The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 142

“Shit,” Luca whispers, staring down at me as he freezes.

The knock comes again, more insistent this time.

“Ari!”

My eyes flare when I hear Jesse’s voice outside the door. “Oh no!”

“Ari!” Jesse shouts again, pounding on the wood. “Let’s go!”

Luca jumps up, looking frantically around at the floor as I sit up, piling my hair on top of my head as he bends over and grabs my cap, flinging it at me. Hasty, I shove it onto my head, tucking my hair up beneath it as Luca moves to the door, his eyes roving over me to make sure that I’m disguised.

“Get up!” he hisses, and I jump to my feet, realizing that I’m still sitting on his bed –

Not at all compromising –

Luca takes a deep breath and then pulls the door open, leaning casually against the wall.

“Hey, Jesse,” he says, doing his best to keep his voice even and failing, just a little bit. “You change your mind about coming to the party tonight?”

“Nice try, Grant,” Jesse says, his voice dry as he puts a hand on Luca’s shoulder and shoves him aside, his eyes landing immediately on me as he looks into the room. “Oh hey, cousin,” he says, baring his teeth. “Whatcha doing here!?”

I scowl at Jesse, crossing my arms and not bothering to pretend that this isn’t precisely what he thinks it is.

Jesse just laughs at me, shaking his head and glancing over his shoulder, where Ben peers into the room.

“I actually am here for the party,” Ben says, his voice light as he comes in and closes the door behind him. “Though you…”

“Come on, Ari,” Jesse says, holding out a hand to me. “We’ve got to get you back to the room, Rafe’s on the rampage –“

“Wait,” Luca says, frowning at Jesse and looking him up and down. “You’re not…”

“Do you…want me to flip out and pretend that I’m mad at you for making out with your mate, Luca?” Jesse says, his voice dry as he rolls his eyes.

Luca’s eyes go wide. “Wait, you know!?”

“You guys are mates!?” Ben gasps, staring between Luca and me.

“What did you think was happening?” I ask, frowning at Ben as I finish tucking the spare strands of my hair beneath my cap.

“I just thought you guys were into each other!”

“You knew too?” Luca asks, staring at Ben now.

“Luca,” Ben says, rolling his eyes, “anyone with a pulse knows that you’re deeply into Shrimp Clark.”

“That is not my name,” I growl, stepping forward with my hands on my hips.

“All right, enough of this!” Jesse says, spreading his hands out and silencing us all. “God damn it, you’re all making me be the voice of reason, and you know I hate that. But Rafe does not know,” he says, looking significantly at Luca now. “And if you want to keep your head on your shoulders, I would suggest that you keep this a secret. Yes?”

Luca sighs, looking down at the floor as he runs a hand through his hair, clearly doing the math and trying to decide if he can take Rafe. But we both know that he can’t, and that even if he could, it wouldn’t be worth the fight.

My mate looks up and over towards me after a moment, sadness and regret all over his face, and I can’t help it – I move to his side, slipping my hand into his.

Ben’s face bursts into a smile, but Jesse rolls his eyes. “Look, this is all very sweet, but Shrimp smells like you now - so unless we’re all in for a much larger fight with a much larger Prince tonight, I think we need to get Ariel back to the room and into the bath. Yes?”

I sigh, looking up at my mate with a shrug. “He’s not wrong. This is…not the time for this. Yeah?”

A low growl rumbles in Luca’s chest but he squeezes my hand and nods, his head hanging. “Yeah, I guess,” he mutters, clearly displeased. I feel a sudden pang of anxiety now which is…not mine. And my eyes go wide as I realize that…that it’s Luca’s anxiety, which I can feel pulsing towards me now down…