I fumbled with the phone and it slipped out of my fingers, banging against my knee and disappearing between my legs. Noah, who had apparently already finished his phone call, slipped an arm beneath my thighs and lifted me up, reaching beneath me for the phone and handing it back.
“W-what?” I whispered into the receiver. “What did you say?”
“Weston,” Jayden reiterated. “Lord Henry Weston. The Voda. I assume you know who I’m talking about.”
“How? Why? I don’t understand.”
“There’s absolutely no way this could have happened without his help. I’m sure he’s expecting you to make a horrible scene in an attempt to save your friends, which will of course be documented by the human press about to descend on that college. He wants to parade your strength in front of the human world. It’ll be an even more effective warning than an actual warning, because it’ll look like he’s been hiding his super-secret deadly weapon away from the government, which is exactly what he’s been doing, but still… it’ll have more of an impact if they accidently find out about you.”
“This is his idea of protecting the Zevs from humans?” I groaned. “I think a better protection would have been to keep the crazy guy with the machine gun out of the college in the first place.”
“Unfortunately, you are not the Voda,” Jayden replied, an edge of sarcasm in his tone. “So common sense need not apply.”
“Fine. I won’t budge. But you’re getting help, right?”
“Don’t worry. We already have agents surrounding the building. We’re going to let the humans deal with this—we’ll act like the helpless little innocents that we aren’t, unless intervention is needed. So, this might take a while. Might as well get comfortable. Can you lock the door?”
“Someone came in before; they know that the door isn’t supposed to be locked.”
“Stay hidden then.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll call if anything changes.”
He hung up, and I glanced back and forth between Noah and Cabe. They were having a silent conversation with their eyes, and judging by their expressions, they had been told the same thing as me. Noah’s arm was still looped beneath my thighs so I lifted myself up, allowing him to extract it before I settled between his legs again.
“It feels wrong,” I eventually admitted. “Hiding up here and doing nothing.”
“They just want attention.” Cabe’s hand wound around my ankle, shifting my foot slightly.
I realised that I had been digging it into an uncomfortable place, and I blushed, tucking it beneath his thigh instead. We were so cramped up… it was difficult to tell what was pressing against what.
Cabe caught my blush and leaned around the side of the desk. “There has to be a better place to hide than this.”
The couch was the only other piece of furniture in the room, other than a bookshelf and the built-in cupboards that stretched along the back wall. Cabe carefully extracted himself and glanced toward the door before walking over to the cupboard and prying one of the doors open. He motioned us over and since I was the only one who could see him, I stood and tugged on Noah’s shirt until he stood with me. I tried to walk as silently as Cabe had as I approached and peered into the cupboard, finding it entirely empty. Quillan still hadn’t had a chance to move in properly, it seemed. There were shelves on the side closest to the window, but since it stretched along the entire back wall, there was still plenty of space to hide comfortably.
Cabe climbed in and sat down with his back against the shelves. I went after him, standing straight with plenty of room still above my head as Noah sat back against the other side, closing the door behind him. The cupboard was immediately drenched in darkness and I crouched down between the two of them, unsurprised when they both reached for me at the same time. Each of my hands were captured, and I felt the tug in two different directions.
“Oooph,” I protested quietly, causing one of them to chuckle.
“Should we take shifts?” Cabe asked, releasing my hand.
“Probably a good idea.” Noah sounded quietly amused. “Go ahead, Seph, pick your favourite Adair.”
I rolled my eyes, but in the darkness they couldn’t see it, so it was a wasted effort. I stayed where I was, crouched directly between them.
“There’s plenty of room. I’ll just stay—”
Noah grabbed me, hauling me back against his chest and wrapping a hand around the lower half of my face, cutting off my words. I tried to struggle out of his grip, but his legs hooked over mine, sticking them down to the floor. His body was too tense for the situation, and it convinced me to pause. I heard footsteps outside the room and I stilled completely as somebody opened the door. My stomach lurched, and I silently pleaded that they wouldn’t look inside the cupboard. After a moment, the door closed again, the footsteps retreating. I sagged back against Noah, my breath colliding with his restricting fingers in a rush. He removed his hand from my mouth.
“Guess you won that round,” Cabe whispered.
Noah’s chest shook with a laugh against my back. I reached forward to slap Cabe’s leg.