Ch. 716..720: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 716-720

Chapter 0716

 

"No," she says, looking up at Jesse and shaking her head. "He was my little companion. It was very comforting, having him here. Plus, I wasn't allergic to him like I am other cats. And he didn't eat or need to go to the bathroom."

"See? Perfect pet." He beams down at her and I'm struck again by just how easy and perfect these two are together, how incredibly right.

I grin, thinking that they're kind of idiots for not figuring it out in the first place.

"So, how long do you guys have?" Daphne asks, looking up at Jesse. "Can we hang out?"

"Yup," he says, nodding to her. "Rafe and Jacks are at a meeting. I didn't want to sit with this sad sack all alone - too depressing -"

"Hey, you're sad too," I say, glaring at him and gathering the little kitten into my hands as I sit down on Daphne's bed. The kitten mews, brushing himself against my fingertips. God, he's actually soft - and warm-

"Of course I am, cousin," Jesse says, giving me a sad smile. “Just trying to make you laugh. It breaks my heart to see you like this."

"Well, if we have hours and nothing to fill them with," Daphne says, moving over to her little mantle and reaching for a bottle of wine. "Wanna drink?” "Yes ma'am,” Jesse says, grinning at her. “This is an excellent impulse. Yes, you'll do fine as a Sinclair."

Daphne just laughs, kicking him and grabbing some glasses as she moves over to me, but I stare a bit at my cousin. A Sinclair? Really? I mean, I love the idea, and seeing them together it makes sense - but I just wasn't aware that these two had gotten to that point yet.

Still, I keep my mouth shut, not wanting to push it too far.

Daphne sits next to me on the bed and I put the kitten on my lap so that I can take the glasses from Daphne as she hands them to me. Then she fills each up a little bit and after I hand them around, we each raise our glasses together in a toast.

"To our friend," Jesse says, quite serious, his own quiet grief making itself known.

"We'll never forget him," I say.

We clink our glasses together and then drink deeply, determined to make it true.

The next few hours pass quickly, with Jesse and I filling Daphne in on the battle - at least the parts that don't involve Tony and thus don't make me cry. I can tell that she's dying to ask questions in that direction, because she still doesn't know the whole story - but...Jesse can fill her in on that when I'm not around.

Until then the three of us just...hang

out. And I have to admit that even if I

do feel guilty about it, my spirits do rise, a little bit. It's just...good,

vel

here with these two, cozy in Daphne's room, drinking wine and being present.

It's very, very good.

S

We're well into our second bottle of wine and all feeling quite loose when a knock comes at the door.

The little kitten trots over to it and I gasp when he disintegrates into a little cloud of smoke and slips under the door.

"Oh, it's Luca!" Jesse says, sitting up with a smile.

“Did...did you just kill Mittens?" Daphne whispers, horrified, her fingertips pressed to her mouth.

“What?” Jesse asks, turning to frown at her as I get up and eagerly move to the door. “No, he's fine.”

His words are proved correct when I open the door to find Luca staring down at the little kitten at his feet, which stares up at him. "What on earth is this?" Luca murmurs.

"That's Mittens," I say, grinning at Luca and bending down to scoop the little shard of Jesse's soul into my arms.

"He...appeared out of thin air."

“Yes, he's magical and very cute.” I~

say,

you kng up at my mate. "How'd

I was here?" I ask quietly,

very pleased to see him but confused at the same time.

"Went up to your room," he says with е a shrug, fooking down at me. "It was empty knew there were like...two other places you could be, and this was the best bet." Content belongs

I grin at my mate and turn, nodding in invitation for him to come in. "Want a glass of wine?"

"Actually," Luca murmurs, tilting his head to the side. "Want to give those two a minute alone? And come to my room?"

Chapter 0717

 

"Wait," I whisper, beaming and taking a step closer to my mate even as I gesture my head backwards to Jesse and Daphne. "You know about them!?" Mittens wriggles out of my hands and leaps elegantly to the floor, heading back towards the bed.

“Oh, come on," Luca says, smirking at me as he steps into the room and puts a hand around my waist, tugging me close. "It's been obvious since the first day we met her that Jesse's been head over heals for Daphne. And then after the second Games, the way she ran to him?" He smirks and shakes his head. "You Sinclairs think you are sneakier than you actually are."

"Hey," I growl playfully, stepping close. "We are plenty sneaky."

Luca's smile deepens as he looks down at me, raising a hand to brush the back of his fingers down the length of my cheek. "It's good to see you a little better, gorgeous," he murmurs. "I was worried."

I just smile up at him and lean closer to my handsome mate, who saved my life. "Not fully better," I say quietly. "But...a little bit. The wine helps." "Well then let's steal it," he says, pulling me with him as he moves to Daphne's mantlepiece and snatches one of her bottles. "I'm requisitioning this," he says, holding it up so she can see. "Desperate times, desperate measures, all that."

"Oh whatever, I've got plenty," Daphne says, leaning back against the wall and very casually avoiding any contact with Jesse as he sits next to her. "But where are you taking it?"

"My room," Luca says, pulling me close to his side. "I'd like a minute with my mate so I can ensure for myself that she's all in one piece after the attempt on her life."

A little guilt forms in me at this, because he's right - even though Luca saved me, Jackson has been at my side for hours straight now. I really did turn to Jacks to accept that comfort after Tony died. It's not that I meant to leave Luca out I just...wanted Jacks.

And Luca has been very, very gracious about it all, letting me take the comfort that I need and showing not an ounce of jealousy.

Maybe he really is growing. Maybe this all really can work. My wolf gives a happy howl in my soul and Luca's wolf howls back, making me smile.

"Wait, you're taking her...away?" Jesse asks, sitting up straight, frowning as his eyes dart between us.

"Just to my room," Luca says with a shrug.

"But she...it's dangerous." His frown deepens.

"You think I can't protect her?” Luca asks, raising an eyebrow at Jesse, kind of obliging him to remember the events of the past few days. “Or that I won't?"

I look at Jesse too, curious.

He sighs, slumping back against the

pillows. "I didn't mean it like that,

а

ne

Luca," he says. "I just - I'm feeling little overprotective of our little Shrimp. She was given over to my care alone today and Jacks and

Rafe weren't even happy about that."

S

"Well, you can pass her to me," Luca says, smiling down at me. "I've got her covered." I grin back at my mate, believing him utterly.

"Luca," Jesse says, drawing both of

our eyes back to him as he hurriedly pushes himself off the bed and crosses the room, his hand

net

extended. “I don't think anyone really

gave you the recognition you

deserved for what you did two days ago -"

"Please,” Luca says, frowning and waving the gratitude aside. "She's my mate, and any of us would have —“

"No, I'm serious," Jesse says,

interrupting and making Luca listen, looking him very intently in the face. "You saved our girl." He looks down at me now as my expression falls, a little devastated at how serious Jesse is about this, how much he loves me. "We can never repay you, Luca. You saved her life you and Tony both - and we'll never, ever forget it."

Jesse holds his hand out further and Luca sighs and shakes it, just once, quite solid.

Then Luca passes a hand over my cap, looking down into my face. "Let's not talk about it anymore right now, all right? You look like you've been crying. A lot."

I nod to him, my mouth tight because I am indeed again holding back tears.

Jesse sighs and looks back at Daphne, who shrugs.

 

Chapter 0718

"Come on, Shrimpy," Luca says, quite cheerful for my sake as he puts his arm around my shoulders and gives me a tug towards the door. "Let's go drink this." He holds up the bottle of wine still in his other hand and gives it a little shake.

I grin up at him. "You don't even have glasses."

"You can lap it out of my hand," Luca murmurs, pulling me towards the door. "Or use the cup in my bathroom."

"The one I'm sure you haven't cleaned all year -"

"Fine. I'll wash it, just for you."

I laugh and wave over my shoulder to Daphne and Jesse, who call their goodbyes. But as we slip out the door and I begin to pull it shut behind me, I don't miss that they go silent. My final glance back into the room gives me a glimpse of her hand fisted in his shirt, pulling him hard towards her.

Grinning, I shut the door and slip my arm around my mate's waist, following him down the hall towards the staircase.

No one bothers us on the walk to Luca's room, though I admit that I'm jumpier than I used to be in the halls. I mean, Gibson being the one who attacked me has really thrown off my feeling of safety. For weeks now I've felt utterly fine walking in the halls of this Castle, even getting frustrated with Rafe when he suggested I needed a chaperone.

But now that I know that at least one Cadet was placed here by the Atalaxians? And that my fire did not work as well as I thought it would when put to the test like that? God, anything could -

"Stop," Luca murmurs, frowning down at me and tightening his hand around my shoulder. "You don't need to go there, Ariel. You're perfectly safe with me."

I sigh, leaning against him. "I know. I just..."

"Got a little spooked?" He twists his mouth a little as he looks down at me, sympathetic, and I nod.

But as we approach Luca's door, I smirk a bit too. "Remember why I was in here the first and only time that I've been inside your room?"

He laughs, pushing the door open. "Yes. Because I was sick of giving you the silent treatment and wanted to kiss the hell out of you."

"And because you'd just punched the crap out of Wright."

I laugh as he tugs me into the room and kicks he door shut, lifting me up against his chest with one arm firm beneath my ass.

"Come on," he says, laughing up into my face as I smile down at him. "Let's get you drunk so that you can forget your worries for half a second."

"Okay," I whisper. And then I dip my head and kiss my mate, loving him very dearly and feeling quite safe in his arms.

About an hour and a half later, Luca's prophecy is correct.

We finished the bottle of wine and have moved on to some whiskey, which tastes terrible but definitely has me feeling all tingly. And my worries all feel quite, quite far away in the happy buzz of my mind. "Why do you boys drink this stuff," I ask, sticking out my tongue and holding up the bottle to peer at it. "Is it just because it makes you look tough?"

"Probly," Luca murmurs, closing one

eye to peer up at me as he lays out long on his bed and I sit next to him. "We could put sugar in it to make it taste better. If I had any sugar. Which I don't." en FindNovel

"You need a better candy game, Grant," I sigh putting the bottle on his bedside table. When I look back at him, letting my eyes drift all the way down his long form, I can't help the smile that turns up the corner of my mouth.

"What?" he asks, smirking now.

I shrug. "You're just...appealing. Visually."

He laughs, his dimples jumping onto his cheeks, his eyes crinkling in that charming way that makes my stomach twist.

"Seriously," I murmur, taking

advantage of the situation and

swinging a leg over his body so that

I straddle his hips, putting my hands

on his hard stomach and peering down at him. "Do you like, try? Is there any effort that goes into this, on were you just born this gorgeous?"

My mate smirks up at me, fire and hunger alight in his eyes.

 

Chapter 0719

"Oh, look who's talking," he murmurs, running his hands up my thighs and then sitting up a little as he reaches further back, one hand cupping my ass while the other slides up my back, obliging me to lean a little closer into him. "Miss I dress as a boy every day, never wear makeup, sometimes have black eyes, and still drive my mate absolutely insane."

I grin at him, my brain a little more than fuzzy, blocking out the memories of these two horrible days. And I really give myself over to the moment, allowing my mate to just...make me feel good. "Insane?" I whisper, leaning closer. "Just how insane are we talking here?"

"Completely unhinged,” he murmurs, leaning back and taking me with him. “Here - let me show you."

Luca kisses me, and a little groan of want slips out of my lips as he rolls me over in his sheets.

In the next half hour Luca again makes it abundantly clear that he knows what he's doing - that he knows precisely what I like and he's very, very willing to give it to me. He kisses me almost languidly, taking his time unbuttoning my shirt and unfolding it to reveal my skin beneath. His palms are cool against my hot skin, sending shivers through me in waves.

Luca takes his mouth from mine for a moment to help me tug my bra off over my head, tossing it to the ground and then tossing his own shirt after it. My breath is stolen from me as I admire, again, the golden gleam of his tanned skin.

"How do you do it?" I murmur, tracing my fingers down the hard ridges of his stomach. "Stay tan, when you spend your life in a black uniform like the rest of us?"

Luca smirks at me, kneeling between my legs and lowering himself to press a kiss to my stomach, chasing it with a teasing little lick that makes my breath catch.

"Seriously, gorgeous?" he asks, looking up at me from below, quite cheeky. "That's what you're worried about right now?"

I just laugh and bite my lip, running my fingers through his pretty blonde-brown hair, and he lowers his face again to my belly, kissing and licking his way down, down, down.

Luca makes quick work of the button and zipper of my pants, tugging them off and then again adding his own to the pile. My heart pounds as he returns to his place low on my body because - because I've never done this before.

But all anxiety and anticipation are ripped from me the moment he pulls my panties down over my thighs, and ducks his head beneath my legs, and gives me a long, slow lick right up my center.

I moan, my head tilting back on my

neck and my fingers twisting in Luca's hair as he continues to lick me, long and slow, precisely where want him to. I can feel his own pleasure echoing down the bond how much he loves torturing me with each steady stroke, how he's drawing this out, making me beg.

But I have never, ever been above begging.

"Please," I moan, wanting more, my hips rising up against him as Luca presses his tongue harder and faster, but still quite tender, against that one spot. He sends a cool little pulse down the bond, bidding me to be patient, but I just snarl at him - because I'm feeling the opposite of patient right now.

Luca laughs and glances up at me as he moves his hand from its place wrapped around my thigh. Then he flicks his tongue against that tiny spot at

the center of me as he obeys my order and deftly presses two fingers into me, curling them deliciously before he begins to pulse.

Mouth and hand work together with steady intent and I just completely go to pieces. 4 gasp, my head turning hard to the side as that heat begins to curl within me, as tension seizes each of my muscles in turn, as the pleasure begins to build within me. God, fuck, but he's good at this - the pace he sets with his tongue and hands it's like he knows precisely what I want before I even know I want it -

But suddenly, with one long final stroke of that tongue, he lifts away.

I give a little gasp of protest, my eyes flying open as he moves, keeping his hand low on my body but crawling up so that his honed body, naked except for his little black boxer briefs, hovers over mine.

Chapter 0720

 

“Ariel,” he whispers, looking intently down into my face. "I love you so, so much. It almost killed me to come close to losing you like that. I want...I want to go further. Life is so short - we shouldn't wait -"

I still, realizing what he's asking. But then my eyes flick over his gorgeous form, his tan skin and his lean muscles, his broad hand still cupping my sex. And god - god do I want more -

My wolf taps anxiously in my soul, unsure.

And I don't know if it's the whiskey, or the grief, or the exhaustion taking over me at this point, but I gently nudge her aside and give myself over to the moment, nodding to Luca, wanting him.

Because why shouldn't I?

Here I am with my gorgeous mate - who is mine, mine forever -

And he's right! I almost died two days ago, and yesterday, and what is the point of holding out for some 'right' moment when life is so, so precarious? Suddenly I want him with a vehemence that surprises me.

"Yes," I whisper, reaching up to curl a hand behind his neck. "Yes, Luca - yes."

He groans as he lays his body out over mine, kissing me and pressing me down into the mattress with his full weight - a sensation that I love, his skin and body all warm against mine. He pulls his hand away from me and shoves hard at his underwear, pushing them down and kicking them off as I kiss him hard and fast, gasping breaths in between our lips, not wanting to be separated from him for a second.

He pulls away, though, as he palms himself, moving his hand over the smooth shaft of his cock, glancing down anxiously at me. "This might hurt, Ariel."

But I just shake my head, bringing my mouth back to his, wanting to be kissed again. "It's fine -"

“No, Ariel,” he says, pulling away more and frowning down at me. "It's your first time –“

A little guilt curls in my stomach and I blink hard, a little hazy, as I stare up in his face. Because, I mean, it's not - and I should...

My wolf turns anxiously again, half wanting our mate, half...half wanting something else.

"It's fine," I murmur, again pushing

my wolf away, wanting Luca very badly and needing to push past all of this. I want him - I want the pleasure know he can give - I want him to fill me up and wipe away all of the thoughts and the memories and the grief. I loop my leg up over Luca's hip as his wolf prowls across our bond, looking for mine, wanting to be close to her. "Please, Luca —“

Something in that breaks him, and Luca moans, bringing his mouth back to mine He shifts forward, pressing the head of his cock hard against me for a long moment, his breath unsteady before he presses inside. I moan in turn as my body stretches for him, accommodating each thick inch. I pant as he slowly sinks himself all the way into me, his hips twitching, wanting to pull back so he can slam into me again and again -

But going slow for my sake -

I don't want slow, though. I lift my hips to meet him, pulsing, wanting the friction, wanting to feel him pound himself steadily into me, so hard I spill over and over-

Luca moans again at the intensity of it, turning his face to the side and tucking it low against my neck. Then he begins to move, gentle at first, pulling out an inch and then pressing in and in.

“More,” I moan, wanting it faster and harder. “Please, Luca –“

He nods and gives me what I want, his lips hot against my neck as he does. My head tilts back as the feeling swells in me again, as I feel it start to come to that breaking point - as feel not Luca's lips pressed against my neck, but his teeth-

My eyes fly suddenly open as my wolf howls.

As I remember Jackson telling me to break for him that first time.

As I remember Jackson's teeth grazing against that soft spot between my neck and my shoulder and how badly I wanted that mark -

As I remember him hesitating and pulling away, because the timing wasn't right -

"No," I whisper, starting to turn my head, pulling away -

But it's too late. Luca's teeth sink deep, marking me as his.