“P-Professor.” She quickly lowered her fists. “Sorry, I fell asleep.”
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” His fingers twitched with the need to sweep the fretful strands of hair falling into her face back behind her ears, but he only turned it, offering her his palm instead.
She hesitantly placed her smaller hand into his grip, and he helped her up.
Isobel trailed Kalen back to Dorm A, feeling guilty every step of the way. He was holding an umbrella over her head like he was her bodyguard or something—while he got absolutely drenched. But she was also too terrified to scoot closer to him, and he seemed to prefer maintaining a suitable distance between their bodies.
She had tried to take the handle of the umbrella off him a few times, but he only grunted out a sound to make her hand drop. He didn’t speak until they were both inside his office, and even then, it was just to curse out Mikel under his breath as he slicked back his wet hair.
“Come on up.” He opened a door, revealing a set of stairs, and nodded toward them.
She slipped past him and hurried up the stairs, finding herself in a room much like the other bedrooms on the first level, complete with an en suite and a bay window, though this one obviously couldn’t be climbed out of.
He snatched a change of clothes from his walk-in and disappeared into his en suite, emerging clean and dry—this time in one of the suits he wore when he wasn’t training her to climb, though he left the jacket and tie off.
“Take a seat,” he suggested, motioning to the bay window. “Do you have a shortlist of classes you’re interested in?”
“Uh—yes. I want to do Professor Lye’s Acro Duo class.”
“Duo?” He questioned, gripping the back of his desk chair, and spinning it around to face her before sitting, his ankle planted over his knee as he shifted his hips to get comfortable, his big arms crossing over his chest. His vanilla scent was mild and sweet, his influence a low hum of comfort. She wasn’t sure how he was doing it, but it seemed deliberate, somehow.
“Yeah.” She frowned. “Why do you say it like that?”
“Because you won’t dance with Elijah. They’ve given you several opportunities to.”
“Okay, firstly.” She reared back in surprise. “Was that some sort of ploy? His whole ‘running into casting problems’ thing? Why do you even know about it? And secondly, I did agree to dance with Elijah. And we did … um, dance.”
Kalen ran his tongue over his firm lower lip, eyeing her quietly. “It wasn’t a ploy. They noticed your name on the sign-up sheet for Lye’s audition list and also signed up in case you wanted to audition with a partner, but then … well, I suppose when they realised you were too scared to dance with Elijah, then they wanted to figure out why. Sometimes it isn’t good to pique Elijah’s curiosity.”
“That goes for both of them,” she muttered.
Kalen’s lips twitched. “Perhaps. So, any other classes?”
“Urban Dance, Interpretive Choreography, Hip-Hop Fusion, and Lyrical Dance.”
“That leaves one free slot.”
“Will I be continuing with the small group sessions next year?”
“Yes, and your tutoring sessions with me and Elijah. Since Elijah and I will take up two sessions a week, I’ll work out a way to spread those over your classes with the lowest priority. But … I would suggest you drop Urban Dance from the list. Interpretive Choreography is basically the same thing, except the professor for that class is organising a guest choreographer each week and you’ll gain far more experience. And you should add in Icon Matters, the introduction class. It’s a whole lot of bullshit, but they teach you how to manage your social media and all the associated skills you’re going to need to play the game going forward.”
She nodded quietly, dropping her attention to her lap as she played with the hem of her shirt.
“Talk to me,” he suggested. “What are you thinking?”
“Just that I need to start taking this seriously.” She raised her chin, swallowing as she met his eyes. “You guys will all be fine if something happens to me or if we’re all separated, but I won’t. And the only way I get those surrogate pills is if I stay out of the settlements. The only way to secure my future is to win this game.”
He nodded, regarding her seriously. “Welcome to the club.”
“I’m not asking you to help me or anything.” She went back to fiddling with her shirt, her cheeks heating. “I’m just asking you not to sabotage me.”
“What if there was a way for all of us to win?” he asked quietly, his deep rumble tunnelling shock through her.
“What?” her head jerked up. “No. They only choose one winner.”
Kalen sucked in a deep breath, shaking his head. “It’s a conversation for later. With everyone. We need to do this as a group. From now on, we need to do everything as a group, understood?”
“I think so.”
“You understand, princess. So let me rephrase. Do you agree?” He leaned forward, notching his forearms on his knees, drawing his face close to hers, his fierce amber eyes digging into hers with a glint of something she couldn’t quite read.
“Can I think about it?” she dodged.
For some reason, that amused him. “You really think you can do this alone, Carter?”
“No.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Yes. Maybe.”
“Do you want to?” He caught her hand in his, ducking his head to catch her eye. It wasn’t like when Teak or Charlie grabbed her hand. His was so warm, his palm so rough, and he was so much bigger than her—her own hand practically disappeared. “Because we want to do this together. I know the Alphas fight amongst themselves, but we’ve known each other far longer than the years we’ve been here. They’re supported by myself and Mikel, and by each other. We trust in the group and we protect the group. We don’t keep secrets—though some of us try, for a little while. I’m not saying it’s simple or perfect, but you need the group and none of us want to see you suffer on your own.”
“Why not? I haven’t known any of you longer than a couple of years. I’m not like your family. I’m just a really annoying thing that happened to all of you.”
“Technically—” Kalen smirked. “—every one of them were an event that ‘happened’ to me at some point in time. I collected each of them and added them to the group to protect them because all of them need to win this game. Now I’m doing the same with you. You’re exactly like them, not some annoying outlier.”
“What do you mean? Why did you have to protect them?”
“Let’s talk about it tonight. Are you in, Isobel?” He squeezed her hand, that comforting brush of his power settling over her shoulders like a hug.
“Okay how are you doing that?” she finally blurted, widening her eyes at him. “How are you pushing out good emotions on me? I usually only feel negative stuff.”
“Just something I thought I’d try.” His lips twitched into a half smile. “I’m glad it’s working.”