“Are they … um …” She glanced toward the hallway. She had no idea where they even slept. “In one of the offices?”
“Try Kalen’s office,” Gabriel suggested, his russet eyes travelling over her slowly, an oddly calculating look pinching his features. “It’s the first door after you enter the dorm. Their residences are above their offices, but they’re probably still downstairs.”
She nodded, giving Kilian a grateful smile before she moved to the hallway.
“You can take the bed when you’re ready,” Kilian called after her. “I’ll sleep on the couch in my room.”
She scrunched up her nose again, wondering if he had practically shouted that on purpose. Theodore and Niko needed to give him acting lessons. And that was coming from her. She knocked on the door to Kalen’s office.
“Come in,” his deep voice commanded, travelling faintly through the thick wood.
She eased the door open, glancing quickly at Kalen and Mikel before she slipped through and closed it behind her. As comfortable as she had been a few minutes ago surrounded by all the other Alphas, she was now equally as uncomfortable standing before the professors. They were quiet, both of them in chairs by the window, a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Mikel also seemed to have his laptop pushed to the side, and Kalen had another small stack of books by his elbow as though he regularly changed his mind about what he felt like reading.
She raised her head again, her face flushing as she shifted from foot to foot.
“Isobel,” Kalen greeted. “Pull up a seat.”
She caught the flick of his hand gesturing to a stool not far from them, and she moved to nudge it the rest of the way to their table, before perching on the edge of it. Her heart was pounding, her breath stuck in her chest, and she wasn’t sure why.
Mikel held his glass out to her. “Been a day, hm?”
It took her a moment to realise he was offering it to her. She accepted it, staring down at the yellow liquid, garnished with a bright cherry and a twisted orange slice. He must have just made it because it seemed like he hadn’t even taken a sip yet, but he didn’t get up to make himself another. The glass was cold, little diamond patterns wrapping around the sides poking into her palm.
“Whiskey sour,” Mikel explained, watching her calmly.
She sipped it and then licked her lips to savour the taste. It was rich and mellow with a zesty tang, a hint of sweetness and an undercurrent of bitterness to balance it out. She liked the drink … but she had spent quite a lot of time training with Niko over the past month, growing familiar with the scent of whiskey in her nose and the taste of it filling her throat.
Mikel slipped a leather bookmark into his book, closed his laptop, and set the book on top of it, his gaze speculative as he watched her savour his drink.
“The Track Team approached you through a Beta,” Kalen cut straight to the point, shifting in his chair to give her his full attention. He added his book to the stack by his elbow without marking his page.
Her stomach immediately churned, and she focussed her attention on the bright orange slice in her drink as she nodded. “Crowe said they would make their offer tomorrow, but that I wouldn’t be able to refuse.”
Kalen affirmed, “That’s how it works.”
He wasn’t wearing his contact.
She hadn’t noticed when she walked in, but she glanced up as he spoke, and now she was suddenly staring at him, her lips parted in surprise, unable to tear her attention away from his honey-brown iris. Familiar gold specks watched her in return, still circled by his gold Alpha ring.
“They irritate my fucking eyes,” he explained, taking a swig from his glass.
“S-Sorry.” She fiddled with Mikel’s glass, not sure what else to say.
“Not your fault.” He shared a quick look with Mikel. “And the Beta was right—you can’t refuse the Track Team. You’ve seen how they recruit people. Playing hard to get only increases the amount of collateral they gather to control you. You need to come across as easy to control.”
She nodded, sipping more of the sweet and tangy liquid to calm her rioting nerves. “What happens when they recruit me?”
“You’ll have to wait until someone offers to become your sponsor. Usually, they parade new recruits through the Stone Dahlia for one night, and then they aren’t allowed back in until a sponsorship offer is put before the Track Team by someone who is already a member. Or you could find your own sponsor and avoid all that. Since we’re so close to the end of term, you could probably push it out until the start of next year. The club doesn’t operate over the summer break.”
“A sponsor?” She grew still, glancing between him and Mikel, waiting for further explanation. Kalen closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose and then he set his drink down, leaning forward, his face canted toward hers, his elbows notched over his strong thighs.
“You have to be sponsored by a fully-fledged member to get full membership to the Stone Dahlia,” he explained. “You’re the sponsor’s responsibility for a year before you get your own access card. It’s their way of making sure you’re properly taught the rules, and also that you stay quiet.”
“Okay.” She sensed there was more, and for some reason, both of the professors were finding it difficult to have the conversation. There was no small amount of unease emanating from them, arcing into her and dancing around inside her chest.
“Either one of us could sponsor you.” Mikel was leaning back where Kalen was leaning forward. “But that would mean you can’t step into the club without us.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad?” Her confusion deepened. If she had to stick to anyone inside the club, she would prefer it to be one of them.
They were strong, stern, and … dominant. But they were still Gifted. They weren’t secondary citizens because they weren’t even citizens, and if humans ran the Stone Dahlia, then there would be people down there far more powerful than Kalen and Mikel.
“The club is large.” Kalen reclined again, snatching up his drink like he was annoyed at the spark of hopefulness that had briefly shot through her—and might have shown on her face. “It encompasses varied … activities. Most of them illegal. That’s where the money is made.”
“Do you do illegal things?” she asked.
His lips twitched, and Mikel let out a low laugh.
“No, I don’t.” It was Kalen who answered, Mikel remaining quiet. “But that doesn’t mean other people don’t.” He let her absorb that before continuing. “What Mikel and Oscar do is too dangerous. You don’t have to end up in the same part of the club as your sponsor. You could transfer out to a different section after your sponsorship period, but more often than not, people stay with their sponsors after the year is up. So we don’t think it’s a good idea for you to shadow either of them.”
“Elijah and Gabriel are options,” Mikel added, before Isobel could utter a single, surprised word. “But they both entertain in the same section as Kalen—he sponsored both of them. I sponsored Oscar.”
“So it doesn’t matter if you’re with me or them, you’ll still be in the same section,” Kalen summarised.