“And I’ve told him the same thing.” Mikel’s mouth hardened, tension lining his face. “You’ll each need to figure out how to do that in your own ways. Assuming neither of you are about to change?”
He stared at her expectantly, waiting for a confirmation that she could be just as stubborn as Oscar, but she … stubbornly didn’t want to admit it.
“I’ll be your sponsor,” Kalen announced, stepping around her and heading to the door. “But I’m also giving you a day to change your mind if you need to. Make sure you think this through. This isn’t an option I would be giving any of the others, so take advantage of it.” Before he opened the door, he glanced back at her, waiting to see if she had any other questions.
She nodded, saying a quiet goodnight before heading toward Kilian’s room. The lounge was empty, looking like a cleaning crew had slipped through while she had been in Kalen’s office.
One probably had. Or Gabriel had beaten them to it.
She raised her fist to knock on Kilian’s door, but then figured he was probably already asleep since there was no light spilling out from beneath the door. She cracked it open, trying to keep quiet, and breathed a short sigh of relief when there was enough moonlight spilling through the wide bay windows to illuminate her steps as she crept toward his bed. It was neatly made, her hot water bottle on top of the covers waiting for her. Kilian’s form was stretched out on a brand-new couch, a blanket tugged up over his hips, his chest bare, his pale skin flawless in the soft shadows, every muscle sharp with definition, his hand resting on his stomach.
Kilian was an angel. Dropped into the mortal world to make everyone else feel the sharp sting of inferiority and the sharper burn of want.
She quickly looked away, climbing into his bed, and hugging the hot water bottle against her stomach, as she texted the pictures of her flower bunches to Theodore and Moses with a simple “Happy birthday” message for each of them. Theodore texted back almost immediately.
Theodore: Wow.
Theodore: I would say that nobody has ever given me flowers before, but Kilian beat you to it.
Isobel: Kilian gave you flower, singular. I gave you flowers, plural. I am still the top gentleman around these parts.
Theodore: You’re smiling right now, aren’t you?
Isobel: A little.
Theodore: Come in here so I can see it.
Isobel: No. Cameras.
Theodore: Bring your gentleman apprentice and make yourselves invisible.
Isobel: To do what?
Theodore: With Kilian around, nothing. But we could make him leave.
Isobel: And then what?
Theodore: Fuck.
Theodore: Fucking fuck.
Theodore: Nothing at all.
Isobel: You okay?
Theodore: Peachy. You okay, Illy-stone?
Isobel: I feel like I’m hanging off the edge of a cliff and someone is up there picking off my fingers one by one.
Theodore: I know it’s scary, but you’ll always have me to catch you. I’ll never let you fall.
She typed out Why? but then immediately deleted it. It didn’t matter. Maybe he still thought he owed her his life after what happened during their first year in the library, or maybe it was because she was his mate, but the truth was, she knew the feeling. If Theodore ever fell, she would catch him in an instant, and not because of her Sigma nature. She would catch him even if it crushed her.
Isobel: Thank you, Theo.
In response, he sent a screenshot of the home screen of his phone. He had saved her flowers as the background picture. She felt her stomach flip, and a stupid, wobbly smile overtook her entire face, remaining until she finally put her phone aside, resigned to the fact that Moses wasn’t going to respond at all.
12
The Two Sides Of Torture
Kilian couldn’t sleep.
He tossed the covers from his lap and sat up on the couch, stretching out the kinks in his neck. He glanced toward the bed where Isobel was curled onto her side, her limp arm reaching across the mattress in his direction. She had tossed and turned for a while before finally succumbing to sleep, her subtle scent clawing across the room and begging him to crawl into bed beside her.
She smelled distressed, but also dizzyingly, delicately happy, and he wasn’t sure which note in her perfume drew him in the hardest.
No, it was the delicate, airy sweetness. That was his favourite.
He pulled out his phone, staring at the dull reflection of moonlight across his screen before he finally tapped it and brought up the secure messaging app.
Kilian: Anyone awake?
He could have called a group meeting, but it wasn’t a good idea to mess with the cameras too much when Isobel was in the dorm. They would be watching too closely. It was safer to talk over text.
Mikel’s response came first, which was hardly surprising. He slept with his phone on a table right beside his head, the volume turned up as loud as possible, always worried that one of them would get into trouble.
In all fairness … they often got into trouble.
Mikel (admin): Are you okay?
Kilian: I’m fine.
He fiddled with the worn buttons along the side of his phone, waiting for someone to have something to say.
Mikel (admin): Isobel okay?
Kilian: She’s asleep. She was exhausted.
Theodore: I’m awake.
Moses: Awake now.
Cian: What’s on your mind, Kili?
Oscar: Awake.
Niko: mup
Niko: mop
Niko: up
Theodore: Niko is up.
Niko: Ye
Niko: p
Kalen (admin): Is this about Eve again?
Oscar is typing …
Oscar has been muted.
Kilian: … yeah.
Moses: Pretty sure I just heard Oscar’s door open. He’s already worked up after Carter came out of the shower smelling like … well, you know.
Elijah: Gabriel, lock your door.
Gabriel: What?
Gabriel: I always lock my door.
Gabriel: Who the fuck is banging on my door?
Gabriel: Wait … reading the other messages.
Moses: What does this have to do with Gabriel?
Theodore: Why am I always the last person to know everything?
Kilian: Guys.
Kalen (admin): Mikel?
Mikel (admin): On it.
Niko: Jesus Christ. Honestly. What happened now?
Elijah: I thought we all knew.
Niko: That Carter was touching herself in the shower? Yeah. We might be dumber than you, but we have these things called NOSES.
Elijah: That Gabriel was responsible.
Niko: Say what now?
Moses: I just heard Theo’s door.
Kilian: Guys.
Kilian: You’re going to wake her up.
Kilian: Please.
Mikel (admin): I think everyone should be nicer to Oscar. He’s a good guy, really.
Moses: Hey Oscar.
Mikel (admin): Hey dude.
Moses: Where is Mikki?
Kilian’s vision of the screen began to blur, his heart pounding for no reason at all. He quickly blinked through the haze, tipping his head back against the couch and counting slowly to ten as the phone kept vibrating in his palm.
On the bed, Isobel’s forehead scrunched up in a tight wince, like the giant ball of anxiety he had almost choked on was trying to climb into her while she slept. He closed his eyes and counted again, ignoring his phone until the ball loosened, and Isobel’s face smoothed out again.
Mikel (admin): I’m back.
Oscar has been unmuted.
Theodore: Kili?
Theodore: You okay?
Cian: All good, Kil?