6. Kisses And Misses

6

Kisses And Misses

Isobel managed to put off her meeting with Cooper by filling her schedule with extra training sessions and private lessons with Elijah. For the next two days, she didn’t even take lunch or dinner breaks, choosing to scarf down snacks between her classes instead. She made sure to return to the dorm around midnight each night, with just enough time to lock herself in her room, rush through a shower, and collapse into her bed.

On Friday night, Moses texted her to let her know Cooper was waiting at the dorm for her, so she went back to the library to work on choosing a song for her performance. She had several dances prepared; she just needed to pick one and then match her outfit accordingly. The song would do half the work for her, as far as setting the tone was concerned, and her clothes would do the rest.

She could perform the exact same dance in five different outfits under different lighting conditions and change the effect with each iteration. Toeing that delicate line between provocative and untouchable, entertaining and tasteful, was something she decided to relish as a new challenge. If she didn’t get it right the first time, she would adjust. That was okay. She could do that.

She picked the song she would perform and then sent Cooper a link to it and to one of the rehearsals she had recorded.

He replied instantly, telling her he had to approve her outfit. It was too fast of a response for him to have listened to the song or watched the video, let alone both, so she assumed he wasn’t actually interested in the technical aspects of her performance at all. She had to bite back her frustration before responding.

Isobel: I haven’t chosen my outfit yet, but it will be appropriate.

Cooper: I need to approve it regardless. Your group is due at Ironside Row for the Friday games in an hour. I need to approve it before then.

Cooper: In person, Carter.

She cursed, packing up her stuff and shoving it all back into her bag. She ran into Gabriel on her way out of the library and he paused, looking her over. “You don’t smell pleased.”

“You’re not supposed to greet people with how they smell.” She grinned at him, unable to help herself. She found Gabriel’s abruptness hilarious, though she would never admit that to him.

His eyes traced her smile as though he liked the shape of it. “Where are you off to?”

She kept her response camera-friendly. “The dorm manager needs to approve something for a performance.”

“I’ll accompany you.” He immediately turned around, striding back toward the dorm.

“I’m sure you have better things to do.” She half-heartedly resisted, running to catch up with him, though she was secretly happy that she wouldn’t have to visit Cooper’s office alone.

“I need to talk to him anyway.”

They made their way back to the dorm in companionable silence, and Gabriel followed her into her dressing room as she sorted through her available outfits. She held up a dress against her chest.

“Is this provocative but tasteful?”

Gabriel frowned, pulling out his phone and aiming it at her, probably taking a video to ask someone who might actually know the answer to her question.

“Depends.” He frowned. “What the fuck is provocative but tasteful supposed to look like?”

“You know—” She waved a hand in the air. “—rip my clothes off, but only after a sit-down at Olive Garden.”

“What?” He looked like he was considering laughing one day.

“Like pull my hair but pretend it was someone else? Someone nicer?”

He laughed: the day had come. “I’m going to need another example.”

“Like spank me but only with two fingers.”

Gabriel’s laugh grew louder, so she kept going because it was such a rare treat, and she needed to hear it again.

“Like spit near my mouth,” she suggested. “Or I’ll call you daddy but only if you complain about having to drive me around and offer to fix my squeaky door.”

“Is the squeaky door a metaphor?”

“No, a literal squeaky door. The vibe we’re looking for is: choke me, but only if you’re an otolaryngologist … or, like, call me a dirty whore, but tasteful , you know?”

He put a hand on his chest, his laugh dying to a chuckle as he ended his recording. “When do you want me to release that dance recording you did the other day, by the way?”

“How about tonight?” she suggested.

“Done.”

“Are you uploading that?” She gestured his phone, indicating the video he had just taken.

“No. That’s mine.” He narrowed his eyes on her like she was threatening to take something away from him, so she bit back her response, tossing the dress aside.

She hunted through her drawers for a pair of high-waisted boyshorts and a bralette that had just enough support and coverage for her to dance in. She paired them with a silky coverall, which should ripple nicely as she danced. Since she hadn’t yet seen the area she would be performing in, she didn’t want to have to worry about a finicky costume. She tucked her clothes under her arm, and they went downstairs to meet Cooper, knocking on the wall partition that hid his office.

“Carter!” he bellowed with a little too much enthusiasm as soon as the door slid open. “You’re a hard one to catch, aren’t you? Come in, come in. Spade, if you’ll give us a minute …” He grabbed her arm and began pulling her into the room—in the process of putting his body between hers and Gabriel’s—when the Alpha stepped forward, casually breaking Cooper’s hold on her and pretending not to notice as he barged into the room.

“We should be quick,” he said, planting himself in a chair and crossing his ankle over his knee. “We’ve got to be at Ironside Row in half an hour.”

“You can wait outside, Spade,” Cooper said cooly, some of his robust cheer dissipating. “I have private matters to discuss with Carter.”

“I’m helping her plan her performance.” Gabriel cast his eyes about the office, looking bored. There was nothing in his tone that invited discussion.

Cooper set his jaw. “We’re going to have to establish some boundaries in regard to my office and my time,” he gritted. “I’ll be sure to talk to the board about it.” He turned back to Isobel as she stepped away from the door sensor and it slid closed, cutting them off from the rest of the dorm. “What’s the outfit you’ve chosen?”

She lifted the pieces one at a time, holding them away from her body. “This goes over it,” she said, dangling the coverall. “It’ll create an intimate and candid effect with the dance I sent for your review. The honesty is what makes it sexy.”

Cooper snorted. “We have different ideas of sexy.”

She shrugged. “No offence, but you aren’t a dancer. I am. I know what will work with my body, with the music, and with the space I’m utilising, though I suppose I’ll have to wing that part tonight.”

Cooper’s frown deepened. Gabriel’s lips twitched. Isobel cracked open her wall for a moment, brushing up against Cooper’s consciousness in a subtle, searching touch. Disappointment. Frustration. Aggravation. Emasculation.

“I know,” she said, giving him a droll, commiserating look. “I was much easier to manipulate last year, wasn’t I?”

“Get out,” Cooper snapped, pointing at the door. “Both of you. And Carter?” He waited for her to turn back before continuing. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but you need to pull your head in. I’m your Orion manager and your dorm manager. You need me. If you don’t make me happy, if you don’t work with me, if you don’t pull this attitude in line and show me some proper respect, I might just tell Orion that they shouldn’t take a chance on you after all. I’ll tell them they can’t control you. I’ll tell them you don’t take orders or respond to authority. I promise that won’t go well for you or your group.”

Isobel’s stomach turned to lead, and for just a moment, she stared at Cooper.

The man was like a cockroach.

He always walked away without a scratch, no matter what was happening around him. He only seemed to get more powerful and more important, and there was nothing special about him. From publicist to official, to dorm manager, to Orion-appointed liaison, his climb was terrifying, and it was a hard slap in the face to realise he was right.

He, more than anyone now, had her future cupped in the palm of his greedy little hand.

She gave him a stiff nod. “Understood.”

“Sir,” he corrected.

“Understood, sir.”

She pulled Gabriel against the wall as soon as they left Cooper’s office, because she knew that little corner wasn’t covered by the cameras. His expression was tight, his red-brown eyes guarded as they snapped down to where she was gripping his sleeve. She quickly released him.

“Can we keep this between us?” she whispered lowly.

He stared at her mouth, mulling over her words before finally uttering, “For now.”

He didn’t need to ask why.

Cooper wasn’t an issue she could fix or change right now, so there was no point in letting any of the others know. It would only test their tenuous self-control unnecessarily.

They got a text alert five minutes before their scheduled start time at Ironside Row, assigning their group to the Pixel Play building. It was one they hadn’t visited yet. The first building they went to was The Den, which had cinema rooms where they gathered to react to Ironside episodes, trending clips, or movies. After that, they were assigned to Reputation Race, which had several different indoor obstacle courses. Niko won that night, earning himself a small fortune in popularity points. The next week, they were assigned to the Trend or Die building, which housed over a dozen terrifying escape rooms or haunted rooms. Elijah had won that night. Apparently, it was impossible to scare him. Moses, Oscar, and Niko had all been immediately disqualified for hitting the actors who tried to jump out and scare them.

The rules for Ironside Row were extensive. They were limited to a certain amount of swear words—there were several officials in the recording centre whose sole job was to count such infractions. Nudity, accidental or otherwise, was prohibited. Any mention of the officials, the Ironside rules, or anything considered a “behind the scenes” topic was prohibited. They weren’t allowed to specifically discuss any current drama from the show since the Friday nights on Ironside Row were recorded live, and footage for the Ironside Show was often delayed for up to a week.

The third years took up the Row on Friday nights, and then the fourth years appeared on Saturday, and the fifth-year students on Sunday. Sometimes, the viewers decided the winners each night with real-time voting, and sometimes—like when Niko was declared the winner—it was decided by whoever won whatever task they had been given or whoever completed it first.

Regardless, the public voted, and whoever got the most votes had a sizable sum of popularity points deposited into their account.

“Now that we’re a group, I guess we win as a group?” Theodore wondered aloud as they walked toward the correct building.

The cobbled street was bustling with excited students. Isobel spotted Bellamy waiting beside one of the other buildings, checking his phone. He caught sight of the Alpha group and seemed to search through their bodies until he found her, giving her a grin and a wave. She waved back, but Oscar pushed her hand back to her side. Her hand shot straight back up.

“Now he gets two waves,” she grumbled.

Moses snorted. “Lord, give us strength.”

“The only thing any lord is giving you is a pitchfork,” Cian said. “And a brood of demons to rule over.”

“Sounds like a cushy deal to me.” Moses shifted his broad shoulders in a careless shrug. “If anyone deserves a brood of demon slaves, it’s me.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone claim to deserve a brood of demon slaves before,” Kilian said.

“It’s called the law of attraction, Kili,” Moses crooned sweetly. “If you believe it, you can have it.”

“I believe I’ll be impaled by a clown before the night is through.” Oscar held up his hands, fingers crossed, as they filed into the Pixel Play building. It seemed to be one gigantic arcade, with private rooms scattered along the sides of the hall.

Isobel spotted photo booths, popcorn machines, hot dog stands, cotton candy stalls, carnival rides, arcade machines, and karaoke rooms … and the Ironside Show hosts standing a few feet from the entrance. Ed Jones and Jack Ransom had come equipped with an entire camera crew despite the building being armed to the teeth with lenses already.

“What’s all this about?” Bellamy asked, sidling up to their group with some of his friends—third-year Betas Isobel didn’t know the names of. He seemed to have ditched his friends from his first two years at the academy.

Moses, who stood between Isobel and Bellamy, turned his head slowly, his expression pinched. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“Don’t be a dick,” Isobel said beneath her breath.

“Don’t ask the impossible.” He flicked his hair out of his face, turning his back on Bellamy. “What’s all this about, anyway?”

Behind him, Bellamy snorted.

“Now that we’re all here,” Ed Jones called out, “let the games begin!”

Isobel craned her neck to see the extent of the crowd. There only seemed to be around thirty to forty students. The entire human group was there, as well as Wallis, Ellis, and James … and Silva. All of their fake exes.

Ellis and James scowled when they caught sight of Elijah and Gabriel, but it was nothing on the glare Wallis gave Isobel .

“Keep me out of it,” Isobel grumbled.

Theodore, who was standing on her other side, grinned down at her, somehow knowing exactly what she was talking about. The bond had probably given her away. “Not my fault I’m so hard to be mad at,” he said, slinging his arm around her shoulders. “Take one for the team just this once, okay, Illy-stone?”

She punched his stomach.

He didn’t seem to notice.

“I punched you,” she informed him.

“Oh.” He clutched his stomach. “Sorry. What was that for?”

She chuckled, and Wallis’ glare turned murderous, so she quickly wiped the smile from her face. There wasn’t much point in inciting the Beta to violence. She wasn’t in the market for another psychotic enemy.

“Gather round, gather round!” Jack Ransom waved his arms enthusiastically, herding the students in closer, his expression painted in devious enthusiasm.

“Who’s ready to play?” Ed called out, wearing a matching grin. “This is a little competition we like to call ‘How well do you know your classmates?’”

“Don’t you think the name is a bit too long?” Jack asked, stroking his chin.

Ed shrugged. “It’s a new game. We’re still working out the kinks.”

“I see what you did there.” Jack winked at him.

“Are they flirting?” Cian asked, confused. “Thought they have wives and shit.”

“I think they’re trying to hint that the game is sexual.” Elijah sighed, examining his fingernails. “I think you were supposed to gasp and clutch the nearest attractive person for comfort. Like Ellis is doing.” He pointed at his fake ex, who was gasping, giggling, and hanging off the arm of one of the Kozlov twins.

“We put out a poll to our viewers this week,” Ed announced as a digital sign was wheeled in behind him by one of the cameramen. It was ringed in bright lights, the letters on the screen displaying the long name of the game. “We announced the two groups that had registered with the change of the Ironside rules: Eleven, and Hero?—”

“Hero?” Niko crossed his arms, his dark brows inching down. “Are they here to save us?”

“—And we had you vote on who you thought would have the best chemistry with each group member out of the rest of the students.”

“What could go wrong?” Gabriel sounded as bored as Elijah.

“So … you might be wondering how we’ll test this chemistry?” Jack asked, rubbing his hands together. The man was practically giddy.

The human group looked equally giddy.

The Alphas looked like they were considering storming out of the building and punching a few giddy faces along the way.

“Whoever the public gave the most votes to will kiss our group member—who will be blindfolded. If any of the blindfolded group members can guess who just kissed them, they will get a point. At the end of the kiss, the group members will score whoever kissed them out of ten—any student who manages to score a ten out of ten will also get a point. They can choose to donate their point to either Eleven or to Hero. The members of Hero will score double points since they have fewer group members.”

Most of the other students seemed torn between fear and excitement, with most of the females casting quick glances at the Alphas. She didn’t blame them. When it came to boosting popularity and hitching your wagon to a possible winner, the humans were a good bet.

But when it came to kissing ?

Please . The human men didn’t stand a chance. Nobody at the academy stood a chance. Santoro was attractive in a boy-next-door way, and the Kozlov twins were attractive in a won’t-stop-posting-videos-of-shirtless-wood-chopping way, but it just didn’t compare to the Alphas. They were attractive in a life-destroying sort of way.

As much as she technically understood it, she wasn’t happy about the situation. She was in a sexual relationship with Kilian, Theodore, and Cian. She had also had sex with Niko and Oscar … although she wouldn’t say she was in a sexual relationship with either of them. She wasn’t sure if she would be having sex with anyone any time soon, for fear of their dick suddenly expanding and locking her in place like some kind of torture device.

She shuddered, torn between fear over her recollection of her last sexual encounter and fury at the possibility of anyone kissing any of her mates … and maybe a little bit of lust, too, because she was ill .

Their new contracts made it clear that their active participation in the Ironside Row games was compulsory, and the officials had made it clear that they would be tested during these games, but she wasn’t sure this test made sense when it came to “challenging their group dynamics.”

They’ve reached the same conclusion we have, Elijah spoke through the bond. They know that the fans will never accept us being bonded to Isobel. They’ll lose all interest in us if they think none of us are available, and they’ll hate Isobel.

Gabriel’s voice joined Elijah’s in her head. They want us to be available and accessible to the fans, and they’re testing to see if our bond will prevent that.

“The winning group for the night will get …” Ed trailed off as everyone stilled, even the humans. It would either be a complete joke of a reward, or it would be something they would want to chew off their own arms for. He continued, “An exclusive, private, camera-free practice room branded with their group name. Any personal projects filmed within the room can be uploaded without the usual waiting times or approvals needed. It will be your group’s room permanently until graduation.”

Isobel stopped breathing. That was a huge advantage. Privacy, the absolute element of surprise with all of their performances, and the freedom to upload content whenever they wanted?

It was beyond what she thought Ironside would ever offer. And … dammit , it was clever. It was the perfect bait to make sure the Alphas played along with what was obviously a very important game to the officials.

We have to win . Elijah’s voice in her head was cold and determined. Keep it minimal and respectful, he continued. A quick peck with someone we have no romantic connection with to win a game shouldn’t cause any soul infractions—there’s no emotional, romantic, or sexual connection behind it. They’ll only pair us with people we’ve encountered before, so we can use their scents to name them and win the game that way. Isobel, we’ll just tell you who is standing in front of you. Most likely, it’ll be one of us, Silva, or Santoro—he’s publicly said he has a crush on you. For us, they’ll either pick you, one of the fake ex-girlfriends, or one of the humans.

The idea of having to kiss Silva or Santoro made her want to vomit.

The idea of Wallis touching Theodore made her hand itch to grab the other girl’s hair, drag her out of the hall, and shove her bold lips into the dirt?—

Can everyone control themselves for one night? Elijah asked sternly.

It isn’t us you should be worried about, Kilian returned stiffly. The Sigma is contemplating murder.

Actually, I was contemplating bodily harm, she sniped.

Grievous? Cian asked.

Provocative but tasteful , she returned.

How could I ever want to kiss anyone else . His voice was a deep groan that echoed through her mind, soothing some of the ragged edges of her panic.

She could do this. She could?—

“Moses Kane,” Ed called, glancing at the sign behind him, which was now reading Moses’ name.

She could not do this.

Moses stared at the sign for a moment, his expression twisting into something dark and stubborn, but there was no other option. They had been warned. Ironside would make them pay for the privilege of being allowed to exist every step of the way.

Moses approached the two hosts and allowed himself to be blindfolded and positioned where they wanted him. He didn’t stop scowling, but he also didn’t try to punch anybody, so he was probably utilising his self-control to the fullest extent.

“Who do the public think Moses Kane has the most chemistry with?” Ed asked, holding out his hand toward the sign, which was digitally flicking through letters as though searching for a name.

Moses was so tense he could have been made of stone, and the other Alphas were barely any better.

Can everyone control themselves? Elijah pressed through the bond.

Various grumbled affirmatives flowed back to him, and Isobel tacked on her own answer, packing away her panic and arranging her expression into mild amusement. If they succeeded in showing the officials that their bond would never get in the way, then maybe they would get bored of testing them.

Maybe—

Isobel Carter .

The sign had stopped flickering and was showing her name.

Everyone was staring at her, the other students laughing and gasping.

“We have the people’s choice!” Jack exclaimed, motioning her over. “Come on up, come on, that’s it, right here—do you need something to stand on?” he added in a stage whisper.

The swell of laugher grew louder, but Isobel seriously considered it before finally nodding. Why make it harder than it had to be? Jack and Ed looked beyond delighted as one of the camera crew fetched a small footstool and set it before Moses.

Of course, it was a small footstool.

Moses would know it was her as soon as she was in front of him. His nose was too good for anyone to trick him with a blindfold, though the crew obviously didn’t realise that.

“Remember, no talking!” Ed warned, steering her toward the footstool. She stepped up onto it, and Moses automatically anchored his hands to her hips, steadying her.

She considered him for a moment, unsure how she was supposed to proceed. If she kissed him too quickly, people would think it was too natural, too practised , even though for them, that would be far from the truth. However, if she stared at his firm lips for too long, people would think she was secretly in love with him.

So she just stood there like an idiot.

Ed Jones chuckled. “You can start whenever you like.”

Are you going to kiss me? Moses asked inside her head, so close and so clear that she knew he was speaking to her privately. Or are we going to stand here until Ed Jones has a breakdown and decides to do it himself? That man is one forced chuckle away from snapping in the most spectacular way.

Well, now she had to kiss him because if she didn’t, she was going to accidentally laugh out loud. She tugged on his shirt and tried to pull him down to her because the stupid step stool wasn’t tall enough. He resisted. She kicked his shin in punishment, and he laughed before grabbing her face and dragging her mouth to his. The kiss was short and sweet, his crushed-petal scent curling around her, sweet and intoxicating, his lips trembling as he seemed to pull away reluctantly. She had no idea what had been an act and what had been real. Maybe none of it. Maybe all of it.

“Ten out of ten,” Moses declared before adding, “When do you think Ironside will get tired of forcing us to kiss, Carter?” His voice had a little hint of indulgence. It sounded like she was so precious to him that he wouldn’t dare to rate her anything less than a ten, because he would never allow her to be hurt. But it didn’t sound sexual, not at all.

His hands dropped back to her hips. The grip was protective but light. Familiar, but not too intimate. He was dancing along the line perfectly.

“Two points to Eleven!” Ed cried out as the crowd laughed and cheered, and Moses whipped off his blindfold, smirking confidently. He didn’t look at her but lifted her carefully off the stool before winking at her and striding back to the Alpha group. He seemed to forget to act as moody and pissed as he had been on his way to get blindfolded.

Isobel trailed him, her expression fixed in slightly bored amusement once again.

“Next up, we have Theodore Kane—dare I say, a favourite Kane for some of you?”

It’s you again . Cian’s voice echoed into her mind before Theodore had even been blindfolded. They’re all you.

Really? She was unable to help turning to look at him, brows raised.

He isn’t usually wrong with hunches like these . Gabriel was the one to respond, sounding relieved. Just make sure to keep it even with everyone .

Okay . She watched as the sign formed her own name again and as the crowd’s reaction grew even more boisterous. It almost felt perverted , like the officials had known what the people wanted to see and had known that Isobel and the Alphas would never give it to them, so here they were, forcing it. Just because they could.

And the people were eating it up—even the other students, who hadn’t been involved in the voting. Everyone had wanted to see her kiss Moses, and now everyone wanted to see her kiss Theodore just as badly. It made sense, in a messed-up sort of way. She and the Alphas had ballooned in popularity ever since they began publicly forming their group, to the point where people didn’t even seem to care about the two year groups ahead of them, who would all graduate before them. They just wanted Dorm A. Isobel and the Alphas were their current obsession.

When Ed waved her forward, she fetched the step stool herself. She slapped it down, climbed up, and tugged Theodore’s shirt. He smirked and bent so that she could plant a quick peck on his lips. He didn’t linger, but he also couldn’t help his hands briefly gripping her waist, squeezing slightly.

He guessed her correctly and gave her a ten. Two more points.

Gabriel was next, and she was so nervous, knowing how pedantic he was about germs and people touching him. As she debated the best way to go about it, his hands slipped up her arms and cupped her face, gently lifting it to his. The kiss was so light and quick that she was left wondering if it had even happened, but when she returned to the line and licked her lips, she tasted him there. Clean and comforting, he tasted like … skin. Like a body sprawled over cotton, kissed by sunlight pouring through the window. Like a lazy morning in bed. She wasn’t sure how that could be a taste, but she was desperate for more. She wondered if the lazy bedroom scene would unfold the longer she kissed him.

Next was Elijah, and just like Gabriel, he didn’t wait for her. His kiss was a hard, brief stamp that had her lips tingling and her thoughts scattering, though she was sure to school her features into exasperated amusement again. When her name flashed up for Kilian, the entire room erupted into whispers as though it was the most scandalous thing to happen all year.

She kissed his cheek, and he rated her ten out of ten for being respectful. All the girls in the audience seemed to melt over his sly, lush smile as he tapped her affectionately beneath the chin.

Oscar and Niko both made their bodies stiff so that she had to tug against their shirts, which had the crowd laughing at her, especially when she was forced to rise onto her toes to reach Niko’s mouth. Cian considered giving her a five out of ten out loud while frowning and stroking his chin, saying that the kiss “lacked passion” before ultimately giving her a ten out of ten because he “pitied her.”

It was so painfully apparent that they all knew it was her the second she stood before them, but she thought they played it off perfectly, teasing her and keeping their kisses chaste. The entire game showcased just how close and comfortable they were without making it seem like any of them were a couple.

Isobel was too busy silently congratulating herself for a job well done to worry about her own turn. It wasn’t until she was standing there blindfolded that the nerves crept back in.

“So this is the person our viewers think is most suited to the Sigma?” Ed sounded smug and anticipatory.

Those fuckers rigged the poll , Elijah snarled into her mind.

Well … that didn’t sound good.

Who is it? she demanded.

Bellamy, Theodore spat back.

I can’t let it happen . Oscar’s voice was too cold, too matter-of-fact.

You don’t have a choice , Elijah returned. Contain yourself—that goes for everyone, and it’s a fucking order. Isobel wasn’t sure she had ever heard him sound so stern.

Someone—presumably Bellamy—was standing in front of her. She cracked open her wall, almost laughing at the dread and discomfort emanating from him.

“I’m flattered,” she said, unable to bite back her laugh. “You know I’m a Sigma, right? I can feel how much you don’t want to do this.”

She could hear a wave of whispering break out, likely because she didn’t talk about her Sigma power often, and many people still seemed to believe it wasn’t real at all.

Bellamy grunted out an unhappy sound but couldn’t answer her because of the rules.

He also wasn’t kissing her.

“You’re even more indecisive than the Sigma was!” Jack taunted. “We’re going to be here all night at this rate.”

She heard Bellamy take a step forward, but then he cursed and crashed into her, somehow tripping over his own feet. They fell into the sign, which cracked against the back of her head, and ended up on the ground in a tangle of limbs and cords. Luckily, she was in high-waisted jeans, or she probably would have flashed the world on live television.

“Ow?” she managed as she tugged off her blindfold.

Bellamy’s face was flaming red, and he seemed confused, struggling to his feet and staring at the ground in accusation, though there was nothing lying there that he could have tripped over. He quickly helped her up, pulling her from a tangle of equipment as the camera crew scrambled to restore the set.

She glanced over at the Alphas, who wore carefully painted expressions of mild exasperation and amusement—all except Oscar. His firm lips were crooked into a small, smug smile, his onyx eyes glinting in devious pleasure.

“I think that was a zero out of ten,” she said, deliberately dragging her attention back to the hosts before forcing a grin in Bellamy’s direction. “Better luck next time.”

“Sorry, Beta,” Cian called out. “That was your one and only shot.”

It was Santoro’s turn next, and the public paired him with Mei Ito, which was unsurprising. They had the biggest fanbases of all the human students, with Kostas coming in close second. They decided to go with the same strategy of a chaste kiss, and Santoro managed to guess who it was, which was quite impressive, though the pool of likely candidates was admittedly small. Next was Alexi Kozlov, who was also paired with Santoro.

Isobel vaguely recalled reading somewhere that Alexi was bisexual but was fairly certain Santoro was straight. Santoro was a good sport about it, shaking his head with silent laughter as he planted a loud kiss on the other boy’s lips. Alexi guessed him correctly, scoring him ten out of ten, and Isobel began to worry.

What would happen if they tied?

If the humans won the practice room, they would pull ahead drastically in the race. She couldn’t let it happen. She shuffled nervously from foot to foot as Naina Kahn was paired with Santoro, guessing him correctly, and then Jordan Kostas was also paired with Santoro, and they scored again. Anatoly Kozlov was paired with Wallis, and some of the loud cheering and laughing died down, probably indicating to Anatoly that his partner was someone outside of his group. Wallis didn’t kiss him chastely. She grabbed his face and held it there for a long, deep—and frankly, disgusting—make out that had the crowd screaming .

When she was finished, her expression was smug, and her hand trailed down his chest before she flounced back to Ellis and James.

“Nine out of ten,” Anatoly announced. “Was that … Carter? It felt desperate for some real action.” He whipped off his blindfold, finding her across the room and winking at her.

“Zero points this round!” Ed exclaimed.

Isobel folded her arms, giving Anatoly a bored look, but Moses fired back before she could think of a response.

“Don’t you know the rules?” he asked, shaking his head in disapproval. “Anyone wanting to kiss Carter, hug Carter, hold Carter’s damned hand, or visit with Carter has to get permission from her group members first. You know damn well it wasn’t her because you don’t have permission.”

“Is that true?” Jack immediately sidled up to Moses, holding out his microphone—which was entirely for show, because the building was already heavily rigged with microphones. “Do you screen her possible romantic partners? What do they have to do to get approval?”

“Actually,” Elijah smoothly interrupted, “we’re not allowed to date anymore, so applications are closed for the time being.”

Jack slumped a little, deflated by the lack of drama they were feeding him before he sprang back into action and called Mei to the stage. “Lucky last!” he announced as her blindfold was secured.

And then a name appeared on the sign, and Isobel’s heart stopped.

Niko Hart .

He had been so stiff, so unsure, during her quick kiss, ending it so fast it almost didn’t count. And now they were entirely relying on him. Both groups were sitting at sixteen points, thanks to the human team scoring double points. If Niko was scored a ten out of ten, he could choose to assign the points to his own team … but if Mei guessed who he was and rated him less than that, the human team would win. If Oscar interfered with his chaos ability again, it would end in a tie. Nobody would get the practice room.

I don’t know if my charm works this way, but I can try and hit her with it, Theodore spoke through the bond.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Niko sounded desperate for something else. I don’t think I can kiss her .

Isobel pushed her voice into Elijah’s head, trying to speak to him privately. We shouldn’t force him. We don’t know exactly how much or what type of stress or emotion will trigger ferality until the bond has settled down.

Agreed , he returned before his voice changed in quality, seeming to address everyone at once. Just kiss her cheek. Theo, try to hit her with your ability. Isobel, siphon off anything bad she’s feeling. It’s the best we can do.

Niko strode up to the stage, and Isobel quickly opened her walls, trying to focus on Mei, gently removing the stress and feelings of pressure that built up inside the other girl.

Niko bent down and kissed her cheek. He didn’t stick around but immediately returned to his group, his expression impassive. Mei’s face was flushed, her hand at her chest.

“Um, ten out of ten?” She giggled. “He seemed tall, and he smelled really good. Was that … I guess it was one of the Alphas. This is crazy. Was it … Theodore Kane?”

Everyone burst into laughter, and Ed chuckled, announcing, “No points to Hero, but one point to Eleven, thanks to Niko Hart.”

“And we have our winning team!” Jack exclaimed. “Congratulations, Eleven!”