The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



I tuck all of my jealousy away as I walk over to Luca's corner, instead doing my best to transform into another identity - not Ariel, who is angry at her mate and ready to set Luca aflame for letting another girl touch him. Someone else - someone cooler, more confident and assured. Closer to Daphne but...not quite her.

Because Daphne would probably want to kick Luca's ass too.

"Hey," I say, tucking my hands behind my back and standing casually outside of Luca's little group of fangirls. All four turn their eyes to me and Luca grimaces.

Honestly, I think he kind of...forgot where we were for a minute.

"Buy a girl a drink?" I ask, batting my eyes.

The two other girls move away slightly, feeling my predatory confidence, my claim on him. But the blonde flashes her teeth at me, leaning into Luca, bold enough to press her body close to his. Luca goes still, grimacing further, seeing how this looks - and honestly, deep down, I know that he never intended to let it go this far. That he was just flirting, messing around, killing time whie I worked - probably remembering his lifestyle before he came to the Academy and met me. I don't fault him for that.

But I find that my wolf and I very much do not like the sight of another girl pressed all up on him in this ramshackle little bar. I bare my teeth at her in response, a visceral reaction.

"Whoa, whoa," Luca says, seeing that this is not going well. He places his hands on the girl's shoulders, attempting to gently let her know she needs to back off, but she just leans further against him.

"Do you even know who this is?" the girl asks, sneering at me.

I blink innocently at her and then shift my eyes to Luca, anger welling in me. "Why, should I? Is he like, famous or something?"

Luca sighs a bit, meeting my gaze, apology already in his eyes. But I ignore it.

"He's Luca Grant," the girl says, laughing at me derisively. "And he's not going to mess with trash like you."

"Trash like me?" I ask, turning my eyes back to the girl and beaming. I don't know what makes me do it, makes me smile at her, showing all my teeth as my wolf climbs slowly to her feet, her hackles rising, eager for the fight. But the way the girl's eyes widen lets me know that she gets my message, even if I'm not spitting and snarling. "Are you...sure you want to go there?"

"Becca," Luca murmurs, starting to push her away.

"Becca," I coo, stepping closer, looking at this girl like she's adorable. "It was really nice meeting you, but I think it's time for you to go."

"Oh, fuck off," Becca says with a snarl, looking me up and down like I'm nothing. "I found him first."

"Oh no, Becca," I say, my voice too cool, too quiet, taking another step closer. "No, you didn't."

"All right, I'm going to...end this now," Luca says, pushing Becca away from him and giving her a sad little grimace. "It was really nice to meet you, but

"Oh whatever, Becca hisses, pissed,

glaring at him. "I'll just go to the tabloids and tell them you were here. I'll get as much money selling the story that the Champ is cheating on his mate the Princess as I would have from any business tonight."

My eyebrows go up at her gall.

“Go ahead,” Luca says, leaning close to her face and raising an eyebrow at her. “And as soon as you do, my manager will show up on your doorstep with a libel case. Because I never did anything like that."

Luca gives the girl his prettiest playboy smile, and then a wink, and then turns to me, giving all three girls a good sight of his back as he walks over and offers me his arm. “Done here, Daph?"

“Yup,” I say, smiling up into his face and slipping my hand demurely around Luca's elbow. And then, together, Luca and I walk very, very casually from the bar.

We walk in silence for a bit, but when we get far enough away that the lights of town start to fade and we lose ourselves in the hills between Newtown and the Castle, I drop my hand from Luca's arm and take a step away from him. noveldrama

"Ari," Luca sighs, "it was nothing -"

"Was it?" I ask, looking up into his face, curious.

"They were working girls," he says, holding a hand out to me, pleading. "I was just...talking to them. They were fans -"

"Luca, I don't care if you were flirting

a little with some girls that approached you at the bar," I say, cutting him off when I realize that be still has no idea what happened. "But I was Counting on you tonight did you know that Tony stepped in? Pretended to be my boyfriend, got that guy to back off when he was holding onto my wrist?"