14. InjuredFucked

14

Injured Or Fucked

Consolidation Day wasn’t anything like what Isobel had come to expect. Usually, it was a day of celebration with performances from the fifth-year students before the Icon was announced in front of all the other students and academy staff.

Today was different.

It was hardly surprising, after what Crowe had done the year before, but Isobel still felt strange leaving the academy without any sort of ceremony to signal the start of summer break. It would be broadcast later that night from an undisclosed location, and the winning Icon would be the only Gifted in attendance, which meant it was off campus.

They all piled onto her father’s private plane, where Teak and Cooper were already waiting for them, along with her father’s team. Teak looked rough. Her eyes were flat, dark bruises marring the skin beneath. Her skin had a sickly pallor, and she barely managed a smile when she saw Isobel before her attention drifted back to the window.

Her father followed Isobel’s stare over to Teak, giving her a brief, knowing look. Like he knew exactly why she had been requesting surrogate pills all these months and knew exactly where they were going.

It was unnerving how much her father seemed to know.

He forced a smile and spread out his large arms—the charm he usually reserved for awards shows and press appearances on full display. “Isobel!” he boomed. “My boys!” And then, in a more reserved tone, “Easton.”

Every single one of the Alphas stared at him.

They were having a more challenging time adjusting to his attempted reformation than Isobel was, and they knew exactly why he was so enthusiastic about them.

They had been dealing with Alpha worship their entire lives.

Niko shook his head, stalking off to claim a seat without a word. Moses and Oscar followed him, Moses cutting a look over his shoulder at Braun that clearly said, What the fuck ?

“Thanks for the plane,” Theodore muttered, giving Braun a confused look before stalking off.

Kilian stayed by her side, his arm curving around her shoulders, holding her tightly against his body.

“Braun,” Kalen greeted him stiffly. “We really need a copy of the schedule. I tried contacting your team?—”

“Of course, of course.” Braun snapped his fingers at one of his assistants. “Have a schedule sent to everyone.” He turned back to Isobel, an anticipatory glint in his eye. “They’re only allowing the Alpha or Alphas whose home we’re visiting to stay overnight in the settlement. The rest of us need to stay in the hotels they approved. If anything happens while we’re there, it’s entirely on my head, so you all need to be on your absolute best behaviour.”

“Got it,” she said. “No drugs and no hookers.”

He acted like he couldn’t even hear her sarcasm. “I’ve managed to secure several interconnected rooms to keep you all together—in the hotels where those rooms were available. Otherwise, I’ve tried to arrange lodges with enough bedrooms so you can all stay separately from everyone else.”

She rocked back on her heels, a little taken aback. “Thank you.”

“The stylist team has each of your outfits planned for the eight meet-and-greets and then another outfit change for the afterparties at each of the settlements. The afterparties are being funded by the official-run settlement committees—they will be ticketed events.”

“People can’t afford that,” Mikel interjected. “Not in the settlements.”

“You don’t even know what the ticket charge is,” Braun snapped.

“And still, they can’t afford it.”

Isobel waited for her father to explode. To blackmail them into compliance by threatening to pull the plug on the tour. He was quiet for a long time, staring at Mikel. Finally, his head jerked to the side, glaring at one of his assistants.

“What can we do, then?” he ordered. “The afterparties were their idea. We can’t tell them no.”

The group of assistants immediately put their heads together, trying to sort out a solution.

Elijah spoke up, his tone impatient, like he was already sick of waiting for the humans to figure it out, even though they had only just started talking. “Set up an online promotion. Call it Eleven Ways to Build a Bridge. Allow humans to purchase buddy passes. Purchasing a pass will donate one ticket to a lottery for the Gifted. A pass will grant them an invite to an exclusive live that we’ll do from the hotel as we’re getting ready for the afterparty and some sort of merchandise item signed by all of us.”

“A polaroid,” Gabriel added. “The merch should be a signed Polaroid—and not signed by all of us. One picture, one signature. Luck of the draw. That way, there’s a lottery for the humans as well.”

Braun’s gold-flecked gaze was slowly flicking between Gabriel and Elijah.

“Do that,” he said to his assistants, pointing at Elijah. “Mr Reed, you should sit next to me. We should discuss the rest of the tour and see if you have any other ideas.”

Elijah’s lips parted, a short sigh slipping out. He was tired—they all were, after putting in everything they had to get their album finished and approved by Orion before the end of the year. He was probably hoping to get some sleep on the flight since none of them knew what their schedule would be.

After a moment of consideration, he gave a short nod.

“Will you join us, Mr West?” Braun asked, shrugging off his jacket and heading to his seat.

Isobel rocked back on her heels as her father walked away, clucking her tongue. “It’s giving desperation.”

Cian scoffed. “I’m here under protest. Let it be known.”

“Come on,” Kilian grumbled, steering her to seats at the back of the plane.

She brought up her email as soon as they were in the air, loading the document her father had sent to everyone. In eleven hours, they would land in Albany, and from there, they would be driving straight to the first meet-and-greet at Moses and Theodore’s settlement. Her father’s team went straight to work organising the promotion Elijah had suggested, and everyone settled in for the flight.

Isobel had a straight line of sight across the plane to Teak, who still hadn’t looked away from the window or tried to speak to anyone. Cooper had attempted to talk to her for a few minutes before relocating somewhere else.

“She wouldn’t be recording on the plane, right?” Isobel whispered.

Kilian leaned over her, glancing over at Teak before falling back to his seat again. He slipped his hand to her thigh, the heat of his palm seeping through the denim of her jeans. He squeezed her gently.

“I highly doubt it, but I wouldn’t try to bring up Charlie. You might do more harm than good. Let her come to you. She knows where you are. If it’s safe to talk—if she even wants to talk—she’ll say something.”

Isobel huffed out a sigh and shifted closer to Kilian. And then closer. She was as close as she could possibly get when he snatched her up and sat her in his lap, his arms wrapping her waist.

“Better?” he whispered as she sank into his body.

“How very un-gay of you,” Moses commented, immediately stealing her seat. “How will you explain your boner to the humans?”

“Maybe I’ll find somewhere to hide it before they notice,” Kilian rumbled back, fully engrossed in scenting her, his nose running along her hairline. “Somewhere warm. Somewhere wet.” He suddenly lifted Isobel, razing his teeth along her neck and making her bite back a laugh that quickly turned into a whimper. “Have any idea where I might find somewhere like that, Illy?”

“You make me sick,” Moses said blandly, though his eyes were fixed to the teeth Isobel had sunk into her lower lip. “The humans can see you.”

Kilian let out the softest, quietest groan before lowering her back to his lap, where he was already hard and insistent. She could feel the long length of him against the backs of her thighs, but she pretended not to as she faced Moses.

“Which stop is after the Hudson Settlement?” Kilian asked, trying to change the topic.

“Ozark—Oscar’s settlement,” Moses answered, digging out his phone and pulling up the schedule again. “And then Green Mountain for you, Redwood for Niko, Piney Woods for Eli and Gabe, Rock River Valley for Cian, San Bernadino for Mikki, then Mojave for Kalen. Looks like Braun managed to convince the officials we needed extra time at each stop. We aren’t just there for a day. He’s scheduled in maintenance days, down days, and training days—I guess so that we don’t lose fitness. This trip is going to last the entire summer break. What the hell is a maintenance day?”

Isobel snorted. “Laser, surgery, hair, Botox, body sculpting, liposuction, fake tanning, manicures, pedicures, and any other cosmetic treatment he can talk me into—although now I guess he also needs Orion’s approval. This torture extends to you guys by the way. His boys .”

“Since when do you get surgery?” Moses growled.

She kicked out her leg, gently brushing his thigh. “I refused surgeries and injections, but he still tries—or tried, to schedule them in. Maybe his team slotted it into the schedule automatically, assuming it was what he wanted. Or maybe the ‘improvements’ aren’t as intense as they have been in the past. I guess we’ll find out.”

“You’re not getting Botox,” Moses snarled. “And neither am I.”

“You’re not getting Botox?” Cian asked, falling into the chair opposite her and Kilian—he had disappeared into the bedroom at the back of the plane to get changed and was now in a pair of stretchy sweatpants and a loose T-shirt, an eye mask slung around his neck. He was smirking at Moses. “You might want to rethink that. Your frown lines are hideous.”

Mikel waited for Braun to slip off to the private bedroom to sleep before he got changed in the bathroom. The rest of the humans had rehomed themselves in the conference room at the front of the jet, separated from the rest of the space, and he deliberately lingered by the lacquered walnut-toned door, trying to hear some of their conversation.

It seemed the jet wasn’t Braun’s usual. It was on loan from one of his business contacts—that much, he had picked up on before the group relocated. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear them anymore. He passed through the small section of the plane that housed a bar for food, a bar for drinks, and the bathrooms, stepping back into the seating area. Cooper had turned his seat into a bed and was already fast asleep.

Was it dark enough for Mikel to hold a pillow over his face without anyone noticing?

Possibly.

The seat beside him was empty, and Teak sat on the opposite side of the plane. She hadn’t lowered her bed. She had barely moved at all since they took off. She was still staring out the window. She sighed, rubbing her arms, and then let her hands flop uselessly back to her sides.

Fucking hell .

He wished there was some way to help her.

Kalen and Mikel’s seats were in a grouping with Elijah and Gabriel. The three of them were still up quietly discussing the tour. On the other side were Oscar and Niko, both of them spilling out of the transformed beds that would have been plenty wide and long enough for a human man. They had pillows over their faces even though the lights were turned off.

Cian and Theodore were asleep in the next row of seats, and Kilian, Moses, and Isobel were cuddled up in the back, mostly hidden from view. Isobel was curled into Kilian’s lap—his chair still upright so that people didn’t question why she wasn’t in her own bed. Her legs were slung over the padded leather arms of the chairs, dropping into Moses’s lap. His chair was also still upright, his head tipped back, eyes closed, arm draped over Isobel’s legs.

Mikel hit the button to send Moses’ chair into a recline and then grabbed a blanket, tossing it over him. Isobel’s legs had retreated but crept out again once Moses was settled, her little toes inching beneath his blanket to brush his stomach. Moses absently gripped her ankle over the blanket and then went straight back to sleep. Mikel made sure the others all had pillows and blankets before returning to his own seat.

“Get some rest,” he ordered Elijah and Gabriel. “You’re going to need it.”

They both sighed and stood, stretching out their tired muscles before converting their beds. Kalen moved to the bathroom to change, and Mikel made up his own bed.

But he didn’t sleep. He was suspicious by nature, and even though he was sure nothing would happen to his group while they were sleeping, he just couldn’t shake off the urge to keep watch.

When Theodore woke up several hours later, dragging out his tablet to entertain himself, Mikel finally closed his eyes.

Isobel couldn’t stop yawning as they landed and were herded into separate vans. They were driven to a hotel near the airport. It wasn’t the fanciest place—especially not compared to the leathered and lacquered interior of the private jet.

Two policemen were waiting in the lobby with a nervous-looking receptionist. They shook hands with her father and did a quick sweep of their group. “Twelve Gifted, seven humans, and yourself,” one of them said to Braun, ticking off something in his notebook. “We’ll be back to check on you guys again before you leave. Our Gifted guests—yourself and your daughter excluded, of course, Mr Carter—are not to leave the hotel except for the sanctioned visits, and they are not to have outside guests. One of us will be stationed outside at all times.”

Isobel exchanged a look with Cian, both of their brows jumping up. This was not how it was on her last settlement tour.

The nervous receptionist dispersed them across the three levels of the hotel, giving the six rooms on the middle floor to Isobel and the Alphas. Each of the rooms could be connected with one of the neighbouring rooms, and they each had two double beds per room. After they were left on the second floor with their luggage, Mikel began assigning rooms.

“Oscar and Moses, first room. Kalen and myself will take the second. Niko and Cian, third room. Elijah and Gabriel, fourth room. Kilian and Theo?—”

“I don’t need my own room,” Isobel quickly interrupted. “If someone else wants their own space, I’ll happily share.”

“It’s not up for discussion.” Mikel’s stare swept over her, pausing on her comfortable white slides before darting back up to her messy bun. He was Manager Mikel right now—no-nonsense, domineering, and bossy.

“You’ll have half an hour to get settled and then I want you all back downstairs. We’ll be turning the lobby into a practice room today.”

“What about the conference room?” Gabriel asked, looking at his phone.

Isobel leaned over to glimpse his screen, seeing that he had pulled up the hotel’s website.

“Hair and make-up and crew are going to set up in there,” Kalen answered. “Braun has hired a team to film us daily, even when we’re not in the settlements.”

Moses clicked his fingers. “ That’s what I’ve been missing. Cameras.”

Kalen’s mouth quirked up in the corner, his eyes glimmering in amusement. “The crew will cut the footage together, edit it, and upload it every night. It’ll be in the format of a daily vlog, but a little more professional. Everyone on board?”

“Is this something you guys came up with on the plane?” Theodore asked, covering up a large yawn.

Kalen clucked his tongue. “That, and a few other things we think will help to boost your viewership over the break. It may not measure up to Hero’s album tour, but we’re going to try.”

After a quick shower and change of clothes, Isobel skipped back down to the lobby, and an assistant grabbed her, steering her into a conference room, which had been set up with dressing screens and make-up tables.

They wrangled her into a chair and began to dry her hair.

“Aren’t we just setting up the lobby?” she called over the sound of the hairdryer.

“Looking like this?” The woman tutted, shaking her head. “We’ve got cameras out there. They’ll be filming you setting up—it’s part of the holiday.”

“What holiday?” she asked, genuinely confused.

“The … summer holiday?” the woman replied, squinting. She turned off the hair dryer. “You’re filming your summer holiday, right?”

Isobel’s mouth opened and closed.

She didn’t know how to respond.

Was this a holiday?

She had never been on one, before.

“Get the fuck off me,” Niko’s rough voice dragged her attention to the door, where one of the assistants was trying to cajole him into the room. “I don’t need my fucking hair and make-up done. The fans already know what I look like.”

“It’s just a little concealer to cover up those dark eye bags,” the assistant pleaded with him. “And maybe a little texturing for the hair?—”

Niko cut her off with a snarl. “Or you can get out of my personal space before I?—”

“Ah.” Isobel launched out of her chair, quickly inserting her body between Niko’s and the assistant’s. “I’ll do it.”

Niko’s hands shaped immediately to her hips, drawing her back against him, tight enough that she could feel the sharp swell of his breath against her back as his chest expanded.

“You?” The assistant frowned.

“Just get in the seat,” Isobel ordered, shoving Niko to one of the make-up chairs. “Where’s the concealer?”

He sat, elbows notched onto the feeble wooden arms, hazel eyes pissed as he still glared at the assistant.

“Here.” One of the make-up artists handed her a small tube. She seemed like a no-nonsense sort of person, waving off the assistant. “You know how to do this?”

“I’ve had my make-up done more times than I can count,” Isobel assured her. “I’ll just add a little.” This part, she said to Niko.

He didn’t care, she realised. He wasn’t even paying attention to her. He was too busy trying to eviscerate anyone who came too close to him with his stare.

Moses came in next and shrugged off the make-up artist who approached his face. He did it absently, but when the woman tried to reach up to his face again, he jerked back, snarling at her.

She tossed up her arms in defeat, looking over at Isobel. “Will you?—”

“I’ll do him too. Actually, I’ll do all of them. Just tell me what you need. It’s a …” She struggled to explain their behaviour. “An Alpha thing. They hate … things … touching their skin,” she settled on lamely.

What did they know, anyway ? Humans didn’t care about the Gifted.

She brushed the smallest amount of concealer beneath Niko’s eyes, blending it out so much that she may as well not have bothered at all. And then she rubbed it off gently with her knuckle.

“This isn’t going to work,” she mumbled.

“Sounds good to me.” He jumped up, catching Theodore in the doorway. “Carter said don’t bother.” He spun the other Alpha around and they marched out.

“Awesome.” Moses jumped up, stalking after them.

Everyone in the room turned to glare at Isobel.

“Uh …” She flailed. “Um, it’s just that … we’re on camera all day. The fans will see us all made up and know that this feels different. It’ll make the whole ‘holiday special’ thing feel too staged …”

Everyone continued to stare at her.

“Too fucking early for this.” One of the make-up artists huffed, yanking out her phone. She dialled a number and stuck it to her ear. “Mr Cooper? Yes, hi. We’ve got a bit of a problem?—”

Isobel slipped out of the room, catching Kilian in the hallway. “Don’t go in.” She bared her teeth in a semblance of a grin. “Not unless you want to be touched.”

“By you?”

“No.”

“Oh. Fuck that.” He hooked his arm around her neck, striding beside her—fast enough that she had to kick up her pace. “We’re not going in there,” he called out to the other Alphas, who were coming down the stairs.

“Where?” Gabriel asked with a frown.

“The conference room,” Isobel explained nervously. Kalen and Mikel were bringing up the rear of the group, and she didn’t want to get in trouble for changing everyone’s plans. “The whole hair and make-up thing isn’t going to work. Because … I … told them Alphas hate things touching their skin.”

Elijah smirked, slipping past Cian and walking into the lobby without a word. Mikel shrugged, uncaring, following Elijah.

Kalen seemed amused. “Did you make a mess and then run away from it?” he asked, indicating Kilian and Isobel.

Kilian stuck his hands up, walking backwards toward the lobby. “I had nothing to do with this.”

“Traitor,” Isobel grumbled before scratching the back of her neck and peeking up at Kalen. “I think so?”

“Your hair is only half dried,” he noted.

“Oh.” She quickly pulled it up into a messy bun. “Problem solved.”

“Brat,” he mumbled, striding off to deal with the angry make-up artists and assistants.

The hotel gym was small, so Mikel trained them in two separate groups that night, working them to the point of collapse. It had been a busy day of learning the choreography Isobel had created for their new songs, so the gym session seemed a little unnecessary, but Isobel had the distinct impression that Mikel was making sure they were too exhausted to get into any trouble during the night.

And … it worked.

Kilian snuck into her bed and yanked her clothes off—but only because that’s what he always did. He preferred her skin against his. As soon as she was draped over his body with only her panties to separate them, he was asleep, and she drifted off only a few minutes later.

She woke up with Theodore pressed in on her other side and Oscar stepping out of her bathroom in nothing but a towel.

“Where did you sleep?” she asked groggily, pulling her head up from Kilian’s chest.

He pointed to the spot on Kilian’s other side and strode up to the end of the bed. He grabbed her ankle and yanked her down Kilian’s body until she almost tumbled from the mattress, and then he leaned over her, gripping her chin as his mouth pressed to hers in a rough kiss.

The shock quickly melted into need, and she whimpered, tangling her fingers in the top of his towel.

“Nope,” Kilian grumbled, sounding half-asleep. “Unless you’re going to do it on the floor, there’s no room for that.”

Oscar pulled away from her, likely about to deliver a cutting response, when there was a knock at the door.

“Isobel?” It was Mikel. “Time to get up.”

“It’s like he’s in trainer mode all day now,” Theodore complained, dragging a pillow over his head.

None of them moved.

Mikel knocked again, louder this time.

They didn’t so much as breathe.

He tried the handle.

“It’s locked, right?” Kilian whispered.

The handle jiggled. It was locked.

“I can smell you lot in there,” Mikel snapped.

“Damn.” Theodore’s grumble was muffled by the pillow. “I bet he can’t tell which of us are in here, though. Only Moses is that good.”

“No, but I can hear you,” Mikel returned. “Idiot.”

“Oops.” Theodore lifted the pillow a little, his eyes wandering to Isobel, touching on her sprawled legs, lacy yellow panties, arched back, peaked nipples, and the mess of her hair fisted by Oscar’s hand. He licked his lips slowly, before groaning and dragging the pillow back over his eyes. “Someone open the door before he barges in here.”

Isobel squeaked, swatting at Oscar’s wrist until he released her, his lips almost twitching into a smile. She crawled over the bed, trying to find the shirt she had been wearing the night before. None of them moved to help her.

“The person who opens this door is the only person escaping punishment,” Mikel growled.

She was actually starting to sweat. She finally found the shirt, tugged it over her head, and tumbled to the door, yanking it wide. She was breathing heavily, her hair in her eyes. Mikel blew out a short breath, his gaze raking over her.

“Morning, Carter.” His eyes stopped at the hem of her shirt, which hadn’t fallen properly to cover her underwear.

She quickly fixed it. “We were just?—”

“About to fuck,” Oscar inserted. “Thanks for the interruption.”

“All four of you?” Mikel shot back dryly.

“He was going to use us as a mattress,” Kilian sighed out. “And try to scar us from ever coming to her room again.”

“We may yet still achieve that goal,” Mikel drawled, his words ominous, his stormy scent slowly soaking the air. “I want everyone downstairs in ten minutes. Braun has agreed that you lot can skip the glam squad, but Isobel, he asked that I request you reconsider?—”

“It’s fine,” she reassured him. “They’ll do it faster than I can.”

“All right then.” He stepped into her space, hooking his finger into the collar of her shirt and dragging her a step forward until her stiff nipples were brushing against his front.

She assumed they remained stiff out of fright, but what did she know?

“Did I not exhaust you enough last night?” he murmured, his voice suddenly soft. Her brain short-circuited, and then she realised he meant his training session in the gym.

“Last night was ages ago,” she replied, her face flaming red.

Why was he trying to stop her from having sex?

“Hmm.” He released her shirt. “Tomorrow, I want you up an hour earlier. I’ll do some stretching with you so that you don’t injure yourself with training and dancing every day. Usually, you break it up with classes and singing lessons. You’re our lead dancer. We can’t have you injured.”

“Injured or fucked, apparently,” Oscar snapped.

Mikel ignored him, spinning and stalking from the room. She blew a tangle of hair from her face, the need inside her flaring back to life as soon as she spun and consulted Kilian, Theodore, and Oscar. Kilian smirked at her, and she huffed out a sound of frustration, grabbing a change of clothes and pushing into the bathroom.