“H-Have you guys spoken to Kalen?” she asked, her voice trembling.
Moses watched her carefully, his dark eyes impassive as they captured every tick and twitch in her expression. “No …” His gaze brushed down her body, taking in the way Cian was pressing her into the shelves. “But we don’t need to. It’s written all over you. You’re built for praise.”
“And I’m remarkably good at finding people’s weak spots,” Cian added, a smirk in his voice. “So how hard should I try, Carter? How much should I push you?” His tongue flicked out against the edge of her jaw. “This hard?” He gripped her hair suddenly, pulling her head back and licking along her jaw until he got to her chin, which he nipped at sharply. “Or harder?”
Her mind went completely blank. “Yes.”
Cian groaned, pulling back slightly. She was staring at his lips, wondering if they tasted like salt water, and if kissing him would feel like drowning. He turned his head, narrowing his eyes on Moses. “Someone needs to keep her quiet while I’m persuading her to talk.”
Moses arched a dark, winged brow, his expression challenging despite the quiet tone of his words. “I’m not laying a finger on her.” His attention drifted to Isobel. “No offense, Carter.”
“None taken,” she muttered, Moses’ even tone helping to clear the hazy fog Cian had managed to scatter her thoughts with.
The classroom was starting to fill up, louder than usual as they rode the wave of drama from earlier. Moses pushed off the shelves, but instead of stalking out of the closet, he only reached over Cian, gripping her shoulder and pulling her forward, her front smacking into Cian’s hard chest. Cian caught her hips, pulling her off the stack of books she had been standing on and turning their bodies until she could feel Moses at her back, the three of them stacked sideways into the cupboard. She finally had a full view of the door, and she swallowed nervously at the light slanting in across the floor, missing Cian’s shoe by an inch.
Moses nudged her stack of books back beneath her dangling feet and Cian set her down again.
“Now let me be very clear,” Cian whispered, ducking back to her ear. “This isn’t a punishment. It’s a lesson. You’re going to be one of us soon, and you need to understand who you’re dealing with. Consider this my initiation task. If you beg out, you lose.”
“Pity you won’t be able to use your mouth,” Moses mumbled, his body pressing up against her back, his hand suddenly wrapping around the lower half of her face, his grip tight enough to alarm her.
“Do you know how to tap out, doll?” Cian’s hand settled on her neck again, his fingers flexing in a loose grip.
Her eyes widened, her nostrils flaring with desperate breath. Last time, he had eased his grip as soon as she touched his hand. Hesitantly, she reached up and tapped Cian’s wrist, and his hand immediately eased away, caressing along her collarbone. As soon as he moved, so did Moses, dropping his grip to her shoulder and steadying her as she gulped in a harrowed breath.
Her body was starting to shake, but she couldn’t figure out the emotions tripping through her. She was so wet, she knew she would have been saturating the closet in her scent, but her stomach was flipping nervously. She had a feeling she had upset Cian, but he had made a point of saying that she wasn’t being punished, and Moses? He wasn’t a person she would ever think to put her trust in. Not to mention she still didn’t know what was happening, but she recognised the way Cian’s Alpha ring was swelling and the intent look in his eyes. It was the way Theodore had looked after he kissed her. It was the way Oscar had looked before he kissed her.
Cian wanted to kiss her.
“That’s exactly right,” Cian purred softly, nuzzling her cheek. “Don’t forget your gesture. You might need it.” He hooked his fingers in her tights as Moses wrapped his hand around her mouth again. With a rough tug, her tights were torn down her legs, a surprised shriek dashed against Moses’ calloused skin as he lifted her enough for Cian to rip off her shoes and yank her tights over her feet, flinging them to the shelf behind him.
She jerked, gripping Moses’ wrist, and both Alphas paused.
“Is that your gesture, Carter?” Moses asked huskily, his voice deep and low.
She shook her head.
“Show me you remember it,” Cian demanded quietly.
She reached shaking fingers up to the back of Moses’ hand, tapping it, and he dropped it just as Cian leaned forward.
“Such a good girl,” Cian praised, his lips barely brushing against hers, not really a kiss but more of an acknowledgement. “That’s the last time I remind you, do you understand?”
She whimpered breathily, and Moses’ hand silenced her again.
“Just nod,” Moses rumbled against the back of her head.
She nodded, and Cian reached for a box on the shelf beside him, flicking up the lid as Isobel stared at the picture on the side. Whatever it was, it was a rounded tower shape, and that had confusion and slight panic sparking to life in the pit of her stomach, but when Cian drew the object out of the packaging, it was just a crystal, like the dozen other sizes and shapes of crystals and gemstones lined up along the shelf and stacked away in boxes along the back wall, except this one was apparently big and special enough to warrant its own box.
Cian ran his fingers over the smooth, veined pink stone like he was testing it for cracks or imperfections before he tapped the end of it against Moses’ hand. Moses peeled his fingers back, setting them on her hips as Cian tapped the cool, rounded crystal against her lips next.
“Open your mouth.”
She parted her lips, and he pushed in without warning, flattening her tongue as he filled her mouth, the end of the stone hitting the back of her throat. The sudden invasion had surprised tears filling her eyes, but the way Cian was watching her also had liquid heat pooling low in her stomach, making her press and rub her thighs together in an attempt to ease the ache.
“Make sure it’s nice and wet,” Moses warned lowly, “or this is going to hurt.”
That spark of alarm burned hotter, and it must have also spiked in her scent because Moses let out a short grunt of approval against the back of her head, enjoying the fear he had encouraged her to feel.
Cian pulled the stone out of her mouth, and then several things happened at once. The chain on her chest began burning, Cian ripped her panties off with his free hand, and the stone was pushed immediately between her thighs, forcing her to quickly clamp it there by half crossing her legs so that it wouldn’t fall to the ground and alert all the students to what they were doing.
Cian must have seen the chain glowing, because he tugged down the neckline of her shirt, staring at the new gemstone that had appeared.
They all waited, panting quietly, suddenly painfully aware of the students on the other side of the door.
“Looks reddish.” Cian was peering at the gem. “Feel anything?”