But they were the liars. Not her.
“Because I told her everything,” she said evenly. She let that hang in the air for a moment before she warped the rest of the story for the cameras. “Everything I wanted to believe, anyway. I told her Kilian was my mate because I wished he was. I don’t want my real mate. I don’t know who he is. But Kilian is nice to me. He cares about me. And he probably wouldn’t ever make me complete the bond because he isn’t into girls.”
She sagged back against her chair, dropping her fork and crossing her arms. They were quiet. Kilian didn’t even act like he had heard her. He was still staring at the same spot on the table.
“That … wasn’t wise,” Easton finally said, as Kalen returned to the table.
“That was really fucking unwise,” Moses growled, always the first to rip away a sugar-coating.
“I’m aware,” she gritted, before tamping down on her defensiveness. They had warned her not to tell anyone, and she had promised she wouldn’t. But knowing that she was technically in the wrong didn’t make apologising any easier. “I’m sorry.”
Kilian pushed away from the table, avoiding looking at anybody. “I’ll … be … I’m just— I need a minute.”
She pushed her chair back to follow him, but Moses dropped his fingers to her thigh, barely even touching her as he shook his head, his frown deep and frightening.
Cian stood, his expression troubled as he swept his eyes quickly over the table. He looked like he was about to say something before he changed his mind, striding off after Kilian.
“You should eat.” Easton assessed Isobel as the silence around the table grew deeper, more unsettling.
She stared at the food piled onto the table that nobody else was reaching for, hearing the words Easton didn’t say.
He wanted her to eat so that she could leave.
She moved to push back her chair again, but Moses repeated the same motion as before, his fingers tapping her thigh, pulling her up short.
“Eat something,” he suggested.
No Alpha voice.
She pushed her chair the rest of the way back and slipped away from the table.
Theodore fought back the urge to stop Isobel as she took several steps away from the table, and then several more, just to make sure she was out of arm’s reach of anyone. The tantalising, syrupy scent that he had managed to foster into a heady perfume only ten minutes ago was already gaining a bitter edge, shrinking back into her veins until he was no longer beating back the need to do something incredibly stupid in front of nine of his closest friends.
It was bad enough that he had covered his fingers in her syrup and spread it over his dick. That was a completely unhinged thing to do, and it was the reason he was still half hard. Even now. Probably forever. Despite everything.
He noticed Niko relaxing slightly and Elijah’s shoulders inching down. Kalen and Mikel no longer looked like they wanted to throw themselves off the rooftop … but a different kind of tension had descended, and none of them seemed to know exactly what to do with it. The situation was bad—Isobel might have just blown their cover entirely—but none of them were angry at her. At the situation, yes, but not at her.
Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to realise that.
“I’m really sorry,” Isobel repeated, staring at the ground with a frown. There was only so much she could say, even though she had moved away from the cameras.
She was struggling, fighting for the words, but it didn’t matter. They knew what she was apologising for.
“Did you tell anyone else these … stories?” Kalen asked.
Well now Theodore wanted to shove him off the rooftop.
Except Kalen would only say that this was Theodore’s fault. They had all told him right from the start that they couldn’t trust her with their secrets when they barely even knew her. There was too much on the line. But they were also the ones who had lied to her first, and there were ten of them. There was only one of her. They all had each other and she had no one.
Were they really going to be dicks just because she wanted one friend on her side?
For the love of all things holy, keep your damn mouths shut.
He glared at them one by one.
“No. I didn’t tell anyone else.” Isobel’s scent was a cherry tree shoved through a woodchopper, splinters and dust flying everywhere, ripe juice running through the gears until it was oily and tainted.
Kalen was treating her like one of his Alphas. Asking the questions necessary to do damage control before he focussed on the emotional side of things—or let Niko or Kilian focus on the emotional side of things. Theodore just hoped Isobel wouldn’t think he was angry at her. Kalen seemed like he was angry all the time, but she would only need to see him truly angry once to know the difference.
Isobel straightened slightly, her eyes flashing up to Kalen’s before flicking around to the other faces. “The assault wasn’t my fault. They had it planned. They had their suspicions, and they were going to torture me no matter what I said. Eve has been torturing me since I came here. I was just too stupid to see it because she’s right. I’m gullible. I believe everything you tell me.”
Her eyes flicked to Theodore, her stare landing harder than the slap he had told her she should give him.
There it is.
Despite the hollow pain he felt at her disappointed expression, he was glad she had said it. He nodded slightly, showing that he understood what she was saying, and some of the lines digging into her forehead eased.
“You’re right.” Gabriel stood from the table, tossing down his napkin. He wasn’t going to eat the food anyway. Not with how many glasses had shattered and the possibility that a shard might have landed on his plate. “Eve was already targeting you. All the students named by her in the attack before spring break are all on camera in different locations. They have solid alibis. She lied to you and the officials. I don’t know who attacked you, but it wasn’t her usual group of Delta friends. The only person at Ironside with a recorded ability to create darkness and shadow is a second-year Beta, Kiki Rayne. As for the other thing … ignore Moses. He’s just worried about Kilian.”
Isobel sat up a little straighter, shocked at Spade’s defence of her. She watched as he grabbed a bread roll and began to walk off, thinking that he was following Cian and Kilian … except he paused at the stairs, looking at her. “Come on, puppy.”
She hurried over to him, so grateful for the escape that she could have hugged him, but he probably wouldn’t have liked that. So instead, she just followed him quietly.
“Are you making sure I don’t try to talk to Kilian?” she asked, as they passed by the door to his room.
Spade didn’t answer, just handed her the bread roll and kept walking.
“Eat,” he suggested as they rounded the lake.
The bread tasted like cardboard and her hands were shaking again, but she obeyed, nibbling it slowly as they walked.
When they were halfway back to Dorm O, he finally sucked in a short breath, slipping her a quick, sideways look. “How are you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Honestly? Not too bad right now.”
“Orgasms will do that. Sex will do more—but I would have to very strongly advise against that.”