Page 33 of Prey It By Ear

“Arrr, we not be mad at ye, lassie. It’s very unusual for animals such as us to receive a greetin’ so kind from a pred. My crew and I are in your debt for making us all feel like real mateys.”

I frown, not liking how that admission makes me worry. I know preds are dicks, but every time I get close to more of them, I realize how absolutely trash the system we live in is. “Well, you are my friends, and Raina is one of my best friends, so you will always be under the protection of everyone in this house.”

Raina’s face lights up as she looks at me cautiously. “Really? I’m one of your best friends? And we are not only protected by the gracious gargoyle, but by everyone? Even the royals?”

Felix walks over at the exact right moment, nodding firmly. “You are. Fitz, Chester, and I consider you part of the ambush now, and Aubrey would fry someone to keep you safe. This group we have formed is a resistance army and a family, Raina. No one gets left behind, nor is anyone less important to our success.”

That makes the entire crew titter amongst themselves in excitement, but the Captain removes his hat and bows deeply. “We be at yer service, Queen Dolly and King Felix. Death to phony royals on your thrones and any enemies who might lurk in the depths!”

I have no idea what to say to that, but Felix bows in return, taking my arm as if we’re actual royalty. Before he can speak, Fitz yells from the other room, “Did he just basically say a pox on the phony King of England? Because other than the species choice, I’m all for that movie. It’s fucking brilliant!”

Snorting, I look up at my Raj with a mischievous grin. “Our group's hatred of certain species is getting out of hand, you know. People are going to think we’re bad, and we’re not.”

The elder tiger leads me, and by extension, the friends standing in the hallway back into the main area. Once we’re there, he leans down and whispers in my ear, “Princess, we hate wolves because their packs are always coming for the big felines, especially Khans. Foxes are sneaky little shits who play both sides of everything, and no matter what subspecies they are, all preds know they cannot be trusted. Bears are kind of a toss-up, depending on the family. Otherwise, I’m not sure who else we don’t like.”

“Vultures,” a collection of people in the room answer all together, and I cover my mouth as I laugh.

Even our prey friends chimed in on that, and if that’s not support, I don’t know what is.

Gone, Gone, Gone

Fitz

I’m ecstatic to hear that everyone else is tired of that flesh-picking shithead. It will make everything I’m putting together work more smoothly if I have allies who will secretly assist with all of my devious plans. Even if I’m not allowed to skin the bitch from stem to stern for a throw rug, I can make her life so miserable that she’ll wish I had. Being quiet and subtle isn’t my forte, obviously, but I’m smart enough to play by the rules if Baby Girl sets them.

That chicken-necked, over-inflated narcissist is going to regret the day she targeted my mate, and it won’t even take a single drop of blood to make it so.

Grinning at my screen, I continue watching lines of code move down my screen as I dig into the underbelly of the Prednet with precision. Fitz Khan is going full-on ‘net ninja’ today, and though I have to keep my ears open for the discussion, nothing is going to stop me from enacting my vengeance. If it works, I might even expand the operation to include some of the other lower-level gnats that need squashing so we can focus on the enormous problems. Not like it’s any skin off my hide if the entire system gets thrown out of whack because one psycho bird-woman couldn’t keep her pointed beak out of our fucking business. They deserve it for bringing her into the fold, right?

“Fitzy, are you listening?”

Shit. I wasn’t. Hope it wasn’t important yet.

“Hmm, Baby Girl? I had a brain blip for a moment. Sorry. Repeat what you said.” I smile brightly, giving everyone my typical Fitz expression so they think I’m just spacing out on ADHD vibes.

“She asked if you were getting the damn tech ready for the video thing,” my twin says sharply as he eyes me. “I thought you were committed to paying attention tonight. There were terms, Fitz.”

Felix is right, of course. We were all instructed on how closely we had to pay attention, so we only had to say things once and get this done early. We only have one more day before the semester starts, and once it does, all hell breaks loose in terms of schedules. The school shit he gathered up was an immense pile of nonsense that I’m not sure is even important, but was designed to ensure that the students and staff are too fucking busy to notice something. I’m not always the family member who catches that shit; however, this giant amount of horseshit Chessie printed is obvious enough that I saw through it immediately.

If the admin and Council think they can drown us in paperwork and activities until we break, they’re sorely mistaken, that’s for certain.

“Fuck, sorry, bro. On it now!” I switch laptops, setting my turbo-charged one on Chessie’s lap with the lid down. The dragon clicks the huge TV on the wall for me, and I nod gratefully. He didn’t give me shit about being distracted, which might be a first, but he’s also perceptive as hell. I wonder if he’s picked up on my manic coding and is helping me keep it under wraps. If so, the big guy is going to be a hell of an ally for my plans. I’ll keep that in mind for later.

“Miss Dolly?”

The small raccoon woman looks up at my mate from the armchair her entire harem is perched in or on together like a tiny prey army, and I chuckle softly. My girl stole the Frenchie’s crew, methinks, but that’s good. Prey animals have access to every back alley and secret route on campus to keep them away from the preds, so if the threat level gets high enough, they can sneak her around without her enemies being able to find her. They’ll also help escort her to things outside of those areas, and having more witnesses around is always useful. It wards off the more timid bad actors.

“Yes, Raina?” Baby Girl looks at her friend, and I sigh inside like a sap. She’s so damn kind to everyone who needs and deserves it—hell, sometimes even to those who don’t deserve it yet, like our crazy family. When she showed up, none of us were great dudes because of our pasts. That changed within months of meeting her, and she never once held it against us.

“Mr. Farley is going to conference in up there with his soldiers, right?”

Dolly glances at her besties who are flanking her on either side now. They nod, and she smiles again. “Yep. I don’t know when they will be back, so part of our plans have to be about safety, routes, alarms, group travel, and all that stuff. Felix has this enormous pile of paperwork about things the guys and I have to figure out with the new schedules and rules or something. I haven’t gone through it yet because the King over there wants to do it all at once, so no one loses their shit multiple times.”

She’s irritated, but my twin’s plan is actually quite good, and even I have to admit it.

“That’s a good idea,” the armadillo signs quickly.

I know that because Ren and our girl have been teaching everyone sign language very slowly to help with communication. Luckily, Holliday is going slowly because he’s aware we’re still learning, and I could follow. My fingerspelling is fucking baller, but fluid signing and remembering all the words is kicking my ass. Not surprising given my focus issues, but I’m getting there.