Page 30 of Prey It By Ear

“Don’t think that will get you out of the chores we all have to do so our home is habitable again, Princess. Now get moving,” he growls softly before he gives my ass a light slap. “You, too, Chess. We have a shit ton to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Who’s taking the laundry?”

“Not it!” Fitz and I say, making the elder tiger groan in annoyance.

Aubrey tsks as he passes by with his and Rennie’s stuff. “Sorry, Raj. I must get the library systems booting and updating prior to morning. I am unable to assist.”

“Et je dois ouvrir le clocher pour la nouvelle session⁠*. Tragic, I know.” My gargoyle gives Felix a pretend disappointed expression as he sneaks by to head for their room.

“Saying shit in French won’t get you out of this… get back here, you lazy statue!”

I look at Chessie with a mischievous grin before I whisper, “Hurry! If we get to the kitchen before he comes back, we won’t be on laundry duty.”

Of course, that’s assuming that anyone takes it and it doesn’t befall on our beleaguered prey friends when they come here tomorrow morning.

* And I have to open the bell tower for the new session.

Work Song

Aubrey

The Raj has many things he still needs to work on, but since he admitted his adoration for our irrepressible bunny, leadership is not one of them. He went from grumpy tyrant to an efficient, capable point man within weeks. It showed me what kind of king he would have been but for his evil father, and I see why Fitz was so focused on proving that he should be the heir when they arrived. I assume the cats left behind on Bloodstone are all of the ilk the current Raj would adore, and that Felix would certainly have worked to dismantle that system if he had not been exiled. He has been skillfully managing our family—with the solid input of our mate—as if he was born to do so.

I suppose he was, but that never seemed accurate until her arrival on campus.

That ability got everyone moving last night, even me, and we were able to unpack, open the various resources in our home that needed to be, and get to bed at a decent hour. It was a bit of a challenge when Fitz and the lunchable tried to tempt us, but the elder tiger adopted his ‘growly daddy’ persona with aplomb. It forced the entire household to shut up and sleep so we would be rested and ready to rock this morning. Being a dragon who likes to be fully rested, I appreciate that kind of demand and didn’t fight it, though Rennie helped our troublemakers out half-heartedly.

He’s as much of a brat as the other two and way too old to be so, but that is the man I have loved for a long time, so I put up with it.

I am more concerned about what will happen at school this semester than last, as the big blow-up didn’t send us skittering to a new location. That makes me wonder if Dolly’s bitchy mother has given up on using her as a pawn and moved back to having her on a ‘kill’ list. If so, it means we will have even more secret enemies and possibly even assassins. I’m not sure our plate can get any fuller, as Chess has been working on the updates since breakfast and is not finished. It’s a lot, even for a flagon of people, and we’re working with five generals and maybe twenty soldiers at best. Being a shifter who has lived so many centuries, I know those odds are terrible, especially when one side has unlimited funds and the other bad guys have fucking magic.

“Why do you look so dour, big guy?”

I turn to look at the bunny in question with a rueful smile. “Chester has been working on that for so long that I am having difficulty figuring out how we will manage. With school duties and your classes, plus enough other bullshit to float an entire Navy, it seems quite daunting, if I’m honest.”

Fitz gives us both a smug smile from his spot on the couch. While his cheetah was updating whiteboards, he’s been buried in his laptop with a hyper-focus that cannot be good, yet we were all fine with leaving him to it. The younger tiger is not always forthcoming about his plans until they are in motion, and if he’s got shit up his sleeve that isn’t removing a head, I agree that giving him space to work is the best policy.

“You don’t have to worry about it too much yet, Hottie Gila. I’ve got plenty of things up my sexy sleeves to help us cull some of the bit players—or at least, keep them off our asses until we’re ready to truly deal with them.”

Our tasty treat arches a brow at him, her expression fond. “Fitz, remember that you can’t kill anyone just yet, okay? We’re not letting shit go this year, but we also don’t need to bring a bunch of direct heat on us unless we have no options. Right?”

“Loud and clear, Baby Girl,” the nutty feline says with a crazy grin. “I’m making life difficult and rude. What happens after that is none of my business.”

If that’s not ominous, I don’t know what is.

“Where’s Rennie?” she asks as she turns to me, leaving the younger Khan to his secrets. “I haven’t seen him since we ate.”

I chuckle, shaking my head as I shrug. “He didn’t say, but I assume he’s gone to gather his prey allies for the afternoon meeting. Likely he will fly over the forest as well because he is adamant that the beings in the forest will make themselves known this semester. I’d say he’s obsessed, but since he’s the only one of us with any knowledge in the matter, I cannot. His caution is born of experiences that we do not have, and I trust him to judge the danger appropriately.”

Dolly sighs, nodding as she says, “Me, too. However, I have no idea what we’ll do about it. The supposed vampires have stayed hidden, and while there're rumblings of things we heard while in their original homelands, I don’t know where they will fall in this mess. It seems like they’d side with the Fae, but who knows? The world is very shitty for secret magicals, I suppose, and they may live as mercenaries to survive.”

Chess pauses his work to look at her seriously. “That doesn’t mean we should forgive them for working for the Society if that’s the case. They’re traitors to their own kind and in cahoots with the people fucking with the shifter world. Sort of like a double villain, you know?”

He’s trying to keep our girl from empathizing with people Rennie swears would kill us where we stand for shits and snacks, so I get why he’s doing this.

“Well, duh, Chessie!” The lunchable smacks the couch, making a face that says she’s not a fool at him. “I can understand how something happened without excusing bad behavior, you know. There’s a vast difference between a reason and an excuse—intent is important, but not exculpatory.”

The cheetah squints at me. “Is she watching legal shows again?”

Cackling, Fitz peeks over the edge of his laptop. “Too much texting with that Southern badger, I’d say. Her fancy friend has brought in the best and worst possible defense counsel we could have ever chosen. He’s teaching her way too much via osmosis.”