She wasn’t very experienced, but she also wasn’t an idiot.
What she had just done was irresponsible.
She almost lost her virginity in a CLOSET.
WITH MOSES.
“Pathetic,” her father would say. “What a desperate, pathetic little Sigma.”
15
Red Light, Green Light
Despite her best efforts to ignore him, Cian still managed to calm her somewhat. At least he managed to stop her crying and fix up all her clothes so that she looked presentable again, but the effort to tell herself that his heat wasn’t comforting and his whispered voice didn’t sound like heaven had completely sapped all her energy reserves, and when the classroom finally emptied, her legs were too wobbly to move.
She scooted away from both of them when they tried to help her, shoving the long pink crystal into her bag because there was no way she was leaving it in there for the students to play with. She burst out of the closet, keeping her head down as she stalked toward the fitness centre. Her next class was Mikel’s small group session, but there was no way she could face the other Alphas.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on her side, because she was on track to run right into Kilian, Niko, and Theodore outside the fitness centre. They were walking toward her from the other direction. One of them called out, but she tucked her chin down tighter, quickening her steps to a jog as she yanked open the entrance door and hurried toward the climbing rooms, her heart beating all the way into her throat.
She was on autopilot, her brain tripping over itself, her chest growing tight and painful, dark spots flashing before her eyes. She briefly considered stopping and looking for Niko. He would know what to do. He would hold her hands and tell her to squeeze him until the heavy weight of dread stopped crushing her.
But no … she just wanted to get to her session with Kalen.
The sign wasn’t up on the door yet, but she shoved her way inside anyway, staring around at the empty room.
No … this wasn’t right. It was time for Mikel’s session, not Kalen’s. She started pacing, moving to the rack of harnesses out of habit as she pulled out her phone. Her vision blurred over with tears, and she froze, forcing her eyes to go dry with an iron will that did nothing to ease the crushing panic threatening to pull her under. She flicked open a group message because she couldn’t remember if she had Kalen’s number or not.
But what could she say?
He was probably busy.
She would just practise until it was time for their session. She started strapping herself in, and the door opened. She glanced up, her nose flaring. She usually couldn’t smell any of the Alphas from so far away, but Cian and Moses were wearing her like a cloud of perfume. The others had joined them: Theodore, Kilian, Niko—and Oscar, who must have caught up to the others at some point.
“Illy.” Theodore stepped ahead of the others, a careful, cautious mask over his features. “Are you hurt?”
“Hurt?” She snapped out the word in a confused way, unable to look at him for long. “No, no. I’m just climbing.” She turned away, wishing she could draw a full breath, but her chest was too tight.
“Isobel.” It was Cian this time, his voice low and regretful. It threatened to break her heart, and that made her furious. Since when did she care about Cian so much? Sure, they went through a lot together on the settlement tour—
“Yes, we did.”
She froze, her head snapping up to the climbing wall, the back of her neck prickling. “Did I just say that out loud?”
“Just that we went through a lot together. Do you think you could step away from the wall and talk to us for a little bit?”
She winced, the panic flaring bigger and brighter, her breath a rasp. “N-No, I can’t, sorry. I’m training.”
“What’s going on?” Gabriel’s voice carried through the room. “We could literally follow her scent all the way here.”
Gabriel.
Gabriel could read minds.
She knew the abilities of everyone else. He was the only unknown.
“Why don’t you tell me?” she shot back, spinning on her foot and glaring at him.
He didn’t look guilty. Only considering.
Elijah, who had followed him into the room, narrowed an icy gaze on Isobel’s face. “You know that thing I don’t use anymore, Isobel?”
His power?
She nodded once, short and sharp, sensing a reprimand incoming.
“Gabriel is the same.”
Great. Now she had nobody except herself to be angry at again. Unless …
She sought out Moses, wishing she could do something with the furious energy bubbling in her veins.
“Oh, we’re getting into it, are we?” He stayed where he was, but it looked like he had shifted his stance. It was eerily similar to something Niko did just before he pounced. She didn’t like that she could see the confusion and alarm bleeding out of the darkness of Moses’ glare. She didn’t like that she could feel it cracking against her body like a whip, opening up wounds so that it could bleed into her, infecting her with her own forced empathy.
She tore her eyes away from him before she could crack open her walls and suck his turmoil into herself. “No,” she relented. “Sorry.”
Anger. Moses didn’t like that she wasn’t rising to the occasion and fighting with him.
Too bad.
She turned to the wall again and reached for the first handhold, hoisting herself up.
“All right, that’s enough.” Niko appeared beside her, plucking her away from the wall as though she was just a bug. He set her back onto her feet and caught her face in his hands. “What’s wrong?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oscar moving to her backpack and pulling it open. He picked up something from inside, raising it to his nose, the object still hidden.
The crystal.
Fucking hell.
She tore out of Niko’s hold and tried to grab onto the wall again, but he plucked her off as easily as he had the first time, setting her back onto her feet.
“Isobel.” Oscar’s Alpha voice lashed through the room, whipping against her mind. “Come with me.”
She didn’t have an ounce of strength to resist him, but at least he was leaving the room and walking away from the others. She stripped off her harness and tossed it aside as she trailed after him.
“Just her and Cian,” he barked over his shoulder as he flung open the door again.
She followed a good few strides behind the two Alphas, her eyes on the backs of Oscar’s shoes as they passed out of the fitness centre. Cian was texting as he walked while Oscar glared everyone out of their path. Her first thought when they reached the family centre was that they were dragging her to her father for punishment, and she let out a low whimper as she started dragging her feet. They both stopped and turned around, taking several steps toward her. She scattered backwards, holding out her hands.
Cian … golden, beautiful Cian … had suddenly become as dangerous to her as Oscar.
Cian’s jaw was flexing, his eyes burning, but Oscar only nodded, spinning on his heel and continuing into the family centre. She huddled into one corner of the elevator as they leaned against the opposite side, and then before she knew it, they were standing outside the room she usually met Teak and Charlie in.