the morning and once again at night for the next week. I have eyes everywhere, so I’ll know who is taking me seriously.”
This time, I join the groans. My schedule is packed and I already run with Felix in the morning, but I’ll have to choose someone else for the evenings. I can’t deal with his sporty pep twice in a day, that much I’m absolutely certain about. The circuit of the campus takes about thirty minutes at a good clip, I think, and I’m dreading the time he’s going to make me set our alarm for.
“Now get your shit together and go carbo load. You need it, but don’t skimp on the protein,” she says as she turns her back to us.
I grab my bag quickly, hurrying to catch up to the woman I’m trying to make a decent relationship with. “You could have eased them into this, you know,” I mumble.
“Dolly, you and I both know these shifters are going to getsmashedin their first matches if they don’t get their shit together. They don’t have secret weapons like you.”
My face flushes and I shrug. “Maybe not, but no one has ever taken the time to actually train them. This place is clearly only interested in the arts and I have no idea how you even have enough students for a team.”
“Never underestimate the desire to be good atsomething, rather thannothing,” Z chuckles as she stops mid-way to the locker rooms. “Why are you following me? Don’t you have five men who are probably wearing a hole in your carpet?”
I snort, shaking my head. “Pretty sure Fitz is hanging about somewhere. I can feel him.”
Her eyes widen and she grips my arm. “Holy shit, you did it. You really mated with the crazy motherfucker.”