5.2

“You feel worried.” His eyes were pitch black, words clipped. “Now you’re in control. This better?”

She nodded, chewing on her lip, her hands hesitantly resting against the twitching muscles of his abdomen as he pulled her hips up and angled himself to thrust back into her. Even after giving her control, he still managed to set the pace, guiding her into the speed and movement he wanted, while his thumb slipped to her clit, gliding over it in teasing, infuriating touches until she wanted to beg him for more .

He was driving her so crazy that she didn’t even notice the ringing sound increase again. She didn’t realise when it turned to a whine because she was already whining. Oscar was finally giving her what she needed and finally pushing her over the edge, his free hand flashing up to twist one of her nipples between strong fingers. It wasn’t soft and sweet, but it wasn’t fast and rough either. It was a steady, intentional wringing, a stern and deliberate manipulation of her body. It was gritty and sweat-slicked, quiet and heavy, like a silo of water filled with one drop too many, now breaking apart and flooding through the room.

He dragged her head back down to his, riding out the waves of her orgasm while he kissed her savagely, pressing so deep into her that she could feel every throb when he began to release, his lips parting from hers in a feral growl.

A feral, animalistic growl.

The ringing was now screaming, and the throbbing grew … more . The base of his cock was getting bigger. His eyes turned impossibly darker, small black lines beginning to spider along his skin, reaching for his temples. Isobel felt another pinch of pain at her hips, where he had been gripping her.

Almost like he had cut her with his nails.

She didn’t know what was happening.

All she could feel was fear.

Help, she called through the bond.

What happened next was a blur. Oscar had come inside her, but that part of his dick still seemed to swell until she felt locked onto him. She was sure that any attempts to climb off him would be impossible or impossibly painful, and she let out a whimper of pain and fear as the door crashed open.

They were surrounded.

Her Alphas had stormed the room— all of them .

There were growls and sharp words ripping all around the space. Oscar snarled, his hands yanked away from her hips and slammed down to the bed on either side of his head.

Someone grabbed her as though to lift her off, and she screamed at them to stop.

“I’m s-stuck,” she stuttered, staring into a face she didn’t recognise.

It was Oscar’s face … but it wasn’t. Because Oscar didn’t have ferality.

And yet there he was, with black eyes, black veins, sharp black talons, and a rattle emanating from his chest.

“What the fuck is going on?” Theodore yelled, sounding almost hysterical.

There was a scuffle behind her, and then Moses was talking low and fast. “No, look at me. Don’t look at them. Focus on me. Count backward from ten?—”

“Fuck that, fuck counting, fuck you, get the fuck off me?—”

“Help,” she whispered, still staring down at Oscar.

The scuffle stopped, and she finally managed to flick her eyes to Elijah and Niko, who had been the ones to secure Oscar’s black-tipped hands. “What’s happening?”

Mikel was beside her, his hand against her spine. He must have been the one to try and pull her off. “What do you mean you’re stuck?”

Nobody was trying to talk to Oscar. They were all completely focussed on her. His stillness was terrifying. He wasn’t fighting. The only movement of his body was the slow rise and fall of his chest and the slow throb of his swollen cock, and the only sound he made was that ominous rattle.

“I don’t know,” she whined, trying to shift her hips. She was barely able to move an inch. “H-he grew , he?—”

“A mating tie,” Elijah said. He looked horrified and confused.

“What?” Kalen demanded roughly.

“I don’t know!” Elijah groaned, his eyes a little wild. “I only … saw it mentioned once, but it’s … none of this makes sense . None of this.” He shifted his position and slapped Oscar suddenly, causing the other Alpha to snap and snarl viciously, black eyes darting and fixing to Elijah.

“He really is feral.” Moses sounded terrified. “What the hell is going on?”

“Can I have a shirt?” Isobel begged.

One was immediately tugged over her head. It smelled like Kilian.

“If he’s feral, why isn’t he moving?” she asked, her thighs aching with how tightly she was holding onto his hips, petrified that he would try to buck her off and tear up her insides. His dark eyes snapped back to her as soon as she spoke.

“It’s common ferality behaviour.” Kalen sounded like he was furiously pacing somewhere behind her. “He can see he’s outnumbered. He’s playing dead, in a way, waiting for them to loosen their grip on him.”

It didn’t make sense.

Nobody was holding his legs. He could have thrown her off, but he was keeping his body so still, almost like he was scared of hurting her.

“Can you hear me?” she asked him.

He nodded.

“W-what?” Theodore demanded, shaken.

She remembered when she had gone feral. She hadn’t been surrounded by “people ” in her mind. Only prey.

“Am I prey?” she asked, staring into those inky, dark depths.

He shook his head immediately, his cock throbbing again, heat coating her insides like he was still leaking semen.

“Ah—” She tried to fight the confusing reaction of her body, which seemed torn between the reminder of her arousal and the terror of her current situation. “Are the others prey?”

His eyes narrowed. Even as black as they were, she could sense how calculating he had turned. He was thinking about lying to her.

Finally, he nodded.

“That’s not how it works.” Theodore sounded faint. “None of this makes sense.”

“It might be because of the bond?” Gabriel spoke up. “You didn’t attack Isobel the first day you saw her in the library, remember?”

“ But how the fuck did Oscar turn feral?” Cian demanded, sounding like he was a second away from losing it.

“Elijah,” Kalen snapped, “Explain.” Alpha voice.

“I don’t know !” Elijah shouted, tugging on his dishevelled hair, pale eyes wide. “I read something once in a book of dumb Gifted legends. It said Alphas had a way of forcefully breeding people through mating ties. It was just some stupid story about Alphas being monsters.”

“ What? ” Isobel wailed, beginning to struggle. “No, no, nooo. This can not happen.”

Mikel immediately caught her shoulders as a fissure of pain tore through her. He pressed her back down, and Oscar’s cock pulsed inside her happily.

“You’re on birth control,” Mikel reminded her quietly, his tone strained. “It’s okay. For the love of god, just try not to move.”

“We need to talk to the Guardian.” Kalen’s voice was a deep, ferocious scrape. “But first we need to … make it go down.”

“I never go down when I’m inside her,” Cian spat out furiously. “We could be waiting hours. All fucking night, maybe. That’s your fucking plan?”

“Calm down,” Kalen rumbled, his influence like a heavy wave that rolled through the room, momentarily distracting her. “Isobel, can you carefully siphon away some of the ferality?”

“Do not —” Theodore started, but Mikel silenced him, muttering something too low for Isobel to hear before quickly returning to Isobel’s side, his hands settling over her shoulders again, thumbs brushing along the seam of Kilian’s shirt where it met her neck.

“I’ll try,” she said.

“Go slow,” Kalen instructed. “I know you’ve been practising. Don’t panic. Just test the waters. Don’t try to do it all at once.”

She nodded and carefully sipped at the dark mass of emotion clouding around Oscar. She was able to control the flow to a trickle, preventing it from flooding into her in a tidal wave. She watched as the black veins began to retreat, painfully slowly, from his hairline, sinking back into his eyes. The talons grew shorter, his black nails receding.

The lock his penis seemed to have on her lessened as he regained control of his mind. Her thighs were shaking violently as she eased her death grip on his hips. She knew she could pull off him without hurting herself, but she was suddenly weak.

The darkness sat inside her with a heavy, sickening heaviness, sloshing up against her insides and threatening to make her sick.

Oscar blinked several times, his panic spiking violently, but Mikel quickly released Isobel and punched the other Alpha hard enough that his body immediately went limp, his eyes rolling back.

Isobel jolted in shock, covering her mouth.

“Better than him freaking out and going feral again,” Mikel explained, shaking out his hand.

Right.

Now she was just sitting on an unconscious Alpha’s dick, with nine of his best friends gathered around her.

Awesome.

“Could I have a minute?” she asked, her voice strained.

None of them shifted so much as an inch.

“I’ll stay,” Kilian whispered. “You can all wait outside.”

“We’ll be in the hallway.” Theodore’s voice was tight with tension.

As soon as they filtered out, Kilian’s hands were at her waist, lifting her away from Oscar. Her legs threatened to buckle beneath her, and he had to steady her as she tried to stand. As soon as she could, she stumbled into the bathroom for a towel, laying it over Oscar’s hips. He was still half hard, glistening in their combined releases.

“He avoided sex because he didn’t want to hurt you in any way,” Kilian said, wincing, his hand scraping down his handsome face. “And look what happened.”

“This isn’t his fault.” Isobel frowned, hugging herself and rocking back on her heels. “This is another fucked-up side effect.”

“I can see the weird orgasm lock being a side effect,” he allowed. “It’s classic, unhinged bond behaviour. But ferality?”

“Why not?” She shrugged, but her shoulders barely shifted. They were too heavy. “It gave me ferality, remember?”

Before he could respond, the room was flooded with darkness, and when she blinked again, she was standing somewhere at the back of the academy. The old academy, back in Arizona.

Niko was a few steps in front of her, but he was blond again.

“Great,” Niko sighed out … from beside her. She turned, noticing all the Alphas standing with her.

Oscar looked torn between confusion and panic. There was also a bright flash of self-hatred that had her biting her lip in worry.

“You’re all right,” she told him carefully. “In the real world, I mean. You’re just … uh … resting.”

“Who knocked me out?” he asked plainly.

“Me,” Mikel responded.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

The blond Niko climbed up higher, scaling the mountain along the back of the academy, shifting a backpack on his shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Isobel asked, her steps slowing, her heart sinking.

“I was leaving.” Niko stopped following, and the rest of the Alphas paused too. They watched as the blond Niko climbed higher, disappearing from sight. “I came back … obviously.”

He had tried to leave.

That thought sat heavily in her stomach.

“It was after our eyes changed colour?” she guessed.

He made a low sound of agreement. “The day after. I didn’t want to share a mate. I didn’t want to watch my nine best friends developing feelings for my mate. I didn’t want to be here.”

This was cruel.

She understood why he would want to leave, but it was cruel of the bond to show it to her all this time later … after she had developed feelings.

“These gods are fucking assholes,” she grumbled.

Cian snorted. “You’re only just figuring that out?”

They stayed a little while longer, just watching the path, until Niko reappeared, swearing beneath his breath, and then Isobel was yanked from the vision and dropped heavily back into her body.

On the bed, Oscar groaned, opening his eyes and rolling to his side. “Motherfucking fuck ,” he swore, burying his head into the softness of her sheets, the towel around his hips threatening to slip and reveal everything. His eyes slitted, seeking her out.

“He always wakes up like that.” Kilian attempted to diffuse some of the tension.

“You okay?” Oscar asked, his eyes tracing over her.

She nodded nervously. “You didn’t hurt me. It’s okay.” She resisted the urge to defuse the tension with a joke about how he had gotten his wish, and she would definitely be feeling him inside her for a while.

“Mhm,” he rumbled, eyes guarded.

She already knew he wouldn’t want to touch her again anytime soon, but that was something she was going to have to tackle later. “We need to go and see Maya.”

He nodded, stumbling from the bed, still holding the towel over his midsection, though only barely. “Cameras are looped?” he asked.

“For now,” Kilian confirmed.

“I’ll get changed, and then I’m ready.” Oscar strode from the room.

Adam Bellamy was in the heavily forested area of the academy behind the chapel when he got the text.

Sophia: Can’t meet you. Something came up.

He tried to call her, but she didn’t answer.

He groaned in frustration. It had taken weeks for him to convince her to meet up with him. At first, she refused because of the cameras. So he suggested they meet in a blind spot. She refused because someone still might see them. So he suggested they meet in the middle of the night, in a fucking forest, like a total fucking creep.

To his surprise, she agreed.

And now she was backing out.

She didn’t seem like the kind to go back on her word. He frowned, trying to call her again. Was everything okay?

The chapel was on his way back to the dorm anyway. He would just stop by and make sure she was fine. He picked through the trees back to the thin, overgrown walking path and returned to the chapel, pausing in the dark shadow of the treeline. The lights were on inside. Maybe there was some kind of … religious emergency?

He didn’t even believe in the Gifted religion, so he had no idea what that would entail. Before he could take another step, he caught movement from the path leading in the other direction. He squinted, making out four bodies—three large, one small. He already knew who it was before they stepped into the soft glow of light emanating from the stained glass chapel windows.

Isobel bloody Carter. Always at the epicentre of the storm. Moses and Theodore Kane were with her, as well as Oscar Sato. He considered making himself known but decided to wait instead because it was the middle of the night, and Sato was a goddamn psycho.

Isobel pushed open the door to the chapel, breathing out a sigh of relief that Maya and Sophia were already waiting inside. She stumbled in with Theodore, Moses, and Oscar, pretending to be carefree and laugh at a joke Moses had made that wasn’t even funny. Since it was now past midnight, they decided that they had to keep the group as small as possible to draw less attention to the fact that they had felt the sudden urge to pray at such an absurd hour of the night.

On their way there, Isobel had texted Sophia, warning her.

They sobered as soon as they were through the door, dropping the act. Isobel quickly moved to sit in one of the chairs lining the wall. She was starting to get dizzy and nauseous.

Sophia rushed forward, kneeling before her and grabbing her hands. “You’re shaking. You look a little green. What the hell happened?”

“Just Sigma stuff,” Isobel managed, waving her off with a smile. “I’m fine. It’s … um, actually, we’re here about something else.”

“Another soul artefact?” Maya asked, scanning them for objects.

“Yeah, that would have been nice.” Moses scoffed. “It’s something a little less … of a gift.”

Maya frowned at them. The Alphas all frowned back at her.

She knew their secret, and she had kept it … but this was something different. The guys’ ferality was the darkest, most heavily guarded secret they had. If Isobel hadn’t been involved, they may have just found a way to deal with it amongst themselves, no matter how much Oscar’s sudden transformation alarmed them.

“You knew they were my mates just from their auras,” Isobel finally said.

Maya nodded, looking wary and confused.

“Can you tell anything else?” Isobel ventured. “Can you tell what their abilities are?”

“If I say yes, will I be in danger?” Maya demanded.

“Mama,” Sophia hissed.

“Of course not,” Isobel quickly rushed out, eyes widening. “W-we need your help. This isn’t a test.”

“Then yes.” Maya shrugged, pointing to Oscar. “Chaos.” She moved her finger to Moses. “Aggression.” Then to Theodore. “Charm.”

They stared at her, taking far too long to process what she had said.

“What?” Theodore finally asked.

Maya’s brows pinched in, her finger retreating. “You didn’t know?”

Moses and Theodore were eyeing each other like they had never even seen each other before.

“You do seem to make people more aggressive,” Theodore said quietly. “You even rile up Isobel, and that’s not easy to do.”

“I’ve always wondered why everyone was in love with you,” Moses returned.

“What the hell is going on?” Oscar demanded before whirling on Maya. “Have you heard of ferality?”

She jumped back a step, and Sophia rushed to her side, clutching her arm as they both eyed Oscar warily. Maya didn’t respond right away, instead taking her time to survey Oscar.

“You have it,” she finally whispered before turning her attention to Moses, a crestfallen look descending over her features. She examined Theodore just as carefully before taking another shaky step back. “You all have it, don’t you? I didn’t see it at first—I was wondering what that darkness was … I’ve … never seen it in person before.”

“We’re not going to hurt you.” Theodore was frowning at her slow retreat.

She paused, Sophia stopping with her.

“We aren’t going to hurt anyone ,” Theodore quickly added. “We’ve controlled it all this time. We’d never let it hurt anyone. We just want to know what you know about it.”

He was lying through his teeth, but Maya either seemed to believe him, or else she believed his good intentions because some of the tension seeped out of her rigid posture.

Holy shit , Theodore exploded into Isobel’s head. She’s right. I really can charm the pants off people, can’t I?

Shut up, you smug fuck, Oscar groaned back. This really isn’t the time.

You’re only saying that because Moses is here, Theodore responded sunnily. I bet you’re actually a really easy-going guy; you just seem unhinged because Moses is leaking aggression all over you all the time .

“All Alphas are rumoured to have an animal side,” Maya explained, interrupting their internal fight. “It’s what makes them bigger and stronger, with enhanced senses. But the drawback is that some of us, with extreme stress or emotion, can find that animal side triggered. It’s dormant until it’s triggered, and then it can reappear in any moment of extreme stress. A little bit like a viral disease.”

“All Alphas?” Isobel repeated, feeling numb.

Maya nodded. “The OGGB thinks it’s an ability—and since it’s illegal, people don’t talk about it. Even just saying the name could get you into trouble in the settlements. Only a handful of Alphas know what ferality means. It’s heavily guarded information.”

“Is there a way to stop it?” Moses asked. “To make it … dormant again?”

Maya shook her head. “I don’t think so. Once you’ve switched, that’s it. You have to live with it … and hide it, and try to manage your stress so that you don’t have outbreaks, because they’ll be deadly to the people around you. And guard that secret with your life because your life absolutely depends on it. The OGGB are afraid of a lot of things when it comes to the Gifted … but they’re afraid of ferality most of all.”

They nodded, even Isobel, and they all dropped into a slightly unsettled silence. It was Sophia who broke it, reading something on Isobel’s face.

“There’s something else.”

Isobel braced herself, shoving down her embarrassment. “D-does anything else happen when an Alpha turns feral … like … when they’re having sex?”

She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth, because now that she was looking at Maya—a female Alpha—it was obvious that whatever had happened to Oscar wouldn’t be able to happen to Maya, so it likely had nothing to do with ferality.

“Ah.” Maya coughed awkwardly. “Not from anything I’ve heard. If something happened while you were being intimate, it must have been a bond side effect. Um … would you like to discuss it?”

Isobel’s face was flaming red now. “Actually, uh, maybe another time. I think you’re right. It was a side effect. The bond has been … less kind, lately.”

“Have you done something to go against it?” Maya asked.

“We fixed the bond, returning the pieces that were stolen, but it seems like it didn’t heal properly.”

Maya made a sad humming sound, beginning to pace.

“That makes sense.” Sophia was staring at the floor. “Most people don’t survive a soul infraction like that at all , let alone without consequences.”

“It probably won’t ever heal completely,” Maya advised them. “But I think … time and consistency will help. You should imagine that the bond is a living, cognizant thing. Right now, it’s punishing you. Lashing out because it’s hurt. It might play games and experiment with you, trying to find ways to bridge whatever gaps it feels, but I think eventually, it will realise there’s no healing those wounds, and it will settle. You might have side effects for the rest of your life, but if you are sure to tend your bond, they should become minimal and manageable. If you neglect the bond, it will punish you.”

It was a lot to digest, and Isobel was getting weaker by the minute, so they decided to call it a night. She had only taken a single step toward the door, about to bid them goodnight, when Sophia suddenly put her finger to her lips, staring at the door with a confused expression. She tip-toed to the entrance, her brow furrowed, and pulled open the doors, revealing …

Bellamy ?

He looked like he had literally had his ear stuck to the door.

Sophia dragged him inside, slamming the door behind him.

“What the hell ,” she whisper-shouted, “do you think you’re doing?”

“How did you know he was there?” Isobel was confused.

The Alphas, on the other hand, looked ready to tear his head from his shoulders. Maya included.

But they were Alphas and even they didn’t know he had been there.

“I won’t tell anyone!” Bellamy held both hands up in immediate surrender. “I was just curious when I saw you guys sneak into the chapel. I was not expecting to hear any of that.”

“You are such a weasel ,” Sophia fumed, her mahogany stare flickering with bright fury.

“He won’t tell anyone.” Isobel felt the need to defend him, but she still cut him a sharp look. “ Right , Bellamy?”

“Didn’t I literally just say that?” he asked.

“He’s being honest.” Maya’s shoulders inched down. “He was just worried about you.” She frowned at Sophia. “How do you know him? Why is there so much concern for you in his aura? Who are you?” She shot that last question at Bellamy.

“Adam Bellamy.” He shifted on his feet. “Sorry, Father. Uh—I mean, G-Guardian? That’s what you people are called, right? I mean not you people , but like?—”

“Shut up,” Sophia said coldly.

He mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key. Isobel wanted to laugh, even though everyone else looked like they were ready to kill him. He was just so … Bellamy.

“You should ask for a bribe in exchange for your silence,” she told him. “It’s how we do things here at Ironside, remember?”

“Right.” He clicked his fingers. “Of course. A date.” He didn’t even pause, his eyes on Sophia. “And you can’t stand me up this time.”

“Jesus.” Oscar rolled his eyes. “This is just pathetic.”

“We all saw your last attempt at romance.” Moses glanced at Oscar. “You can’t talk.”

“Too soon,” Isobel mumbled.

“I’m out of here,” Oscar snapped, striding up to Bellamy and looming over him. “You breathe a single word of any of this to anyone and I will tear you the fuck apart, are we clear?”

“Crystal.” Bellamy flashed the Alpha his teeth before turning back to Sophia. “As soon as she agrees to the date.”

“One hour,” Sophia bargained.

“Three,” Bellamy countered. “And you have to wear something nice, and I get to give you at least five compliments.”

“Two hours, three compliments, and I’ll shower before.”

“Sold. See you Saturday.”