She was too distracted to even stretch properly.
There was a spark of satisfaction in Moses’ gaze that reminded her of Oscar for an uncomfortable moment. A glint of sadistic enjoyment, as though he had just engineered a moment of chaos. A private unravelling of something just for his own private viewing.
Theodore gripped her thigh and dragged her halfway across the mat, refusing to look at the others as he went quietly back to his exercises. She returned to copying him, and Moses smirked like he had won.
“I know when people are lying.” Niko was speaking to the mat, and several heads whipped up at his confession. “That’s what my ability is.” He directed his attention to the door, ignoring everyone else. “What’s keeping Mikki?”
Isobel almost bit her tongue to hold back the barrage of questions. It wasn’t polite to interrogate people about their abilities. But being able to tell when people were lying? That was powerful. It made her think about her own father, and his claims that he didn’t have an ability. So far, all the Alphas she had met were in possession of very potent abilities. The ability to control time? To control the weather? To turn into murderous … somethings? To read the future? To turn invisible? To create chaos? To control people? She still didn’t know what Gabriel’s ability was, but she was sure he had one, and she was sure it would be illegal.
Suddenly, it didn’t seem so feasible that her father was born without an ability.
“He had a rough night,” Cian answered, only a second before Easton stepped into the room, slamming the door behind him.
“You four—” He pointed to Moses, Theodore, Cian, and Elijah. “—and Carter. On the treadmills. Now.” He grunted the words, barely even sparing them a glance. “Oscar, Gabriel, and Kilian. On the rowing machines. Fifteen minutes hard and fast and then switch.” He clapped his hands together, making Isobel twitch an inch closer to Theodore. “Go!”
Theodore pulled her up with him, giving her a carefree grin, reassuring her that Easton’s sharp mood was nothing to be concerned about. But she accidentally looked up at Easton as she passed by him, catching sight of a new scar on his cheek, deep and pink, and mottled bruising around his neck peeking up from the top of his collar.
She stumbled, her eyes stretching wide as his attention zeroed in on her, his eyelids lowering over mismatched pupils to make his gaze more severe as a hint of annoyance pinged against her chest from his direction.
“Something you want to say, Carter?” His tone wasn’t quite as sharp as when he had been addressing the group, but there was a deeply unhappy undercurrent that made her want to tuck her chin and run away.
“N-No, Professor.”
“Treadmill!” Theodore stepped between her and Easton, quickly pushing her toward one of the machines. “Hurry now.” He waited until she was tapping the buttons to increase her speed, her neck prickling like Easton was still watching her before Theodore leaned over from the treadmill beside hers.
“Keep your head down this session,” he whispered. “If you need to leave, just leave. One of us will go with you.”
She reared her head back, blinking at him in confusion. “Because of Ea—” she began to ask, but he just put a finger to his lips and hiked up the speed on his machine, kicking it into a sprint. He even pulled out headphones, but he flashed her a short, apologetic smile in the mirror as he tuned out the rest of the room.
She found her attention drifting to the left, studying Easton in the mirror as he scrolled through his phone, snarling at the boys on the rowing machines for slacking off. He was definitely in a state, but she couldn’t tell exactly what the state was, because every Alpha in the room seemed to be feeling something negative, and it was hitting her from all directions.
Wariness. Frustration. Exasperation. Dread. Distress.
They were all worked up, but they were hiding it remarkably well. On their faces, at least.
She fished her own headphones from the pocket of her shorts, choosing the latest playlist she had finalised for her practice sessions. With the aid of music, her body seemed to activate, suddenly willing and eager to move, the running belt moving too slow for the beat of the song she had chosen. She edged the speed past what she usually set it at, realising she might have a chance of running off the anxious edges of everyone in the room if she tried hard enough.
She lost herself in the music, in the process, slowly siphoning off hints of their jagged emotion until her heart skipped a beat and her legs almost failed her. A hand shot out, hitting the emergency stop button for her treadmill, and she jerked to the side, thrown off balance.
“You’re done.” Elijah’s voice was cold, catching her easily, his arm wrapped around her waist as he set her on the ground, holding her up as she tried to gain her footing. Her headphones had fallen out, her music echoing back up to her from where they lay on the ground.
“Carter.” Easton. Shit.
“Good luck.” Elijah walked away, leaving her to raise her head and confront the scarred professor.
He looked like he had been pacing before the stretching mat, where the rest of the Alphas were lined up, half of them on their backs, the other half standing with medicine balls.
Gabriel was propped up, watching her closely as Elijah returned to him and snatched up the medicine ball, sending it down with so much force that it might have cracked Gabriel’s ribs if he hadn’t caught it so deftly, tossing it back up lightly. The whole time, he stared at her, until Elijah muttered something to him, and he returned his full attention to the task.
When she still hadn’t moved, Easton frowned, his finger twitching. He was pointing at the ground before him, but he hadn’t raised his hand at all … it was almost like the movement was completely unconscious.
She swallowed, shuffling over to him, her system in shock. She hadn’t noticed the others getting off the treadmills or beginning their other exercises. She didn’t even know how long she had been running for, but she could feel the heavy weight of everything she had gradually stolen from them. It sat inside her chest, swirling painfully, a dark vortex hungry for more. Combined with that horrible, persisting emptiness in her gut that still plagued her, it was enough to make her limbs tremble as she stopped before Easton.
“Take over, Niko,” Easton commanded, before striding to the far side of the gym, casting her a quick, loaded look like he expected her to follow.