Page 29 of Prey It By Ear

“Man, that went fast,” I mutter as Aubrey navigates through the school roads and toward the library building. “I was really more tired than I realized.”

Fitz beams at me over his shoulder, looking smug as fuck. “I told you so, Baby Girl. You should listen to me from now on.”

I snort, and Felix groans, shaking his head. “You’ll never live this down, Princess.”

Chess chuckles, sitting up finally to gather up the blankets and pillows we used for the sleeping area. “Felix isn’t joking. You’re going to hear about Fitz’s brilliance at every turn now.”

Rolling my eyes at them, I shrug. “Unlike everyone else, I always listen to Fitzy, even when he’s a bit off the beaten path. It doesn’t mean I have to take his advice; that’s silly. Not every idea is a gem, nor is every thought one that will help the situation. But I consider his suggestions anyway, although they’re not always linear. Maybe you should do that, too.”

The younger tiger is over the seat and has me pinned to the floor of the SUV before I can blink. He smiles at me like I invented the moon and stars before he says, “Delores Diamond Drew, you are the best fucking thing to happen to every one of our sorry asses and I will happily march into the fires of Hell to keep you at my side. Don’t you ever forget that, got it?”

I guess I really triggered something in him with that statement, but I’ll take it.

“This little display of Fitz’s whipped-ness aside, we’ll be home in a few moments,” his twin says wryly. “First thing we need to do is get this shit inside, and Chess will contact the company to retrieve the car. Then we need to unpack, eat dinner, and get all the dirty shit ready for the laundry tomorrow. We won’t stay up too late; tomorrow is going to be packed to the gills with school crap and returning friends.”

Once I get out of my crazy tiger’s grasp, I pop my head over the seat to give Felix a dirty look. “Of course you want to do all the boring stuff before anything else. Talk about the end of our vacation.”

He ruffles my hair, smiling at me knowingly. “No one said we can’t have fun before bedtime if we get everything done on time. Perhaps you should focus on that, hmm?”

The Raj is a stern brunch Daddy, that’s for damn sure, and he knows exactly how to get what he wants.

“Fine,” I huff as the car pulls up behind our building and stops. “You win, buzzkill. We’ll do all the work and then we can play.”

“Good girl,” he replies with a smirk. I stick my tongue out at him anyway, and he laughs softly.

When Aubrey turns off the engine, everyone kicks into gear. I shove all my things back into my bag, and Chess grabs the linens. Fitz scoots down to open the trunk so he can jump out, whooping happily as he stretches his body. I watch him for a moment with a fond smile, and then follow suit to exit the vehicle. Once all three of us are on terra firma, the younger tiger pulls the luggage out and closes the trunk.

“I do not like traveling this way,” my dragon says as he rounds the side of the SUV to grab two suitcases grumpily. “It’s far too cramped, even with the modifications we made.”

Rennie winks at me as he joins us. “Flames is quite perturbed about our cramped front seat. We should find another solution if we travel that far again. We’re lucky I kept him calm enough not to explode and tear the damn thing apart by now.”

I frown at Aubrey, and he shrugs. “Big guy, I know you don’t like it, but we didn’t have options. It’s not like everyone and all the stuff could get here on your back.”

“I’d be willing to fucking try next time,” he mutters as he leans down to kiss my cheek. “Or we’ll fly like normal preds and keep you occupied enough not to worry about planes and physics.”

“All for that!” Fitz calls with a grin. “I can even start stocking up now.”

“Get inside, you perverts,” I grumble as I walk away with my spine straight. “Just because I’m validly worried about how planes work and whether my mother has planted explosives in them doesn’t mean you get to be assholes.”

Chess waves his hand in front of the sensor and looks over his shoulder at his fellow boyfriends. “Leave her be, guys. The likelihood that we will have to travel that far again any time soon is way too low to get into a tiff about. Come on, Angel… follow me inside and we’ll air this place out.”

I smile at him thankfully, taking his other arm as we leave the tigers and the old guys in our dust. As soon as we’re halfway down the hall, I wave my hand in front of my face. “Ugh, Chessie, you weren’t kidding about airing this out. It’s musty as fuck in here.”

He nods, leading me into the living room. “If the Captain and his crew hadn’t gone on a walkabout to the prey folks, I would have asked them to come in occasionally and keep it fresh. Unfortunately, no one we trust was here, so we’re coming back to a home that was closed up for three months. At least, I’m fairly certain we are because Fitz never said any alarms went off.”

“Thank fuck for that,” I mutter. “If I ever come home to my personal space covered in piss again, it’ll be me going on a rampage.”

My cheetah smiles at me as I drop my stuff, taking both of my hands in his. “Not that I’d want that to happen to you, Angel, but it brought you to the Tower to live. Having you there helped you get close to all of us, and it made our family possible. If they weren’t mostly missing, you might send the bitchy Heather girls a thank you note. Hell, I might send them one.”

“Aw, Chessie…” I wrap my arms around him and kiss him softly. “You know, you guys are getting really squishy with me today. Does it have to do with Fitz’s surprise?”

He snorts, shaking his head. “Nice try, but I’m not spoiling his fun. He’s quite good at making his displeasure known when people do that. Ask the librarian what happens if you ruin one of Fitz’s plans; at the time Apex was destroyed, there were still about a zillion snap pops hidden all over that Tower hoping he’ll stomp on them and piss his pants.”

I cover my mouth, snickering as the image fills my brain. “I will not ask what he ruined. I have the feeling I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t.”

Turning as Felix comes up behind me, I give him a very serious salute. “Sir, yes, sir!”