Page 37 of Eat. Prey. Love.
“I’dloveto be on the receiving end ofthatkind of spoiling,” Rufus says and I shuffle into him purposefully, knocking him off balance as we head toward the Alexandré building. “Though truthfully?—”
Cori rolls her eyes as she cuts him off. “Enough of that. You and those triplets are nauseating enough on your nightly video calls.”
Oh, Ru-Ru. She’s pretending to laugh, but you’re probably killing her.
“She’s right. There’s enough innuendo at home. What I really want is… gossip.” I look at them both, then scan our surroundings. “You haven’t been around for our meetings yet, but I’ve got another ‘raving fan.’ Her name is Felicia O’ Leary and she’s definitely going to be a problem.”
The polar bear frowns. “You draw crazies like flies to shit, girl. We’ve barely gotten rid of the first batch—and the F-A-E did most of that work for us.”
“Very subtle, Coco,” Rufus says as he rolls his eyes this time. “I’m sure our enemies are unable to spell, therefore will havenoidea what that means.”
Covering my mouth as I giggle, I squeeze my hands on my bag as the happiness of being with my friends flows through me. I’m sure other people are so used to this feeling that they don’t appreciate it, but having them and the guysstillgives me an electric jolt of giddy when I compare to how my life was before the bunny. “He’s not wrong, but yeah. Oh! And I have another big WTF for you.”
They walk closer, forming a tight group with me as Cori murmurs, “Is it bad?”
“Hell if I know, but it seems to be. The broody one won’t give usallthe deets yet, but there arevampireson this campus.”
Rufus’ eyes widened to saucers and for a second, I think he’s glitching. “We. Are. Living.Twilight. And youdidn’t tell me until now!”
Cori groans, shaking her head. “Now you’ve done it. He’s going to be absolutely interminable during film studies now.”
It’s hard to control my laughter as he starts prancing about, pretending to hyper-speed towards the academic building. “If he starts wearing tons of booty dust so he sparkles, Aubrey will ban him from our place. He’s still mad at Fitz and I for the Christmas incident.”
She grins and shrugs. “He has full access to all my cases; I make no promises.”
Rufus zips by, his arms out as he pretends to have a cape flowing behind him and I roll my eyes. “Good thing we love that idiot—and that he’s found the Kavarits, because this look isnotsexy.”
“Hey, are you the one that had Coach Z contact me about the uniforms?” Coco gives me a shy look and I nod. “Thanks. I’m actually pretty excited about it. It will be something besides all this fucking school work and… you know…that…to focus on.”
Now it’s my turn to blush and I shrug as I tuck a hair behind my ear. “I know a little something about being betrayed. And finding a purpose helped me make it through that summer before Apex. Luc’s kindness, the prey staff… It's how I survived.”
She gives me a wry look. “That and your vengeance list.”
My eyes dance as Rufus finally stops running about and joins us again. “Well, yeah. Revenge on those that hurt me fueled me, too. It also helped me when I arrived at Apex knowing people were going to try to kill me. But you don’t have that to worry about—not directly, anyway.”
“We’realltargets now, Dollybear, but you’re worth it.” Rufus’ hair is sticking up all over and he’s flushed, but his enthusiasm hastaken the edge off my worry about this new supernatural. “But together, we’re one hell of a Scooby team.”
He’s not wrong about that.
My friends left oncewe got to the classroom, and I’ve been standing here ever since. The door is closed, but I can hear voices in the room. There’s several people in class already, so I’m not worried about being caught unawares, but every time I reach for the knob, I remember the look on Felix’s face and Fitz’ fury. This tiger isnotlike mine and he definitely poses a danger to me and my family. I can’t get out of this damn lecture, but I have to be extremely careful. I don’t want to give this jokeranyreason to keep me behind.
“You are a badass bunny. Last year, you made the Pred Games your bitch. You’re standing up to your bitch mom. No one gets to make you a victim ever again,” I mutter to myself. The words don’t quite do it, but I gather up the ‘Drew’ in me and straighten my shoulders. Even if this douchebag is dangerous, I can handle it.
After all, I am Delores Diamond Drew, the only predatory bunny with blue lightning magic I’ve ever heard of—this guy can bite me.
Grabbing the door handle, I yank it open and stride in with the determined gait I use on the Games pitch. Random shifters stare as I stomp past them to take a seat in the back where I can see the entire space. I’m close enough to the door to hoof it if needed, but not so close anyone will assume I’m afraid of what’s coming. Just like Fitz says, location is everything when you’re trying to intimidate your prey and I want to be certain Asani Khan knows he’s the one being hunted, not me.
I’ve only settled in for a moment when the door blows open and a tall, dark-haired man bustles in. He definitely has the Khan ‘looks,’ but he’s not nearly as hot as either of my tigers. I’mcurious what kind of tiger he is given his bulkier frame, but I suppose it’s better if I don’t find out. Fitz’ snowy white cat and Felix’s fierce orange bengal coloring are gorgeous, but they’d lose their shit if I somehow ended up seeing this guy shift.
The whispers in the room increase as he moves to the standing desk, spreading his things out on the surface before he plugs a laptop in. “Settle, people. Once I have the presentation up and running, we’ll dive into the first lesson. I’m going to assume that even our famous transfers are caught up to the point the previous professor stopped at before he was tragically killed on Yule.”
Hell if I know. This asshole didn’t preload a syllabi, and none of the past lessons were online because this place fucking hates tech that would make my life easier. They only seem to give a shit if it’s about security and only the stufftheywant locked up, and not a damn thing more. I look around, noting the obvious returning students opening their notes while a few others are frowning like me.
I watch as the bulky professor pulls a cord, raising the jungle-themed cover that was blocking a big ass TV. It surprises me because so much atl’Academieseems to be purposefully clinging to the past, but I suppose you can be some big wig in the Khan empire without being dialed into technology. He fusses with a remote for a second then turns to face us. “Good morning, class. As you know from your schedules, I’m Asani Khan—yes,thatKhan, but you don’t have to worry! I’m not feral or insane likesomeof my ilk.”
His eyes cut to me then move back to the rest of the room. That move isn’t missed by my classmates and I grip my tablet tightly to avoid reacting. If his game is to alienate me from the other students, he’s two years too late for that bullshit. It’s a rookie move, and one the Heathers wouldn’t have bothered with. Anyone with real power doesn’t have to actually have to gather the peons; they flock to them without being called.
“Your current seats can remain such for the semester, and you should be receiving your syllabi in…”he looks at the fancy watch on his wrist. “Right about now.”