Page 35 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)

“Back the fuck off, O’ Leary! You’re done. Tap out.”

The wolf refuses, struggling beneath me with her jaws snapping futilely. Scrimmages are always drawn from a hat at practice and just my luck, the pain in my ass chick got me today. I know it wasn’t rigged; Coach Z almost re-assigned us until I shook my head at her. People can’t show favoritism to me, even if they want to, because it will get around like wildfire. No one notices the professors doing the exact opposite , but they’ll put favor on social media like it’s going to buy them a new beach house.

Weak. Willed. Sycophants. Are. Fucking. Exhausting.

I sigh in irritation as I lock my thighs more tightly around her ribs, hoping to crack a few so she has to tap out. Not being able to breathe should do it, right? I’d think so, but I can’t guarantee I’d let a rival win even if I was struggling to breathe. I understand the sentiment; it’s about pride and stubbornness. But this chick is pushing the concept pretty far just to spite me and I won’t look any better if I unleash on her in practice. It’s totally deserved, but I’ll end up the villain.

“I said , tap out, you fucking dumbass,” I growl low. I hear booing from the stands and I roll my eyes.

To combat my friends and watchers, the damn lupine idiot has invited all her doggy friends to heckle me. Again, Zhenga was going to give them the boot, but I intervened. I don’t need to close myself off to the assholes who are harassing me publicly to give myself a safe space. I have one amongst my family and friends as it is, and I’m not afraid to face these dipshits in a fair fight. O’ Leary can’t say that; she ducks and runs anytime we’re not in the ring.

Felicia O ’ Leary is hiding behind bigger dogs while she works her nasty bullshit and that’s not going to save her.

I vaguely hear Rufus and Cori shouting as I continue to put pressure on the girl, focusing on exactly how much I’m exerting so I don’t get myself benched. She flails, then snaps, catching my arm in one of her jaws. The resulting bite hurts like a bitch and I snarl in pain, pulling my fist back and slamming it into her face until she finally goes limp. Panting, I relax my grip as I lean back and work to get control of the raging bunny monster inside of me. She’s furious and she’d absolutely enjoy tearing this stupid fleabag into tiny shreds, but I can’t. My veins hum with the weird power as I breathe, ignoring the shouts of people rushing over to our practice ring,

“You should have just fucking given up,” I mutter absently .

Since I still don’t know exactly how the blue lightning magic shit works, I had to be very careful. I know what the ramp up to its appearance feels like and that’s how I’m working to keep it under wraps. This was really goddamn close, mostly because the idiot trash talked about everyone in my life prior to fully shifting. She’s not an alpha, so luckily, she couldn’t continue afterward. However, the initial effort did the job of getting me amped enough to have to plead with pieces of me that want her blood in retribution for this fucking bloody mark on my arm.

Zhenga gets to us first, shaking her head in irritation as the medic team joins her. “The spring is scrimmage and ‘for show’ matches. Why the hell is this girl going so hard in practice?”

I shrug, not wanting to admit I know why in front of the crowd of her acolytes and trying to keep my friends from getting to me. One of the mutts shoves Coco hard and she stumbles, falling back to her butt on the ground. I’m up like a flash, in the asshole’s face with red eyes and a hunger for his death before I know it. “Watch what the fuck you’re doing, assface.”

Rufus appears at my side within seconds, shifted and looking like one of the hulking Messengers in his half-form. He’s flashing his teeth as well, and before I can turn to tell him I have it, the roar of the lion stops everyone in their tracks. All eyes go to look at the display behind me, and I turn slowly to see what they’re gaping at.

Zhenga is huge in her full lioness form, bigger than I remember from my pre-admission trip to Apex when I saw her and that bear fighting Felix. Her eyes are blazing with gold and amber fury as she prowls over to the two sides lined up on either side of my bestie. Cori is still on the ground, rubbing her ass grouchily as she waits for the fervor to die down. She’s going to be waiting a bit, though, because Coach Z stalking into the mix with the Giselle of her animal radiating alpha vibes has the non-alphas frozen.

“I want everyone to move the fuck back now! ” she roars and people scramble like puppets .

I feel the push in her tone, but it doesn’t have the power to force me. I stay close to Coco, as does Rufus, and once the rest of the team and lookie-loos are dispersed, I get the nod. Reaching my hand down to our friend, I help the bear right herself. Ru-Ru starts checking her for injuries, but she swats him away, her face bright red with embarrassment.

“Stahhhhhhp,” she mutters as she brushes the grass off herself. “I’m okay. I’ll be bruised in body and spirit, but otherwise, it’s fine.”

The enraged lioness lets out another bone-chilling sound of anger, pushing the people back one more time. “There will be no violence against non-competitors in my practices, nor any scene like this again on my field. If anyone at this fucking school attempts to attack people when I am in charge, I will show them why I was a World Champion in the Pred Games. Is that understood?”

A chorus of assent comes from everyone in attendance and I look at the pack who made trouble, hoping to memorize their faces. I want to know who every single one of these fuckers is and who they’re attached to. The act of bum-rushing the field wasn’t about my friend and I need to know who we should watch.

Because they were without a doubt coming for me.

“Now get the fuck off my pitch and leave my players to cool down!”

Everyone but Rufus, Cori, and I scrambles, heading for the stands to grab their shit almost fast enough to leave fiery tracks in their wake. I chuckle, the tension seeping from my body as Cori continues to seem okay and Coach Z puts the fear of Sekhmet into those losers. Turning to look at the mess on the ground that I actually caused, I see the medics loading up Felicia on a stretcher.

“Well, shit,” I grumble. “I knew she was going to make me hurt her. ”

Zhenga’s half-shift is so smooth I don’t know it’s coming until she moves from four-legged jungle cat to two-legged humanoid shifter. She snorts and shakes her head ruefully. “You did what you could to avoid it, Dolly. I was watching, but as you kept signaling, I didn’t intervene.”

“I appreciate it. I can’t have anyone see me being ‘saved,’ or we’ll be fighting off random sneak attacks for the rest of the semester. This place has way too many places to hide for that,” I reply as I shrug.

“Yeah, Dollypop, but there are going to be consequences for this shit beyond Coco’s bruised hiney. You know that.”

Giving Rufus a helpless shrug, I sigh. “What else was I going to do, Ru-Ru? The mangey bitch bit me and broke the skin . Do you know what’s going to happen when I get home? Like, seriously.”

Cori giggles, the first sign that she’s not fudging her claim of being fine. “Man, your crazy ass mate is going to lose his fucking mind . That’s before the others see it. L’Academie is going to bleed tonight if you can’t get them under control.”

My coach blinks, then starts laughing—hard. Before long, she’s clutching her sides and wiping tears from her face as the three of us watch her in confusion. Zhenga slaps her thigh, looking every bit as silly as one would imagine in her furry, fanged, and tailed form losing her shit. I glance at Cori and Rufus, unsure what to say or do. She finally catches her breath, shaking her body as if to rid it of the amusement so she can focus.

“You young’uns have no idea how many times women tried to get any of those fuckers to give a shit about them over the decades I’ve been here. It’s absolutely disgraceful, despite most of them not engaging in the slightest, and now this. I mean, all fucking five of those assholes are going to go on a goddamn rampage over a fair bite from a match… it’s… I can’t explain how sad and funny it is.”

My confusion melts to empathy quickly because I know Zhenga was one of the poor saps who tried to get Felix to pay attention to her by hook or by crook. She’s laughing at the irony, but also at her own stupidity, and that’s to keep from feeling like shit. “Coach… I mean, Zhenga. It’s not like I had any idea that?—”

“Oh, don’t apologize, Dolly. It’s not like any of us were blind. Fitz was a player and Felix used sex for rage relief. The other three barely spoke to people, so they were even more off limits.” The lioness wipes her face and gives me a sad smile. “No one had a chance, but they were the best options in a place with very few palatable ones. I haven’t been interested in the Raj since I found out about the mates thing and we talked about that. It’s just… so damned pathetic and humorous at the same time.”

Rufus takes pity on her and tsks. “You were wasting that bod, Coach. You’re made for sin and death like my bestie bunny, but differently. Who gives a fuck if your family is a bunch of crusty old misogynists? Do what you want, do it loudly, and rep it proudly. No one should get to decide who people love. I fought my way to the top of my hillbilly fuckhead relatives to earn my ability to do so. You can, too.”

“He’s right,” Cori says softly as she looks at us with oddly soft eyes. “I got the boot from the main family because of politics, but being a sexual pescatarian didn’t help. But I’m doing my thing, my way, and I’m going to teach those dicks a lesson, just like Dolly is. Together, we’re all going to flip our stupid families on their asses. You should, too.”

Zhenga tilts her head, smiling a little as she thinks about it. “You might be right. I’ve moved out of the pathetic ‘debase myself for their approval’ phase. Now I need to embrace the ‘fuck you and your bullshit’ phase like the badass I am.” Her expression is still amused as she looks at me. “Delores Diamond Drew, you’re a surprisingly good role model, even for me.”

I snort. “The hell I am. I’m still a mess of childhood trauma, hurt and betrayal, and fury at everyone who put me in the state I was in when you all first met me. I’m not someone to emulate in the fucking slightest. ”

Rufus walks over, grabbing my hands to spin me around for a moment before he grins. “Feel that whirlwind, girl? That’s what you did when you walked into our lives and I guarantee your men feel the same way. The breath of fresh air and the strength you seem to just dig deep until you find are just some of the shit we’re learning from you. Own it, Dolly. You deserve the credit.”

My face turns bright red and I have to turn away from them to pick up my shit at the outside of the ring before I get too overwrought. Being with these people who care about me has been a gift from day one, and the stark contrast from what I had with former friends is sobering. But I struggle with praise, even from the guys, and I’m having trouble processing it.

Maybe one day I won’t feel like such an imposter when people are nice, but it’s not today, damn it.