Page 77 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

I remember Uzi. I have lots of memories of Uzi. But there’s something about him I can’t seem to shake these days.

“What’s wrong?” he says, feeling my apprehension. Probably reading my mind.

“Cyan’s pissed off,” Iziah says from across the room. He’s looking straight at me when I glance over at him. Like he said that to cover up the fact his brother makes me uncomfortable.

Something’s wrong here. Something is off. Ever since I felt well enough to come downstairs and join them, I’ve felt it. Uzi and Cyan have been on the outside for two years without us. Things have changed. And I know Iziah feels it too.

I wish I could talk to him in private, but we never seem to find ourselves alone together. If Cyan isn’t with us, then Uzi is. In fact, now that I think about it, I haven’t had one real conversation with Iziah since I woke up.

“When isn’t she?” Uzi laughs. He looks down at me. “Right?” His smile is the same. His eyes, still the same. His face is just as handsome as I remember.

But he’s not the same.

Maybe it’s you, Sadie. Ever think of that?

Yes, I have thought of that. I’ve thought about nothing but that since I woke up.

I have changed.

“Right.” I laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “And look, Cyan, I get it. We all know who Thomas is.” Well, they don’t, not really. They have no idea about Sullivan. And I’m not going to tell them. I decided this immediately, as soon as Cyan started asking me questions about him. “But he’s not the same guy as he was when all that shit went down. And none of us were there. You should just let him tell his side.”

“What side?”

All four of us turn our heads to the stairs to see Thomas—Sullivan—staring at us from the bottom step.

Cyan turns back to slamming things. Uzi’s body stiffens next to mine. Iziah says, “Your side,” with a long sigh that says he’s tired of this fight and he’s ready to move on.

“OK,” Sullivan says, walking into the living area. He eyes Cyan with caution, then Uzi, and finally decides that Iziah is the only one worth talking to.

I have to agree with his assessment right now. Even though I feel like a traitor for doing so.

“But you’re gonna have to help me out here,” Sullivan says. “I came in on the middle of the conversation.”

“How about an explanation for why the fuck you felt the need to kill all those kids at school fifteen years ago?” This is from Uzi.

“Not to mention the teachers,” Cyan says. My mouth drops in shock. Teachers?

Sullivan laughs while I’m doing that. “Teachers?” And I might love him in this moment for being on the same wavelength as me. For making me feel—not crazy.

Then he lets out a guffaw. “Are you serious? I have no clue what your school was like,” he says, again, deciding to focus on Iziah. “But mine wasn’t filled with teachers. They were all certifiable mad scientists who used my body like a lab rat. They used my brother like a lab rat. And my baby sister. They used my friends. So if you think I’m going to apologize for what I did, think again.”

“That doesn’t give you right to blow people up. Kids,” Uzi replies. He tugs me closer to him and I suck in a breath. This is not turning out right. I don’t want him touching me. And it’s not because Sullivan just made some kind of offer upstairs. It’s just… I don’t want him touching me.

“You Alphas think you’re in charge. You think you’re so powerful. Well,” he says, gripping the skin of my waist so hard I let out a gasp, “you have no idea what Sadie and I can do together. Or Cyan and Iziah. And if you think you’re going to put us down like rabid dogs, just like you did those other kids, you’re in for a big surprise.”

I don’t think Sullivan even heard him. Because his eyes are trained on Uzi’s grip on my waist. He drags his blazing eyes to mine. Squints.

I don’t know him very well but I think that squint is… something bad.

I push Uzi off me to deescalate the situation and walk over to the kitchen. “Can we just have dinner and talk this out like grown-ups?”

“Pffff,” Uzi says. “You barely count as a grown-up, Sadie.”

“Fuck you,” I say. “And just in case you don’t remember, Cyan and I are twins. We’re the same fucking age.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been at Prodigy for two years. She knows what’s up. You?” he says. “You have no clue what’s happening. And you’re the one who invited this monster into our house.”

I open my mouth to yell at him, but Iziah says, “OK. That’s enough.”