Goddamn.
“What happened?” he asked, touching the knot between her breasts where the lace had been tied hastily together.
“Sato,” she clipped. “Dude is unhinged. Niko licked my chain so then apparently Sato had to lick my chain. You want to give it a go as well?”
His mouth immediately pooled with saliva and his cock twitched desperately. “No. But Theo will. So don’t tell him.” He stepped out of the shower, giving the chain the barest brush of his knuckles before he yanked the door open enough to eye the Alpha sitting on his bed, fiddling with his phone, a tight expression pinching his features.
“Well?” Kilian asked as Theodore’s eyes widened, flicking over his wet chest, and narrowing on his boxers before darting back up to his face. He tried to see past Kilian’s shoulder, his eyes darkening at the lack of light in the room. “The offer won’t stay open forever,” Kilian grumbled.
They glared at each other for a moment, an understanding passing between them. Isobel needed someone to tend to the bond, and Kilian wasn’t going to blur those lines.
Theodore got up and walked to the door of his room, flicking the lock.
Isobel hugged her arms over her chest, wondering what the heck Kilian was doing until he stepped back … and Theodore appeared in the lit doorway. His eyes swept over her huddled in the shower for the briefest moment before he stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind him.
“Um,” she said, as the room was swamped in darkness again. “I didn’t mean … Uh …”
“Doesn’t have to mean anything, Illy.” Theodore’s voice was close, but she had no idea what he was doing.
A wide chest brushed against hers, but it was rich with Kilian’s scent, so she didn’t jump.
“Let him help,” Kilian suggested. “I’ll be right here. You’re okay.”
“I … I’m still washing my hair,” she said lamely.
Theodore’s chuckle was deep and close, but he only brushed past her, his bulky shadow settling somewhere near Kilian’s. It seemed like they were both sitting on the tiled bench cut into the shower alcove. She stood there stupidly, not even feeling the water as it pounded against her back.
Kilian spoke up, his voice silky, “You said it was awkward to ask—”
“I’ve never had a boyfriend,” she quickly cut across him. “Never.”
“This isn’t a date, baby.” There was a smirk in Kilian’s voice this time, and she stepped toward it, flinging out her hand in the hopes that she swatted somewhere near his chest. Fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist before she could make contact.
“Shower,” Theodore suggested—close enough to convince her he was the one who had caught her—a soft, cajoling rumble in his voice as he released her. “You shower, we talk.”
“What do you want to talk about?” she asked, robotically returning to the task of washing her hair.
“I didn’t plan what happened the night you got out of the hospital,” Theodore admitted, “but did it help?”
“Yes,” she gritted.
“Would you like me to do it again, Illy?”
“Do what?” She lost her courage completely, deciding to play dumb. Both of the Alphas chuckled.
“Whatever you like,” Theodore said. “We can just cuddle, if you want. You could come here, sit on my lap, and I could hold you until our phones start blowing up, and maybe that would be enough.”
“Kilian could have done that.” It came out as an accusation, and she hoped their Alpha eyesight wasn’t good enough to catch her sulky expression.
“But you would never ask Kilian to do more than that. Maybe a kiss would make you feel better.”
“Or I could tell Theo to fuck off and we can cuddle,” Kilian offered huskily, before clearing his throat. “If that’s really what you wanted. We just want to help, Illy.”
“Why now, suddenly?” She frowned in their direction as she rinsed out the conditioner from her hair—or at least she hoped she had shampooed and conditioned in the right order. They didn’t answer immediately. She took a step toward them until she bumped against Theodore’s knee. “Does this have something to do with Eve turning up? You’ve been letting me deal with the bond my own way for weeks.”
“Maybe it does a little bit,” Theodore rumbled softly, his fingers trailing along the outside of her thigh. “I’m feeling very protective right now, but it might have a little more to do with the way you melted into Kilian tonight. You’re so good at hiding it, so we didn’t realise until tonight.”
Theodore suddenly dipped forward, one arm winding beneath her knees and knocking her legs out from under her, the other wrapping securely around her waist. He lifted her onto his lap and Kilian caught her legs, pulling them across his own lap, his hands shackling her ankles.
“Tell us what happened with the chain.” Theodore drew her wet hair over her shoulder, his nose brushing along her temple. She relaxed against him, realising he actually meant what he said about just letting her sit on his lap when he continued to stroke her hair, waiting for her to speak.
She fumbled through a retelling of everything that had happened, beginning with the chain appearing. They listened quietly as she told them about Niko surging and how he had tasted her skin, reassuring himself that she was okay. She told them about Sophia’s theories, about the big book of gods and the image of Stygian. She even told them everything that had happened in the garden shed with Sato, and about the gemstone that had appeared on her chain as she briefly borrowed Kalen’s power.
Theodore kept his emotions tightly leashed the whole time, only a steady thrum of caution nudging her chest as he held her close, his hand passing up and down the length of her spine in hypnotising patterns. When Kilian began rubbing her calves, his touch graduating from light strokes to a deeper massage, she groaned and flopped her head to rest on Theodore’s shoulder.
“What else?” Theodore purred, his strokes lulling her half to sleep as she finished rambling.
There was more. There was so much more. And she was sick of having no one to lean on, no one to help her.
“Someone’s been threatening me,” she whispered against Theodore’s sweet-tasting skin. “They know about Mikel’s ability and they know I entered my Death Phase on the rooftop. They have pictures and videos. They said if I told any of you, they would hand in all the evidence.”
Somehow, neither of them so much as flinched in their calming strokes against her skin.
“Good girl,” Theodore whispered, his lips moving over her temple. He tilted her chin up, and she was so sleepy she barely even registered the soft kiss until he was pulling away, his thumbs brushing over her temples again. “Thank you for telling us.”
“I’m running out of time,” she breathed out softly, wondering at the huge weight that had just lifted off her chest, at the silky, warm river of feeling that wound its way through her. “I’m sick of secrets.”
He kissed her temples, their combined scents wrapping around her like a fuzzy blanket, warm and earthy and sweet. Her eyelids began to droop.