Page 72 of Isabela

I wave as Gael and Isa leave, and after locking the door, spend some time in bed with my computer and characters. The hours pass by as I get in my words, ignoring everything else.

Chapter Seventeen

ISABELA

“So what changes now that I want to join the Society?” I ask him as we drive to see Lily. The sky is darkening as the sun slips away, done with its job for today. This question has been on my mind for a while. If we kill my uncle tonight, then what will my tasks be?

“As far as what exactly?” Gael asks curiously.

“There are tasks I need to complete before I’m a full member, right? One of them is to kill someone from your past who is holding you back from living, but my uncle is that person for me,” I explain.

“I suppose we just initiate you tonight then.” Gael smirks. “Isa, we aren’t big on ceremony. There are no black robes or weird rituals in the woods.”

“Who is reading too many books now, huh?” I ask in amusement. “And what other tasks am I expected to perform?”

“You’ll be initiated, and then the three tasks will happen,” he says thoughtfully. “It doesn’t say in our bylaws that they have to happen in a certain order, though the killing of someone from your past is typically last. The other tasks are to complete one task that doesn’t benefit you at all monetarily, and the other is to successfully conquer a fear. Mind over matter.”

Chewing on my lip, I think about my fears. I’m pretty sure being sold by my uncle is one of them.

“What kind of tasks are given to people for the second one? I understand that it’s an act of selflessness for the Society, but what’s an example of such a task?” I ask.

“Say an initiate is a really great hacker, for example. Their task may be to find information we need without being monetarily compensated for the work. Or if she or he is an operative, it could be a mission to acquire information from a mark,” he explains. “The task is dependent on the initiate’s ability.”

“So what would my task be?” I ask. “I’m pretty good with numbers, but I doubt there’s anything I can do with that.”

“There’s the skills of probability, finding a criminal in a company that’s asked the Society for help handling a case, and a whole lot of other things,” Gael argues. “You’ve been on my radar for a couple of years because you’re a goddamn genius. I was supposed to arrange for us to have a meeting earlier, but we didn’t have a great first impression of each other.”

“I crashed into you on my way to your class during the second week of school,” I remind him.

“I was trying to get your attention, so I stepped in front of you,” Gael says with a wince. “I didn’t expect you to not see me.”

“…and then you belittled me while I sat on my ass at your feet.”

“It wasn’t one of my finer moments,” he mutters. “We always kept pissing each other off, so I put your initiation on the back burner. It was never because you aren’t fucking amazing, though. I figured you wouldn’t want to listen to anything I had to say while you were imagining my head on a pike.”

“It was never a pike.” I laugh as I shake my head. “You have a way of pissing people off, though, Gael.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just you,” he grunts. “I have a high conversion rate for Society initiates.”

“I love that for you,” I say wryly.

Gael snorts as he pulls into a warehouse parking lot. “You and Aria together are a damn force to be reckoned with. The brat energy is making my palm twitch, beautiful.”

“Oh no, what will I ever do?” I ask before covering my mouth. “Holy shit.”

“Fuck, I may have both of you over my knee sooner than I thought,” he breathes. The thought of this and what Aria said about needing to be grounded by Gael, by a spanking, makes me squeeze my thighs together. “What do you think about that, Isa? Is your pretty little pussy wet at the thought of being spanked?”

I gasp as I gaze at him and he parks the car. “Your eyes are blown in desire,” Gael notes. “Answer my questions.”

“Aria told me why she’s such a brat,” I tell him. “I feel like I’m constantly spiraling and overthinking everything. I think I’m intrigued by the concept. My pussy is wet when I think about being punished with Aria. Fuck…”

I curse as my pussy clenches around nothing at the idea, shuddering.

“Goddamn, you’re fucking perfect,” he praises me. I’ve missed this, and thought maybe he wouldn’t be able to say things like this anymore. I preen at his words, panting slightly. I feel like a dog in heat, which is seriously inappropriate for what we’re about to do.

My pussy needs to settle down, because neither of us is getting lucky right now. Swallowing hard, I try to be grateful that my body still responds, even if it is in a very different way than normal.

“Thank you?” I squeak out. Gael gives me a devastatingly sexy smile as he turns off the car and opens the door.

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