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Whenever she felt herself pulling ahead, some kind of basic instinct to make people happy took over, and she folded. She let everyone else win. She couldn’t help it.
“It says to keep your distance, Sigma. Stay in your lane, you understand?” I understand you’re a bit of a dick.
“What the hell are they feeding you?” she blurted, blinking at him. He snorted again, but this time it turned into a laugh. Bright and sunny, as beautiful as his smile. He brushed his fingers down his stomach, obviously knowing exactly what she was talking about. “God,” he laughed. “You should see Sato’s abs. You never will, though. It would break the internet. Which pool are we going to?”
“That’s fucked up, Izzy.” “I hate that name.” He grinned, his eyes flashing. “Good. What else do you hate?”
“And?” he whispered. “Myself.” She was shocked at the word that escaped, her eyes widening on his. “And there it is,” he breathed out quietly. “That’s why me and you will be friends. Because underneath the yards of nonsense that puts you down one end of the ladder and me up at the other end … we both still just straight up despise ourselves.”
“When have I ever asked for anything?” Theodore demanded. “I agreed to the plan. I’m here. I do everything Kalen demands and I’m asking for one thing.” “And what if she overhears something?” Elijah growled out. “We aren’t playing high school games here. Knowing anything puts all of us at risk—and her, as well. If she makes even the slightest move to report us, Kalen will dispatch Oscar. She’ll be over, do you understand? And if she finds out something and doesn’t report us, she’s just as liable as us.”
“As you just said: Sigmas shouldn’t be friends with Alphas.” “That’s not what I said.” “Now mates on the other hand,” he continued. “Sigmas can most certainly mate with Alphas.
“Kilian is probably a safer friend than I am.” His eyes dropped from her face to the window. “All anyone talks about is how much of a gay icon he is and how he’s completely disinterested in everyone. They won’t suspect you two of trying to force a bond.”
Elijah took in the mess of the room, finally finding the answer to the dark bruises beneath the Sigma’s eyes.
STAY IN YOUR LANE was scrawled across the wall. He frowned at the words, slitting a look to Theodore.
“It isn’t an Ironside camera,” he explained. “It just looks like one so anyone will think twice before trashing your room again.” He didn’t promise that it wouldn’t be turned on. He should have. Then he would have had to keep to his word. But he bit his tongue and felt a surge of frustration because of it. It
“Don’t worry, that’s just Elijah. You haven’t done anything wrong.” “No,” Reed agreed beneath his breath. “She hasn’t.” Isobel shivered, her eyes drifting over to Gray, who was staring at Reed curiously. She got the feeling Gray didn’t miss much. It was probably a side effect of his ability,
“Who’s going to be watching it, then?” He lifted a shoulder. “Hopefully nobody. Possibly me.” Theodore let out a sound that was halfway between a grunt and a growl. Reed rolled his eyes at the other boy before returning his attention to her. “If you spend your time with Theo in Dorm A, I won’t have any reason to check it.”
Having Theodore’s attention on her was nerve-wracking enough. If she added Elijah Reed, Kilian Gray, Gabriel Spade and Cian Ashford to the mix, she would probably have a nervous breakdown by the end of the week.
Moses Kane, Niko Hart and Oscar Sato. The shy Alpha, the social butterfly, and … the dangerous one.
“Let me know when the Sigma gets back to her room.” Elijah just stared at him. “I said I wasn’t going to activate the feed, Oscar. Not unless it was necessary.” Elijah was the master of half-truths. “I already checked your computer.” Oscar gave him a bored look. “You must have found a necessary reason.”
Mikel Easton, one of the Alpha professors—and, she supposed, one of the dorm supervisors.
nothing could have prepared her for the litany of scars that scattered across his skin. What had happened to him? She focussed on one in particular, dragging through his lower lip, before forcing her eyes up to his.
She kept her head lowered as she slipped past, fighting off a shudder as his red-hot emotion followed her, a tinge of resentment licking up her spine. “I’ll be in my office here if you need anything.” His voice followed her, light and easy. Completely at odds with his emotion.
She turned to the right, but a sound from Reed had her pausing. “Not that one.” His smile was small, secretive. “You don’t want to knock on that one.” She frowned, hearing something on the other side of the door. “Uh-oh.” Spade chuckled. “Better run, little Sigma.”
“Where is she?” a rough voice asked on the other side of the door, sounding so close. So familiar. “Just missed her.” Reed clucked his tongue, the sound faint through the door.
His hand engulfed hers and he pulled her after him, pausing when he reached the common room, where Reed and Spade had gathered with three more Alphas. Oscar Sato, Niko Hart, and Moses Kane.
“That’s Gabriel.” He motioned to Spade, whose lips twitched. “We’ve met,” he said. Theodore grunted. “Right. When? Never mind.”
He nodded at her, dark eyes fixing on Theodore’s hand. He had a more visceral reaction than Niko, flinching back and focussing on the TV, anger radiating out of him. Isobel didn’t need to be a Sigma to feel it.
She paused, her eyes on the lake. “My mom died,” she whispered. “Last year. My father only told me yesterday.” He tugged her hand, surprising her by drawing her tight to his bare chest. His skin was warm, his touch so soft, gentling against the back of her head.
“She died the day you found me in the library. She took too much and her heart stopped.”
“If I could take this from you, I would—” “No.” He covered her hands, but his voice was harsh and grating. “Don’t you dare.”
She had dimples, not just two in each cheek, but another two right at the sides of her mouth, two that dug into her chin, just beneath the sides of her mouth, and two high up, stretching between her eyes and cheeks.
this doesn't sound too cute ngl
“He likes her,” Elijah commented. “Obviously,” Gabriel snorted. They should have been the pretend twins in the group instead of Moses and Theodore. They acted like they shared a single brain cell.
Moses was always one slip away from exploding, and Theodore wasn’t too far behind him. Anything could set Oscar off, and the rest of them were under constant pressure to keep the whole operation together.
“Relax,” he teased. “I have a girlfriend now.” She froze, her knuckles turning white as she gripped another notebook. “Now? Girlfriend?” Why did his smile look so forced? “Yep.” His lips popped on the word. “Sato introduced me to one of his Beta … friends earlier in the week.”
the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
“Oh.” She coughed to cover up the weird crackle in her voice. “Yeah. Okay. And she’s your girlfriend already?” He shrugged. “Stranger things have happened, right?”
“Actually,” he added. “Reed and Spade have met people, too. It looks like things are heading in the right direction.”
“Is this something I really needed to know?” she asked, stuffing her bag full and pulling it over her shoulder. He immediately swept it off, hooking it over his own. “No. I don’t know why I said all that. Sorry.”
She wanted to scowl at him and declare she hadn’t been trying to date him, to remind him that he was the one who had texted her, he was the one who invited her to Dorm A, he was the one who kept turning up, dragging her out of her shell … But he always seemed to know when she was lying. And she would have been lying, because he was … perfect. She liked him.
Of course, if he hadn’t been gay, the situation would have been different, but she decided to treat him like Eve, or any other of the Omegas girls in their shared bathroom.
Looool he’s so not gay
“Maybe you don’t see it, but you’re going to break some serious hearts.” She gave him a flat look. “I can’t even break a piñata.”
“You’re into guys,” she shot back. “Your taste in this department doesn’t count.” Something raced across his expression, and all of a sudden his head was thrown back as he released a deep, husky laugh. “I get it now,” he eased out between chuckles. “I was wondering why you were so comfortable whipping your clothes off in front of me.” “Oh my god,” she rushed out. “I thought … I didn’t make you uncomfortable, did I?” “You couldn’t if you tried. I just forgot that was … popular knowledge these days.”
Reed’s and Theodore’s girls were doing the majority of the glaring, which was surprising since Theodore had barely spoken to her. Although … he was staring. At her. At Kilian. And he was frowning.
He winked at her, giving her a quick thumbs up. Theodore could be a bit of a dick, but he got away with it because his smile was so amazing and his eyes crinkled just mischievously enough to give him a free pass. It was a little bit infuriating.
Her vision began to clear, but the leather suddenly dropped back over her head. “Don’t move,” the voice demanded. It was smooth and deep, velvety and rounded. It made her shiver, her twitching fingers falling back to the soft rug. “Good girl,” he whispered, his touch falling away.
Good girl??? Sir we know what you did there…
Back to the problem, Sigma.” “Isobel,” she corrected. “Little rabbit,” he countered. “Always slipping beneath the fence line into where she isn’t welcome. Always getting caught in snares.”
Oh fuck he’s my type
He seemed to grip one of the papers, but Ashford shook his head, leaning up against the lottery table. “Nah,” he said casually. “Not that one.” Everyone laughed, cheering at his playful nature, and Theodore released the paper, catching another one. Ashford shook his head, and this continued a few more times until Ashford and Theodore locked eyes. A message seemed to pass between them, Ashford cocking a brow, almost like a challenge, and then Theodore drew out the paper. “Roses are red, violets are blue, try to kiss me and I will actually kill you.”
But … it was her first kiss. “Well?” Ashford goaded, aquamarine eyes glinting. “Pick an Alpha, Sigma.”
“I’m sorry I sort of blackmailed you.” She crossed her arms over her chest, fighting off a shiver and skirting her eyes to the side. “Ah, don’t take it back now.” His voice was a low, deep rumble. “I like it when people owe me favours.”
“Thank you,” she forced out, wondering why it was so hard to be grateful to him. “I owe you.” “And I’ll collect,” he promised darkly. And that was why
“As long as you don’t care that I kissed your brother,” she said instead. He dropped his fork, his head snapping up. He swallowed and then cleared his throat. And then swallowed again.
I’m not holding her hostage.” “Not with your words, but maybe with your face,” she muttered. His smile was sudden, wide, and utterly disarming. “Did the Illy-stone just compliment me again?” “No.” She almost smiled. “I’m just calling it how I see it.”
He was huge. Bigger than any other Alpha she had seen. So tall that he barely cleared the doorway he ducked through. She tried to dredge up a memory of the other Alpha professor Ironside had hired, and an image of a broad, chiselled face flashed into her mind. Kalen West was even more unfriendly than Sato, if that was possible, and he swore as easily as Kilian.
