But nobody made her feel as safe as Kalen …
She took a deep breath, meeting Oscar’s eyes. “I meant what I said. I won’t—I can’t pick favourites. I like the person I’ve become since I met all of you, and I don’t think I would be the same if even one of you had been missing from the start.”
He dropped the dress beside her and started running his fingers through her hair, working out the tangles he had caused. “I feel the same way about them,” he admitted. “That’s why this is hard. All my choices have been taken away and I’m even more furious because you’re … you. If you were awful, I could be glad you belonged to them. I could forget about you.”
“Kalen promised we’re going to figure this out together.” She knew she sounded afraid, and it was because Oscar and Moses were complete wildcards. Niko and Kilian didn’t want mates, but they would do what was best for the group and neither of them wanted to see her suffer. Elijah also didn’t want a mate, but if they were willing to include her in their plans, it was only because Elijah had already told them it would work.
But Oscar? He could throw it all back in their faces.
“You’re a sweet girl.” He sighed, catching her chin, lifting her face to his as he crouched over her. “We’ll protect you, okay?”
She bounded up, throwing her arms around his waist. He grunted a surprised sound, but inserted his hands beneath her arms, hoisting her up so she could wrap her legs around him instead, his hands gripping her ass. His lips found hers, his kiss sharp, like he didn’t know how to platonically hug someone. As soon as she began to squirm against him, he squeezed her and set her down, quickly dragging the dress over her head.
“Let’s go,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her. “You look fucking amazing.”
They arrived in the practice room just as the sixth period started, giving her exactly an hour to learn all of the choreography and for them to film and submit it to Lye before the end of the period. Cian, Gabriel, and Elijah were already there, rehearsing camera angles, and the three of them froze when she and Oscar pushed into the room.
Cian ran a hand down his face, groaning deeply. “Jesus, Illy. Aren’t you sore, honey?”
“N-No.” She flushed bright red. “He didn’t have a crystal, so—”
“Shit.” Oscar suddenly froze, whipping out his phone. “Niko needs to talk to you about—about something.”
“There were rules,” Elijah snarled. “What the fuck, Oscar?”
Oscar just ignored him, moving to sit on the bench as he texted Niko. Gabriel turned on Isobel, his expression calm. “You okay?”
There wasn’t much more she could say on camera, so she just nodded.
“Don’t feel pressured to practise these dance routines just because everyone else wants to,” Elijah said, still angrily eyeing Oscar. He was probably trying to cover up Cian’s “are you sore” comment by making it seem like she and Oscar had been practising some choreography.
Isobel chewed on her lip and nodded. “Honestly, I wanted to dance. And I want to dance now, too, so … let’s just get on with it?”
The three of them turned to stare at her, and Oscar picked up his head from his phone, smirking darkly. “Wait until you get to practise the full routine, Carter.”
Cian looked relieved. “Still haven’t reached the end of the routine, then?”
“Not even close,” Oscar answered for her, while Gabriel and Elijah shared a loaded look.
“How far into the routine, exactly?” Cian turned his attention to Oscar. “Since you’re so fucking chatty today.”
“Barely got through the basics.” Oscar shrugged, throwing his hands across the back of the bench seat. “Don’t you guys have some choreography to learn? I didn’t bring you the star performer looking like that for nothing.”
Elijah quickly took control of the session. Running through Isobel’s part of the choreography while Gabriel stopped and started the music for them, and then they did a few rounds with Cian filming, watching it back each time to perfect their mistakes.
She had been given challenges to quickly learn choreography before, but she was extra nervous this time. Oscar had called it “the group’s second debut,” and she was starting to realise that what they were doing would of course be bigger than an application for Lye’s class. It would be the first time Elijah and Gabriel had danced for the public, instead of hiding away in practice rooms and working on choreography with their headphones in.
It would also be the first time anyone would see her dancing with a partner. Even when Lye partnered people up for his class, she was always left on her own, and he ended up using her to demonstrate things for the rest of the students.
After their final run-through, Elijah picked up his phone to check the time. “We need to head out. The others should have finished setting up the floating platform by now.”
“Floating platform?” she asked, jumping up and down to keep her muscles warm. It wasn’t raining that much. What did they need a floating platform for?
“You’ll see.” Oscar dropped his arm over her shoulders, steering her from the room while Cian packed up the camera equipment.
Elijah fell into step on her other side, Gabriel waiting at the door for Cian.
“You two seem very friendly all of a sudden,” Elijah said, keeping his voice low as he glanced at Oscar. “What colour were you, Carter?”
“Fuck off,” Oscar shot back. “You don’t get to take notes on all her dance rehearsals.”
“Yellow,” Isobel answered, ignoring Oscar. “Because I didn’t want to be late.”
Oscar scoffed quietly, and Elijah’s lips twitched like he wanted to smile. “I see. So you did well, then.”
“Don’t you want to know how well Oscar did?” she asked.
Both Alphas chuckled.
“I think he probably did fine,” Elijah answered. “But I’m glad he went easy on you.”
“Hardly,” she mumbled beneath her breath.
“Didn’t know I was capable of going that easy,” Oscar crooned into her ear, before straightening.
“Then you should be ready for me soon,” Elijah stated, in such a matter-of-fact way that Isobel had to repeat the words in her mind a few times, positive that she had misheard him. When she tripped over her own feet, he caught her easily, that amused smirk still on his lips.
“I’m kidding, Carter.”
Cian and Gabriel caught up to them as they left the fitness centre, the five of them ducking into the rain and jogging toward the lake, where it seemed like all the other Alphas had gathered. Theodore and Moses were in the water, Mikel and Kalen standing off to one side, Kilian and Niko off to the other.
There weren’t many students lingering outside, but a few had begun to gather, huddling beneath the overhang of the old boathouse to observe what Theodore and Moses were doing.
“That should hold!” Theodore called out, climbing out of the water. “Need a hand onto the platform, Illy—” He froze, coming to a stop before her, his nostrils flaring.
Moses appeared behind him, dark grey eyes narrowing, his squared jaw clenching. Isobel refocussed on Theodore, apprehension eating away at her chest like a vicious parasite. His jealousy was a searing flash, like a hot knife stabbing into her skin, but as soon as she felt it, it was suddenly gone. He was schooling his handsome face, pushing wet tendrils of hair out of his eyes as he bent down to her eye level.