Chapter 151

I got home a little too late to see anyone. I mean, Rafe was probably awake somewhere, but I didn’t really feel like going to find him, so instead I simply cracked open the door to my parent’s room and called softly inside to let them know that I was home – groggy affirmations greeted me from both, which made me smile. I left Rafe’s special cake on the coffee table with a little note of explanation, laughing a little, and then I went to bed.

I wake up late, and immediately looked for Daphne, but then I sigh when I remembered that mom moved her to her own bedroom last night. Scowling, I pull myself out of bed and dress casually for breakfast, wishing she was here so I could tell her what happened with Luca’s uncle last night and get her perspective. Daphne’s really even-headed - she’d definitely give me good advice on how to handle this.

My stomach growls as I yawn and pull a hairbrush through my hair, so when I finally set out for breakfast I’m definitely eager to get there.

But when I push open the door to the breakfast room…

Instantly, I know that something’s wrong. The room goes from hushed, angry whispers to absolute silence as heads turn and see me standing at the door.

“What,” I say, freezing with my hand on the door, my eyes going wide. “What’s wrong?”

Rafe, Ben, and Jesse sit at one end of the table, Daphne between them, all huddled over a copy of a magazine. Juniper lounges at the other end of the table, sighing like she’s so bored by all of it, and Markie freezes stock still at the sideboard, where he is loading up probably his third plate of bacon and eggs for breakfast, staring anxiously my way. Cora and Roger stand with him, but Cora just grimaces when I come in and Roger looks at me with a great deal of pity that makes me feel even worse – because if even Roger isn’t teasing me!?

God, something really is wrong.

Frantic, I move my gaze to my parents, who are sitting at the center of the table right in front of me. “Come in, Ariel,” my mom says on a heavy sigh, putting down her own copy of the same magazine that Rafe and my friends are looking at. When I glance around the table again, I see another copy at Markie’s seat, and one more in front of Juniper.

“What?” I ask, worried. “What is it?”

“It’s nothing, baby,” mom murmurs, standing up and starting to come around the table towards me as my dad stays stoically in his seat, his arms crossed, looking pissed as hell.

“It’s obviously not nothing,” I reply, my voice getting higher as I become more frantic. I look around the room suddenly, realizing that Jackson isn’t here. I gasp, and stumble back a step, starting to freak out. “Where is Jacks? Did he – he didn’t – where –“

“Ari!” Mom says, finally reaching me and taking me by the shoulders and looking me in the eye. “Jackson is fine, he’s just late for breakfast, like you. Probably figuring out how to put on a pair of jeans – it’s all a very new world for him. Okay? Just…come in, darling, close the door. We’ll talk about it as a family.”

A huge sigh of relief rushes from my lungs at my mom’s assurance that Jackson is fine, just late and struggling with fashion. Because she wouldn’t lie to me – she wouldn’t say that he was okay if she knew he wasn’t.

Still, something is happening, and with the whole way the room is looking at me right now, it’s obviously got something to do with me.

“Mom?” I ask, my voice tight with worry as she guides me around the table to the seat next to her, where Cora brings me a cup of tea with milk and sugar. “What’s – what’s going on?”

“Sweetheart,” my mom says, sitting down next to me, and taking both of my hands in hers. “Now, I don’t want you to freak out –“

“Oh, just tell her, Ella,” Cora sighs, putting her hands on her hips and rolling her eyes as she stands straight. “You’re making it all worse with all this coddling.”

“I am not!” mom protests, her jaw falling open as she gapes up at her sister.

“You totally are! You –“

Jesse comes to my rescue, standing and tossing a copy of the magazine halfway down the length of the table so that it smacks right in front of me. It’s upside down so I don’t catch all the details, but my eyes go wide when I see my own face on one half of the cover, beaming.

“Someone spilled the beans, Ari,” Jesse says, crossing his arms and glaring at me – not at me, of course, but angry and looking me steadily in the eyes. “About you being mated to Luca.”

“What!?” I gasp, grabbing the magazine and lifting it up, reading the headline and realizing that the other half of the cover is, of course, a picture of Luca in his boxer’s getup – which, essentially, just means sweaty and shirtless. And, of course, he looks stupidly good with his boxing gloves up by his face, his expression all tough and gritty and determined.

But I tear my eyes away from the picture of my handsome mate to read the headline splashed across both of us.

“CONFIRMED: LUCA GRANT MATED TO PRINCESS ARIEL.”

“Ohhh my god,” I murmur, my fingers tightening against the cover in my shock. Because, I mean, it’s not a secret within our inner circles that Luca and I are mated – but this is not public knowledge, and certainly not something my parents would have wanted me to announce so openly and so early on in my relationship.

And, especially, since I have – you know – a second mate that’s going to complicate all of this – this is not at all a good thing for me.

But who did this?

I mean, I know that my family knows, and that Luca told his mom and his uncle, but to everyone else he introduced me to last night – he always said girlfriend, never mate. Because that’s incredibly personal, and considering who I am, and what my position is within this world…

God, spilling this to the press? It’s a huge betrayal.

My fingers hesitate, a little, as I begin to flick through the pages of the magazine, because I am suddenly quite terrified that I know who leaked this…

Someone who…who quite likes the attention of the press. And is incredibly proud to be mated to me. Someone who wants everyone to know that we’re mated, especially since there’s another claim on my affections that he’s quite eager to dismiss.

And suddenly I can’t. I can’t read the article. I sigh, and press the magazine shut in my hands like that could keep my secret inside.

I just…can’t get the confirmation, if it’s there at all, that Luca did this. I don’t know what I’ll do if that turns out to be the truth.

A little unsteady, I look up at my mother. “Mom?” I whisper, not really knowing what I’m asking, staring at her with all of my horror in my eyes.

“Oh, sweetie,” she says, her words sounding like her heart is breaking, and she reaches for me in an instant, wrapping me up in a hug and pulling me half off my chair, half onto hers.

“Did he do it?” I whisper, horrified, not wanting an answer.

“The article is unclear, sugar,” she replies, her voice grave. “He…he didn’t deny it, when he was asked by the reporter.”

I sit up straight, surprised and confused, wanting to see her face. “But then, who…”

“It reads that ‘a source close to Luca Grant’ confirmed that you two are mates,” dad says, and mom leans back a little so that I can look into my father’s stern face. He’s not mad at me, obviously, but I can tell that he’s keeping his temper on quite a tight leash.

“And then Luca was interviewed at his gym early this morning,” Rafe adds from across the table. I look over to see him standing, his hands in his pockets, his face sorry for me. Next to him, Ben and Daphne look exactly the same. Jesse just looks pissed as hell, and starts across the room to pour himself a cup of coffee that he probably doesn’t need, just wanting something to do. As he does, Markie slips back into his seat next to Juniper, watching everything with wide-eyed attention.

June looks at me with more empathy than I’d expect. But, then again, she is my sister. Maybe I don’t give her more credit.

“Well,” I say with a sigh, reaching for the magazine again. “what does the interview say?”

“The interviewer blankly told him that she was told that he is mated to you, and asked if he would confirm it,” Jesse says, his words clipped as he sloshes creamer into his coffee before turning to me, his cup tight in his hands. “Apparently Luca blushed and was very charmingly evasive, but he smiled and didn’t deny it.”

“Which we all know is tantamount to confirmation,” Rafe says, his voice dry and disappointed.

I groan a little, looking down at the magazine in my hands, devastated by this betrayal. I start to flick through the pages now, noting the pictures that they captured – pictures of Luca and me holding hands at the train station. Luca and me leaving his gym yesterday. Luca and me kissing on his front porch last night.

I gasp at this last one – because while paparazzi might easily have caught the other two – this one?

It’s just too intimate – like the photographer knew just where to stand to get this shot.

Like someone tipped them off.