Page 15 of Come Out & Prey (Apex Academy Capers #1)

“Delores! Delores ! Wake up…”

The voice cuts through the cobwebs in my head, and I moan, rolling over to get away from whoever is shaking my shoulder. It’s making me want to hurl, to be honest, and I can’t even pry my eyes open to see which Heather is doing it.

“Delores! You must wake up; everyone has arrived and your mother is on the warpath!”

That gets my attention. The girls never call me Delores, and certainly don’t care about Lucille’s warpaths. The only person who would whisper so desperately is Matilda, and if she’s here, I must have overslept my alarm by miles.

Why do I feel like my mouth is full of cotton balls? Gross.

I never understood how some prey animals can deal with furry little tails during sex, but I’m glad I likely won’t have to worry about cutesy shit like that. With my luck, I’ll be a dumbass wolf shifter—the most common pred around. I’m not anything special now, and I won’t be then.

Ugh.

“I.. I don’t... feel good, Mattie,” I groan, flopping onto my back as the room spins. Clucking her tongue, she walks over to draw the curtains, and panic hits me. Where the shit are the Heathers? Did they get out before anyone came to find me? “Um…”

“Whatever you took last night to sleep must have been helpful, Delores. It’s ten a.m. and even if you feel wretched, your team has arrived to get you ready for the dance at Apex tonight.”

Blinking, I sit up, and the brass band in my head plays at full volume. “Took? Apex? Team?”

Matilda sighs and sits on the edge of the bed. Her voice drops to a more tolerable volume as she looks at me. “Yes, dear. They have moved the prom to Apex Academy because of some issue with the gym at Shifter Secondary. Lucille relayed that to me this morning, and I was supposed to tell you first thing. She also arranged for a team of stylists to assist with preparation, and according to her, it will take all day. She was so pleased with her intrusion that she didn’t even open the boxes that came from Monsieur Growlvinchy—which is a good thing, I think.”

My eyes fill with tears at my current predicament. The change of location ruined any plans I had for Todd and I after the prom, the vodka the Heathers brought left my body a mess, my friends left without a word, and now Lucille handpicked people to pluck and primp me to within an inch of my life.

I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up looking like an unpleasant episode of Drag Race.

Rubbing my hand over my makeup caked face, I croak, “Mattie, for the love of everything fangy, please find me some aspirin, a washcloth, and a plate full of grease. I can’t deal with them all on an empty stomach.”

Her face falls. “Delores, you’re not allowed to eat before the dance—Lucille’s order. I’m supposed to lace you into the lingerie and corset, then bring you down to sit for them immediately.”

Is she fucking kidding me with this shit?!

Not Mattie, of course, but my evil villain mother has constructed an entire day’s worth of absolute torture to punish me for never living up to her expectations. This could be payback for many things, and I’m not sure if I’ll make it. My belly is roiling, but even my inexperience tells me I should put something on it to help it settle.

“Okay,” I whisper, giving in before Lucille sends someone worse than Mattie to fetch me. “But I at least have to have water and medicine. Then the punishment can begin.”

“What in the hell is that ?” I growl, glaring at the poor woman wielding the smelly brushes with aplomb.

“Just lightening up the beautiful blond, sweetness,” she mutters as she wraps foil around the sections of hair covered in the substance that’s making me gag.

I know I seem like an idiot, but I’ve never done any of the high-maintenance shit Lucille wanted me to do with my appearance. I don’t dye my hair; I shape my own brows, and I paint my own nails. She hates I don’t avail myself of her generosity for beauty enhancements, but her dependence on a team of people to get her ready to even step out of her bedroom always seemed ridiculous.

Naturally, she has every type of service known to predator kind being performed on me today, making the hangover roar viciously through my system with no end in sight.

“It smells bad,” I groan, closing my eyes. Maybe if I just let them work and drift off, I can figure out how to salvage my plans for tonight. If I can picture the grounds of the school, I toured the other day without envisioning the teacher hotties, that is. I have no idea why I’m so fixated on them when I have the world’s best boyfriend locked down.

Something has to be wrong with me, right?

“Delores, sit up straight so you can get used to the corset. You must be able to breathe properly tonight so you don’t pass out,” Matilda chides from her perch at the window. She’s been keeping a careful eye to ensure that Lucille isn’t setting me up to look horrific, and I couldn’t be more grateful, even if I can’t show my appreciation in my current state.

“Ugh,” I respond, my brain flitting back to holding the doorframe in the bathroom while Mattie pulled the stupid strings to tie me in like a heroine in a movie about the Old South. It felt like my ribs were re-arranging in my chest, and despite my protests, she pulled until my waist felt like it was in a sausage casing. “I was measured specifically for my dress. You don’t think this will ruin it, do you?”

She shakes her head with a smile. “Monsieur Growlvinchy asked me before we left yesterday if I thought your mother would make you wear ‘one of those archaic torture devices’, and I told him I believed it to be likely. That’s why the dress did not arrive until this morning right before you awakened.”

My eyes pop open and I feel tears prick them. I don’t know what I did to deserve Mattie or even this fairy godtiger fashion designer, but I’m so unused to anyone being this nice that it’s making me feel like my heart is aching. “That was kind of you both.”

“Dangerous, too,” the peacock shifter in front of me mutters while she continues with my hair. “But I feel you. I hate how the predators try to make their kids feel like shit all the time. I promise we won’t do anything to make you look bad, either.”

Matilda smiles at her and puts her fingers to her lips. The rest of the stylist’s team nods, agreeing to the secret pact we’re all a part of now.

“Thank you,” I whisper, looking at them all. “I don’t know why I feel so hungover, but I’m sorry I’m not being helpful. My friends were over last night and I drank a bit of vodka, but I feel like a truck hit me.”

“That’s not what vodka and a hangover feel like, girl. Methinks you got bigger problems than just your momma,” the brow wizard badger remarks. “Someone spiked the punch, if you know what I mean. You need to watch your back tonight… you seem to have more enemies than friends.”

Seriously?! Did I break a sacred vase or something as a kid?

Now I have to worry about every single thing I eat or drink tonight while figuring out how to recreate my special plans with Todd in a new location that I’m not overly familiar with.

I hate my life.

By the time the crew finishes my hair, waxing, makeup, nails—along with getting me into the outfit—it’s almost time for Todd and my friends to arrive.

I step in front of the full-length mirror, turning in place in my dangerously high heels. For the first time, I thank Hera that Lucille made me take a year of ballroom dancing as I’d break an ankle otherwise. I agree with the great Ginger Rogers—if I can dance backwards in heels, I can do anything. That’s not exactly the quote, but it’s close enough and I’m feeling a little more confident than I was in the boutique.

Monsieur Grrowlvinchy’s dress clings to every curve, draping in the right places, and accentuating the curves Lucille hates so much. The added height of the shoes makes me look statue-esque, and the highlights in my hair make it shine like spun gold. Callisto, the peacock stylist, had her team pluck, tweeze, and highlight my face with a smoky chanteuse look from the days of ingenues and divas, so I look several years older than I am.

“You look beautiful, Delores,” Mattie says, her face soft. “All grown up.”

Biting my lower lip, I stare at myself again, finally rid of the effects of whatever the hell they dosed me with. All I want is for Todd to think I look beautiful and dance the night away together before we make love. If the universe could give me those few hours of happiness, I know I can survive whatever awaits me downstairs. “Thank you, Mattie.”

She opens the door, and I walk out, straightening my spine and swallowing hard. I just have to make it through my parents’ inspection until Todd and the others arrive with our limo to whisk me off like a princess in a fairytale. I can do this.

Before my foot even hits the top step, I hear Bruno bellowing in a scotch-filled snarl.

“ Delores ! Get down here so I can examine you before your date arrives. You will not embarrass us in front of all the families and the Apex staff tonight or so help me…”

He’s already tanked and in a mood. Excellent. That means…

“Did your father stutter, Delores Diamond Drew?”

Yep, Lucille’s in the bag, too. What a surprise. This is going to be ugly.

“I’m coming, Lucille,” I call, starting down the stairs carefully. Dancing in heels is one thing, stairs are quite another.

Matilda rushes ahead, clearly hoping to placate them before I get down the marble staircase. I hear growls and snarls, the idea of them treating her so poorly making my empty stomach turn. When I finally reach the bottom, I stride into the drawing room. I’m shocked to find them in their usual corners, but with Bruiser holding a black briefcase besides scowling at me.

“Well, if it isn’t the porky prima donna,” Lucille mutters into her martini. “Getting you to look acceptable took four times as long as I take.”

I steel my spine again, already prepared for her insults. I can’t let her make me cry and ruin this gorgeous look Callisto and her team created. “I apologize, Lucille. They did quite a lot of work to make me presentable. Thank you for your generous gift.”

She snorts, and my father walks over to Bruiser. He opens the case, revealing a starry sky full of sparkling jewelry pieces. I tilt my head, a confused look crossing my features. Why does he have Lucille’s jewels out of the vault? I thought he was retrieving my small sweet sixteen set. No wonder she’s saltier than a mermaid on a cracker.

“You will wear the pieces I select and if a single stone is damaged tonight, I will take the cost out of your hide,” Bruno snarls, morphing into a half-shifted crocodile.

Shrinking back a step, I shake my head. “Oh, Father, I couldn’t. That’s far too... uh, kind. Those are…”

He cuts me off before I can finish my protest, stalking over with a gorgeous sapphire necklace. “I didn’t ask, daughter. You will wear what I say and make certain any press photos of you at the dance include these pieces. I can’t have the other families thinking we skimped out on your prom simply because you’re such a disappointment.”

I’m frozen in place as he snaps it on my neck, roughly adjusting it to sit exactly as it should. I don’t want to be responsible for something of this value, and I’m certain Lucille will punish me simply for having it touch my worthless skin. But I murmur an appropriately grateful response, so he backs up and eyes me again. “Birdbrain, put the earrings on her. I can’t stand being that close to failure long enough to deal with it.”

My only ally in the room comes closer, attaching the matching earrings to my lobes gently, and I give her a terrified look that she reflects at me. Something about this stinks of a set-up, but neither of us will get me out of it.

The doorbell peels, and Bruiser grunts, snapping the case shut. Matilda scurries to the door, clearly hoping that it’s my escape route.

If everything goes well tonight, maybe it will be.