Page 76 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - SADIE

When I get downstairs Cyan is banging pots and pans around as she goes through the motions of dinner with Iziah. “Where’s Uzi?” I ask.

“Out,” Cyan snaps. “I hope you and your new lover enjoy the dark side.” She slams a pan down on the stove burner, making the grates jump. “Because we won’t be joining you there.”

“Don’t be dramatic, Cyan,” Iziah says. He smiles at me when I look at him, his eyes warm and happy. “She’s been through a lot and she went through it with this asshole. So…” He shrugs. “Cut her a break.”

“Cut her a break?” Cyan says, sending him a sidelong glance that would make most people tremble. She might not be a level ten mentalist like Thomas, but she’s got her talents. And she knows how to use them. Always has. Even when we were children Cyan was the one coming up with plots and plans. Cyan was the one who kept us safe. Cyan was the one with the idea to break out of Prodigy. “I don’t cut breaks for Alphas.”

“Would you just give him a chance?” I say.

“No,” Cyan snaps back. “I won’t. He’s the one who killed them, Sadie. How the fuck do you just forget that?”

“I didn’t forget that,” I say, defensive. Well, I did. But that memory is back now. Not so for most of the memories with Thomas and Sullivan. There are still a lot of gaps there. It’s so strange. It’s like I traded one set of memories for another. “I’m very aware of who and what he is.”

“And you want to coddle him. Take care of him like a stupid nursemaid? I don’t even know you right now.”

“Well, I don’t know you either,” I mutter under my breath. But she’s too busy banging shit around in the kitchen to hear me. I glance at Iziah, who didn’t miss it. And he just sends me a sympathetic shake of his head and mouths, It’s OK. Which is code for, Drop it.

Iziah turns away and starts grabbing some food out of the fridge.

“Thomas is coming down for dinner,” I say. “So make enough.”

Cyan slams a large metal spoon down on the counter. “Are you fucking kidding me?” She turns to Iziah. “You’re OK with this?”

“Cyan,” he says. Iziah has always been the calmest of all four of us.

“Don’t Cyan me.” She points her spoon at me from across the room. “Are you dating him now? Is Uzi aware that Alpha Thomas is taking his place?”

“What place?” I ask. “Uzi and I are just friends.”

“Friends?” She looks over at Iziah, shooting him a do-you-believe-her-bullshit look.

“Cyan,” Iziah says again. “Knock it off. She’s been gone for two years. She doesn’t even know him.”

“Apparently, she doesn’t know me either.”

Well, I guess she heard my muttered response to her saying the exact same thing.

“Two years didn’t stop us from getting back together,” Cyan shoots back. And the look on Iziah’s face is the only thing she needs to see. “What?” she asks. “What’s that look for? You’re having second thoughts about starting over?”

Iziah is just about at the end of his rope now. I don’t know what happened to him when he got left behind at Prodigy. Just like I don’t know what happened to me. I’m just going to assume it’s bad.

“I never said that. I’m just saying… leave her the fuck alone.”

Cyan looks hurt. She opens her mouth, then closes it and turns her back to him, busy with dinner again.

When Iziah looks over at me, I mouth, Thank you.

He doesn’t respond.

I don’t know why he took my side against Cyan. They’ve been a thing for as long as I can remember. Even as kids, they were always a team. Same with me and Uzi, but I never let him get any farther than that. Cyan always wanted more from Iziah. I always figured he was in love with her. But this… this is not the Iziah I remember.

And the tension in the air is almost thick enough to see.

“Hey,” Uzi says, walking in the front door, slamming it behind him. He takes off his jacket, throws it on a chair as he passes by, then comes right up to me and slips an arm around my waist.

I smile. But… he sends chills up my spine. Just not the way he’s supposed to.