Arrow lifts a hand, clearing his throatwith a bit of a wince. With a raised brow, I gesture he should say what’s on his mind. “I wasn’t certain if I should bring this up, so I’ve kept quiet about it.” A feeling of foreboding washes over me as he pauses. “I’ve noticed more often lately that the Collective’s actions don’t align with their own rules.” He stops again, worried eyes flicking toward me.
His hesitation to share whatever he’s referring to frustrates me. Yes. I’m our leader’s son. But we’re friends. We’ve grown up together. It disturbs me that he’s had concerns but hasn’t shared them. A deep V mars my forehead as my brows pinch. Setting that aside, I nod. “I’d actually have to agree. For instance”—my attention shifts to Cross—“the night of the Hunting, Nolan had Twenty-Two in his quarters. She was naked. And it wasn’t part of an exam. She was in his bed.” Malakai’s lips part, and curiosity lines Cross’s features. I gesture to both of them. “The pair of you missed it while busy with the injury, but it was clear that whatever they were doing wasn’t medically necessary,” I grit out.
Arrow nods, his face coloring. “Um. That was one of the things I was going to bring up. Before I met you all outside, I had gone in to tell Nolan that Mal had been hurt and Finneas had returned… not only was she there, but he had his cock in her.” He nods, shrugging. “I was so surprised, I backed out of the room and called out to him so he wouldn’t know I’d seen them.”
What both Arrow and I saw is not simply a bending of the rules. Nolan broke them. And we allknow it. There’s a moment of complete silence as we each ponder that fact before Malakai smirks, then mutters in a mocking tone, “Well, that’s not a very effective usage of his seed. Kinda hard to knock up a woman who’s already close to popping.”
His comments stop me in my tracks, and my lips press together for a moment. “Knock up? Popping? What are you talking about?” I mutter.
Malakai hangs his head, and his chest jumps with silent laughter. “You know. Put a bun in her oven. Close to squirting out a kid.”
Cross’s eyes widen for a fraction of a second as we stare at each other, but then we both sputter with laughter while Arrow shakes his head, his cheeks growing even more pink. Cross chuckles. “Oh, fuck. You’re something else.” He shoves Malakai’s bicep, this time without the malice we’d observed earlier.
After the tension of the morning, it almost feels good to heave out a laughing sigh… though I haven’t forgotten about Delilah for a second. I narrow my eyes on Arrow. “What else have you been keeping to yourself?”
His lips pull into an uncomfortable grimace. “You know I’m in the cellar sometimes in the middle of the night, and I already told you that right after the Hunting, Kiefer went to Delilah’s cell. Well, Twenty-One was sneaking around, too. Looking for him. I think something might be going on there between the two of them.”
“Now things are making more sense…” Cross grits out, glancing back toward the building. “She’s unhinged, and if she believes she has some… fuck, I dunno… claim on Kiefer?”
“Gross,” Malakai grunts out. He takes a moment to undo his hair from the topknot it’d been tied up in, smooths it out, and resecures it.
Meanwhile, my eyes narrow at the idea of multiple members of the Collective skirting around their own rules, but Cross continues, eyeing me. “Delilah told me yesterday about something we should keep an eye out for.”
My teeth grit in frustration as our fathers’ voices drift from the direction of the building. They’re on their way to the river and can’t be too far behind us. “We’re running out of time. We’ve gotta go.” I jab a thumb over my shoulder and spin on my heel. The four of us begin to walk, single file. I lead with Arrow then Cross directly behind me, and Malakai bringing up the rear. “Keep talking.”
Cross clears his throat, circling back to the discussion and hurriedly explains, “Delilah told me that Twenty-One spit in her food, then dumped it on the floor first thing in the morning after the Hunting. Then it happened again outside when Twenty-One brought her a sandwich. She pretended like she was handing it to her but let it fall to the ground. Obviously, Delilah went without food for a while. I brought her some later.”Fuck. I wish I had known.
Arrow grunts with displeasure. “The fuck,” he mutters.
“I brought her something else to eat late last night,” Malakai affirms, to my relief. “Sounds as if someone is a bit jealous of our girl.” We quietly trudge along for another few seconds before he heaves out a breath. “Should I tell them?”
Confused by what he’s asking, I continue leading them through the woods but turn in time to register a faint twitch of Cross’s lips before his head bobs in encouragement.
What is going on?
Malakai remains silent for several paces as we sidestep a fallen log and brush past overgrowth before quietly blurting out, “Delilah didn’t have to spend the entire night outside.”
My spine stiffens. “What are you talking about?”
His lips twitch. “I snuck her to the barn so she could rest.” He pauses, then exchanges an odd look with Cross.
Don’t know what that’s about, but he’s lucky he didn’t get caught. I groan, heaving out a breath as I turn again to glance backward as we approach the break in the trees ahead. “Is there anything else?”
Cross coughs. “Um. Okay, yes. It’s about Evren. Yesterday afternoon, when I went to find him, he was with Delilah at the tree. I think he’d been trying to defend her or protect her or something, because when I came upon them, Dragan and Gannon had their hands all over her and Ev was sprawled on the ground. He took a kick to his chest and got shoved around a good bit.”
Arrow stiffens. “Fuck.That’swhat he wasn’t telling me?” He heaves out a breath. “Why?”
“Embarrassed by his reaction to her,” Cross murmurs quietly. “And maybe because they beat him up.”
“Fuck them,” Arrow grinds out. “They’re so cocksure, they think no one can touch them. I guarantee you, they’ll change their minds by the time I’m done with their fool asses.”
Malakai snickers from somewhere at the back of our group. “I’d actually like to see that. Just sayin’.”
My hands lift to my head, and I rake my fingers over my scalp. “Okay. We’ve clearly gotta keep an eye out. Not let them out of our sight if we can help it.”
As we reach the clearing, the other four are already in pairs. Rafe and Evren are piling wood and getting ready to cut some more while Gannon and Dragan are fucking around, as usual.
I turn, beckoning to the others to circle up. They quickly do as leaves crunch in the near distance. I heave out a breath. “Change is coming. And we have to adapt. Make some decisions. Or we’re going to find ourselves in a world of hurt.” My gaze darts from one pair of anxious eyes to the next. “Are you with me?”
