Chapter 264

“I didn’t do anything,” Natalie said. “I told you I wouldn’t, didn’t I? But, um, Alaina might have done a few things to me.”

Jordan gave her perhaps the flattest look in all of existence.

Natalie’s ears burned.

“And, um,” she continued. “Someone might’ve found us ... I mean, her, on me, getting intimate ... in the middle of a public alleyway.”

The flat look turned disbelieving.

“Alaina said I should go find you, and that we should take an early train back to Aradon,” Natalie finished. “Apparently her dad is ... protective. Might make a big fuss. We don’t know how long it’ll be before he finds out, but Alaina knows it’ll happen. Apparently the woman who found us is loyal to him, so there’s no way she stays quiet.”

Jordan stared at her.

Finally, she forlornly looked down at her half-eaten pastry, and let out an enormous sigh. She wrapped it up in the paper it had come in and walked over to the nearest bin, tossing it in the trash.

“Natalie,” Jordan said. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“H-Hey.”

“Do you really have to fuck anything that wiggles its ass at you? Anything at all?” She walked up to Natalie and poked her in the chest. Narrow green eyes scrutinized her. “Do you not already get your pick of us, three times a day?”

“It just happened,” Natalie stammered, raising her hands in self defense. “And really! I didn’t fuck her. It was all Alaina.” She clung to her flimsy excuse, because really, it was all she had.

Jordan groaned, and Natalie’s ears burned hotter.

“I’m finding you a chastity cage,” she said flatly. “And I’ll carry the key around. You’ll need a permission slip whenever you want to fuck someone.” She rubbed her forehead. “Well, let’s go collect the team. I was having fun, you know.”

“Sorry.” She really was. Maybe Jordan had a point. Her self-control had been at a record low when it came to Alaina, and that was saying something, considering her standards for recklessness.

In a hurry, they went and gathered their teammates. Each of them took the news in a different way. Sofia reacted much the same as Jordan, with an extra helping of outrage. Liz seemed exasperated but not surprised—and also worried. She cared most about reputation among them, for obvious reasons. Ana they found last, off in a secluded area sitting by herself on a bench, enjoying some solitude. She saw her four teammates approaching, Natalie’s embarrassment, and stood.

“It’s happened, then?” she asked.

Natalie guessed she was pretty predictable.

Before long, they had extricated themselves from the celebration and were hurrying back to The Kraken’s Heath to collect their belongings. Next stop would be the train station, and it would be pure luck whether there was one headed for Aradon soon. Odds weren’t low, though. Plentiful traffic to the capital.

“Honestly,” Jordan said in the carriage ride over. “It’s our fault. Why’d we let her out of our sight? It was obvious what would happen.”