22. Three Two One, Action

22

Three Two One, Action

“I don’t care how much it costs, get another fucking plane!” Cooper raged, stalking across the gravel driveway as he shouted at Braun.

It had been several weeks since they arrived in San Bernadino—they had fulfilled their tour duties at the settlement and completed weeks of training, filming, and album workshopping … but they hadn’t left. Braun had faked some emergency repair work for the jet they had been using, forcing them to postpone their last stop on the tour. Of course, there was no problem with the plane.

They were waiting for Lily.

They could have moved on and trusted everything to Bellamy and the doctor, but that was too much of a risk, and there was no way Oscar would ever agree to it.

Isobel winced and slowly pulled the window shut, stepping back through the lounge to the outside deck, where they were filming for the day. They had stopped because Braun and Cooper’s distant shouting could be heard echoing through the mountains to the other side of the lodge.

“Might as well just take a break,” Mikel decided, handing them all drinks.

Isobel plopped onto one of the deck chairs, blinking up at the sun as she sipped the electrolyte water. Her phone vibrated, but it must have been a group text because she wasn’t the only one who reached for their device. It was the group chat they had made to communicate with Bellamy.

Bellamy: She’s being discharged.

Bellamy: Operation Kiddie Smuggler is a go.

Isobel winced, quickly tapping out a reply.

Isobel: Do NOT call it that.

Oscar: That’s it? No more news?

Lily’s operation had been successful three weeks ago, but Oscar had been convinced that something would go wrong during her recovery period.

Bellamy: She can’t quit her treatment, but they seem pretty happy with how she’s recovered. She’s responding well to meds. She was dancing yesterday. She said she’s going to grow her hair all the way to the floor.

Bellamy: Bit gross if you ask me, but it’s her choice.

Oscar closed his eyes, leaning against the railing opposite Isobel, his hand shaking as he pressed his fingers to his eyelids.

Isobel: Oscar says thank you.

Bellamy: I say you’re welcome.

Elijah: You’re clear on the plan?

Bellamy: Take the kid to the airport. Fly on the plane. Pick up the van. Put the kid in the van. Drive the kid to the settlement. Drop the van back off. Did I miss anything?

Oscar was looking at his phone again.

Oscar: Yeah, check the house over, will you? Make sure she’s got everything she needs?

Bellamy: Nah, that’s too much work.

Bellamy: Kidding.

Bellamy: She’s asking if we can have monster pasta when we get home. What’s that?

Bellamy: Am I her new brother, now?

Isobel chuckled but quickly bit it back when Oscar’s dark eyes flashed up to her. She held up her hands in surrender, and he went back to texting.

Oscar: Just look after her or I’ll kill you.

Bellamy: Look how close we’ve grown.

She giggled again. Oscar shoved his phone away. “That’s it,” he growled, stalking over to her. She launched from the sunlounger, trying to run away, but Moses quickly caught her, tossing her over his shoulder and delivering a sharp spank to her butt. The cameras were still rolling, so hopefully, the assistants wouldn’t include that footage in the daily video they put up that night.

Braun shoved open the glass door and stepped out onto the deck, prompting Moses to set her back on her feet.

“I just saw the email,” she said to her father, causing him to pause, his brows furrowing. “About the plane?” She gave him a fake, searching look. “How they finished the work? It’s ready to go again? We can leave tonight.”

“Well.” He blew out a relieved breath. “Thank fuck for that. Pack your bags, everyone. I’ll go tell the asshole the good news.”

He stepped back inside, striding off, and Moses leaned close to her ear, whispering, “I can’t believe he’s calling someone else ‘the asshole.’”

Isobel smirked, elbowing him. “I elbowed you,” she said when he didn’t react.

He gripped her elbow. “My sides are well acquainted with this little chicken wing.”

She gasped. “How dare you.”

“Children,” Elijah sighed out. “Stop fighting.”

Moses ducked behind her, hauling her into his arms and hovering her over where Elijah was sitting on a sunlounger texting—likely double checking that Bellamy wasn’t going to fuck up any of the steps in his plan.

“Attack,” Moses ordered darkly, and Isobel tried to jab Elijah with her elbow.

He didn’t react at first, but she could see him starting to break.

He sighed, putting his phone away.

Jab .

He tried to look bored.

Jab jab.

His lips curved up at the corner.

Jab jab jab.

He chuckled, catching her arms. “All right, you menace, I concede.”

“Do we let him concede?” Isobel glanced over her shoulder at Moses.

“Never,” he growled. “Attack!”

Before she could jab Elijah again, Moses suddenly spun her to face Mikel, who stood at the railing, looking at them like he didn’t know whether to laugh or take his chances jumping over. She jabbed him.

He cocked a brow, his expression saying “do you really want to do this?”

“Get him,” Moses whispered silkily into her ear. The devil on her shoulder.

She jabbed Mikel again.

His lips twitched just like Elijah’s had. Two more jabs, and he was laughing.

“All right.” He shook his head, pushing off the railing. “Get the fuck inside, the both of you. We’ve got one more stop on this little holiday tour .”

They had more free time when they were at Ironside, and that irony was lost on none of them. Moses tossed her back over his shoulder, dumping her into Kilian’s bed since she had somehow ended up keeping most of her things in his room despite bouncing between their beds.

They packed up their luggage, piled back in the vans, and boarded the jet for the last time. At the end of their stay in Mojave, they would be boarding the busses back to the airport with the rest of the Ironside students from that settlement. She checked her phone constantly during the flight, reading Bellamy’s updates.

The first was a picture of Lily holding a packet of cigarettes, and the message read:

My new sister’s reward for clearing customs.

Isobel peeked nervously at Oscar—who sat in the seat opposite her—but he wasn’t swearing or scowling. He almost looked like he was smiling.

The second picture came after they landed. It showed Lily pursing her lips at a flyer for a strip club.

Bellamy: Just stopping for lunch before we pick up the van .

The third was a picture of Lily huddled into the back of a van with a piece of tape over her mouth, her eyes wide in exaggerated terror.

Bellamy: Operation Kiddie Smuggler underway.

They were checking into a roadside motel when they got that message, and Isobel failed to unlock the door to her room multiple times as she fought back her laughter.

The next picture came as they were rearranging the lobby of the motel to suit their filming purposes. It was a picture of Lily waving inside the door to her home, her smile huge, her eyes exhausted but still bright.

Mission success , Bellamy’s message read.

Oscar quickly disappeared to video call Lily while they finished setting up. Her father cast her a questioning look, and she grinned back, mouthing, “We did it.”

He seemed shocked. It took her a second to realise it wasn’t about Lily, but because she was smiling … at him . So she stopped, awkwardly coughed, and went back to work.

An hour later, another photo came through. It was a selfie of Bellamy laying down on the couch wearing a pink headband.

Bellamy: I live here now. Lily said I sound like Harry Potter, and she loves me more than she loves Oscar.

Bellamy: But seriously, I have to go now. Everything looks good here.

She quickly tapped out a reply.

Isobel: Thanks, Bellamy.

Theodore: Thanks, dude.

Moses: Thanks.

Niko: Thanks.

Elijah: Thank you, Bellamy.

Gabriel: What they said.

Cian: You aren’t so bad.

Kilian: We owe you.

Kalen: We really do.

Mikel: If you ever need anything, ask us.

Oscar: You can be friends with Isobel now.

Bellamy: And you can date her now.

Isobel snorted, tossing her phone aside, her heart light as they went back to work.

Their final meet-and-greet was chaotic. She hadn’t realised the Alphas had been behaving during the last seven appearances, but that became quickly apparent. They couldn’t hold focus, constantly talking to each other instead of the fans, forgetting to hand out the Polaroids, starting fights for fun and, in several cases, simply standing up to bounce around on their feet or stretch.

They were too excited, too anxious, too full of restless energy, because the tour was basically over, and it had been a raging success. Hero had done a small worldwide tour with limited appearances, and they weren’t getting half the attention that Isobel and the Alphas were getting. Videos of Hero’s concerts were getting hundreds of thousands of views, but the videos her father’s team were putting together and uploading of their daily activities were getting millions of views.

People loved watching them work hard to put their album together. It fit with their theme of inviting their fans into their process every step of the way, including them as they created their music. Orion had yet to release their debut album despite releasing Hero’s album before the summer break, but there was no way they would sell less than Hero. Her father predicted they could double or triple the sales of the other group.

Even Cooper was happy, encouraging them to have another drink at the final afterparty despite them having already surpassed their two-drink limit. Isobel sipped at her fourth glass of champagne, twisting through what had turned out to be a very raucous crowd compared to the other parties they had been to as she made her way to her father. Josette had sidled up to Kalen, and she didn’t feel like scowling at the beautiful woman while tipsy.

She turned back to see Kalen extracting himself and stepping away, but she was still fighting off a violent need to drag Josette outside and push her pretty face into the dirt as she locked eyes with her father.

Braun watched in confusion as a hand wrapped around his daughter’s mouth, someone pulling her back into the crowd. At first, he assumed it was one of her mates, but he yanked out a chair from the nearest table, standing on it and searching the room. Theodore, Elijah, Gabriel, Moses, Niko, Cian, Kalen, Mikel, Kilian, Oscar. Shit . They were all accounted for.

Gabriel was looking at him, brows drawn inward in confusion. Braun motioned at him urgently, jumping down from the chair and ploughing through the people to where he had last seen his daughter. Gabriel met him there.

“Which way did she go?” Braun demanded.

He could barely smell her—her scent was mixed with everyone else’s, but Gabriel didn’t have the same problem. He took off immediately, Braun following him. They burst through a side door.

“Do the mind communication thing,” Braun demanded. “Call the others.”

“Already have.” Gabriel took off at a run, not even questioning that Braun knew they were bonded and could speak to each other in their minds.

After a few moments, the others caught up to them.

“She was just with me,” Kalen growled. “How did she disappear so quickly?”

“They must have been waiting for us to be occupied,” Gabriel said as they ran down the dark street—everyone was either at the afterparty or shut up inside their homes.

They approached a house, but Moses suddenly halted, his nostrils flaring. “Fucking Cooper ,” he hissed.

“Wait.” Braun stepped in front of them, tugging out his phone. “If you barge in there without any proof, he’ll just do it again. Trust me, I know how these people work.”

“We don’t trust you,” Elijah seethed quietly.

“We need proof ,” Braun insisted gravely. “You have to think like them. If you want to control them, you need to get information on them. You need to blackmail them.” He stepped closer to the house, but instead of going inside, he circled to the window, raising his phone to record.

He heard the shuffling of the Alphas joining him, but several of them were surrounding the door, waiting to burst inside at the first signal from the others.

The window looked into a house that appeared abandoned, except for the mattress on the floor and the lamp in the corner. Braun knew houses like these. He had been inside them.

He had spent his entire life fighting to get away from houses like these and to ensure his family never returned.

And now here she was.

His only daughter, in one of these fucking houses.

His hands began to shake, the taste of ash on the back of his tongue, but he bit it back. He wanted to rage, but his girl needed him now more than she ever had before.

Cooper dragged a chair into the room, and two men dropped Isobel onto it. She was quiet, her head dipping to the side, her hair covering her face. She almost slipped off the chair, but one of the men caught her shoulder, pinning her back. He had human eyes.

The men who came to these houses always did.

The men who came for the dirty little Gifted .

“How long do I have to wait for her to wake up?” Cooper demanded.

“You can talk to her now,” one of the men replied. “She’s just drowsy. We injected enough to make her floppy.” He laughed, grabbing Isobel’s face and pushing it back. Her hair slipped from her cheeks, showing drowsy, hooded eyes. She blinked slowly, like it took immense effort.

Beside him, one of the Alphas let out a low, dangerous growl.

Just wait , Braun thought, feeling his own rage begin to spill over. Just hold on .

He needed more.

One of the men pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket. This was what he needed . Braun waited for it to exchange hands, but Cooper didn’t seem to be interested in the money. He rounded the chair, adjusting his position to face Isobel.

“Did you think you could outsmart me ?” he taunted, grabbing Isobel’s face.

Hold on, hold on.

“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” Cooper snarled, bending over Isobel, his face drawing close to hers. “I’m going to fuck you, Isobel Carter. I’m going to break you. I’m going to rape every one of your whore holes and these men right here are going to film the whole thing before they have their turn. And then when we get back to the academy, you’re going to come every time I call, and you’re going to get down on your knees and service me, and if you don’t, I’ll release this video to the whole fucking world.”

Cooper licked her face, his hand cupping his obvious erection.

Braun saw red, dropping his phone. Fuck the proof. Oscar had already kicked in the door. They stormed into the house, and he tore one of the men out of the way, snatching up his daughter from the chair and holding her against his chest as her mates lost control. It was a whirl of movement, a scream cut off by a growled Alpha voice telling them not to make a sound. Braun backed himself into the wall, watching the violence with widening eyes.

This wasn’t normal.

This was …

Several of them had black eyes, black veins, and black talons. The fuckers were feral . Not all of them: Elijah, Kalen, Mikel, Cian, and Kilian had backed up, like stepping away from a pack of rabid dogs tearing into carcasses, because that was what was happening. Niko, Oscar, Moses, Theodore, and Gabriel were savagely tearing into the bodies of Cooper and the two humans, tearing their skin like tissue paper. Blood sprayed out and Braun swallowed, nausea roiling in his stomach as he saw bone and muscle exposed. The men were dead, but the five Alphas didn’t stop fighting over their bodies until they were nothing but scraps. And then they turned to the furniture, the walls, the doors, the kitchen cabinetry. They were spreading blood and viscera everywhere. It was the most horrific thing he had ever seen, and he was too scared to move. If he did, they might notice him and Isobel.

“This isn’t going to be fucking fun,” Mikel said lowly. “Five against five aren’t good odds.”

They weren’t going to fight them, were they?

Sweat began to drip down his face. This wasn’t how he wanted to die. And to lose her after doing all of this to win her back?

To die like this?

By ferality?

The very thing that took his mate, and his wife’s mate, and started this dark, sickening void inside him that sucked away everything good and happy?

It was almost too much to bear.

The monsters began to turn on each other and Kalen swore, his expression desperate. “Fuck. Now or never?—”

“Wait,” Elijah said, his expression creased in pain. “Everyone, wait.”

His voice was coloured with power. It filled the room like a crackle of electricity. The monsters stopped . They weren’t attacking or tearing anymore.

They were waiting.

“Step away from each other,” Elijah said softly. His eyes were watering, so much pain in his expression. “Wait,” he reiterated, as Kalen dismissed them immediately, striding over to Braun. He held out his hands in silent demand, and Braun handed Isobel over, shocked into silence as Kalen draped her over his chest, his arms wrapping around her, his hand cupping the back of her head. A second power stirred the air, and slowly, Isobel began to stir.

What the fuck?

Isobel moved her arms as soon as she could, her sluggish brain struggling to comprehend what was happening as she clung to Kalen. She could smell his vanilla, soured by rage, wrapping around her, his power working to bring her body back from the drugged state she had been shoved under.

Again .

She peeked over his shoulder as her arms wrapped around his neck, seeing five bodies lined up, eerily still. They were covered in blood, breathing heavily. Oscar, Moses, Theodore, Gabriel … oh no, Niko .

They all had pitch-black eyes and were staring at Elijah.

He had told them to wait, and they had obeyed.

He had used his power.

Grief clogged her throat, seeing the strained look of pain on his face. She wriggled, and Kalen reluctantly set her down. She ran over to Elijah, her father stepping out to try and desperately grab her.

“Don’t—” he said, alarmed, but Kalen caught his wrist, pushing his hand down.

“They won’t hurt her,” he promised.

Isobel stopped before Elijah, who wouldn’t take his eyes from the five Alphas lined up before him. His breaths were short and sharp, tears staining his cheeks, his grief and horror so overpowering it almost bowled over her. He had said he was coming to terms with the fact that his power was a part of him, but he had still been miles away from comfortably reaching for it again. This was breaking his heart.

“You’re doing the right thing,” she whispered, turning her back on the others, reaching up to cup Elijah’s face.

She carefully wiped away his tears, sipping at his heartbreak. These feelings weren’t for what had happened tonight—he was barely even standing in the room with them. These feelings were from when he was a little boy, as stark now as the last time he had used his power.

“You did the right thing,” she soothed, letting the emotion pour into her. Her fingertips shook as she held his face.

Finally, his eyes dropped to hers, and he drew in a sudden, deep breath, almost like he had dropped back into his body. He grabbed her, pulling her against his chest.

“We can’t cover this up with fire,” he said. “We’re going to need a new cover story.”

“There were too many witnesses at that party.” She heard her father’s voice and stiffened, her face stuck against Elijah’s chest.

She had completely forgotten he was there.

“They’ll be able to say we all disappeared for an hour,” he continued, and she could hear the thin tremor in his deep voice.

He was shaken.

She didn’t blame him. They were standing in a house of horror, with three deaths to cover up and five Alphas in the throes of ferality just staring at them.

She was surprised her father wasn’t already running for the police.

“He burst in here just like we did,” Kilian said softly, probably feeling her surprise through the bond. “He’s in this with us whether he likes it or not.”

“I don’t like it, for the record,” her father growled. “But I don’t regret it. I would have killed them myself.”

Isobel cracked her walls, beginning to siphon away the horrible darkness that swelled in a giant wall behind her … but there was so much of it, and she was already weak, so she cut herself off after a moment, looking up to Elijah for help. He rubbed between her shoulder blades. “Don’t do any more,” he answered her unspoken question. “We’ll figure this out.”

“I think they’re starting to come back anyway,” Cian noted, his tone husky with the stress of their situation.

She turned in Elijah’s arms, watching as those black veins began to recede. It was a slow process. Painfully slow. With every minute that ticked by, the reality of their situation seemed to sink in with a more profound and terrifying clarity.

They were fucked .

As soon as the Alphas’ eyes blinked back to normal, Niko hurried to Elijah, crushing Isobel between them as he pulled the other Alpha into a quick hug.

“I’m sorry, man,” he mumbled.

Elijah nodded when he pulled back, and Isobel quickly caught Niko’s hand, squeezing his fingers as they all glanced around.

“Well?” Gabriel asked, moving into the kitchen to wash his hands. “Who’s got a fucking plan?”

“I assume we’ve ruled out fire?” Niko asked, his voice crackling with the weak attempt at humour.

“You assume correctly,” Kilian said.

“I really wish you would all stop mentioning fire.” Braun was rubbing his temples. “I’m learning far too much about everyone tonight.”

“This would have been much easier if there were bodies left to manipulate,” Gabriel mused, stepping away from the sink.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Oscar drawled. “My bad.”

Moses rolled his eyes.

Braun flicked his attention between them like he was seeing them for the first time. “No wonder,” he said, finally.

At Isobel’s questioning look, he elaborated.

“No wonder you changed so much.”

“Okay,” Kalen clapped his hands to get their attention, ignoring her father. “I have an idea. And it’s insane.”

“More insane or less insane than fire?” Niko asked.

“Exactly as insane as fire,” Kalen answered.

“We can’t do fire again,” Mikel insisted.

“Of course, we can,” Kalen insisted. “Fires happen all the time. We just need a solid alibi, and we’re going to have one because we aren’t going to be here when the fire starts. Cian, any matches in the kitchen?”

Cian began searching the torn-apart kitchen cabinet. “Bingo,” he said, pulling out some candles and incense sticks. He reached behind them, extracting a box of matches. He tossed them to Kalen.

“All right, everyone. Get the blood off your hands and button your jackets. You’re fucking splattered with it,” Kalen ordered. They moved to obey, Elijah standing still with Isobel.

He hadn’t moved or spoken much.

Once they were cleaned up, Kalen stepped up to the oven. He pulled out a match and struck it, watching it burn down to his fingertips before he narrowed his eyes. It burned in reverse, the fire eating its way back up the match until it was perfectly new again. He stabbed that same match into the matchbox, facing up, and set it on top of the oven.

And then he turned on the stovetop without igniting the burners, turning all of the knobs.

“We need to leave,” he advised, nodding to the front door. “Straight to the vans. Teak is passed out in one of them, right? I saw her leave the party early.”

“Let’s fucking hope so,” Moses mumbled as they moved to the door. “How long do we have before that match starts burning again?”

“An hour,” Kalen answered. “And we need to be live at that time. All ten of us, with Braun stepping in at some point to wave to the camera.”

They hurried back to the vans, finding Teak passed out in the first one. Isobel watched her phone the entire way home, watching the minutes tick by, everyone else struck silent.

“I can’t believe we used fire again,” Niko said, as they exploded out of the van at the motel.

“Five-minute shower,” Kalen ordered quietly—the rest of her father’s crew was staying at the motel, though they would have been asleep at that time. “I want you all clean , and back in the lobby in exactly seven minutes.”

He strode off as Braun ducked back into the van, picking up a sleeping Teak. The others quickly dispersed to their rooms, and all Isobel could think about was whether the police would choose that moment to do one of their random drive-bys as she raced through a shower.

It wasn’t like she even had blood on her, but she was in complete shock, and the cold water helped. She dressed in comfortable loungewear, tossed her hair into a messy bun and raced back to the lobby, meeting up with everyone else.

“Game faces on the count of three,” Kalen demanded, setting up his phone as they gathered in the small waiting area. Braun slipped into the room, also fresh from a shower, watching them with shock still painted over his face.

“Three,” Kalen said, and they deliberately relaxed their poses.

“Two,” he counted, and Isobel quietened her thoughts. Just another performance. You can do this .

“One,” he mouthed, starting the live video.

“Did you miss us?” Theodore drawled, his eyes heavy-lidded, his smile lazy. “Because we missed you guys. I know we did a live this afternoon but … we’re not ready to end the tour, yet.” He sighed dramatically, his head falling back against the couch. “Ahh, it’s been so fun.”

Braun stood in the shadows behind the camera and Isobel raised her eyes to his briefly.

He nodded to her, his expression now schooled into calm.

“So we just wanted to drop back in before we sleep and say thank you.” Kilian’s eyes sparkled softly as he looked into the camera. “This has been … the time of our lives.”

“We want to end it on the right note,” Cian agreed, looking like he was already halfway asleep. “And we wanted to thank the man who made all of this happen for us— the Braun Carter.”

Her father stepped up behind the couch, ducking to wave and smile at the camera.

“It was a pleasure,” he boomed, his personality switched up to a hundred per cent. “I’m honoured to have been involved in something so special.” He let out a smooth, easy laugh. “I won’t bore you with a speech. You aren’t here to see me.” He winked, moving back behind the camera again, that smooth mask falling away as he watched them.

“We should go,” Kilian covered a wide yawn. “Or we’re going to fall asleep in front of the camera. Goodnight, everyone.” He waved. “Thanks for everything.” Theodore slipped forward, ending the live and handed the phone back to Kalen, who turned to Braun.

“What happened dies right now, in this room,” Kalen said. “Everything you just saw.”

“How many fires have you set?” her father returned.

“As many as we need to,” Kalen held onto his calm, “to make sure she’s never hurt again.”

Braun considered them all before his eyes rested on her. “All right,” he said, nodding like he was talking to himself. “It dies here. We never talk about it again.”