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I am not for sale. Because of her, he had sold himself. “It’s not just your bond, Isobel,” he responded calmly. “It’s n-not just yours either.”
“I like you.” The words were a scrape of gravel, utterly without warmth. They still made her stomach burn, her skin tingling with pleasure.
Fear, anger, violence, anxiety. There was also a fierce, dark protectiveness that had goosebumps popping up along her arms, too large to belong to just one of them. The Alphas had lost control.
Moses: Oscar is still alive. Kalen: Not funny, Moses. Oscar: Agree to disagree. Kilian: That it was funny, or that you’re alive? Oscar: Am I alive or is this hell? Oscar: Daily conundrum. Theodore: Why are you so emo?
Isobel: What are you doing later? His nights were free again. Her nights were free again. His cock filled with blood so suddenly it was almost painful, and he stormed inside, pushing into his dressing room, eyes wide, heart pounding. Holy shit calm down, she didn’t mean it like that.
Kalen: You’re not even going to wait for them to fuck? Who are you going to kill first? Oscar: Probably Theodore, that smug fuck. Kalen: He’s our lead singer, you idiot. Oscar: Then Kilian, that fake gay smug fuck.
He loved that about her. Liked. He liked that about her. What the fuck? Jesus fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.
It was hard not to believe in fate when he watched her like this. Nobody else at the academy had worked as hard as her to get as far as she had come. Nobody except him and the other Alphas.
Kilian: Oh, so you do remember things. Elijah: War movies? Yes. Girlfriends? No. Isobel: Will you remember me? Theodore: I’ve never actually seen Eli panic before. Where you at, E? Send us a picture. Elijah: If you want to be my girlfriend, there are better ways of asking. Theodore: Who, me? Elijah: I violently resent the pep in your step this morning. Theodore: Keep that up and I won’t want to be your girlfriend much longer.
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Elijah: We’re busy this period. Gabriel: He means he and I are busy. Elijah: Who else would I mean? Moses: It’s hard to see anyone else when you’re in love.
Oscar: Afraid they’ll find your dirty magazines? Moses: Sigma Penthouse. Kilian: Sigma Hustler. Cian: Sigma Playboy. Cian: Also, I’m on my way. Theodore: My tastes go beyond Sigmas. Isobel: Do they? Elijah: I’ve never seen Theo panic before. Send me a pic, T. Theodore: Shut up.
Isobel: I’m hurt. Isobel: The bond stone is probably pure blood red right now. Kalen (admin): Can confirm. It is. Theodore: I know you’re fucking with me but the adrenaline I have right now. Theodore: Stop it. Isobel: Make me. Oscar: Stop flirting in the group chat. Isobel: That was fighting. Oscar: As I said.
He tugged harder. “Seriously, Sigma—” Silva was suddenly jerked to the side and tossed into the chair beside her. Moses sat on his other side, holding him to the chair by the neck. Theodore was pulling his arm, trying to pull him out of the chair while Moses held him down. “Seriously, Beta,” Theodore mocked. “Let’s just go talk. Somewhere. Private.” Each word was accompanied by a yank of Silva’s arm until the Beta screamed.
Her brain finally overrode her shock, and she jumped out of her seat, shoving at Theodore. “Let’s go.” He dropped Silva’s arm, and she pushed him harder, forcing him back a few steps toward Moses. “You too,” she ordered, glaring at Moses, who scowled and released Silva.
She felt guilty admitting it, but it was nice to know that someone had put his hands on her and was immediately punished. It felt better than nice.
“Do I look like I flirt, Sigma?” “I could see you flirting,” she hedged. “Maybe with a scientific manual of some kind? I could see you stroking its spine by the fireplace, fingering its pages.” He looked amused, so she continued. “I could see you flirting with a documentary on binary code—snuggled in with some wine and fondue.” His firm lips twitched, giving her a flash of the reaction she craved.
“You look like you’d eat me alive.” When his expression suddenly went blank, she let her smile break free, battering her lashes at him. “That, Mr Reed, is how you flirt.”
“My personality,” Gabriel answered, the tilt to his lip evening out, his expression as frighteningly blank as ever. “That’s what kept her around.” “Oh?” Both of Isobel’s brows shot up this time. “Can I see it?” He chuckled, rising suddenly. “Come here, puppy.”
She stiffened slightly. “I smell bad?” He chuckled. “I didn’t say that.” And then his voice dropped into her head. I’m addicted to the scent of your sweat. Finally, someone who knows how to flirt, she responded.
He felt a little jolt of pride at the intelligence of his mate, who had obviously figured it out and was acting accordingly. There was a lot he liked about the Sigma, but he respected her ability to keep a cool head, and respect wasn’t something he gave out easily.
Her head rolled back against his stomach, threatening to distract him again with the brush of her hair over his thighs. He wasn’t sure why that was such an erotic sight, but it filled him with fantasies of pushing her between his legs while he sat at his desk, and without warning, he was suddenly thinking about shoving into her throat and how she would gag and cry, and garble pleas for him to be kinder and gentler with her—like one of her other boyfriends would be.
His heart hurt, thumping with awkward, painful, audible thuds in his chest. Something about the fragile, vulnerable tremble in her limbs and the quiet, keening sorrow she tried to muffle against his skin had him almost unravelling.
Elijah fell to the piano stool. She clung tighter, hiking higher up his body, like she could somehow crawl inside him and live there, safe from the rest of the world. Like she thought he was the kind of person who could keep her safe.
“I really fucking hope the bond doesn’t do me next,” Gabriel muttered from behind the rim of his glass. The statement came out of nowhere. They were all drinking. It had been that kind of day. The others didn’t laugh, and Isobel was pretty sure it wasn’t a joke. She also hoped she wasn’t next.
Kalen smirked, and that was everything she needed because he was the one Yulia had been devouring with her thieving eyes. Moses burst into laughter. “Thieving eyes?” Theodore taunted from the floor, his teeth flashing in a brief show of humour.
they were hearing her thoughts again? “Oh boy,” Oscar groaned. “Please don’t think about Kalen’s dick again.” “Why would you bring that up right now?”
“Can you all still hear my thoughts?” she asked. Kalen nodded. She imagined flicking Moses on the nose. In her imagination, she was standing on a bigger coffee table, so she was taller than him. It was very emasculating. Kilian spluttered out a laugh. Kalen’s warm, amber eyes shone in amusement, but he was too mature to laugh. So she imagined flicking him on the nose as well, just to knock him down a peg or two.
“Hey,” Moses protested. “I have trauma.” She imagined flicking him in the forehead. “Do it one more time,” he threatened. “Do what?” She played dumb, still facing Cian, who chuckled.
“Provocative and entertaining,” she muttered to herself as Cian scrolled through his playlist. “Sensual, but tasteful.” Like Kilian. “Why, thank you.” Kilian smirked at her. She waved him off, trying to focus. “Okay, I’ve got this.”
He looked pretty drunk himself. “Can confirm,” he drawled, picking up his glass to salute her. She tried to salute him back, but realised her hand was empty. She tucked her hand behind her back. They probably didn’t see it. “We saw,” Theodore countered.
“You sent that to me,” Cian stated dryly. “And you misspelled ‘asshole.’” “She called Cooper an asshole?” Kilian sat up straighter. Cian lifted his phone and read the message out loud. “Dear Pervent, the ashholes said I’m not allowed, but even if I was, I’d rather you shove that pole somewhere not sensual or tasteful.”
“Oh my god, my eyes,” Theodore wailed, rolling onto his front and banging his head against the floor, punctuating each knock of his forehead with a muffled shout. “WHAT. THE. FUCK!”
“Go to bed, pet.” The words were whispered against her hairline. “Before you get yourself into trouble.” “I’ll flick you,” she threatened feebly.
“I need you,” he groaned, the roughness of his voice gaining a desperate edge. “I’m going to claw out my skin if I don’t have you.”
“You’re so fucking cute, it makes me sick,” he growled, palming her ass and squeezing, rocking his hardness against her
“You’re so tight.” He groaned, voice low and rough. “I just want to force my way in. I want you bent and b-broken …” He trailed off when she clenched around him, sucking in a sharp breath. She wasn’t used to hearing Oscar stutter. “I want to be so deep inside you, you won’t be able to breathe for days without thinking about how I filled you, fucked you, forced my way inside you.”
“Mine,” he repeated, nudging her head back. He licked her neck, pulling out and stabbing into her in another brutal movement. “Mine,” he growled, gripping her thighs so tightly she felt a pinch of pain.
“I don’t know,” she whined, trying to shift her hips. She was barely able to move an inch. “H-he grew, he—” “A mating tie,” Elijah said. He looked horrified and confused.
“I don’t know!” Elijah shouted, tugging on his dishevelled hair, pale eyes wide. “I read something once in a book of dumb Gifted legends. It said Alphas had a way of forcefully breeding people through mating ties. It was just some stupid story about Alphas being monsters.”
“But first we need to … make it go down.” “I never go down when I’m inside her,” Cian spat out furiously. “We could be waiting hours. All fucking night, maybe. That’s your fucking plan?”
“He avoided sex because he didn’t want to hurt you in any way,” Kilian said, wincing, his hand scraping down his handsome face. “And look what happened.”
“I can see the weird orgasm lock being a side effect,” he allowed. “It’s classic, unhinged bond behaviour. But ferality?”
“The day after. I didn’t want to share a mate. I didn’t want to watch my nine best friends developing feelings for my mate. I didn’t want to be here.” This was cruel. She understood why he would want to leave, but it was cruel of the bond to show it to her all this time later … after she had developed feelings.
“You okay?” Oscar asked, his eyes tracing over her. She nodded nervously. “You didn’t hurt me. It’s okay.” She resisted the urge to defuse the tension with a joke about how he had gotten his wish, and she would definitely be feeling him inside her for a while.
Maya shrugged, pointing to Oscar. “Chaos.” She moved her finger to Moses. “Aggression.” Then to Theodore. “Charm.”
“You do seem to make people more aggressive,” Theodore said quietly. “You even rile up Isobel, and that’s not easy to do.” “I’ve always wondered why everyone was in love with you,” Moses returned.
Holy shit, Theodore exploded into Isobel’s head. She’s right. I really can charm the pants off people, can’t I? Shut up, you smug fuck, Oscar groaned back. This really isn’t the time. You’re only saying that because Moses is here, Theodore responded sunnily. I bet you’re actually a really easy-going guy; you just seem unhinged because Moses is leaking aggression all over you all the time.
