Page 12 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)

The light is fucking bright when I open my eyes. It takes me a minute to realize I’m fully shifted and curled around a body, and I growl in frustration. Lifting a big paw, I rub it over my face in irritation and suddenly, everything comes back.

Holy fuck… we mated.

I look down, blinking big yellow eyes as I note my beloved bunny is not a tiny little rabbit as I would have expected from the full mating shift. She’s tucked in a small ball, but Dolly is covered in the soft white fur of her bunny in a humanoid form. It’s almost like she’s only half-shifted, but from the big feet, cottontail, long ears and tiny pink nose… I know that’s not true.

Since I’m not one of the three kings, I can’t speak when I like this, so I push through the tiger until I’m a naked dude again. My hand reaches out to stroke her angora fur, chuckling when it comes back coated with some sort of sparkle. “What the actual hell , Baby Girl? What are you and how do we keep you safe?”

Her soft groan gets my attention and my eyes slide up to her face, trying not to preen at the fang marks gracing her neck. They’ll heal slightly… enough to leave perfectly shaped scars to tell everyone who she belongs to. I watch as she stretches her limbs, slowly figuring out that she’s not shaped like her normal self. Red eyes pop open to look at me with a shocked expression and I shrug.

“Fitz, what the fuck did we do?” I arch a brow at her and her bunny nose scrunches up even more adorably than her normal nose, delighting me. She huffs, rolling her eyes to the sky then back at me. “I meant why am I not a tiny flop-eared bunny in full shift instead of… this?”

“Hell if I know, Baby Girl.” I think back for a second, furrowing my brow as it occurs to me this might have been predictable. “You know, Felix said you never fully shifted once in class the first year. He thought it was because you were afraid to become a small bunny that gave them a target. You always fight in the Games half-shifted. Have you ever done the full monte besides the one time after the prom?”

She frowns, her fangs chewing on her lower lip as she thinks. My dick perks up, liking her cute faces and sharp teeth. In fact, Captain One-Eye pretty much loves her and Chessie no matter how their bodies are shaped at any given moment, so I’m not surprised. A light smack on my chest brings me out of my head and I look at her. “What? ”

“Did you just call your dick Captain One-Eye?” She’s trying not to laugh, but I shrug. I have zero shame when it comes to my equipment. “Wait… how did I hear that?”

My face lights up in excitement as it comes to me. “Holy shit! We’ve got the ‘ooh-wee-ooh’ spooky shit going on. You can hear my thoughts like I can Felix if I want or the Flying Fruitcakes can! I thought it was only you could talk to us .”

Dolly’s eyes widen and she scrunches her face again as if concentrating hard. Suddenly, there’s a loud shout of ‘hello’ in my brain and I burst out laughing. My new mate gives me a look that could gut a trout, but I can’t stop snickering at her overcompensation.

“Baby Girl, you don’t have to clench and shout. You can… just think in a normal voice. At least, I do with Felix,” I finally manage to say when the laughter fades.

‘Don’t make fun of me,” she pouts. “I don’t know how the hell this shit works. Not that it’s surprising, because I don’t know how anything about me works or where it came from. I’m a fucking mystery even to other shifters and mythicals.”

I snort, pulling her into my arms and breathing in the scent of her hair. “Who cares? I mean, I know you want to know and that’s cool. But honestly none of us would care if you were descended from a damn Swamp Monster. I’d learn to love being slimy.”

Her expression softens and the bunny attributes melt from her face and body until she’s normal naked Dolly again. “People do not give you enough credit, Fitz Khan.”

Laughing, I wink at her. “Why would I need credit? I’m an heir to the throne of Death Island. I’m set for life.”

“ Ex- heir, to be fair,” she teases. “Just like I’m the ex -heir to the Drew shit.”

Only if her dickhead mother and father did all the complex paperwork after she emerged and only if they made sure to have her sign it. Since she was an adult, they would have needed that and now that she brings it up, if they didn’t, there’s a new layer of danger added to her plate. Her mother killing off the idiot croc means everything from both sides of her family and her parents assets could pass to her.

That’s absolutely fucking terrible news and I refuse to mention it until I talk to Smarty Salamander.

“We should probably go inside and clean up.” I smile down at her, kissing her lips softly before I continue. “We have to share the news, plus getting all the grass off our asses before your friends arrive might be a good plan.”

Her eyes widen as she looks around. “Damnit, Fitz! We’re also in the middle of the damn courtyard and anyone on Earth could see.”

I shrug, but her face turns bright red. “Don’t worry. If I find out someone saw us, I’ll pluck their eyes out and make you new jars.”

“Ooh. I haven’t gotten any surprise gifts from you in a while,” she says as she stands up. Her hand comes out and she tugs me to my feet with a surprising ease.

“People keep dying before I can enact my vengeance.” My grumble makes her giggle. “It's not satisfying when they’re dead.”

“You are a crazy bastard, Fitz… but you’re my crazy bastard,” Dolly says as she steps close to me and looks into my eyes. “I love every single bit of it… and you.”

This might just be the best motherfucking day ever, and I didn’t even have to kill someone.

Every eye in the room is on us as we walk in—probably because I’m starkers and thanks to her necklace, Baby Girl is clothed again.

That reminds me that I’m going to kick the moper’s ass for not sharing whatever that gem is with the rest of us.

“ Have fun, I assume?” Chessie calls from the kitchen.

I can imagine the face he’s making while he works on something that smells fucking amazing. “About that…”

Before I can admit it, Dolly bounces into the middle of the room. “Fitz and I mated; isn’t that great?”

Wincing, I look around, waiting for all the alphas to lose their shit. Instead, my twin comes up and claps me on the back, grinning broadly. “That’s fantastic, bro.”

Huh?

Chess comes out with a big plate of cheesy, greasy deliciousness, handing it to our girl with a broad smile. “I’m so happy for you both.” Once she takes the food, plopping on the couch to dig in, he turns to me, cupping my face. “Truly, love.”

Dolly points at me as she mumbles through a mouthful of food. “I fink he fought you all were goin to be mah.”

I blink, tilting my head until Ren translates. “She said he thinks you thought we’d be mad. Judging from the look on your face, I’d say she’s right. Mais, mon ami , you couldn’t be more wrong. It’s joyous news.”

“It is?” I frown then shake my head. “I mean, I know it is, but why is it for you ?”

Aubrey comes out of the kitchen with a scotch, shrugging. “Because if she’s ready with you, she’ll be ready for us eventually. Don’t be dense.”

Ohhhhh.

“I get it now,” I say as I put my arm around my cheetah. He looks down pointedly and I realize I’m still flapping in the breeze. Moving behind the counter until I rectify that, I continue. “And you’ve all been busy here. The Captain is scary in his efficiency sometimes.”

Felix rolls his eyes, but he comes over to sit at the other end of the huge piece of furniture. “Well, a bunch of money helps, too. But not having this room look like an eighty year old woman threw up in it is worth every penny. If they can get the other rooms done as quickly, we’ll be set within the week.”

“That would be great,” Dolly says as she pauses eating then looks at us in confusion. “Is this ravenous feeling part of the bond thing? I think it is because I really feel like I could eat a water buffalo. I don’t know if this will be enough.”

Chess jumps up, bolting for the kitchen to join me. “Don’t worry, Angel. I’ll whip up some more stuff for you.”

I smile fondly then look at her. “See? I told you it didn’t matter what you needed or how you shift, Baby Girl.”

“How does she shift?” Ren says as he drapes over a chair. “What do you mean by that?”

My grin widens. “I forgot to tell you. Baby Girl’s full shift is like… a sexy sparkly bunny girl, not a teeny rabbit. She didn’t even know, either.”

Her face turns red again and she hides behind her long rainbow hair. “He’s right; I didn’t. The only time I ever shifted all the way was the night Todd and I…”

A chorus of growls fills the room and I chuckle. “Best move on from that subject, love.”

Rolling her eyes, Dolly continues, “Well, it was dangerous because a bunch of people I trusted almost ate me. So I decided I wasn’t going to do it again, especially not at Apex. It was easier to half-shift and I was stronger in that form. I didn’t worry about it, really. ”

The gargoyle tilts his head, studying her for a moment. “Did your magic react to the mating?”

Now it’s my turn to look sheepish. “I don’t know about her, but something pretty big smacked into me and I was out like a light. I woke up next to her as a tiger, then I figured out she was a hottie bunny girl. I don’t have a fucking clue what happened in between.”

“He’s right,” Dolly says as she munches on another cheesy delight. “I woke up after Fitzy and was just as surprised. Welcome to my crazy life, as usual.”

“That means we’ll have to add it to the boards when they come in,” Chess says. “Maybe you can search for alpha females with odd shifts, Aubrey?”

No one even reacts to the news that our girl doesn’t shift like a normal pred or prey—we’re becoming jaded as fuck about the weird shit that surrounds Dolly.

The dragon sighs, sipping his scotch slowly. “I can add it to the list, but you should be aware it’s already unmanageable. I don’t know how we’ll be able to look into all of this while avoiding killers and poison, teaching, and the rest of it.”

“Oh!” Everyone looks at me and I shrug. “I’m a tool for not thinking of it before. We need to… branch out. There’s too much for us to do alone and we need help that won’t question why we’re looking right?”

Dolly tilts her head and I see her trying to gauge why I’m asking. “We do, Fitzy. What’s your idea?”

“I have the least teaching shit in the room. I have the time to code a… gamified version of a scavenger hunt. I’ll spread it through the nerd world of coders and shit, baiting them into doing some of this fucking legwork for us by tying it to some big mysterious prize they could win.”

Felix scoffs as he shakes his head. “That will never work, Fitz. None of your nerdy hackers will ever fall for it. These are smart people.”

“So smart they’re dumb, bro. Trust me. If I make this a big fucking secret, with a big secret prize and put pride as a gamer or hacker or whatever on the line? They’ll bite big time.” I grin as my girl looks proud. “And it might not get us the really juicy shit, but at least it could rule out some of the silly things.”

“That’s… actually kind of genius,” Aubrey says begrudgingly. “You should do it, Fitz,”

I’m such a badass motherfucker that even the grumpy ass dragon had to call me smart—rock on, Fitz Khan.