Alpha Isaiah ✔️

ELEVEN

Word Count: 1697

~Avia

I couldn't bring myself to admit to Malin and Kadrick what happened in the kitchen last night between Isaiah and I.

I've spent the better part of the day gnawing at my fingernails, leaving them raw and tender, pacing back and forth incessantly in my room. Proceeding from here is going to take a lot of caution, since I'm teetering on a very dark, unforgiving path. Had I succumbed to Isaiah's wishes, what would have happened to me? I would be disgraced.

"You've failed. He truly doesn't want you," Malin mutter, tossing her hands up. I sit with my knees hiked up to my chest at the meeting table, grateful it's only Malin and Kadrick to hear of my superseded failure.

I told them Isaiah has reacted negatively to my seduction, that we are going to have to take a different route. Guilt has already bloomed in my veins, creeping all throughout me, leaving a horrid, cold feeling in its wake. Had I been truthful, Malin would encourage me to continue pushing at him, which I'm not sure I'm ready for. I can gain his trust, without falling into his desire.

"Ouch Malin," I mutter tiredly, restraining a yawn. These late night meetings are starting to weigh on me.

"It's not you, it's clearly something wrong with him," Kadrick cuts in, trying to save my dignity. I smile gratefully at him, letting him lace his fingers through mine as he draws his chair closer.

"So now what, then? We relied on this idea too much." I look back at Malin, at the shadows under her dark eyes, at her unbrushed hair. She isn't handling this very well. Tension and anticipation has always knocked her off her feet. "Should I just kill him?"

She shakes her head, pressing the tips of her fingers between her brows as her expression morphs into one of frustration. "No, we need to find out what this plan is first. We need to find out a lot more."

There are many facets of information that I've alluded to, however Malin isn't convinced. She is wary of Zire, which makes two of us, yet if I can play it right, there will be copious amounts of information to glean from him. And the girls, Savea, Mari and Cherry. What they know is invaluable, which is tomorrow's task. Their families are painfully close to Isaiah's.

"Don't forget that if he dies, someone worse may take his place. We have to play this right," Kadrick reminds me, squeezing my fingers. That smile, tight and uncomfortable, is his way of telling me to reign my emotions in, to not let them get the best of me.

My mouth settles into a firm line. "Cross seduction off the list."

"Maybe we don't have to...Maybe you pushed for him too much, and he thinks he can have you whenever he wants," Malin supposes, the tone creeping into her voice, one I'm always careful to avoid. It means she's on a tangent that could lead us anywhere, although some of her best ideas have come from them. "He needs to think he doesn't have a chance with him. That will make him want you more."

I examine my friend tiredly, shaking my head. "That's not how it works, Malin."

She gets to her feet, pacing around the table to our side, flexing her fingers. I shrink into my seat some more, wary of that look in her eyes. That darkness was there when she first found me, when she lured me into this idea that is now my entire life.

"Sure it is," she implores. "We need to make him jealous."

"How?"

"We bring Kadrick in." She sounds almost excited, motioning to my boyfriend, who freezes at the sudden attention. "You pretend to fall for him, and the Alpha will get jealous."