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You weren’t this nasty when you tested if I would like it , she said, recalling the words he had used to set her on fire while establishing her list of limits.

That’s because you’re a good girl, deep down. He felt like he was amused by her again. I can’t be so cruel to you.

It’s not deep down, she claimed, with just as much confidence as she had claimed that a cuckold was some sort of wrestling move. I’m a good girl on the surface too . Just good all over, really.

His amusement swelled, but when she shot him a look, she was surprised to see nothing but a harsh twist of cruel disdain tugging at his features.

“This is who you’ve been fucking?” he growled out as soon as the last scrap of the man’s shirt fell away. She really hoped he had a jacket back in his pod. “This pale, pudgy, spongy, hairy little grub?”

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

“You should be. He needs to be punished. He took what he didn’t deserve. Fetch the crop.”

He pointed to a sleek black riding crop right above the door, and she was unable to help her eyes from bugging, but she obediently lifted it from its holder and carried it back to Mikel.

“Now hit him,” Mikel said coldly. “On his chest.”

She flexed her hand on the handle, unsure if this was something she was really cut out for .

You’re looking at a man thirty years older than you , Mikel spat into her mind.

He’s hard from one look at you. He’s wearing a wedding ring, and instead of taking his wife on a vacation somewhere she deserves, he’s spending all that money to wank off to you from behind a mirror.

That’s what he came here to do. To yank on that pathetic little dick while he fogs up the glass on the other side of that mirror.

He was on your waitlist. He wanted time alone with you in that red room, with you drugged up and no cameras to check his actions. Hit him.

She did, striking the crop across his chest.

“Harder,” Mikel demanded.

She hit the man again, his body bowing in apparent pleasure, drool slipping out from behind the gag as he tried to make sounds.

“Again.” Mikel’s hand wrapped around the back of her neck, squeezing lightly. “Like you mean it, this time.”

She pulled back her arm as soon as Mikel stepped out of the way, and then she was peppering the reddening flesh before her with quick, harsh strokes.

She didn’t stop until Mikel caught her wrist, gently pulling her away.

“Eyes on the floor,” he whispered against her temple before brushing past her to approach the man.

“Fuck, fuck ,” the man groaned out. Mikel must have been freeing him. “Please don’t stop her, man, fuuuuuck, I was so close.”

“That’s too bad.” Mikel’s voice dripped with false sympathy. “Maybe next time you’ll earn it. ”

Isobel listened to the sound of the pod door opening and closing, and then Mikel led her into the dressing room.

As soon as they were through, he had his hands on her shoulders, pressing her back into the door, his grip cinching tight as he lifted her up, up, until he could whisper against her ear without ducking down.

“I haven’t waited all these months just to claim you against a dressing room door in a fit of jealous rage, but I’m hanging on here by a thread, and my fury is currently outweighing my desire—but I still have it, that desire.

I always have it. For you. I need you to get dressed and follow me out of here without any trouble, and then I need you to scrub the stench of that dickhead off your skin and go straight to bed, understood? ”

Mikel’s emotions were a swarm, a whip of wind with jagged edges tearing into his control. She had gone still when he grabbed her, legs and arms hanging loose, but she hesitantly reached up to cup the sides of his face.

“Tell me what’s changed,” she said as he leaned slightly into her palm, welcoming the touch and sending a warm rush of heat down her arm.

“I can feel that so much has changed, but I don’t know how to explain it.

I can feel that you’re all closer to me and to each other.

I can feel that you’re not jealous of each other anymore.

I can feel the pleasure you feel when one of the others touches me. ”

His sigh was choppy, her question ticking his brain into gear, his thoughts fighting through the maelstrom inside him to be heard.

“It’s not that anything changed … not inside us or between us, at least, but when the bond was completed, we could suddenly all feel each other.

It’s not like how we feel you. It’s different.

You feel like mine, but they feel like me.

A part of me. An extra limb, an extension.

When they claim you, it’s me claiming you.

When they give you pleasure, it’s me giving you pleasure.

And beyond that … when they hurt, my hurt multiplies.

When they feel anger, mine turns into rage.

I couldn’t possibly be jealous of any of them or resent them for anything. They’re a part of me now.”

Her fingertips softly stroked his face, hesitantly at first, but then, when he didn’t pull her hands away, she began to trace his scars.

He shifted closer, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He released her shoulders, his hands gently sliding down her sides, the storm inside him a few degrees calmer until his nostrils flared and his eyes flicked to the door again.

“Do you think the bond made you accept them?” she asked, trying to engage his mind again. “Or would it be like that even if you didn’t want it to be?”

“Honestly?” He focussed on her lips. “I think us accepting the bond—fully, not just our bond with you, but the bond as a whole—is what healed it. At least, I refuse to believe that Kalen fucking you so hard he broke the coffee table is what did it because that’s just messed up.”

She scoffed, tracing some of the scar tissue mottling his jaw. “I’m sick of these mysterious gods and their mysterious ways. I need to pray to one of the human gods to save me from the Gifted gods.”

He chuckled, though the sound was a little strained.

“You know, there’s an old story about how one of our gods made up all those human gods one day just to cause chaos and punish the humans.

It’s the same story that claims the Gifted are all human, but they’re the chosen humans of the gods.

Chosen to receive mates. That’s why they turned us into demons and devils and rounded us up. They were jealous.”

“I want to say they sound like absolute maniacs,” she said, adding, “The gods, I mean, but I don’t want to get smote.”

“Smote?” He quirked a brow at her, some of the tension draining from his amusement this time.

“Smited?” She frowned, clarifying, “I don’t want to get struck by lightning.”

“From what I hear, you’re the one doing all the smiting.” He suddenly caught her palm between his teeth, nipping her skin and making her yelp. “You’ve successfully calmed me down. Have I mentioned today how clever you are?”

“It has honestly been mentioned so many times.”

He laughed, setting her down on her feet.

“Did you know I’m a Gabe-whisperer too?” she asked, walking quickly to the bathroom. She wasn’t going to press her luck and keep him near that room any longer than necessary.

He planted himself against the wall beside the door while she changed. “Whispering is an interesting choice of words. I’d hardly call what you two get up to quiet . I actually had to disable the sound on the camera system in the dorm today. They had to send a crew down to fix it.”

“Okay, two things: first of all, I was attacked today by more than one perpetrator, and I refuse to wear the blame for any of it. Put those beasts on trial, not me. And secondly, that’s not what I meant about being a Gabe-whisperer.

I meant I can sense when he’s reaching his limit with things now, and I’ve figured out that all you have to do is drop a pair of earbuds into his lap.

He pushes them into his ears even if they aren’t connected to anything, and that ‘nails-on-blackboard’ feeling inside him turns down a few levels. ”

“Interesting.” Mikel really did sound interested. “Is it better with music, though?”

“I’m still conducting my experiments, but I haven’t noticed a change with or without music.”

He hummed. “If you were experimenting on anyone else, they would find that insulting. Gabe is probably just going to be impressed.”

“Or turned on.”

“Feeling it is one thing, Carter, gossiping about it is another. If you’re going to talk to me about anyone’s erection, it better be mine.” He had growled out the words, but there was no dark jealousy emanating from him.

After finally managing to wrangle herself out of the latex that had threatened to cut off her circulation with every inch she fought to be free of it, she quickly wet a hand towel and scrubbed it all over her body, just to be safe.

She dressed in her previous outfit and came to stand before Mikel, both of them now looking toward the door.

“How do you think he’s doing?” she asked, terrified of the answer. “He’s too far away for me to feel him.”

Mikel also looked worried. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think we can hang around to find out. Hopefully, he’s waiting for us back at the dorm. Stick close to me on the way out. I’ve been tested enough tonight.”

She nodded, and they hurried through the echoing corridors and vast halls until they were once again passing back through the reception room and into the quiet stillness of the academy grounds.

She knew the others were there even before they stepped out of the shadows and began striding toward them.

Nine. She did a quick survey of them all, checking their already-healing injuries and then examining Kalen’s appearance.

“Let’s walk back together” was all Kalen said, immediately turning on his heel and striding away from the boathouse.

Are you —she started to speak into the bond, but he interrupted her .

We can’t talk like this; it’ll be too obvious right now.