Page 23

We’ll Get Ahead Someday

Delores

I slept fitfully—mostly because being trapped in this caravan led by someone Aubrey and Ren hired last night makes my bunny extremely irritable.

We packed up hiking bags with the items we needed most and locked up our suitcases in a contracted vault room in a local bank.

That was Felix’s idea, and we had to scramble to get it done first thing when the place opened so we could meet the guides on time.

Once our civilized trappings were secured, we grabbed the food and weaponry supplies Aubrey ordered, then trudged to the edge of town.

When we arrive, I look around, scanning the area in my aviators to see the paths ahead.

It looks challenging, and I’m glad I ate a good breakfast, as the guys insisted.

I’m certainly in good enough shape to hike this now, but I wouldn’t have been when I started at Apex or even Cappie.

Felix, Fitz, and Coach Z have pushed me to excel for two years for the Games, but I’m reaping the benefits now.

This trek will be strenuous for all of us, especially the big guys, and they could easily fly if they chose.

They’ll mostly stay on the ground for me, and I will have to show my appreciation for that later.

“Princess, we gave you and Chess the lightest loads because your frames are built for speed rather than bulk. However, if you need help or a break, say something. We want to get to the rendezvous point quickly, but not at the expense of your health or safety.”

I salute the bossy tiger with a cheeky grin. “Sir, yes, Sir!”

He rolls his eyes and swats my ass as he heads over to talk to Chess.

I know Felix takes responsibility for all of us, and it’s a wonderful thing, but I’m sure as fuck not going to overexert or dehydrate myself on a mountain hiking path miles south of butt fuck Transylvania with some rando we just met.

I will absolutely tell them when I need shit out here, even if it makes my soul ache with frustration.

There’s a time and a place for being a brat just to tweak my stern Dom, and this isn’t one of them.

“Welcome, new friends,” a deep rumbling voice says in heavily accented English.

I turn to face the newcomer. My nose twitches briefly, identifying the guide as a brown bear, but his bulk isn’t that impressive.

Frowning at my assessment, I remind myself that others would definitely think this guy is built like a tank.

Though my gargoyle is lithe in his humanoid form, I know without a doubt that he’d dwarf the ursine shifter in his onyx form.

My scale must be drifting a bit off course as I get used to being in the company of the mythicals.

Felix smiles tightly, nodding at the man. “We followed the advice that will work for us, and I appreciate your candor with my friend last night. I believe we are ready to ascend now.”

The bear squints at him, adjusting his wide sport sunglasses as he looks at me. “You are certain the female can handle this journey? It will be difficult to simply turn back once we are far enough into it, plus your fee will increase with every failed attempt.”

“Don’t worry about Baby Girl,” Fitz says as he stands next to me with a puffed chest. “She’s got more in her than you can imagine.”

I sense the desire to murder our guide for even suggesting I’m not capable of hiking with him, but he’s holding back.

Felix had to have discussed what was acceptable and what wasn’t when I was getting ready.

Narrowing my eyes at the bear, I arch a brow and adopt my ‘Lucille’ persona.

“I wouldn’t be questioning my fitness, Ursa.

You’re the one still working off your hibernation bulk, it seems.”

Inwardly, I cringe. I would prefer not to suggest anything about his body because it’s bullshit, but since I have next to nothing to work with, my scathing retort had to be bear-focused.

That was the best I could come up with on short notice, so I’ll have to make amends to the universe for my transgression later.

Maybe I’ll send clothes to a charity or…

“Ha! Look at her. She smells like prey and cannot keep her attention on me even to insult me.”

His snarky words awaken the bunny and the blue sparkling power inside of me within a second and before I know it, I’m gripping the large man by the neck as he struggles wildly.

Toes barely dangling off the ground as I lift him just enough to be terrifying, I snarl in a low, deep tone I don’t recognize. “Watch. Your. Mouth. Yogi.”

The guide gapes at me, his arms flailing as he gasps for air.

The surge of power in my veins makes me squeeze tighter and I watch his face go from red to purple to blue with a gut-deep satisfaction that feeds the fury.

A light tap on my shoulder makes me whirl around with another growl, but I see Fitz grinning at me proudly, and it stops.

“This is hot as fuck and I’d love to go to Poundtown right here, Baby Girl, but… Big bro says we can’t kill the best shifter guide in the area because he’s a dick. At least, not until we get where we’re going.”

His voice breaks through the primal instinct, and I turn back to the stupid bear. “Never let me catch you talking about me again or I’ll rip your lips off and feed them to the first taker.”

Head bobbling in agreement, the bear chokes as I finally release my grip fractionally and I sneer at him to make a point before letting go so he drops to the ground like a sack of flour.

When I spin around, every single one of my men is eyeing me like a flank steak, and as much as I’d love to indulge in that game, we have to go.

“No time for fun, boys. We have to get moving, so we get to the spot before our special emissary does.”

If we’re lucky, whatever just happened to me won’t come back again if the guide or anyone decides to fuck with me—because I don’t have a clue why or how it manifested.

The hike into the mountains is not for beginners, and I get why the guide was worried about whether I could handle it.

Signs of civilization have gotten fewer and farther between as we ascend, and the flora and fauna increased exponentially with every degree of altitude.

Each predator I see is a potential shifter, but between the six of us, we’ve been able to silently communicate concerns as we make our way to the coordinates Rennie received.

I found out the guide who almost died has a name—Marius—but I haven’t used it.

Not speaking to the misogynistic dickwaffle is for the best; I’d rather not re-awaken that part of me unless I’m in a safe place.

Not because I give a damn if I kill a shithead like that, but because I can’t allow anyone to witness the blue, possibly Fae magic and live to tell the tale.

“Have more water,” Fitz grunts as he hands me a canteen. “You look a bit pale, Baby Girl.”

I snort, rolling my eyes. “Fitzy, we’ve been locked up for the winter in a French school where I barely get time to go outside. Of course I’m pale; I’m always pale right now. That’s why I put on a bunch of sunscreen before we left. I should get a nice base color by the end of the day.”

He wrinkles his nose, looking at me critically. “This is the first summer I get to be around you twenty-four-seven, so I guess I didn’t notice. I’m surprised you don’t burn to a crisp now that you mention it. You are pretty light-skinned, my sexy little bunny rabbit.”

Rolling my eyes, I reach over to sock him in the arm. “We can’t all be that gorgeously bronze color you three kitty cats from the jungle are year round, babe. Rennie is paler than me, you know.”

The tiger looks up to the sky where the two giant mythicals are scouting ahead a bit as they stretch their wings.

“Ah, but the big man is from the same continent. He gets a lovely shade of bronze when we can bait him out of his stacks into the light. I suppose that means, as usual, you fall right in the middle of our divide, hmm?”

“Almost like it was Fate to stick me right in the middle of you miscreants,” I reply with a grin.

Putting my hand up to my forehead, I look up at my two flying mates, wishing I could soar for a bit with Aubrey, but they aren’t fully shifted.

He could definitely hold my weight, but that would be a bigger draw on his reserves and we still have a half day’s walk to go before we find our destination.

Fitz chuckles as he meets my gaze. “I know. I’d love to be up there, too, but that’s reserved for extreme needs. Felix says Aubrey can’t waste the energy unless someone is really hurt or struggling. He’s probably right—big bro often is about that shit—so I’m reserving my complaints for later on.”

“How very kind of you,” I reply drolly and my crazy tiger shrugs.

“I guess it makes sense that we keep anything that sucks up a lot of energy and stamina for emergencies, so we don’t end up having to stop too often.

Since we didn’t fly, we lost a decent amount of time on the land journey and we have no idea how stubborn these stupid gargoyles will be.

We could be here for weeks trying to pry shit out of them. ”

“I always thought that even though the Spicy Salamander and EmoBatman got exiled, their parents did it because of… like, traditions they couldn’t fight, you know?

Somehow, I made that less shitty than our father and his blood-soaked bullshit because neither of them talked about it.

But… now that they are talking a little? ”

I tilt my head, interested in where he’s going with this philosophical conversation. “Now that they’re not quiet, what’s changed?”

Chess huffs as he catches up, looking between us with a frown. “You look very serious. What’s the topic?”

“The winged weenies,” Fitz says, then turns back to me.

“I was searching for the words, but all I can come up with is that it’s bullshit.

Like, the Raj is a fucking sociopath and a sadist—of course he did the shit he did so Felix couldn’t gain the throne and make shit better.

Someone probably ratted on us and figuring out who told our asshole cousins is pretty high on my ‘there will be blood’ lists.

But their parents had choices because, as far as I know, they aren’t like him.

They could have left with him, they could have changed laws, they could have told the world to go fuck itself… but they chose the cowardly way out.”

“It’s disappointing, for sure.” I look up again, frowning with the sadness at the young royals they were. “Aubrey was especially young and left to figure out the entire world on his own. I dislike his clash more than Rennie’s, I think.”

“Yeah, I’m not eager to visit wherever they’re living now,” Chessie says with a sigh.

“Dragons are notorious for being in hard to reach places, meaner than rabid animals with intruders, and they hold grudges worse than any other species. Even if they don’t tell Aubrey to fuck off, it will be much worse than this trek. ”

Wiping my brow with the bandana from my pocket, I groan. “That’s the second reason I want to avoid them at all costs, I suppose.”

“What’s the first?” Fitz grins at me, looking smug. “Afraid of giant piles of dragon shit? ‘Cause I sort of am.”

Nope—I’m afraid I might get myself arrested when I get my goddamn hands on the people who sent an underage mythical off to die on his own for a childish mistake.

But I just wink at my mate playfully. “That’s for me to know and you guys to find out later. Come on, guys. Let’s catch up to Felix and that asshole before someone makes a comment I can’t ignore.”