Sauter (Ironside Academy, #3)(96)

Was that what was bothering her?

She hadn’t freaked out getting close to Theodore, Oscar, or Gabriel. Maybe the problem was him. Maybe she needed really clear boundaries.

“I applied to be a surrogate,” he announced, lying through his fucking teeth.

Everyone’s head whipped around to him. Elijah and Gabriel looked expectant—Elijah even a little impatient, likely annoyed that it had taken Moses too long to get on with whatever action he had predicted Moses should take. Theodore’s eyes flashed dark with anger.

Kilian shifted, discomfort lining his shoulders.

Nico nodded slightly.

“W-What?” Isobel stuttered, spinning to face him.

Why was his face hot?

Why was his face burning with the slightest tinge of colour now? He had just fucked her with a goddamn crystal and exploded in her mouth but now he was blushing? Awesome. Great. Perfect.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat, focussing on Oscar for a moment. The other Alpha had an angry challenge simmering behind a hard stare. That was going to be a fight later. Moses looked forward to it. “I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you. Is that okay?”

“Uh.” She seemed shocked silent, her throat working as she tried to dredge up an answer. “Yes? I mean sure. Yes. Thank you?” She smiled, the motion trembling across her lips, relief flashing in her eyes. “So all of that was—”

“Just doing my part.” He waved her off.

Her shoulders inched down, relief visibly flooding through her body.

Jesus Christ what the fuck?

Most people would be weeping with rejection by this point.

Kilian, Theodore, and Cian also relaxed, but the confusion on their faces deepened. Moses wanted to punch something to ease his frustration. The level of intellect required to keep up with this one girl was off the charts. She never did what he expected.

Especially not in the closet.

“Things got a little out of hand,” Cian said, as though his thoughts had naturally gravitated to the same place. “It definitely wasn’t supposed to go that far. Do you understand, Illy?”

Theodore stiffened, flashing a glare from Cian to Isobel. Moses knew his brother better than anyone, and while Theodore had an impressive amount of self-control, he also tended to lose it in a spectacular way. They had pushed him pretty far today.

“I … yeah, I didn’t mean for that either.” Isobel copied Moses’ dismissive hand wave, her eyes darting to the floor.

“Maybe some ground rules would help,” Niko spoke up.

Kalen and Mikel seemed to have taken a backseat in the discussion for now. They preferred for the rest of them to sort out their own messes, but they seemed tense enough that they would probably step in this time if things got too heated. Luckily, they had Niko. If anyone could make this whole situation sound all nice and neat and reasonable, it was Niko.

“Do you have any in mind?” Niko prodded Isobel gently. “Anything that’s absolutely off limits to you?”

Isobel nodded. And then shook her head.

They waited, but she didn’t say anything.

“Okay.” Niko looked like he wanted to smile. “Anyone else?”

“She needs a proper safe word,” Cian announced.

“What the fuck would she need one of those for?” Oscar growled, jumping out of his chair and prowling toward Cian.

Moses quickly inserted himself between them, trying to catch Oscar’s eyes, and everyone was too distracted to notice Theodore slipping past them and slamming Cian against the wall.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?”

“Enough,” barked Kalen, his Alpha voice like a wave through the room. “Everyone sit down. Now.”

“Oh my god.” Isobel was staring at Cian in horror as they all moved to obey Kalen, Oscar choosing to stand just to prove he could.

Cian had three deep gouges cutting across his neck and into his chest. He was holding both hands over the wounds, but blood was trying to spill through his fingers.

Theodore slumped into a chair, gripping the table in front of him with a black-clawed hand, the talons elongated and painted crimson at the tips.

“Someone do something!” Isobel shifted around restlessly in her chair.

“It’s fine,” Cian rasped. “Barely a scratch.”

“Barely a scratch?” she repeated, her voice sounding numb with shock as she turned to stare at Theodore. “Do I rip open Wallis’ neck every time you touch her?”

Theodore gave her a strained smile. “I barely touched him.”

Theodore’s scent was growing more and more acidic by the second, his eyes flashing with a warning precursor of darkness. Moses was seconds away from snapping at Kalen that he needed to go to his brother, but Isobel seemed to soften at the last second.

“I’m worried about you too, Theo,” she whispered.

He just stared back at her like he was going to demand she prove it, but then he seemed to shrug off the compulsion, shaking out his arms until his talons retreated into blood-stained nails. Despite the situation, Moses felt a pang of pride. The sheer amount of effort it took to pull back from the brink like that was unbelievable, but there wasn’t a single line of strain on Theodore’s face.

“A safe word is necessary for playing with half-bonded or fully bonded Alphas.” Kalen drew the attention of the room easily as he surveyed them. “Regardless of personal tastes and proclivities, we tend to be aggressive when our emotions are heightened, and where bonds are concerned, mated Alphas are known to be dangerously territorial and possessive. If I had foreseen …” He paused for a moment, his discerning gaze landing on Cian. “Things progressing so suddenly, I would have arranged to speak with Isobel privately so that she could be better prepared.”