Isobel drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like an eternity, bobbing up and down like a rag doll tossed into a stream and pulled along with the current. Sometimes she was in free fall, tumbling down a waterfall with no end in sight. She thought she screamed when that happened, but it never amounted to anything. No impact when she landed. No sudden submersion. One minute she was falling, and the next, she was asleep again.

Sometimes she passed through warmer currents where she drifted closer to the surface, sunlight striving to stroke her cheeks. That was when she knew she was herself, and someone was holding her. She was cocooned in a warm, resinous scent. Sweet, like a drop of honey on the tip of her tongue, but deep, earthy and woody. Amber. It sank into her nose and mouth, filling her up until there was no room for the water she drifted through to spill into her lungs and drown her. After some time, the stream turned into a cloud and she was no longer bobbing, but floating.

She tried to edge away from the heat when it grew too much, but burning hands always dragged her back, tucking her against muscles that seemed tight and stiff with tension. His voice was the first tangible thing she registered after days of floating. It was as tight and tense as his body, biting out a harsh word to someone else. An unfamiliar voice answered, sounding calm and measured, their tone resonant. It was clearer than the rasped rebuttal from the warm body wrapped behind her.

“You cannot lie to me,” the calm stranger stated. It was impossible to tell their gender.

Isobel flinched at the change in the amber scent wrapped around her, that drop of honey against her tongue souring into something acidic that burned her taste buds.

“And you still haven’t told me how you manage to get in here every damn day.” The words were growled out of the warm body behind her.

“We walk from the chapel to the hospital,” a third voice supplied. It was droll. Young and feminine with a sharp, sardonic undertone. Another stranger.

Isobel peeled her eyes open, the movement taking far more effort than it should have.

“She’s awake,” the androgynous voice stated. “You’re overheating her, by the way.”

“Fuck off.” It was Theodore holding her, his gravelled tone ripping through her body. She was curled in his lap in a hospital bed, the back of the bed raised to allow him to sit up while he cradled her.

He was also very warm.

“Illy?” His voice softened instantly, his hand supporting her head as she tried to lift it up. His thumb brushed across her cheek. “Welcome back.” His eyes narrowed on hers like he had more to say, but he only sucked in a breath, his pupils dilating as they flicked over her features before he turned back to the other voices. “Now isn’t a good time.”

“Now is the perfect time,” the younger voice replied. “That’s why we came now.”

“Hush, Sophia,” the androgynous stranger scolded.

Isobel dragged her attention to the speaker. A tall woman with skin like cinnamon baked happily in the sun and elegant, narrow eyes that stared unflinchingly back at her. The deep, gold-ringed, mahogany hue of her stare unsettled Isobel, making her shrink back against Theodore.

The woman was an Alpha. Her grey hair was cut short, the strands flat and straight, and she was wearing plain, threadbare clothes, her grey shirt sporting mismatched buttons, though the cloth was perfectly pressed and probably better cared for than the numerous designer outfits Isobel had been stitched into during …

The settlement tour.

She shuddered, her teeth mashing together as pain laced through her body and mind.

“Get the nurse!” Theodore barked.

The Alpha with the grey hair stepped closer, peering at Isobel. She towered over the bed, her dark brown eyes shrewd. There was a small pin in her collar, a silver lyre. Her only adornment.

“Both of her eyes have changed,” the woman noted. “She’s been wearing a contact.” Her tone was devoid of shock or curiosity. She was simply making a calm observation. “I suppose the bond specialist wouldn’t have thought to check the authenticity of her normal-looking iris.”

“You’re seeing things,” Theodore growled, cuddling Isobel closer, his hand cupping her face, blocking off her view of the woman. And hiding her eyes.

She pulled his hand down with shaking fingers—the Alpha woman had already seen her eyes—and watched as the other woman thrust out her arm, offering Isobel her palm.

“Maya Rosales,” she introduced herself. “You can call me Maya, or Guardian Rosales if you like. I keep the chapel.”

Isobel’s brow furrowed as she stared at the hand, some of her remembered pain slipping away as she was distracted by the very hot, vibrating body curled behind her. Theodore felt like he was seconds away from lunging forward and ripping the older Alpha’s entire arm off.

“K-Keep the chapel?” Isobel’s voice cracked, the words barely dragged into existence as she slipped her hand weakly into Maya’s.

“The academy tries to keep a Guardian on grounds for the students who still follow the Gifted religion.” Maya immediately turned Isobel’s hand, revealing the deep wounds spidering up her arm. They looked like scattered lightning bolts, raw and puckered, a deep angry red. Stitches knitted her skin back together.

Theodore finally snapped, gripping the other woman’s wrist between his thumb and forefinger. He flung it away from Isobel before tucking her arm gently back in against her chest.

“These are my children,” Maya continued, without so much as a flinch at Theodore’s overreaction. “They came to work as my Soul Keepers.” The Guardian stepped out of the way, revealing a girl around Isobel’s age and a boy who couldn’t have been older than nine. “Sophia and Luis. They don’t usually accompany me on my hospital rounds, but Luis is quite the Ironside fan. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I’m sorry.” Isobel glanced between them all. “I don’t know much about the Gifted religion.”

“Yeah, Icon kid and all that.” Sophia cocked her head, watching as Theodore pulled out his phone, angling his screen away from Maya. “Soul Keepers are like chapel assistants. Glorified cleaners and librarians, really.”

The girl was stunning. Her skin was golden with a rich olive undertone, her hair cut into a shining dark bob, her features regal and full of grace, just like her mother. Her lips were naturally full, flushed with a pink colour that matched the second-hand shirt her brother was wearing. The boy was also beautiful, with a wary, shy gaze and oversized spectacles that hung down his nose. He pushed them up nervously as Isobel looked at him, but they immediately drooped down again, teetering on the tip of his nose. He had the same curious, narrow stare as his sister and mother.

“I was the one who suggested the chain,” Maya said.

“What chain?” Isobel peeked at what Theodore was doing with his phone.

He was texting Kalen.

Theodore: Need help.

Theodore: Isobel is awake.

Theodore: Annoying Guardian lady saw her eyes.

“That one.” Maya gestured to Isobel’s arm, which was still tucked against her chest, held there protectively by Theodore’s free hand.

She wiggled it out of his grip, frowning at the delicate, gold chain wrapped around her wrist. She had been too distracted and disorientated to notice it before. It was looped several times, the other end disappearing into the blanket, reappearing to lead up to Theodore’s wrist, where it circled in a firm grip. She didn’t recognise it instantly, but the longer she stared, the more peculiar it seemed. Almost like it was glowing slightly from within. And then she realised what it was. It was the chain that had appeared when Sato kissed her.

“By the time they found you, you had already been out there for something like six hours,” Maya explained. “They thought you wouldn’t survive, so I was called to bless your body when you passed.”

“Out where?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

“The hiking trail,” Theodore supplied, dropping his phone.

Kalen took her back to the trail. How much did they know? Eve’s involvement was fairly obvious by the fact that it had all happened inside her house, and several people had seen her greet Isobel at the door. But did they know why? And where was Eve now?

She stared down at her wounds again, frowning even harder. She was full of stitches, which meant Kalen hadn’t taken her body back in time. Or maybe he had, but her wounds had been too serious.

Maya spoke up again. “Your father arrived with your possessions, and I was there when the nurses searched your bag. I saw the chain and knew what it was immediately.”

“They’ve been visiting every day,” Theodore whispered against the shell of her ear. “Waiting for you to wake up. Sticking their noses into everything.”

“And now you have woken up.” Maya smiled. She looked like she was waiting for Isobel to thank her.

“What is it, then?” Isobel held up the chain, deciding to act dumb. Her voice cracked again, and she winced, prompting Theodore to reach for a pitcher of water set beside the bed. He pushed a cup into her hand, and she thanked him with a strained smile, sipping the cool liquid.

“It’s a soul artefact.” It was Sophia—the daughter—who spoke, looking a little bored, or maybe she was just uncomfortable. She seemed to be standing protectively in front of her little brother and shooting Theodore the occasional wary look. “Like from the stories, back when bonding was more common.”

At Isobel’s baffled expression, the other girl rolled her eyes. “So the gods chose to bind people together, right? Well, they used to bestow gifts on bonded couples to show their blessing. Glowing halos, crowns of flowers, matching wedding cloaks, love birds following them around, red strings and golden chains tying them together.” She waved her fingers toward the chain, her blue-painted nails flicking dismissively. Either she didn’t believe what she was saying, or she wasn’t sure that Isobel was worthy of the god-given gift.

“Well …” Isobel swallowed. “Okay then. What made you think this was a … soul artefact?”

“A chain of exquisite design long enough to wrap all the way around two people lit within by a subtle glow?” Maya returned dryly, before pulling a folded piece of paper from her pocket. It was a photocopied image from a book. “Because of Aphelina,” she explained. “In the older texts, she’s called The Celestial Enchantress.”

The woman in the picture was nothing short of radiant. Her appearance hinted at so many different lineages it was impossible to tell which race she belonged to. It should have been confusing or overwhelming, but … it made sense, somehow. It was as if she had been assembled with the ideals of beauty from each individual race, turning her into a tapestry of humanity so complicated it somehow became simple. She was beauty. Her eyes were deep and expressive, a gradient of colour that ran from rich brown to pale gold. Her hair was lustrous, floating around her like a cloud. It was inky black and auburn closer to her skull, but soft pastel shot through with bright white along the ends. Her skin had beautiful patches of ivory and oak, light and dark. Even her full and shapely lips seemed to shift from a soft rose to a warmer peach, to a deeper berry. Her face was a balance of symmetry that exuded a calm, harmonious nature in every line, slope, and curve … but the most shocking detail about her was the chain.

Despite the extremes of her appearance, she only wore a thin linen dress, the chain looping around and around her like a living, cognisant thing, appearing to glow softly from within.

“Is that one of the Gifted gods?” Isobel asked, handing the picture back. She didn’t comment on the similarities of the chain, even though something hard and fearful lodged in the back of her throat. They were talking about gods, now?

“One of them, yes.” Maya folded the paper and tucked it back into her pocket. “Aphelina inspires both the mortals and the gods toward aesthetic expression. In layman’s terms, you could say that she’s the goddess of love and beauty. She is always the most liberal with her gifts, though I haven’t heard of her bestowing any in some time—”

The door flew open, Kalen striding into the room without a knock, Niko right behind him. They both stopped short when they saw Isobel sitting up in Theodore’s lap. Kalen’s gaze flicked down to her arms before settling on her face again, his huge chest swelling as he sucked in a breath.

Niko didn’t give anything away, but he only tore his eyes from her for a quick moment to do a rapid sweep of the room before settling his attention back on her. It was heavy, watchful, but his expression was blank, his beautiful eyes guarded. He situated himself out of the way, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms. The lopsided smile he always gave the cameras was thinned into pressed lips, his muscles twitching even as he kept himself still, his broad shoulders hunched inward.

“Guardian Rosales.” Kalen greeted the woman tersely. “I see you returned.” His tone suggested that she had been asked not to return.

“I have free rein of the hospital.” Maya faced off against the massive Alpha, her backbone apparently made of steel. “The patients find us comforting.”

“You’ve seen her eye.” Kalen didn’t bother engaging in the pleasantries Maya’s tone suggested she was trying to draw him into. “None of us find that comforting. Least of all Carter.”

Kalen’s power rippled through the room, causing the boy, Luis, to whimper. Sophia tucked him beneath her arm, edging him behind their mother. Both of them were bowed over, their heads lowered in submission. Unlike their Alpha mother, they appeared to both have the rust-coloured Delta rank ring around their irises.

“I’m surprised to learn that you’re in on this as well, Professor.” Maya flicked her hand to the bed. “I know how Alphas can be, but surely some lines of proprietary remain—”

“And yet, they don’t.” Kalen sighed, rubbing the side of his face. “I have to protect my Alphas. If you tell anyone about the Sigma’s aberration, they’re going to resume their search for her mate within Ironside and we both know the very first place they’ll turn to. I need my Alphas to stay focussed on narrowing down their specialisations and building their fan bases. I’m already allowing several of them to surrogate for Carter—since it does so well for their ratings—but I have to draw the line somewhere. I need their heads in the game, and there’s only so much time until summer break. Who knows how long they’ll be gone if the officials bring them in for testing? Screen time is everything, Rosales.”

“After the Colorado shooting and the Vermont attack, I’m surprised you’re willing to speak so freely against the OGGB.” Maya took a small step back like she didn’t particularly want to be caught standing too close to Kalen. “They’re on the hunt for anti-loyalists, especially here.”

Here, because of … Eve?

The Vermont attack?

Isobel recoiled, acid spilling into the back of her throat. Theodore slipped his hand through the ties in the back of her hospital gown. His palm pressed against her bare skin, surprisingly cool despite the absurd heat of his body. The touch gave her something to focus on, and she concentrated on the way he gently drifted his fingertips over the subtle bumps in her spine until some of the panic had subsided. Niko still hadn’t taken his eyes off her, and it seemed like he released a short breath when she blinked back into focus.

Kalen stared stoically at Maya, who eventually deflated slightly, withering under his stare, their brief battle of dominance presenting a clear winner.

“I won’t tell anyone about her eye—your eye.” Maya flicked her attention to Isobel, frowning slightly at the way Isobel’s skin had turned ashy, sweat gathering on her forehead. The Guardian paused for a breath before continuing. “But if you aren’t going to allow the academy to study her,” she turned back to Kalen, “then I would like to—”

“No,” Kalen cut across her. “Nobody touches her. Looks at her. Studies her.”

The room grew quiet, Maya’s attention turning immediately assessing. Even Sophia peeked out at Kalen, brows jumping up. Maya looked back to Theodore and Isobel, her eyes dancing between them, her lips pinching. “While it is possible for the soul artefact to feed off a surrogate to heal a soul infraction, this recovery has been quite miraculous.” Her attention narrowed on Theodore. “Have you been tested, Mr Kane?”

“Tested, how?” Theodore’s voice was silky smooth, his grumbling vibrations under control as he turned his attention to soothing Isobel.

“Have your eyes been tested?” Maya asked sharply.

Kalen stepped forward in a blur, but Isobel quickly sat up and then raised herself onto her knees, fighting off dizziness as Theodore’s hand slipped away from her back and everyone in the room turned to look at her. She clutched Theodore’s knee to keep herself steady as she held herself up. The situation was seconds away from spinning out of control.

“Don’t disrespect my surrogate,” Isobel demanded quietly. She fought to keep her tone even despite the shake in her limbs. “If you … if you keep it quiet that I’ve been hiding the fact that both my eyes changed, you can have the chain. You can study it or whatever you want to do with it. That’s why you keep coming back, right? Because of the soul artefact?”

“And you.” It was Sophia who spoke, giving a small shrug. “She’s very excited that Aphelina is blessing us again.”

“Agreed.” Maya eyed the chain. “I won’t tell a soul. Not even if they torture me.” She assented so fast that Isobel found her mouth popping open, the arguments she had been trying to muster falling away.

Not even if they tortured her?

Who the hell made promises like that?

“I advised your bond specialist to cut the chain away when you woke up,” Maya continued like she hadn’t just shocked all of them. “They had to add links to close it properly. But if you would permit me to do it now?”

Dread filled Isobel, and she curled a hand protectively around the chain circling her wrist. She looked to Kalen, but he was locked into some sort of silent conversation with Niko. Niko nodded subtly, and Kalen fell back a step, moving away from the Guardian to put his back against the door.

They were allowing this to go ahead.

For a moment there, it almost seemed like Kalen was about to advance on Maya. Maybe he could force her mind to go back in time just like he had forced Isobel’s body back in time. Kalen met Isobel’s eyes, dipping his chin in a short nod, and she turned back to Maya, swallowing hard.

“Will it hurt?” she asked, staring down at her forearms. Hurt didn’t even begin to describe how it had felt to have the light torn out of her. Just the thought of it had her fingers curling into fists, wanting to close around her strands of light and hoard them close to her chest.

Where were they now? The thought sent another tingle of panic shooting down the back of her neck.

“Yes,” Maya stated plainly. “But your bond specialist will do it either way. You can’t go about your life tethered to someone else. You’re out of the woods now, so there’s no reason to keep the connection … especially since they only did it to humour me in the first place. If you don’t believe in soul artefacts, then you have nothing to worry about, hm? You won’t feel a thing. It’s just a random chain that appeared completely out of thin air for absolutely no reason whatsoever.”

Isobel sank back onto her heels. Theodore caught her hips and pulled her fully back into him again. She crossed her legs, cradling her bound wrist as Maya brushed past a roll of bandages on the table beside the bed, picking up a small pair of pliers. They must have been left by whoever added the links to her chain. She held out her hand, but Theodore pulled Isobel’s wrist back, holding out his own hand first.

Maya snapped the chain deftly, and the pain was immediate. Sharp, hot, warm, and wet. It felt like a knife straight to her chest. She gasped, pressing her hands against the hospital gown, surprised that no blood flowed over her fingers. The pain speared all the way through her body, making tears spring to her eyes. Her toes curled, her body hunching inward, trying to curl into a ball.

Maya paused, eyes on Isobel. She didn’t look triumphant that she had been right about the chain being some sort of soul artefact, only sympathetic over Isobel’s pain. Thin lines bunched between her elegant brows as she waited for Isobel to recover.

“J-Just do it quickly,” Isobel chattered out through her teeth, lifting her shaking hand.

Maya quickly cut the chain, but it seemed to come alive suddenly, glowing furiously and immediately wrapping around Isobel’s wrist again, digging painfully into her skin. Isobel’s breathing turned harsh. Theodore didn’t seem to be breathing at all. Kalen and Niko both surged forward a step, Niko’s eyes widening in astonishment. Kalen whipped out a hand, holding the other Alpha back from coming any closer.

Maya put the pliers to the chain again but pressed down much slower, her grip experimental. The chains glowed and vibrated in warning, but the further Maya adjusted the tool away from Isobel’s hand, the less of a reaction she got. When she was far enough away, she quickly made a cut, and the end of the chain whipped up, striking Maya’s hand and leaving behind a welt, blood already welling up to the surface of her skin before it recoiled to wrap contentedly around Isobel’s wrist. The end of the chain settled down over the back of her hand, nestling against her skin.

Sophia rushed forward, quickly wrapping her mother’s hand in a bandage while Maya just stared at her torn skin, brows pushed high, mouth slightly parted. She seemed to be breathing faster, but she held her composure well.

“It’s still alive,” Maya eventually stated, turning slowly back to Isobel.

Isobel rocked in Theodore’s hold, her arms crossed over her chest as she tried to swallow down the pain. It seemed unbelievable that all this feeling had been held back by a chain. A chain that had seemed at least somewhat ordinary until Maya had cut it.

Her fingers shook violently as she gathered up the rest of the metal, holding it out to the Guardian. It felt cold and heavy, like all the magic had escaped from it to burrow into the short length wrapping her wrist, leaving only plain, expired gold behind. Maya took it hesitantly, relaxing only when it did her no harm as she turned and poured it into the small bag that Sophia held open.

“If there’s anything you want to know about the soul artefacts or if any more of them appear …” Maya backed toward the door, arching a brow in an expression resembling surprise as Kalen easily stepped out of her way. “I live in the small residence behind the chapel. You can also find me in the chapel in the mornings.”

Isobel nodded. It was all she could manage.

“I will inform the nurses that she is awake. You should have a few minutes,” Maya added, aiming the statement at Kalen before she ushered her children out ahead of her.

Sophia popped back into the opening before Kalen could shut the door, her mahogany eyes lighter than her mother’s, her Delta rank ring making them appear a tarnished bronze. “Or me,” she said to Isobel. “You can come talk to me if you ever get sick of these Ironside posers. See-ya.” She gave a weird, dorky salute before disappearing.

Kalen snapped the door shut, leaning against it again as his eyes settled back onto Isobel with a heavy weight. The lighter, translucent hue of his gaze dripped into molten gold, simmering with fierce intelligence. He had the eyes of a predator, always scanning for weaknesses in the flimsy disguises people wore, digging out chinks and dints until all their efforts to appear perfect were in vain, leaving behind only primal fear for what he might do with what he discovered about them.

The only thing was … he didn’t quite have that effect on her.

Everything about him that had made him seem so intimidating now made her feel safe. He was a victim of this situation as much as she was, but he had protected her at every turn. He had saved her life.

“You took me to the trail?” she asked, her voice muted by the pain that still thrummed through her. “Where is my light?”

He dipped his head, nodding once. “Cian told me to put all the strings back inside you. I did what I could and then I took you back to the fire trail. I couldn’t heal you completely. Too many people had already seen your wounds. I just healed them enough that the light strings were hidden again. They were already searching the mountain when I got there so I had to leave you pretty far out from the trail. I stayed with you as long as I could. The officials searched the trail and Eve’s house for your threads but then decided they must have disappeared when you teleported.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He didn’t ask what had happened at Eve’s house. None of them did. She glanced at Niko, who was still staring at the chain on her wrist, his expression now arranged into mild curiosity.

“I didn’t … the bond didn’t …” She struggled to put it into words.

“Cian, Oscar, and Kilian were all too far away from you when you were cut,” Kalen answered. “You’re still only half bonded.”

Theodore was keeping himself under control despite the utter turmoil that was trying to hammer into her body from his direction. He was drowning out the emotions of everyone else in the room, and there were too many competing thoughts and feelings for her to even attempt to decipher them with how scattered she already was. One of his hands stroked lightly up and down her spine, as the other wrapped around her legs, keeping her balled up against his chest.

Kalen eventually stepped away from the door, tilting his head like he could hear something on the other side. “You’ll want your space to process all of this,” he said. A statement, not a question. She wouldn’t have thought Kalen knew her that well, but he seemed to understand that she preferred to process things on her own, in her own way. “But we should have a meeting with everyone as soon as possible. Can you manage?” He fished a set of contacts out of his pocket and handed them to her.

She had a feeling he wasn’t asking after her health. He was wondering if she was ready to face all of them after finding out that they were all her mates.

After kissing Sato, even if she had been under the influence of the glowing chains.

After snuggling all over Kalen in his bed, even though she had been under the influence of the beautiful light patterns beneath his skin.

Especially after she wondered if the bond really was influencing her, or if it simply lowered her inhibitions.

And Eve … and the strings …

“I’ll come as soon as I’m released,” she promised, extracting one of the contacts and tipping her head back to drop it into her eye.

“They’ll likely release you tonight.” Kalen held out his hand for the contact case and she dropped it into his palm. He returned it to his pocket and jerked his chin at Niko. “So we’ll do dinner, and then nobody will make you sleep in their room. I promise.”

An empty laugh bubbled up in her throat, and she easily swallowed it down, nodding as they left the room. Only thirty seconds later, the nurses came in, holding charts and headed by Teak.

“Isobel.” Teak sounded relieved and overwhelmed, her smile shaky as she stood beside the bed, her hands fidgeting like she didn’t know what to do with them before she settled a palm on Isobel’s shoulder.

Theodore shifted so that none of Teak’s fingers touched his chest, his nose brushing once against the side of Isobel’s neck, sampling what was probably a harried, pained scent.

“Hey,” Isobel greeted weakly. “Thanks for giving me all these surrogates.”

Teak smirked. “Don’t think I could take them away if I tried. You have a very special bond with your friends.”

Isobel stiffened, watching as the other woman retreated, quickly consulting with the nurses.

“She didn’t mean it like that,” Theodore whispered, his breath misting over her ear.

She shivered, turning slightly to face him, but almost as soon as their eyes connected, he nudged her back to face the front. Something had been off in his expression, but he hadn’t given her enough time to examine it.

The nurses didn’t seem to want or need Theodore to move as they examined Isobel, though they were careful not to touch him in any way. The more they skirted around him, the more confused Isobel grew, and eventually, Teak seemed to notice.

She gave Isobel an understanding smile. “It’s important to treat surrogates like real mates, especially in times like these.”

“Oh.” Isobel didn’t understand at all.

“People hate to have their mate touched in front of them,” Teak specified. “Or not in front of them. At all, basically.”

“Oh,” she repeated.

Theodore scoffed out a soft laugh behind her. “You have upwards of five surrogates and understand exactly zero rules.”

“There are rules?” she asked as the nurses took her blood pressure. “Is five too many? It seems too many.”

“Just try reducing it.” Theodore’s voice turned gritty. “We aren’t just going to let you get sick and die. But yes, five is approximately four more than usual.”

“There aren’t strict rules, exactly.” This came from Teak, who had pulled a seat to the side of the bed, waiting for the nurses to finish their examination. “It’s more that surrogates should mirror a proper mate as much as possible, with two notable exceptions. Sex and—”

“Marking,” Theodore supplied.

Teak looked impressed.

“The others did some research,” he muttered.

“Hmm.” Teak crossed one tanned leg over the other, her skirt catching at her knee as she relaxed back into the chair. “The ‘others’ are correct. While only a permanent marking can complete a bond, sex will bring a half-bonded pair much closer together. If a surrogate permanently marks a bonded or half-bonded person or has sex with them, it is considered an egregious disrespect to the bond, and could result in a minor tear.”

“Tear,” Isobel echoed, peering down at the arms the nurses were now lightly bandaging.

“A soul infraction,” Teak specified. “They happen in varying degrees of severity. Some soul infractions can kill a person. It’s very important to avoid them. If a soul infraction kills an Anchor, the Tether will also die. Being intimate with someone outside of your bond isn’t likely to cause you much damage, but if you have a strong emotional connection with that person, the bond may see it as a defilement. Accidental markings might have no effect at all, but deliberate markings can have very serious consequences. In your case, since you haven’t even met your mate and you’re only half-bonded, it’s highly unlikely that sex will cause any sort of soul infraction, but permanent markings and …” She motioned to Isobel’s arms. “Direct assaults on the bond magic are a different story, no matter how close to your mate you are.”

When Isobel looked back up, Teak’s eyes had filled with tears, but the bond specialist managed to blink them away so fast that Isobel started to doubt she had seen anything at all.

“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” Teak whispered, her voice cracking before she cleared her throat delicately. Her next words were smooth and even. “Most people don’t survive such a serious soul infraction. Some believe it’s a rupture of the soul itself, and if the body doesn’t shut down from the abuse, the mind will. But you seem …” She shook her head, a small smile trembling on her lips. “You must have an incredibly strong mate to sustain you through such an event, and to continue to sustain you even without being by your side as you heal. I bet they’re an Alpha.”

“Yeah,” Isobel agreed hollowly. “Maybe.” Or there were ten of them.

“I should caution you, though.” Teak straightened in her chair, flicking her eyes to Theodore briefly, though the Alpha behind Isobel was keeping quiet. He seemed to be monitoring what the nurses did to her very closely. “With your bond still unformed, your mind and soul will take longer to heal than your body. There will be side effects.”

“I love side effects,” Isobel said dryly, but the joke didn’t really land. Not when her voice was so raspy and her mouth was still pinched in pain.

Theodore was the only one who reacted, his soft exhalation against the back of her neck sounding like the beginning of a laugh.

“Would you like to discuss everything later?” Teak asked, surveying Isobel with concern.

“Am I getting out of here tonight?”

“If you’re cleared,” Teak hedged.

Isobel sighed, sinking back against Theodore, most of the strength sapping out of her. “Might as well get it over with, then.”

“I’m sorry.” Teak patted her hand. “You probably just want to sleep.”

“I’ve been asleep for … days?”

“Over a week,” Theodore corrected her.

“Over a week,” she repeated numbly. “So … actually I am tired. Why am I so tired?”

“One of the side effects,” Teak explained. “You’re going to sleep a lot, and you’ll be weak. Your appetite will disappear, but you need to force yourself to eat. A man suffering from a soul infraction once died of thirst without even realising he hadn’t been eating or drinking. So, sip water regularly and eat at your usual mealtimes even if it’s only a little. Do light exercise regularly—”

“Can I dance?” she interrupted, her heart jumping into her throat and pounding there viciously.

Teak swallowed, looking down at her lap for a moment. “No strenuous exercise. I’m sorry. Walking and stretching only for now. Your body might appear fine, but you need to very carefully monitor yourself for a little while to make sure your symptoms are getting better instead of worse. Of course, if we knew who your mate was, you could simply complete the bond and you would heal much faster.”

“What if I don’t want to complete a bond?”

The nurses all stiffened, glancing at each other. One of them diverted his attention to Teak. “She’s clear to go tonight. Should we inform her father?”

Teak waved her hand. “I’ve been in touch with him. I’ll inform him.”

The nurses quickly scrambled out of the room, and Isobel sighed, sitting up straight and crossing her legs, examining the bandages on her arms. She was so dizzy, so tired already. “What did my father say?” She fiddled with the bandages, not having the heart to look up at Teak as she asked the question.

She wasn’t surprised to wake up and find her father missing.

“He asked if you were fit to return to a full filming schedule,” Teak replied firmly, a hint of emotion catching in her voice, which she cleared her throat to cover. “He was called away for work, but he wants you up and running as soon as possible. He’s asked for me to arrange extensive physiotherapy and counselling to minimise the damage.”

Isobel scoffed, glancing back up. “And my other question?”

Teak stiffened, shifting in her chair. “What if you don’t want to complete a bond?”

Isobel nodded, waiting.

“Well …” Teak blew out a heavy breath. “I’m not sure you’ll have a choice. That’s the storyline Ironside is chasing. They’re very impatient to find your mate, though the Alphas are, admittedly, providing plenty of entertainment in the interim.”

“We’re very entertaining,” Theodore agreed, but his usual charming tone was dulled, his voice carrying a subtle strain of some kind.

“But you aren’t her mate,” Teak said, digging into the inside pocket of her jacket.

Isobel watched the other woman’s hand, throwing her walls down with a wince and reaching out carefully to test Teak’s emotion. Suspicion. She sipped at it, drawing it in as slowly as she could. It was painful. The effort to use her ability and the concentration required for her to wield it with so much control was almost too much. She could feel her energy slipping away with every second, but she refused to go any faster. If Teak felt her intrusion, she would do far more harm than good.

Teak pulled out a little torch and Isobel pretended not to notice it. Even Theodore seemed to be pretending not to notice it. She could feel most of his muscles against her back, shoulders and arms, and he kept his entire body deliberately relaxed, curved around her in a calm, loose way. Apparently, both of them had been thinking of the possibility that Teak might try to test Theodore’s eyes at some point. They were both prepared … but a few minutes of preparation didn’t really amount to much.

“If Isobel was my mate, she would be wearing my mark all over her body,” Theodore drawled, tightening his arms around her.

She kept siphoning off Teak’s suspicion, one tiny drop at a time, hoping the other woman wouldn’t notice … but it was hard to concentrate because Theodore was once again proving himself a phenomenal actor. He had inserted just enough gravelly possession into his voice, twisting it with the right amount of torment and longing. And then he gave a small, self-aware laugh, making Teak blink at him. He was probably giving her a beautiful, perfect, heartbreaking smile. She was probably questioning everything she thought she knew about the world and falling under his spell just like everyone else did.

Her grip on the torch loosened, and she smiled back at him, mirroring whatever heartbreaking expression he wore, her eyes flitting over his face. “She’ll never forget what you’re doing for her.” She tried to console him gently. “What all of you are doing for her. Right, Isobel?”

Theodore brushed his cheek against Isobel’s, folding his legs and wrapping strong arms around her middle until she was lifted fully onto his lap. “But especially me, right, Isobel?” He nuzzled near her ear. “I’m your favourite, aren’t I?”

He was probably trying to remind Teak that there were four other Alphas all acting as surrogates, so Theodore couldn’t possibly be her mate. Apparently, a true mate couldn’t stand other people touching the person that belonged to them. But whatever his game was, it was short-circuiting her brain. She melted in his arms, the tremble easing from her limbs.

“You’re very good at that,” Teak noticed, watching Isobel turn into a puddle.

“But not good enough to be the real deal,” he returned with a forced casual tone, trying—and failing—to mask the hint of agony that rode his voice.

Jeez. Talk about laying it on thick.

And … Teak was eating it right up. She surreptitiously slid the torch away, her other hand twitching like she wanted to reach out to him. The woman was one big, bleeding heart. Isobel very carefully, very slowly slid her wall back up, cutting herself off from Teak before she could pass out.

“Um …” Isobel interrupted before they could devolve into sobbing and wiping each other’s tears. “Is there anything else, or would it be okay if I go now? I want to walk out of here while I can still walk.”

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