Somebody’s Watching Me
Fitz
After I left the necklace on her windowsill this summer, the temptation was too great. If I hadn’t known where my baby girl lived, I might have been able to control myself more. Unfortunately, self-control has never been one of my marketable skills. So I spent the rest of the summer sneaking away to leave special gifts for her, so she’d know she has one ally when she arrives.
How did I know nothing changed? Easy… bribes.
The nerdy owls in the office adore Chess, and he used that to help me keep tabs on her admission file. I needed to make sure Delores Drew shows up for the campus move-in day today without having to ask her. We haven’t spoken since the prom, so I don’t know if she realizes the tiger who saved her sweet cheeks was me. I’d rather tell her that myself if she doesn’t, because I’ll have to smooth over my uncontrollable urge to stalk her all summer long when I do. Some women consider that a turnoff and I have to explain that it was to keep her safe.
She’ll get that, right?
Of course she will. The girl seemed pretty smart even if her previous taste in men was tragic. Plus, scores of women would give their dew claws to have the enforcer of the Khan ambush watching over them. Chess and I are catches, even in exile at this bullshit school. Once I figure out how to throw in the three grumpy ass kings, it will be even more impressive.
All I have to do is show them how fucking cool this chick is and we’ll have a cozy little polyamorous ambush that will make everyone in the universe seethe with jealousy. Even my asshole father will have to bow to our royal fuck nest… and I’m looking forward to that shit.
But she has to get here before I can enact my master plan. I’ve been waiting all morning in the clock tower, my eyes trained on the road leading up to Apex like I expect her to appear simply by sheer force of will. Renard bitched I was disrupting his broody perch time, but I don’t care. We let him stew out here like an emo singer all the time and no one bothers him. I need this vantage point today and if he isn’t vibing with my energy, he can fly off to wherever the hell he and the lizard boy go to eat.
Everything’s a state secret with those two—where they eat, what they eat, where they sleep.
You’d think they were drinking Elvis’ blood to stay fucking immortal or some shit. Whenever I try to get it out of the dragon, he grunts and belches fire. Our sentient pigeon roost is no more helpful—he lectures me about ‘boundaries’ and ‘privacy’ as if I give a furry mutt’s ass. We’re a group of misfits who banded together in the home of misfits; if we don’t look out for one another, no one will. And secrets fuck everything up without a doubt.
“Fitz, are you still drooling off the balcony? Come over here and look at the email I finally received from the Department of Health and Shifter Services. They got that idiot you tracked down to give a statement, as well as the other morons who spiked the punch. It was fucking peppermint schnapps, of all things, and no one has a clue why it kept the poison from killing everyone who drank it.” The dragon scratches his chin, picking up an old dusty book as thick as my forearm to flip through it.
My idea of hell, but whatever gets his flag waving, I suppose.
“We assume it was poison, but couldn’t it just as easily have been venom, man? I’ve known some shifter chicks in my time who threatened to take fangs to my cock and their juice would have done serious damage.” I shudder, then hold up a finger. “Pro tip: Never piss off a pit of gorgons by sleeping with their sisters.”
Aubrey turns his head so slowly you’d think he was Linda Blair and his expression is horrified. “You betrayed fucking gorgons? Multiple? And lived?”
I shrug, winking at him. “I convinced them another round of my disco stick was worth forgoing their vengeance. The longest week of my life, man. Those chicks have stamina .”
He puts his hands over his face, drawing in a deep breath and blowing it out as if I’m the most trying thing this side of a hangnail. The dragon opens his mouth like he’s going to speak, then shakes his head and goes back to the tome in his lap.
I don’t see why my explanation was so irksome—it was one hundred percent true.
“Crazy snake haired women aside, man, I wish you’d come out to see Baby Girl this summer. All of you douches, even Chessie, refused to join me and when she shows up today, you’re going to regret being so damn stubborn.” I sigh, imagining her sleeping in that ridiculously pink princess room her mother probably decorated. It looked like someone spilled Pepto all over it, but she ignored the assault on good taste with aplomb.
Aubrey looks up at me with a reproachful glare. “None of us felt it was appropriate to borderline stalk an incoming student , Fitz.”
“Definitely not borderline. I’m owning that shit and I’ll even tell her. I’m positive my baby girl will understand.” Whistling under my breath, I walk back to the railing of the gargoyle’s perch, itching to see her arrive.
Suddenly, I hear the roar of her slick as fuck old school Mustang coming to the gates. I’d watched as one of her pseudo-friends helped her soup the engine up one afternoon and I’d know that purr anywhere. I had to find a better spot to ogle her from because seeing her bent over the hood in those tiny shorts made it impossible not to stroke my crankshaft, if you know what I mean. As she gets closer, I hear the sounds of 80s rock blasting from the open windows like a siren’s song.
Delores Drew is so fucking perfect it hurts my goddamned soul.
By the time I speed race down eight flights of shitty old stairs in the Tower and across the green to Admin, she’s disappeared. I should have shifted, but the dragon told me it was too much. Bullshit, because I’m much faster in tiger form . Now I have to track her down so I can lay eyes on her soft smile and kind eyes that feel like they hit me in the gut. Growling to myself, I pace the lot for a moment before I pull my phone out and text Chess.
TigerWoody: Where the fuck is her dorm?
CSpot: She’s in Gazelle. That’s where freshmen always are, Fitz.
TigerWoody: Don’t be so sour, baby. We’ve been waiting for this day.
CSpot: I’m not sour about her. We’ve been here a fucking decade and you still don’t know where anything is. It’s embarrassing, Fitz.
TigerWoody: When love blinds me, you’re my seeing eye cat, Chessie. See you at home.
CSpot: *grumble*
Tucking my phone away, I grin as I head to Gazelle. Lucky for me, it’s right next to the Leonidas gym where Felix’s office is located. That means I can peep out his window anytime I want to glimpse my baby girl walking through the common rooms and maybe even in her room! With that thought in mind, I pick up my pace as I pass the clock tower again, then veer left towards the dorm block.
Sneering at a few of the newbs as they enter, I chuckle when they give me a wide berth. I enjoy putting the fresh meat on edge and even though I’ll filet anyone who comes near baby girl, it’s in my nature to enforce the Darwinistic atmosphere here. The smaller preds have to learn to make their way in a world that is very much like the one at Apex or they won’t survive past graduation—if they make it that far.
“Out of the way,” I snarl at the mass of students gathered in front of the elevator like a herd of cattle. They stare at me like they’re stuck on stupid until I bare my fangs, then wisely clear a path just as the doors open with a ding. This shit is exactly what I mean—stronger shifters are using the stairs or, if they’re rich enough, their staff are. These kids are clumped like they’re holding still for a massacre and it’s going to get their asses beaten.
With a jaunty wave, I push the button to close the doors before anyone joins me. My phone buzzes right as I realize I don’t know what goddamn floor Delores is on and I smile when I see Chess has texted me her room info. I couldn’t love that cheetah more if I tried—he knows me almost as well as my twin. I hit six, pondering both the advantages and disadvantages of my girl being on the top floor.
It makes it easy to fortify, but hard to get out. Good thing we have a dragon.
I wrinkle my nose at that thought. That cranky fucker doesn’t let anyone ride him, but if Delores is in danger and he refuses, I’ll stab him right in his fiery ballsack. I don’t give a single fuck if he roasts my fur afterward—there are some things you have to take a stand on.
When I exit, I can feel the blood thrumming in my veins and my tiger pacing in anticipation of seeing her. That night at the club, she ruffled his fur, and he’s been a royal asshole about staying close to her ever since. If I hadn’t agreed, the summer would have been a shitshow of epic proportions because his insistence is part of why I left so many offerings at her window.
I wonder if she knows the fingers were from her ex-fuck boy?
A pungent odor slaps me in the face as I head down the hallway and when I get to the last suite, my excitement has faded to fury.
The door is open and Baby Girl is sitting just inside of it with her face buried in her palms as she growls softly. Her shoulders shake as the tiny sound increases from that baby snarl to a full-on scream of fury that makes my ears hurt. She lifts her hands and makes fists, pounding on the floor with her eyes closed as the howl of indignance continues. It’s all I can do to hold my cat back as I watch the pain and anger roil in front of me and fat tears run down her lovely features.
“ Who. The Fuck. Did. This! ” I roar as I take in the decimated dorm room full of shredded, piss-soaked uniforms, furniture, and surfaces. Claws pop free on my hands as I look around, noting that not one inch of the damn place isn’t completely fucked beyond repair.
Her eyes pop open and she scrambles backwards at first, putting distance between us until she recognizes me. Heaving a huge breath, she straightens her shoulders and wipes her face before she plasters on a fake smile. “Hey, Fitz. Sorry about the mess. And the screaming. It’s been kind of a day.”
Hell no.
Striding over to her, I hold my hand out, hauling her up and into my arms. It’s hard to push back my need to murder someone, but I can wait for revenge. Right now, what my baby girl needs is someone to let her get it out. No one can function if they tuck all their shit in a box and pretend—I should know, because it’s what I’ve been telling Felix for almost a decade.
Her arms go around me tentatively, and I sit my chin on her head. “Delores, don’t pretend around me. You don’t have to be anyone but who you are when I’m here. Got it?” A small nod and a sniffle are my answer, so I go on. “I don’t care if you scream the fucking roof down, but be real. Get that shit out so you don’t end up carrying a wound that will cripple you. No one here will show mercy if you have a sore spot.”
“Thanks,” she whispers hoarsely. “At home, letting people see they upset you leads to bad things. I’ve learned to lock it down.”
Boy, does that sound familiar.
“Yeah, that’s how it was at my home, too. Lucky for me, I had Chess and Felix to help me figure out how not to be an emotionless psycho.”
Delores lifts her head, and I’m delighted when she lets out a tinkling laugh. “Fitz, you left me severed fingers with a note that said ‘thinking of you’ written in sparkly purple marker.”
“See? Not emotionless.” I give her a proud grin.
That makes her smile again, and she pulls away, looking around the room with a frustrated sigh. “This is a nightmare. No flowers or air freshener in the world will cover up this stench.”
Frowning, I scratch my head. “Should I have bought you flowers? I have to admit, I’m a bit out of my depth with this whole courting shit.”
Her laugh erases my worry, and she shakes her head. “I can buy my own flowers, buddy. Don’t worry.”
I snort at the reference, liking the sass she’s picked up since we talked last. My eyes rake over her, taking in the short pleated skirt, ripped fishnets, baby doll tee, and tall combat boots. She doesn’t say anything as I look at the fruits of her visits to that tattoo parlor—multiple shiny earrings, a tiny silver nose stud, and a sparkling diamond Playboy bunny hanging from her belly button like a siren song.
I will not make it through this if she gets any hotter.
Pushing the image of her with her legs flipped over my shoulders as I feast out of my brain, I arch a brow at her. “What kind of girl are you, Delores Drew?”
“The kind who gets tingly when psychos leave me severed fingers with XOXO at the bottom.”
Her bravado falters for a moment, and I see the uncertainty cloud her features. That jackhole did a number on my girl and she’s obviously still healing. She’s covered herself in armor to force people to think she’s got a hard shell, but underneath, she’s still forming steel in her spine.
Not surprising given Aubrey, and I figured out the prom was right after her eighteenth birthday.
“Good. Because I promise you, I’ll do my best to figure out the boyfriend thing. I’m a quick learner,” I say with a playful wink.
Her brows furrow, and she looks away, glancing at the state of her dorm again. “I don’t know what it should look like, either, to be honest.”
I suspected the walking corpse was her first and only boyfriend, but her reaction now confirms it. That stupid motherfucker dated her, took her virginity, and dumped her on her goddamned prom night. The urge to find out if you can actually kill someone more than once pumps in my veins, but I don’t want to upset her again. If I find out the canine scent of piss in here belongs to him and his friends, I’m going to rip his cock off and shove it up his ass so he can truly go fuck himself.
But Delores doesn’t need to know that right now .
“Baby Girl, I give you my word: if your ex so much as sniffs in your direction, I’ll take the rest of his fucking fingers and let you feed them to the shark shifters.” I see the tiny shiver run through her and the scent of arousal floods my senses. How is a man supposed to keep his dick in his pants when she smells like fucking honeysuckle? “I’m coming for the idiots who trashed your room, too. I don’t care who it is—they’re going to suffer when I find them.”
Her expression tightens, and she waves a hand dismissively. “I know who did it. They’re Council heirs and it’s not worth the punishment they’d mete out for you to get involved. I’ll deal with this in my own way eventually, but it will take some planning.”
Blinking at the change in her attitude, I tilt my head to look at her again. Where she’d been at the edge of hysteria or shyness before, now she’s got a cool, calculated look on her face. Her back is straight and her shoulders are squared as if she’s preparing for battle—something I know a hell of a lot about. Being a Khan and Pred Games champion, I’d call this ‘game face’ and my gorgeous girl has it in spades as she glares at the mess. She needs to handle this problem herself or she won’t get closure.
“Okay, baby girl. You take care of the snooty heirs and I’ll hold off my baser instincts—for a while.” Her impish grin makes me happy, and I wave at the pile of shredded shit. “But first, we have to find you a place to stay because this shit reeks. You’re not sleeping here until it's clean and safe .”
That earns me a pointed look as she says, “Where exactly do you propose I go, Fitz? The owls in the office said the dorms are full when I asked if I could have a ground floor back corner instead of this bird’s nest.”
Smart, smart girl. She was planning escape routes.
As much as I’d like to throw her over my shoulder and take her home, I know Felix isn’t ready for a house guest this alluring. He’ll want her there eventually, but he’s not on the bus to Pound Town yet and I don’t want to piss him off. That only leaves…
I groan inwardly and rub my palm over my face. There’s plenty of room in the fucking Tower and she’d be a hell of a lot safer than in these stupid dorms with their flimsy doors and lack of cameras. The only problem is the Tower is the nesting place of the two grouchiest and solitary preds on the damn campus. They have rooms somewhere in the building, but neither of them will admit to their location. The rule is simply that no one is allowed on any floor except the top one and if you step one toe off the stairs elsewhere, it’s like Renard’s super spy tech gear sets off alarms.
He always knows, and last time, he threatened to drop me from the balcony.
“I think I have a place, but I need to make a call. Can you gather everything that’s salvageable you want to take, baby girl? I’m going to walk down the hall a little and plan.”
She looks unsure again as she chews her lip, but finally nods. “Okay, Fitz.”
I don’t know what deity decided I’m the one asshole Delores trusts in this shithole, but I refuse to let her down.