She tried to give him a reassuring smile as she approached Kilian’s seat, his hand already held out for her. He pulled her back into his lap, and she fought the urge to melt back into him completely, wary of the camera.
“Well?” Moses leaned forward in his chair, his eyes dancing between Sato and her. “That was definitely more than three minutes. How’d you do it, Carter?”
“He just really wanted to talk about his feelings,” she said, forcing her expression to appear unbothered. “Literally wouldn’t shut up. He’s a real chatterbox when you get him alone.”
Most of the Alphas laughed and she shrank back against Kilian, avoiding the heat of Sato’s stare. Kilian pulled his phone out in front of them, navigating to a blank message screen.
Okay? he typed out.
She pulled the phone closer to reply. Will you stay with me tonight?
“Mhmm,” he rumbled against the side of her head, dipping his head in a nod.
In Sato’s room, she added.
He stiffened behind her, a short, astounded laugh falling out of him. “Ah, okay …”
“Hey, you two?” Cian nudged Kilian. “Care to share with the class?”
“She’s just making arrangements for tonight,” Sato stated calmly. And loudly. In front of the cameras.
“What?” Theodore looked down the line of chairs.
“She’s getting sick again. She needs a surrogate … but she’s worried about rumours.” He flipped his hood up again, leaning back with his arms crossed like that was all the explaining he needed to do.
In a way, it was … a smart approach. Explaining things up front for the cameras. “Um, yeah.” She cleared her throat nervously. “I thought … I thought if it was Sato and Kilian, the fans would know it’s not anything romantic, right?”
“Because Oscar’s idea of romance is—” Theodore cut himself off, smirking before apparently revising his statement. “—not a discussion for polite society.”
Sato scoffed quietly.
Gabriel sucked in breath through his teeth, waving his phone. “The fans are asking if you have your pick of the Alphas to surrogate because it really looks like you have your pick of the Alphas to surrogate.”
Isobel didn’t have to force her laugh. It tumbled out naturally. “No,” she said, another chuckle passing her lips. “Sato’s offer to surrogate was terrifying and there’s no way it was genuine. I asked the Alphas because their energy is the most potent. I was rejected by several of them. Quite brutally, in some cases. I absolutely do not have ‘my pick’ of Alphas. They’re just … decent guys, and they’ve offered to help. Just a few of them.”
“There you have it.” Theodore tossed his hands up like the matter was settled. “We’re a bunch of saints, just as I always suspected. Pity the movie finished already.” He pointed to the credits now rolling on the big screen. “You’re going to have to wait until the next movie night for us to prove it.”
6
Boundaries And Bonds
“Need a moment?” Theodore asked as they walked off the stage.
Isobel peered sideways at him, wondering if it was that obvious, or if he just knew her that well.
“Just feeling a bit overwhelmed,” she admitted quietly. The bond was making her feel things, or maybe the Alphas were making her feel things, but she didn’t have any room inside her to entertain conflicting emotions. She still had two intimidating deadlines looming on the horizon and now to top it all off, the officials had let Eve back into the academy.
She had always known they were just pawns to the officials, just puppets in a play to be dangled this way and that way, but seeing such brutal, indisputable evidence of it right in front of her eyes was a whole other thing.
Moses had been right the day he told her to ruin Wallis’ life. There was no justice for the Gifted, and especially no justice for Sigmas. She had to make it herself.
Theodore watched her closely, his face sombre, concerned. “They haven’t aired any footage of you sleeping in my room or Kilian’s room.”
“Not yet,” she grumbled.
He nodded, still considering her. “What are you worried about, exactly?”
“Blowback.” She let him pull her off to the side, closer to the lake as people swirled around them, tidying up their picnic blankets and chairs. She hugged her arms around herself, peeking up at him briefly. “What people will say. I think it would make my father happy but appeasing him is like standing on a razor’s edge. He could just as quickly turn around and slap me for being a slut.”
Theodore sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, turning his face away for a moment. “Too many cameras,” he murmured. “Come inside.”
He marched off, and she hurried to catch up with him, spotting Wallis trying to zigzag through the dwindling crowd to get to him. Wallis started running when she saw that Theodore was heading to the dorm, and Isobel quickly stepped into her path. The tall Beta tried to side-step her, but she planted herself in the way again.
“Wallis,” she said. “Stop.”
The other girl looked down at Isobel, a tight frown pinching her features. She was still beautiful, but the expression showed a flash of something ugly in her eyes. A vicious spark that Isobel had seen reflected in so many people since she had come to Ironside.
At first, it was just her father.
But it turned out Braun Carter wasn’t that unique after all.
The academy was full of Brauns … he was just lucky enough to be an Alpha: to be bigger and stronger and more powerful than all the rest of them.
“Seriously, what?” Wallis demanded. “Why are you always getting in the way?”
“Because you’re the kind of person who shouldn’t be left unsupervised,” Isobel shot back. “And you should take that as a warning.”
“I’ve been nice to you, Sigma.” Wallis leaned down, planting her lips right by Isobel’s ear. “Sato made me promise. But Sato made me promise a lot of things, and I’m starting to realise his conditions are a little too constricting. So get the fuck out of my way before I make sure Ironside gets a nice little Vermont sequel—on camera this time, since the officials apparently want to see you get beat so badly.”
Isobel reared back, surprised by the venom in Wallis’ hissing voice. Wallis took advantage of her surprise, flicking her hair over her shoulder and pushing past, striding toward Dorm A, even though Theodore had already disappeared inside.
“Going to have to do better than that.” Moses also brushed past her, turning to deliver her a challenging look. “Should have slapped her as hard as you slapped me,” he added, loud enough to capture the attention of most of the people around them.
Isobel shook her head, trailing after him as he followed Wallis—who had knocked on the door and received no response. Moses pulled it open, completely ignoring Wallis as he slammed it again in her face.
Isobel opened it again, but before she could step through, Wallis grabbed the back of her dress.
“You don’t go inside Dorm A unless you’re invited.” Wallis somehow made her voice saccharine sweet, like she was doing Isobel a favour as she dragged her back a step. The door fell closed.