Page 52 of Eat. Prey. Love. (Apex Academy Capers #5)

The morning light seeps through the windows of my library and I grunt in irritation. It’s Monday—back to the grind after spring break and the world of academia feels particularly burdensome today. I stretch my limbs, each one popping in protest, as I sit at my massive desk and get ready for the day. The digital chime from my phone is insistent, so with a groan that rumbles deep from within my chest—a dragon’s growl muted by human form—I reach for the device. I fucking hate this thing as much as I love its usefulness.

Dragons are complicated.

My screen lights up with a flurry of notifications, but two school-wide emails leap out at me.Their subject lines glare like a pair of eyes I’d rather not meet so soon after breakfast. The first proclaims ‘an enhanced plagiarism policy’, and the second heralds the arrival of ‘new tech’ to sniff out academic dishonesty. I can almost hear the hackles on my neck raise as I consider why this is happening here and now.

“New tech, my scaly ass. Fitz didn’t install shit, so this was implemented without the actual IT depertment,” I mutter under my breath as my dragon snorts in derision. He doesn’t like this kind of shit anymore than I do because we’re creatures of old magic and ancient knowledge. Technology always seems to bristle against our scales. A sense of unease coils in my gut; this initiative isn’t just about maintaining integrity in essays and term papers.

There’s a whiff of something else in the air—something foul and intended to cause maximum damage.,

My nails tap against the screen of my DiePhone as I fire off a group text to Chess, Rennie, Felix, and Fitz. I don’t include our girl yet because right now, I have nothing but suspicion and no evidence. She needs to be able to focus on her classes to finish out this year strong.

LustyLibrarian: Did you see the emails?

I wait for responses, knowing some of our family don’t look at their phones often. Felix, the cool-headed strategist, will be plotting three steps ahead. Rennie will share my concern about the true intent behind these emails. Chess, ever the organizer, will be raring to add these things to our boards so we can get our steps in place. And Fitz... well, Fitz isn’t likely to have read the messages due to the disdain he reserves for most of the administration. Once he does, he’ll be ready to seperate spines if it affects our mate.

My scales itch beneath my skin, a sure sign that my dragon is agitated. I know I can’t stop whatever this shit is leading up to, but he reminds me that I can absolutely destroy whomever is involved with very little effort. That’s the kind of response I try to avoid, so I sit my DiePhone on the desk, taking a deep breath as I locate one of my squishies. All I need to do is keep my temper from flaring and then we can handle whatever is going to happen.

“Bring it on, assholes. I’m ready,” I growl to myself.

My phone finally buzzes again after a half hour of excruciating waiting. It’s odd for the others to take so long, but they must have been in their own classes or absorbed in some scheme.

CSpot: I don’t like this one bit.

TigerWoody: I had nothing to do with this shit. I need to do a full system scan to figure out what the fuck they installed. There are a lot of bullshit programs out there and some of them are going to give false positives that will impact a lot of students.

TigerKing: This is definitely a problem.

EmoBatman: I believe we have discovered why the Aung woman returned to campus.

LustyLibrarian: I’m going to find bite size. The more I stay here and wait for the shoe to drop, the more anxious my dragon becomes.

TigerWoody: Tell us when you have Baby Girl, Saucy Skink. I can’t focus when I worry about her—and we all know what happens when I get antsy.

Getting up, I head for the back exit of our suite with a sense of urgency that has my heart thundering in my chest. Dolly should be in the Shirdal Arts building for her dance class, so as soon as I clear the doors, I head in that direction. I’m too close to the edge to half-shift and fly, which would be faster, so I speed up my stride.

Yanking the gilded doors open, I stomp into the fancy ass foyer of the building and sneer at the ridiculously overdone bronze of an eagle swooping down to grasp a raccoon. It occurs to me that Rennie’s prey friends have to pass this eyesore daily and it makes me want to smash it. But I don’t have time today because Dolly’s in here somewhere. I look at the directory on the wall, then head down the hallway to the right. She’ll be amongst the flurry of dancers and the echo of pointe shoes against hardwood floors, so I poke my head in every single studio door.

She should be here—except she’s not.

My gut clenches as I rush back into the atrium, spotting her unmistakable hair and leotard-clad form being escorted none too gently by two shifters dressed in security uniforms. Their smirks are as clear as day, and they exude a smugness that sets my scales to itching beneath my human facade. They have no idea that they’re risking their limbs by laying even a single digit on her—much less five—when Fitz finds out about this nonsense.

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath, quickening my pace until I’m almost jogging. Dolly’s posture is relaxed, head held high with that trademark defiance that runs in her blood. I whip out my phone, fingers flying over the keys with an unusual precision born of fury and fear. Farley, our girl’s honey badger lawyer with the reputation for being as tenacious as his animal namesake, needs to know about this yesterday.

LordDraconis: 911. Dolly’s being taken to Headmistress Midori’s office by school security. Looks serious and follows two emails about plagiarism and school policy on misconduct that came out of nowhere this a.m. Send your goons immediately.

The message flies through the digital ether, and the response is almost instantaneous.

CornbreadCounselor: Team is leaving now. Will crash the gates myself if I have to; I’m tired of this shit. Keep me posted.

The cryptic anger Dolly’s toxic mother expressed on the phone this weekend now makes a sick sort of sense. Whatever this is, it’s got the sticky fingerprints of someone powerful all over it and Lucille Drew fits the bill. But then… so do her ex-friends, the Khan cousin, the shitty counselor, the Irish Pred Games bitch, and a host of other enemies who have it out for our girl.

Dolly has too many hostiles gunning for her; we have to pare it down.

I pause long enough to send another rapid-fire text to the guys, wanting to ensure there are cooler heads than mine here as we wait for the badger couriers. My dragon is restless, wanting vengeance on the people who are hurting our mate. The bad part is that right now? I don’t want to stop him.

LustyLibrarian: Admin building. ASAP.

This is risky, but I’m teetering on the edge as I storm across the green behind the goons and our girl. Dolly may be calm, but inside, my dragon roars for battle. Fitz alone brings the wrath of a psychotic enforcer trained to kill his enemies without batting a lash and they’ve taken his mate. I’m not sure what will happen when his royally inclined brother, his other mate, and my romantic gargoyle get involved, but it’s likely going to get messy .

Muscles tense, I shove my way through a phalanx of security guards, their attempts to block me as effective as tissue paper against a torrent. The door swings open under the force of my push, almost flying off its hinges—a premonition of things to come. I barge into the administrative sanctum, my dragon nature clawing beneath my skin, demanding retribution, breathing silent threats of fire and destruction.

The office is a tableau of self-satisfied smirks and bureaucratic intimidation. Headmistress Midori, flanked by Asani Khan and Carina Rockland, who can barely contain their glee, turns her reptilian gaze on Dolly. My snack sized mate is perched on a chair in the center of the room, her expression a mask of nonchalance that mocks their authority. They’re all circling her like carrion birds confident in their kill, not just Rockland.

“Ms. Drew,” Midori Aung begins in a voice as brittle as ice shards, “the allegations against you are severe. This is no laughing matter.”

I glance at Dolly, smiling as she channels Lucille’s insufferable arrogance, and exudes an eerie calm. The Headmistress turns away from her, looking at me with an arched brow. “And what are you doing here, Mr. Draconis? This doesn’t involve you or your family, pathetic as they are.”

The serpent inside of me roars and I have to bite the inside of my mouth to keep my cool. My family has endured a lot of flack since my… childhood accident, but the Aungs are no saints, either. When I think I can respond without flaming the entire room, I open my mouth, but suddenly, the door flies open behind me.

Felix, Rennie, Fitz, and Chess burst in, ready to stand sentinel beside Dolly. Felix is blocking his twin from leaping into the fray without thinking, and oddly, Chess is doing his best to stand in front of an onyx-skinned, half-shifted gargoyle.

Perhaps I underestimated how unbalanced we might be now that two of us have completed the mating process.

“Headmistress Aung,” I cut in, hoping to stem the tide of protective fury from the others, “this student has legal counsel. Continuing this inquisition is a violation of her rights, especially since you have been informed of this on multiple occasions.”

Midori dismisses me with a wave, her yellow, snake eyes never leaving Dolly. “This is a school matter, not a legal battle. That is inconsequential.”

“Like hell it is,” Fitz growls, his voice a dangerous rumble. Felix stands in front of him like a living barricade, holding back his brother with a firm grip on his shoulder. “This is a bullshit con job pulled by those idiots next to you.”

The standoff is cut short by an almighty crash as the door, now completely unhinged, topples to the floor. Skelly and Monstro stride in, their intimidating presence commanding immediate attention. They radiate power and unyielding resolve as well fury, and they focus on the anaconda shifter commanding this kangaroo court.

“Enough!” Skelly roars. “You will cease this illegitimate interrogation immediately.”

Monstro steps forward, his eyes scanning the room as if marking targets. “We advise you to acquaint yourselves with the concept of due process before we educate you in a more... lasting manner.”

“Explain to me in explicit detail,” Skelly demands, fixing Midori with a stare that could turn lesser beings to stone, “what precisely are these baseless accusations about?”

Midori watches the two badgers carefully, then moves to her desk. “We recieved a signed statement from both Professor Khan—the one who isn’t exiled by his entire family—and his student, Amity LaPorte. Both families are of high standing with the Council, so as Headmistress, I sought out evidence of their claims. Once they were confirmed as true, I amended our school policy to address this issue and sent for the guilty party to adjudicate her punishment. You’ll find that I’ve documented that process meticulously. This is all above board.”

“Amity’s accusations are quite credible,” Asani declares, his sneer as sharp as the talons I keep hidden beneath my human facade. “She claims Miss Drew plagiarized what work she shared, then used AI tools to fabricate the rest when Amity refused to complete the entire project on her own. Based on my own observations in class, the work handed in, and the technology acquired by our gracious Headmistress, her story is true.”

I can’t help but snort, my breaths coming in puffs of smoke as the dragon within me flares its disdain. The very notion of our girl cheating at school reeks of desperation, but it also reeks of a lack of originality. This is a scheme her ex-best friends tried at Apex—unsuccessfully—and we squashed it like a roach before Dolly had Farley and his team on retainer. Only two washed up pretenders would re-use a failed plot to ensnare their prey again.

And I’m looking at them right now.

Rockland chimes in, nodding her head with an eagerness that sends her messy topknot bobbing grotesquely. “Absolutely,” she crows, “as a best selling author, I can spot AI-generated text a mile away. It’s high time we expelled the talentless hacks who resort to such trickery. They make the rest of us brilliant creatives look bad.”

Dolly, cool as the marble floors of this very institution, raises an eyebrow and examines Rockland with a critical eye. “One would think,” she says dryly, “that someone standing here accusing others of theft wouldn’t dare copy the person they are accusing so blatantly. But you’ve never been smart enough to know when to back off, have you, Carina?”

The room falls silent for a heartbeat as realization dawns on all of us. Rockland’s hair, once an unremarkable brunette shade, now sports a colorful array that’s a sad caricature of Dolly’s signature look. We were all so focused on saving our darling bunny that we didn’t even register the full-on makeover the woman must have given herself since the last time any of us saw her.

It’s almost too ironic to be believed—that woman trying to mimic the style of our whip smart, fashionable mate while she cries about being plagiarized.

Fitz can’t contain himself; his laughter erupts, filling the room like thunder. I join in the mockery, puffing out smoke rings that rise lazily towards the ceiling. Rennie’s lips curl into a sneer, Chess stifles his chuckles behind a hand, and Felix, with a predatory focus, skewers Rockland with his gaze.

“Just because you can legally copy a more talented artist doesn’t make you appear less pathetic than you do right now,” he says, the contempt dripping from each word. “You’re a joke and if you didn’t have duped cult members trailing along behind you, you would have been kicked to the curb long before now, Rockland.”

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness,” Dolly says, unfazed by the spectacle around her. She leans back in her chair, still the picture of poise in her ballet leotard and pointe shoes. “I suppose I should be grateful, but instead, I’m nauseated.”

Rennie nods in approval. “Well quoted, ma petite . Oscar Wilde is always a good choice.”

The administrators and professors bristle, their faces mottled with indignation as they attempt to compose themselves, but the damage is done. The absurdity of the situation is laid bare, and our unity is unshakable. Even Farley’s bruisers are waiting to see what will happen next.

I lean forward, my voice a low growl as I address the room. “You’ve all been duped by nothing more than schoolyard whispers and baseless accusations,” I say, locking eyes with the Headmistress, who recoils ever so slightly under my scrutiny. “Weak preds,” I practically spit out the words, “have conspired to sway your judgment with gossip and innuendo, akin to trolls spewing venom from behind the safety of their screens. ”

My dragon bristles beneath the surface, irked by the injustice of it all and I fight to calm him before I continue.

“Fitz,” I nod towards him, “has compiled a comprehensive digital and paper trail. It unequivocally proves that this paper is Dolly’s work. It is original and untainted by any artificial intelligence or theft of ideas. Miss Drew came up with the entire thing and composed it all herself because she had to. As for Amity La Porte? Much like these two grifters, she’s done nothing but ride on the coattails of others’ efforts for a long time. We have proof of that as well.”

Skelly, a hulking shadow of composure, steps up with his own brand of cold confidence. “Our boss is already en route with third-party authentication and techonological experts,” he informs them with a razor-sharp grin. “If you even think of taking action against our client without due process, the consequences will be... severe. Farley doesn’t play games. He’ll sue you into the Stone Age, make no mistake about that.”

There’s a collective intake of breath, and the tension ratchets up a notch. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Fitz clenching his fists, his hunger for retribution barely restrained. The rest of us share a silent agreement; we’re ready for whatever comes next.

“You will let her leave with us and back off,” Skelly demands, and they have no choice but to comply.

Dolly rises gracefully, flanked by our motley crew. “Thank you, gentlemen. As for you, Carina? You can shove your bottom of the bargain bin leftovers and your obsession with me straight up your ass. Once I get free of your stalker shit, I promise you… there will be nowhere you can hide and no one who can save you. You can take that to the bank.”

I grin as she takes my arm, proud of her for standing up to the abusive woman who is trying to control her. “You realize she’ll come for you even harder now, right, little bit? ”

Her lips curve up as she winks at me. “Big guy… I’m counting on it. The angrier she is, the more likely she’ll make bigger and bigger mistakes. When she does….”

“That’s when you have her.”

“Yep.”

This skirmish may be over, but the war has just begun.