Page 7 of Eat. Prey. Love.
“Exactly. Show them you’re formidable on the fieldandon the stageandin the classroom. If you rocket up the leaderboards in every arena, it will be hard for those snot-nosed bitches to gather minions.” The exiled Raj looks at me smugly and I have to smile back.
Felix Khan never fails to give me room to rescue myself and I love him for it.
“They speak English here, right?” Fitz turns to me with wide eyes, as if the possibility that no one speaks his languagejustoccurred to him. “Because the Frying Pan Frenchie didn’t teach me any of his ooh-la-la. He’s been teaching me to sign for the little prey guy, but not that. Holy shit, guys! How will people hear my fucking excellent zingers?”
Covering my mouth as the SUV turns onto a long drive, I giggle. Rennie just sighs and rolls his eyes to the ceiling as if asking for patience. Fitz keeps freaking out and finally, Felix takes pity onhim. “Ofcoursethey speak English, you nitwit. Students from all over come here, so the instruction is in English. However, you may get cussed out in a wide variety of languages—which I’m excited to watch.”
“Don’t be such a hater, bro. Foreign chicks love me…” he pauses and looks at me with wide eyes. “Not that they canhaveme, Baby Girl. Cross my heart.”
I give him an amused look, tilting my head as I pretend to think about it. “Well. I suppose if they get fresh, I’ll just have to start taking body parts to deliver toyouin jars, huh?”
He practically has cartoon hearts in his eyes as he looks at me. “Baby Girl, if you bring me body parts, you won’t be walking straight for aweek. I promise that on the most precious thing I have: my dick.”
“For fuck’s sake, Fitz,” Felix growls.
I just grin at him, my eyes full of promise as I watch him bounce happily in place.
They think I’m kidding, but newsflash, sports fans… I’m not.
Big Girls Don’t Cry
Academiehas a sprawling campus—evenI’m a little impressed. The buildings are all in this fairy tale style architecture that makes it seem otherworldly. Their Pred Games facilities are much smaller than Apex or Cappie’s, but I’m sure Z and my twin can work with it.
After all, it’s not the size that matters.
Chuckling to myself, I look back to see the smug ass gargoyle watching our girl marvel at the towers and spires, her face bright with excitement. It kills me that her abusive parentskept her locked away like Rapunzel—it makes her seem far too innocent and naïve for her age and pedigree. Knowing that her lineage might have an aberration tells mewhythey did it, but it doesn’t keep me from wanting to murder them with my bare hands.
Dolly is a smart, beautiful, talented girl who would have represented them well in all their Council related travel. Her mother’s jealousy and fear of being found out caused her to be a sheltered, beaten down girl who let people run her life for her. Watching her blossom makes my heart do weird things and my dick hard as rock. Unfortunately, it also makes me want to keep her safe no matter how much she hates it and that’s my biggest challenge.
I won’t hold her captive like they did, but it scares the piss out of me to let her put herself in danger.
“The library is massive and there’ssomany places for you to brood, Rennie!” she gasps happily. “This place was almostmadefor you guys.”
Ren leans in and kisses her jaw, his gaze fond as he, too, takes in her delight. “Absolutement,ma petite. I believe this school will accommodate all of our needs—though Fitzgerald looks a bit disappointed.”
“The fucking arenas are so damn tiny,” he mutters. “We’re supposed to build this shit up and they have baby facilities. Z is going tohaveto reach out to her fuckwit brother; we have no option.”
I shake my head, sighing as Fitz goes off on a tangent about what he thinks needs fixing before they can grow the program. He’s not wrong, but I’m not sure I want to insist on inviting unknown contractors onto campus. There’s too many variables here as it is.
A low growl echoes in the car, making it shake, and I whip my head around to see Renard staring out the window like he’s going to shift and bust the vehicle to pieces. “What? What the fuck is going on, man?”
Dolly lays her hand on his shoulder soothingly, her voice soft. “Rennie, what’s wrong? Tell us what’s going on.”
“There are beings on this campus that are not shifters.” His voice is low, dark and scarier than I’ve ever heard before. In fact, I don’teverthink I’ve seen our friend act like this.
“Okay, emo boy. Talk to us. Tell us what you scented.” Dolly doesn’t look the least bit perturbed despite Fitz’s jaw hanging open. “We can’t help if you’re going ‘grr’ face.”
Grr face? What the hell?
The gargoyle is stiff as a board, pressed to the glass as he breathes deeply. I gesture for the driver to crack his window, hoping that the scent will get stronger so he can identify it. Then we can plan for whatever the hell this shit is.
“This school has secrets,” he spits. “Dangerous ones—and I don’t mean whatever vaults it’s hiding. There are beings we cannot trust here and they are not visiting. The scent is too strong; they live here.”
“Ren, what the fuck kind of beings are you talking about?” I ask in exasperation.
“Ones that are notallowed,” he grunts angrily. “They are abominations—it istreason.”
I blink, looking at the typically laid back shifter as he struggles with a gamut of emotions. He finally tears his eyes away from the window and looks at Dolly with a tortured expression. She cups his jaw, nodding as she pulls him into her arms. Ren buries his face in the crook of her neck and her eyes meet mine. It’s obvious she has no idea what the fuck is going on, but that doesn’t make it any easier.