Rachel Vincent - Prey (MIRA)

Praise for the novels of New York Times bestselling author
R ACHEL V INCENT

Compelling and edgy, dark and evocative, Stray is a must read! I loved it from beginning to end.

New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter

I liked the character and loved the action. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

Her first-person perspective, dialogue, descriptions, and even her sound effects are phenomenal (I heard the noises, I swear it!). I think Vincent has a hit on her hands.

Romantic Reader at Heart

The second installment of Vincents urban fantasy series (after Stray ) features a well-thought-out vision of werecat social structure as well as a heroine who insists on carving her own path, even if it means breaking some of her societys most sacred taboos.

Library Journal on Rogue

****1/2 Vincents smart, sexy sequel to Stray continues in the same vein, but this story has more emotional resonance. Faythes as sassy as ever, and her first-person observations add greatly to the readers experience.

Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Rogue

Also by
R ACHEL V INCENT

STRAY

ROGUE

PRIDE

R ACHEL V INCENT

PREY

For Matrice, my editor, without whose amazing
suggestion this story would not exist in its
current form. Thanks for your patience, and for
nudging my creative compass back to true north.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks first of all to #1, who handled almost every single detail of our recent move, so I could finish the rough draft I was working on, as well as the line edits for Prey. Without you to keep track of the details, I would live in utter chaos.

Thanks to Elizabeth Mazer for all her hard work behind the scenes, to the MIRA art department for the amazing cover (my favorite so far!) and to the entire production staff, for turning my little story into an actual book.

Thanks to Miriam Kriss, who handles all the business so I can bury myself in other worlds. To Vicki Pettersson, who kept me accountable during the revisions. And to Jocelynn Drake, who lets me complain.

And thanks most of all to my critique partner, Rinda Elliot, for all the hours spent helping me sort this one out. You keep me working. You keep me writing. You keep me sane.

Contents

One

Y ou planning to get there sometime this century, Vic? I glanced at my watch, my foot tapping an anxious beat on the floorboard.

Victor Di Carlo shot me a long-suffering smile, then turned back to the road. Speed limits seventy-five, Faythe. Im doing eighty. But if you think you can get there faster on foot, be my guest.

But of course, I couldnt. Not even on four paws. A cheetah can run sixty-five miles an hour, but cant sustain that speed for long. And Im no cheetah. So I was stuck drumming my stubby nails on the passenger-seat armrest in Vics Suburban as it stubbornly maintained a speed I considered unacceptable.

Relax. Vic flicked on the left blinker, then moved the SUV smoothly out of the right lane to pass a lumbering semi. Well get there on schedule, and Marc will be waiting.

I nodded, locking and unlocking the passenger-side door until he glared at me. Sorry.

Jeez, Faythe, you act like you havent seen him in weeks, Ethan said, and I twisted in my seat to see him roll his eyes from the back row, his usual good-humored grin firmly in place. He was the youngest of my four brothersonly two years my elderand the one most likely to beat me up in training, then bring ice for my bruises. How long has it been?

I stared out my window at empty fields and winter-bare trees growing dim in the late-afternoon light. Nine weeks, tomorrow. A lot had happened since Marc had been exiled, and the most notable example lay sleeping in the seat behind me.

Manxs baby. Des. The two-week-old was fastened into a reclined, backward-facing car seat on the bench next to his mother. Who somehow managed to look disarmingly beautiful, even with drool trailing from her open mouth. Since the baby came, she caught her zs when she could. Whenever he was quiet. As did the rest of us.

It turns out sensitive cat hearing comes with a serious downside.

In the past two months, Manx had given birth, and Kacithe wild teenage tabby wed taken inhad mostly settled into life at the ranch, though so far shed refused to Shift. November had blown leaves from the trees, December had brought a rare Texas snowstorm, and the eighth day of January had crowned it all with an even less common and more beautiful layer of thick ice, which had yet to fully melt.

But I had not seen Marc. Not even once, in all those weeks.

Vic grinned at me for a moment before turning back to the traffic. And I suppose its the stimulating conversation you miss, right?

La-la-la! Ethan sang. He slouched in his seat and stuffed earbuds into his ears to block out the response he might not want to hear from his sister.

Right now, Id listen to anything he has to say, so long as I get to hear it in person. Sighing, I snatched a paper cup from the drink holder and downed the last of my 7-Eleven coffee. It was cold. As I dropped the cup into the trash can wedged between the seats, Vics cell phone rang. He leaned to the right and dug it from his left hip pocket, then flipped it open without swerving an inch. I probably would have put us in the ditch.

Hello?

Vic. It was my dad. We could all hear him perfectly well, except for Manx, who was now snoring delicately, if such a thing was possible. Your father came through for me. I wanted you to be the first to know.

Vics sigh was audible, and his face suddenly drained of tension I hadnt even realized it held. He smiled as the Suburban soared past another eighteen-wheeler. I never doubted it. But the relief in his eyes said otherwise. Hed been worried. We all had.

Springs squealed over the lineGreg Sanders leaning back in his desk chair. Hed probably called as soon as he got the news. Remind Faythe to deliver my message to your family, please, he said, and I rolled my eyes.

I know, Daddy.

My father chuckled. Drive carefully, and let me know when you get there.

Will do. Vic was still grinning like a clown when he hung up, and I doubted hed even heard what he was agreeing to. Fortunately, I had.

So, thats three now, right? I twisted in my seat to look at Ethan, whod turned off the music and was no longer feigning sleep.

The backseat groaned as he searched for a more comfortable position. Yeah. Uncle Rick and Ed Taylor. Whose daughters both owed their lives to our Pride. Id freed my cousin Abby after we were both kidnapped by a jungle stray intending to sell us as breeders, then wed caught and killed that same stray before he could snatch Carissa Taylor. Their fathers were understandably loyal to mine. And now Bert.

Umberto Di CarloVics dadwas one of my fathers oldest friends. Wed been counting on his support, but were far from sure wed get it. After all, politics could uproot entire family trees, to say nothing of friendships.

Nine weeks ago Id been acquitted barely of infecting my college boyfriend and then killing him in self-defense. On the last day of my trialthe day after Marc was exiledCalvin Malone had made a formal challenge to my fathers leadership, petitioning to have him removed as head of the Territorial Council. Though he remained our Alpha, my dad had been temporarily suspended from his position of authority over the other council members, pending an official vote by all ten Alphas. That vote was scheduled for the first of Februarytwo weeks away.

Since his suspension, my father and Malone had been fightingfigurativelyfor a commitment of support from each of their peers.

My uncle had thrown his weight behind us immediately, and Edward Taylor had followed suit a week later. But our Prides other allies had asked for time to consider. To weigh their options. Their hesitance stung, but it made sense. However they voted, their decisions would have an irreversible effect on the council, and on the werecat community at large. After all, most of them had sons serving in Prides on both sides of the conflict. Brothers living in territories loyal to Malone. Daughters or sisters married to toms participating in the coup. I was lucky that three of my brothersMichael, Owen, and Ethanhad no loyalties to anyone else. As for my brother Ryan, well, the less said about him the better.