“I know.” She caught his forearm, brushing her touch along his skin, trying to soothe him the way he seemed to be able to do just by touching her.
His attention drifted, his teeth catching his lip as he pressed his knuckles forward against the chain embedded into her skin. His eyes flicked up to hers, watching her reaction, before he unfurled his fingers, pressing his entire palm to her chest. Her own hands fell back down to her lap, her heart stuttering beneath his grip.
He pressed, weighing her back, inch by inch until her head was sinking into the pillow, her hair fanning messily around her. He pulled in a steadying breath, licking his lips.
“How do you feel?” he repeated.
Well now she didn’t want to tell him.
She folded her arms, inadvertently trapping his hand between her breasts. Something lit up in his bright gaze, the aquamarine colour glittering as his power swelled around her, dousing her in sun and saltwater. It pooled in the back of her throat, threatening to choke her. She was almost convinced that a cresting wave had sprayed her with sea mist as little beads of sweat tried to gather across her skin.
“I feel fine,” she blurted, sounding completely scattered. “C-Can I have my … um … coffee? I don’t think anything is going to happen.”
He lifted off her immediately, grabbing the cup from the bedside table, drips of coffee stuck to the side from his haste in slamming it down. He pressed it into her hands and then just sat there, staring at the mug with a heavy, dark frown, before his eyes widened.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned, examining her face. “Tell me to do something.”
“Like what?” Some of her nervousness dropped away at the shocked look on his face.
She gulped at the coffee, but he reached out, grabbing the mug again.
“Anything.” He stole the coffee off her, slapping it back onto the bedside table, clearly wanting her to focus.
“How about go fuck yourself?” she grumbled, quickly reaching for the coffee again. She might be a Sigma, but anything getting between her and caffeine first thing in the morning turned her into a prissy, bossy Beta.
Cian was tugging at the tie in his sweatpants.
“W-What are you—” she started, but her question was cut off as his hand tunnelled beneath the waistband, dragging it just low enough to show her the hint of another tattoo swirling up from where the waistband of his underwear should have been. If he had been wearing any.
“You might want to tell me to stop before we get the Ironside Show banned from the family-friendly time slot, sweetheart.”
He sounded like he was joking. There weren’t even any cameras in the room, but his expression was entirely serious. His hand shifted and it looked like he had wrapped it around his length, his jaw clenching. “Isobel …”
“Stop! Jesus Christ, stop!”
He breathed out a short sigh of relief, pulling his hand out of his pants and holding them both up in an innocent gesture. “You’ve got Elijah’s power, love. Hypnosis.”
“What?” she rasped, staring at his hand.
His scent had changed. It didn’t remind her of the ocean anymore, but of steam-choked gasps and sweat-dusted skin. He was sun-soaked sex, and it was the single most drugging scent she had ever experienced.
She grabbed his hand, driven entirely by instinct, but stopped just short of pressing it against her face, leaving them both to stare at their clasped hands, held between them for no reason.
She quickly dropped him, and he leaned back, levelling her with a calm look that didn’t give away any of his thoughts, but he was half hard, making his sweatpants look a little obscene as the material clung to the outline of his cock, the edge of his tattoo still peeking out. It looked like a branch of some kind, with flowers on it.
“That didn’t feel very hypnotic,” she said, trying to mimic his relaxed posture, ignoring her thundering heartbeat and forcing her voice to sound normal.
And her gaze to stay on his face.
“You aren’t practised with it like Elijah is.” His lips crooked into an amused half-grin. “And thank all the levels of hell for that.”
“It sounds super illegal.” She pulled her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her knees. “That makes five of you: Theo, Moses, Easton, Sato, and Reed.”
“Sato, hm?” His head tipped to the side, golden tendrils of hair escaping the way he had knotted them at the back of his head, curving down around his face. “That’s new.”
“He told me.” She reached out to him with her foot, nudging his thigh with her toes, drawing a small smirk onto his face to chase away the look of arrogant inquisition that had taken over his features.
“Just like that?” Cian asked. “Didn’t ask for anything in return?”
He was regarding her like he knew.
Maybe Kilian and Theodore had already told him, and he was just pretending to hear it for the first time.
“Why don’t you check your group texts?” she suggested, pushing him with her toes again. “I bet they told you all about it.”
This time, he grabbed her foot, trapping it against the bed. “The content of the group texts got a little explicit last night. I don’t think you want to see that.”
“Explicit?” She blinked at him, her mind racing. “How? What do you mean?” She felt the urge before it really blossomed into her mind as an idea, and Cian stiffened as soon as he read the intention on her face.
“Isobel, don’t—”
“Tell me,” she said.
He groaned. “You’re going to pay for that.” He shook his head, closing his eyes as though he was fighting against something, but then he fixed her with a serious look. “Mikki ended things with his girlfriend. Recorded her fucking herself with a wine bottle as she begged him to hurt her … just to keep her under his thumb. He didn’t send us the recording, but he explained what happened after—oh for fuck’s sake, Carter, don’t make me say this—”
“Stop,” she squeaked, blinking at him in astonishment. “Wow. Sorry. Wasn’t expecting that.”
He shook his head, but there was a tight smile tugging his mouth. “Impossible,” he muttered. And then his head snapped up again, attention narrowing on her chest. “Why are you getting side effects? Especially after last night? Shouldn’t you be more settled?”
She shrugged. “Isn’t Easton’s girlfriend an official? You don’t have to tell me.”
He chuckled, slipping off the bed. “Tilda is an official—our eyes and ears inside the control room. That means she’s a human. She’s a bit obsessed with Mikki. Practically stalked him before he was posted here as a professor, but she’s ashamed of their relationship because he’s Gifted.”
“Why would she ask him to hurt her? Why would she … ah, I mean, the thing with the wine bottle?”
Cian shook his head, his expression melting into amusement. “That’s Mikki’s business. How do you feel now?”
He was looking at her chest, where the glow from the gemstone was no longer peeking through her shirt.
“Honestly?” She frowned. “I don’t feel any different. Shouldn’t I be able to feel these powers? Do you know what it feels like when Elijah uses his hypnosis?”