“I lied to you. About being your mate.”
“I would have done the same.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean sure, I was angry you all hid it from me, but I wasn’t ready to have a mate and I didn’t know all of you either. I would have absolutely hidden it until I was sure I could trust all of you. I think you did the best you could.”
“We try and separate you and Theo all the time,” he spat out, almost angrily. “Even though we all know how you two feel about each other.”
She fell into silence again, wondering where the conversation was going. It was like he needed her to hate him.
“I hadn’t noticed,” she said mildly.
He scoffed. “You can’t possibly be this beautiful, this pliant, this … soft and nice”—he spat the words out like they were curses—“for all of us. Something has to give. Your feelings for Theo will grow and the rest of us will be forgotten. Or you’ll figure out how much Kilian likes you and then not even Theo will measure up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She crossed her arms, keeping them there even when he picked her up by her biceps and carried her to the bed, setting her on the end of it as he cleaned up the closet.
She wished she had the perfect thing to say, but it had never occurred to her that the Alphas would be jealous of each other. Maybe Moses … but he would be jealous of Theodore spending time with her because of Theodore, not because of her.
Now … she was re-evaluating.
She had grown closer to Cian, especially over the settlement tour. And Niko, who she had spent more time with over the past few weeks than any of the others. And suddenly Moses was volunteering to be her surrogate.
And Gabriel was her friend.
And Elijah liked to dance with her.
Were they … developing feelings?
Was she?
No. That was stupid. There were eight of them—or ten, if she included the professors. She wasn’t exactly friends with Mikel or Kalen, but she was growing dependent on them both. It wasn’t something they were trying to engineer, but both were so accustomed to taking care of the other Alphas that they had slotted her in as one of their charges, and she liked how safe it made her feel.
“I won’t pick favourites,” she whispered, so low she almost thought he didn’t hear her, but he paused, her silk mesh dress clenched in his fist.
“Not even Theo?”
Beautiful, superstar Theodore. How could anyone ever match up to him?
Except Kilian did it all the time, with his lush smiles and sly gazes that made her giggle. And Cian could hypnotise her with the click of his tattooed fingers, wielding a power over her that nobody else seemed to hold. And Gabriel. Stoic and stern-faced, always seeming to quietly anticipate her needs. She would follow him anywhere because she trusted him. She trusted in his calm, cold confidence.
But nobody made her feel as safe as Kalen …
She took a deep breath, meeting Oscar’s eyes. “I meant what I said. I won’t—I can’t pick favourites. I like the person I’ve become since I met all of you, and I don’t think I would be the same if even one of you had been missing from the start.”
He dropped the dress beside her and started running his fingers through her hair, working out the tangles he had caused. “I feel the same way about them,” he admitted. “That’s why this is hard. All my choices have been taken away and I’m even more furious because you’re … you. If you were awful, I could be glad you belonged to them. I could forget about you.”
“Kalen promised we’re going to figure this out together.” She knew she sounded afraid, and it was because Oscar and Moses were complete wildcards. Niko and Kilian didn’t want mates, but they would do what was best for the group and neither of them wanted to see her suffer. Elijah also didn’t want a mate, but if they were willing to include her in their plans, it was only because Elijah had already told them it would work.
But Oscar? He could throw it all back in their faces.
“You’re a sweet girl.” He sighed, catching her chin, lifting her face to his as he crouched over her. “We’ll protect you, okay?”
She bounded up, throwing her arms around his waist. He grunted a surprised sound, but inserted his hands beneath her arms, hoisting her up so she could wrap her legs around him instead, his hands gripping her ass. His lips found hers, his kiss sharp, like he didn’t know how to platonically hug someone. As soon as she began to squirm against him, he squeezed her and set her down, quickly dragging the dress over her head.
“Let’s go,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her. “You look fucking amazing.”
They arrived in the practice room just as the sixth period started, giving her exactly an hour to learn all of the choreography and for them to film and submit it to Lye before the end of the period. Cian, Gabriel, and Elijah were already there, rehearsing camera angles, and the three of them froze when she and Oscar pushed into the room.
Cian ran a hand down his face, groaning deeply. “Jesus, Illy. Aren’t you sore, honey?”
“N-No.” She flushed bright red. “He didn’t have a crystal, so—”
“Shit.” Oscar suddenly froze, whipping out his phone. “Niko needs to talk to you about—about something.”
“There were rules,” Elijah snarled. “What the fuck, Oscar?”
Oscar just ignored him, moving to sit on the bench as he texted Niko. Gabriel turned on Isobel, his expression calm. “You okay?”
There wasn’t much more she could say on camera, so she just nodded.
“Don’t feel pressured to practise these dance routines just because everyone else wants to,” Elijah said, still angrily eyeing Oscar. He was probably trying to cover up Cian’s “are you sore” comment by making it seem like she and Oscar had been practising some choreography.
Isobel chewed on her lip and nodded. “Honestly, I wanted to dance. And I want to dance now, too, so … let’s just get on with it?”
The three of them turned to stare at her, and Oscar picked up his head from his phone, smirking darkly. “Wait until you get to practise the full routine, Carter.”
Cian looked relieved. “Still haven’t reached the end of the routine, then?”
“Not even close,” Oscar answered for her, while Gabriel and Elijah shared a loaded look.
“How far into the routine, exactly?” Cian turned his attention to Oscar. “Since you’re so fucking chatty today.”
“Barely got through the basics.” Oscar shrugged, throwing his hands across the back of the bench seat. “Don’t you guys have some choreography to learn? I didn’t bring you the star performer looking like that for nothing.”