Ch. 736..740: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 736-740

Chapter 0736

"Oh, Ari," Daphne murmurs, leaning close to me and plopping Mittens into my lap before putting her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in for a hug. "Why on earth could you possibly be worried about Jackson now? He's fine!"

"He's not fine," I sigh, leaning against her for a pleasant moment before sitting up straight and shaking my head at my friend. "The last thing I remember before I passed out was Jackson throwing up at the sight of me -"

"He what!?"

I nod vehemently. "He got sight of me, Daphne - or scent or something - and just threw up all over the hall

"

"Oh my god."

"I know," I moan, letting my head tilt back. "I'm just...terrified. What if he can't stand to be in the same

room as me anymore? What if I make him physically ill because I bear someone else's mark?" I hang my head, starting to tremble a bit at the idea. "What if he doesn't love me anymore?"

"Oh, Ariel, that can't possibly be true," Daphne murmurs, stroking a hand soft over my hair. "That boy is obsessed with you."

"He was. It's - what if it's different now?"

"It won't be. A mark or a lack of a mark isn't going to change everything he adored about you."

I bite my lip. "But what if he... what if our being mated was the only reason he liked me? What if now that things are different with me he realizes how boring and silly I am -"

"Oh, you stop that right now," Daphne snaps, her voice harsh. I look up at her in surprise. "You are not boring and silly, Ariel. And I understand your concerns, but you're letting your fears run away with you. I bet you anything - I'd even bet Mittens here -"

The little cat spins to look at her, appalled.

"- that Jackson is in his wolf form, all curled up at the bottom of your bed, missing and worried about you

"Why do you think he'd be in my bed?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.

Daphne smirks a bit. "Jesse's got a lot of great traits, but his pillow-talk habit of spilling secrets is very good for me and very bad for everyone else. Come on, Ari," she says, smirking and raising an eyebrow at me. "I know where Jackson sleeps."

I gasp but then laugh despite myself, my best friend tumbling into laughter with me a moment later. "God damn it, Jesse," I growl, shaking my head a bit. "What else do you know?"

"I know," Daphne says, smiling at me quietly, "that Jackson loves you, Ariel. Bond or not, mark or not. I have every faith in the world that he's just sitting, miserable, worried as he waiting for you to come & back. You should text the boys," she says, nodding to the kitchen where I know the phone is. "I'm sure they'll confirm it."

"Yeah," I say on a sigh, looking that way too. "I suppose I should."

But then I frown, because mom and Cora's faces are...very serious.

"All okay in there?" I call out.

Cora and mom look up at me and then at each other.

"We're going to take this in the bedroom for a second, girls," mom says, picking up the tablet and carrying

it away to the other room. "Nothing to worry on, so don't freak out. Just...taking a minute.

Despite my mother's words, I feel my blood go icy with fear.

"What are you talking about, Dominic?" Ella says, frowning at her mate as she closes the bedroom door and flicks on the light. Cora stands close by, arms crossed, likewise waiting for an answer.

"Let's go over this again," Dominic says with a sigh, Roger peering curiously over his shoulder. "You brought Ariel to this spa and she cried the whole way on the helicopter. You healed a couple of cuts and bruises during the trip, but then you gave her some sleeping medicine and she slept for sixteen hours, and then you fed her ice cream for breakfast and she got a facial? And she's...fine?"

"She is not fine, Dom," Cora says, shaking her head at her brother-in-law, her lips drawn into a thin line. "The girl is devastated -"

"No, you don't understand," Dominic snaps, interrupting, harsher and less patient than he usually is. Cora and Ella, look at each other worried.

"When I broke the bond with Lydia,"

กวน

he continues was shattered, Ella. And not just emotionally - physically Roger nods solemnly behind Dominic, remembering those days, even if they hadn't been close. "I didn't eat anything but broth for two weeks - I lost about fifty pounds for the first few days my legs didn't function -"

Ella's and Cora's mouths drop open in shock.

 

Chapter 0737

"I was under the assumption, Ella," Dominic says, leaning forward towards her, "that you would see Ariel and realize that she needed to be taken to a major medical facility for rehabilitation. Not a spa. It's - god, Ella, but it should be impossible for her to be sitting on a couch drinking a glass of wine and laughing at her friend's jokes!"

"But she is, Dominic," Cora says, shaking her head at him. "The girl is a wreck but she's nowhere near close to that description. Could it be because the bond was newer? You and Lydia were together for years

"No," Dominic says, shaking his head as he looks at each of them in turn. "I've spoken to others who have experienced breaking a mating bond - it's always the same no matter the length of time. The physical effects are always devastating as well as the emotional."

"What the hell is going on," Ella breathes, looking towards the door and running an anxious hand through her rose-gold hair. "Why is my girl different?"

"Have you considered..." Roger hesitates now, glancing down at Dominic.

Dominic looks up at his brother, clearly inviting any insight.

"Look, I did a lot of research on mating bonds back when we were young and Dominic and Lydia's formed theirs," Roger says, glancing at each of his listeners in turn. He sighs. "We don't need to go into the reasons why I was devastated."

Each of the listeners nods, remembering that Roger and Lydia had been engaged when Dominic turned sixteen and his bond with Lydia snapped into place.

"But I do remember," Roger continues, "reading about rare cases in which bonds weren't fully broken but instead...bruised? Or drawn quite thin? Shredded and damaged but...intact."

Ella gasps a little, a hand flying to her mouth.

Dominic curses low under his breath, turning back to the camera and glaring hard into it. "If that boy didn't even have the courage to give her a clean break," he snarls, "I'm going to kill him, revive him, and kill him again just for the pleasure of it."

"D-do you think you can tell, Ella?" Cora whispers, looking at her sister. "You've checked on her bonds before -"

"Yes, I can try," Ella says, passing the tablet to Cora and striding for the door. "You stay here and...let me see what I can suss out."

Cora sighs, anxious, and watches her sister pass through the door.

"All right, chickens," Ella says with a happy sigh, hiding her worry under a kind motherly smile as she quickly crosses the room to stand behind Ariel on the couch. "Have we thought about what we want for dinner?"

"Oh, cut it, mom," Ariel says, anxious, looking up at her. Ella's face bursts into a real smile as she looks down at her daughter, reaching out her hands to stroke over her pretty hair. "We know something is up, the way you skittered off to speak in private."

"Nothing's up, trouble," Ella

murmurs, continuing to pet her baby. "Your dad's just worried and we didn't want you to hear him getting all snappy. You need a calm and relaxed atmosphere. Plus, he didn't want you drinking any wine and

had to tell him how I felt about that. You didn't want to see mommy and daddy fight, did you?"

"I know you're lying," Ariel sighs, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm not, I've never lied a day in my life," Ella coos, gently using her fingers to turn Ariel's face back down. "Now your beloved papa is very concerned and wants me to do another magical sweep to make sure you've got no more cuts and bruises. Is that okay?"

"I mean, I'm fine," Ariel says with a sigh and a shrug. "But all right."

"That's my good little peanut," Ella murmurs, shutting her eyes and letting the lavender light of her gift spill

out of her, sweeping down into Ariel's being and looking for anything amiss.

"I'll never get used to this," Daphne murmurs, quite awed.

"Yes, you will, she'll be giving you your own scans every two weeks now that you're part of the family," Ariel murmurs. Ella smirks at this truth but doesn't comment, looking further and deeper beyond Ariel's physical body, searching her soul.

And...there. Yes, right at the center,

Yel

where she knew they'd be, are Ariel's bonds - stretched long and silver in several directions. The faded and sleeping bonds that are standard between a child and her parents are there so vivid in early life but

dormant as the child grows. And

then the unique ones with her

brother and her cousin. And then, beyond those...

Ella fights the urge to gasp at what she sees.

Chapter 0738

"Just five minutes, then you can talk to your dad!" Ella calls cheerfully to Ariel as she slips back into the bedroom, pulling the door carefully shut behind her. But the moment she turns back to Cora, all kindness slips away from her face.

"I'm going to murder that stupid boxer."

"Oh no," Cora sighs, her shoulders slumping.

"Ella, can you please come over here?" Dominic sighs. "It's very hard to hear you -"

Ella sighs and storms over to the bed, sitting down hard next to her sister. "You were right, Roger."

"Usually my four favorite words," Roger sighs, shaking his head. "Though not today."

"Tell me," Dominic orders, stern.

"I looked," Ella says. "Her bond with Jackson is quite strong - bright and shining. But next to it, the one

with Luca - it's still there. Not broken, not disappeared. Just ragged as all hell and stretching out towards him, wherever he is in the world."

Dominic groans, devastated by the news, and ducks his face into his hands.

"Oh, Luca's in the city," Cora murmurs innocently.

Ella glances at her with a frown but turns back to the tablet when Roger speaks.

"Is it not better, in some ways?" Roger asks, hesitant. "She's not broken by this - she's not ill like Dominic was. I'm not trying to downplay what she's been through, I'm just saying

"No, I'm glad she's not going through what I want through," Dominic says, raising his head. "I just...I hate that that smug little bastard still has a claim on her. He's going to keep doing this to her - reeling her in, making his demands, and hurting her when he doesn't get what he wants. It's despicable for a man to tell the woman he loves that she's rejected, to shred the bond almost to the snapping point, and then to leave it intact."

"And Ariel's so sweet," Ella murmurs, worried. "That if she has a chance to try again, to renew the bond - she'll probably take it. The boy means a lot to her. She loves him, I'm sure of it, and she's generous of heart enough to see his good attributes when she should worry about the bad."

"It would have been...hard on her," Dominic sighs, softly shaking his head. "But in the long run, a clean break would have been better. It would have killed me to see her in that kind of pain, but I'd have taken that choice if it meant a clean break from him. I never regretted breaking from Lydia. But to use rejection as a punishment, and then to keep the bond..."

Dominic shakes his head, disgusted.

"We should have him arrested," Roger murmurs, nodding.

"What?" Cora breathes. "Roger, it's not illegal -"

"Well, it should be," he growls,

glaring hard at the screen, though his anger is, of course, all for one tall dimpled playboy and not his wife

"We could have him court

marshalled for dropping out orel

school in a time of war. Desertion. Lock him up in a dungeon, let the rats gnaw at his toes -"

"We don't have a dungeon, Rog," Dominic sighs.

"Should have built one when I told you to twenty years ago," Roger murmurs, looking rather superiorly down at the desk. "Would come in handy right now, wouldn't it?"

"I'm not worried about Luca. Or his toes," Dominic says, frowning and glancing to his brother like it's weird that they got on that subject in the first place. "We need to think about what's best for Ariel."

"Well, Ariel thinks the bond is broken, right?" Cora says, glancing at Ella, who nods. "She's not aware that it's intact. She thinks that she's been rejected, that it's done."

"Perhaps we should leave it that way," Dominic says, his face grim. "Let her recover. Let it be a clean break, at least on her side."

"Dominic, to just lie to the girl," Roger murmurs, frowning at his brother, hesitating at the idea. "When she's already been through so much...'

“No, I agree,” Ella sighs, crossing her

arms and looking seriously at the screen. "Not for forever. But...just for now. Whether or not the boy broke the bond, he rejected her - broke up with her. want her to have the space to mourn him and then start to move on. Plus, if Rafe and Jesse hear that the bond is intact they night react strongly. If everyone is simply under the impression, for the next few days, that it's ended...perhaps that's best. Ariel needs to start living a life without Luca Grant - adjusting to that reality. We'll tell her – just...not today."

"And she won't figure it out on her own?" Cora asks.

"I don't think so," Ella says on a sigh. "The bond is so tenuous, so ragged...I think it will take a great deal

of healing until she feels it again, if ever. Again, we'll tell her. Soon. Just...not today. Are we agreed on this?" She looks around at her family, genuinely wanting their advice.

Chapter 0739

"For what it's worth, I think she should know now," Roger says with a steady nod. "But you have my support if you think delay is better."

"Yes, delay is better," Dominic says, steady. Cora nods too, murmuring about it making sense from a medical perspective. "Let her mourn her loss, heal from this grief. When she feels stronger, we'll tell her and she can make whatever decision is right for her."

"I'll kick her ass too," Cora murmurs, pissed off. "If she decides to take him back."

"I'm telling you guys," Roger murmurs, shaking his head. "A dungeon goes really far in a moment like this. Just lock him away - never see him again - no longer a problem.

"You go build it, Rog," Ella says with a sigh, standing up. "Fill it with all the toe-nibbling rats you want. Dom? She wants to talk to you. Be gentle with our girl."

"You know I will be," Dominic says, looking at his mate quite steadily. "Go and get her. We'll have our chat."

Early the next morning, Ella, Daphne, and Cora let Ariel sleep in.

"What's taking Cora so long?" Daphne asks, frowning towards the door. "If she doesn't get back soon I will not be blamed for the lack of coffee."

"Oh, we'll just make another pot," Ella says with a sigh, splashing more coffee into Daphne's mug and moving the cream and sugar close to the pretty seamstress. "With the Sinclairs, there's always more coffee."

Daphne smiles at the Queen and there's a beat of silence while Ella turns towards Ari's bedroom door. "I think her talk with her father did her good. He always knows what to say to her."

"Yeah, he's a good dad," Daphne says, smiling softly down into her cup. "I'm glad she has him."

Ella smiles too as she studies Daphne's downturned face, knowing there's more to that statement than on the surface. "How is my girl doing at school?" Ella asks quietly. "Girl to girl. When I ask that question to the boys they give all sorts of boring statistics about her ranking and her run times. As if any of that matters." Daphne grins and looks up. "Do you want to know the changing statistics regarding her uniform size? Her waist has gotten quite trim and -"

"Oh no," Ella groans, faking misery with a dramatic hand over her forehead. "Not you too!"

Daphne laughs and shakes her head. "Nah, kid. But really, all of this rejection drama aside, I think she's okay. She works very hard - harder than everyone else, I think - but she really, really loves it. I think losing Tony..." she bites her lip. "Will be very hard on her."

"They've really gotten that close?" Ella asks, looking curiously into Daphne's eyes.

"She thought he was so funny," Daphne whispers, giving a little shrug. "And he was very honest and helpful toher. Plus, he was the first to call Luca out for bad behavior. Tony he's a big loss to the little group of friends, even if he was rather a late addition."

"I liked him too," Ella sighs, sighing and sitting up. "It's so hard to lose someone so bright so young. The funeral is tomorrow, you know."

"Really?" Daphne says, sitting up and glancing towards Ariel's door. "Does she know?"

"No, we're not telling her," Ella says, shaking her head. "She'll want to attend and think it will be too hard on her. I think she still needs to heal and we can have our own ceremony when she's ready. Plus, I think that rat-boy is in the city," Ella says with a frown. "And I'm not letting him anywhere near my girl again."

"Ah, makes sense," Daphne says.

But before Ella can say anymore, Cora comes flying through the door.

"Is she up?" Cora whispers, rather belying the need for stealth when she accidentally slams the door behind her, leaning back against it and panting with excitement, clutching something to her chest. "Is Ari awake?"

"No," Ella says, looking at Cora with surprise. "What the hell happened -"

"You have got to see this," Cora says, grinning like a cat and striding over to the table, slapping down a collection of tabloids. "I got these from the front desk. They're a train wreck but...I cannot look away." "Oh my god," Daphne whispers, awed, reaching for the tabloid on the top.

Which features a big and glossy photo of Luca Grant on the cover.

Chapter 0740

"Oh my goddd," Ella breathes, picking up magazine with the picture of Luca splashed on the cover. "Oh, he is...he is spinning out, isn't he?"

"He is," Cora says, nodding eagerly and grabbing the next in the pile, one with the headline "The Playboy is Back!" emblazoned over the front. "Apparently he's spent the last two nights partying - there are doubts about whether or not he's even slept -"

"So, my girl is crying," Ella murmurs, a snarl in her voice as she explores the paparazzi photos inside the magazine, "and this jackass is out until three in the morning with girls on each arm?"

"Scum," Daphne growls, shaking her head. She grabs a pen from the center of the table and begins to black out a few of Luca's teeth in one of the photos before adding horns and stink lines radiating from his body.

Ella laughs and then reaches for another pen, starting to do the same.

"No, but you guys have to see this," Cora says eagerly, flipping to a dog-eared page. "It's insane -" "What is?"

All three women go still and then slowly, as one, turn towards the pretty blonde girl in white pajamas standing a few feet away.

"Nothing!" Ella says, far too cheerfully, snatching up all of the magazines on the table and pressing them to her chest. "It's...Mark! He was being so dumb! And the tabloids...got pictures!"

"The tabloids don't care about Mark, all he does is play sports and try to feed peanuts to squirrels," Ariel scowls, striding forward. "Just show me."

"Ari," Cora sighs, shaking her head. "It's - you don't want to see -"

"If you all know, I want to know," Ari says with a wavering frown. "It's obviously about Luca and I can't be the only one completely in the dark about my ex-mate. I want to see." She holds out her hand, insistent. Ella sighs but then puts the magazines back on the table.

Ariel takes a step forward but then hesitates. "Do they say anything bad about me?"

"No, sugar," Cora says, shaking her head. "There are speculations about why he's out at the clubs and acting like a free man but...nothing cruel about you."

"Good," Ariel says with a sigh, moving forward again and looking down at the images on the covers, not yet reaching for one.

"Let me get you a coffee, baby," Ella says, leaning forward to give Ariel a kiss on the cheek before turning away.

Cora and Daphne stand quietly while Ariel lets her eyes travel over the images. She grows visibly pale, her lip starting to tremble even though she tries so, so hard to keep it

together as she sees Luca with net

beautiful young brunette clasped to his chest, Luca standing on @bar singing and spraying champagne over other club-attendees, Luca slumped at a table with twelve gorgeous women around him, flashing a peace sign towards the camera.

In each, he's handsome and carefree and - bizarrely enough - wearing sunglasses, even at night. And his clothes and hair are always...damp? But beyond these strange details, Ariel can see right through his determined coolness, can see the desperation with which he tries to pretend that everything's fine. She can see it, in the strain on his face, that he's in a great deal of pain too. He's just... being a real jackass in his refusal to address it, to pretend that everything's fine.

"God, he's a mess," Ariel sighs, shaking her head at the man who broke her heart. "Just determined to cover his emotional wounds with as many women as possible."

"Pig," Daphne bites out. She grabs the closest magazine and draws a curly tail on Luca's butt.

Ariel lifts her eyes and gives her friend a small smile, the best she can do at the moment.

Then Ari returns her eyes to the images and reaches for one magazine that shows Luca on a rooftop somewhere, his shirt unbuttoned to the waist.

"What the hell is that?" she murmurs, leaning close to see better.

"What are you talking about?" Ella asks, bringing Ariel's cup of coffee over and leaning close.

"On his chest," Ariel murmurs, tapping some kind of red mark there. "That's...I mean, that wasn't there two days ago."

"That's what I was going to point out

before you came in," Cora says, her voice a bit grim. She flips to a page in one of of the

tabloids and lays it out

for everyone to see, tapping one

picture. "This one got a close up and

broke the story. It looks like Mr.

Grant got a tattoo - and did not follow medical advice regarding how long to keep it wrapped."

"Oh. My. God." Ariel murmurs, leaning close, her jaw dropping when she sees the large letter A tattooed on his muscled chest, right over his heart. And then trailing after it, to the right, the letters r, i, and e. The shirt covers what final letters are remaining, but it's not precisely difficult to imagine what comes next. "What a loser," Daphne murmurs, shaking her head. "I mean, in other situations, it might be sweet? But here..."

"Seriously, crossing a line," Cora murmurs, shaking her head. "One day you reject a girl, and the next you get her name tattooed over your chest? And that big? He's such a drama queen, making a statement about his broken heart and ensuring that everyone knows all about it."