Chapter 318

I have to admit, when it’s just me and Jesse on the run with the paintball gun, it’s way better. Rafe and Jackson concentrate a great deal on training, on pushing, on ensuring that we reach new goals and strengthen our bodies. But with Jesse?

It’s just fun.

“I got you!” I shout, dashing after him up that final hill to the Castle, my heart pounding and my breath short – but I ignore all of that, snarling and reaching for him. “You’re such a brat – I totally got you –“

“You didn’t!” he insists, laughing hard and dodging away from me, not letting me grab and turn him around so that I can see the purple paint that we both know is streaking across the back of his uniform. “You lie, baby trouble – you missed – or you hit some other incredibly handsome man in the woods, which is inconsiderate of you –“

“I did,” I snarl, and then I make a final leap for him, and he lets me catch him and spin him around, laughing at me as I tilt back my head and release my howl of victory to the sky. “I win!” I pant after a moment, slumping against the Castle and letting my lungs fill with air. “You owe me a lifetime of servitude and your first born, as promised.”

“Good,” he says, leaning back on the Castle himself and taking a long sip of water. “I didn’t want to win. I didn’t want your stupid first born.”

I gape at him, appalled. “My first born is going to be super cute.”

“Your first born,” he says, smirking and narrowing his eyes at me, “is going to be a big dork.”

I snarl, and smack him, but we’re both laughing. We take a moment to catch our breath then, sipping at our water bottles, looking out over the morning that stretches beautifully before us, thinking our own private thoughts.

But I find that even when I try to wonder how Luca is doing this morning, and how the draft is going, and what magic class this afternoon with mom and Cora is going to entail…

My mind just keeps turning back to one thing.

“Hey Jess?” I say quietly, turning to him, unable to suppress my smile. “Did you really stay out all night with Daphne?”

Jesse sighs and fights his own smile, looking down at his feet. “Don’t ask me about that, Ari.”

“Why?” I whisper, my smile falling, wondering if…if something went wrong.

“Because,” he says, lifting his eyes to meet mine, “even if I had done…that. There are more hearts at stake here than just mine and Daphne’s.”

My stomach plummets as I realize what he means – that Rafe…

But a smile also retakes my mouth as I realize that that’s…just about as much of a confession as I’m going to get. Jesse’s face bursts into a smile too, and he looks away into the distance, trying to hide it from me.

I nod, even though I’m not sure he sees it, quietly agreeing to his terms, letting these two have their secrets and their peace for now. All the while my heart hums with the secret hope that I’ve been harboring for a long time – that…well, that maybe Daphen really is Jesse’s mate, and his biology as a part-human hybrid – like his mom – just…made it take a little longer for the bond to find its place.

“You’d better be nice to her,” I mutter after a moment of blissful silence, giving him a little kick on the ankle.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Jesse murmurs, still not looking at me. “I intend to be very, very nice to her for the rest of our lives.”

At breakfast, I sit quite tense between Luca and Benny, my knee jittering as I stare fixedly at the door, waiting for Rafe and Jacks and the results of the draft.

“Coffee?” Ben asks, and when I whip my head to him and see him looking at the fact that I’m basically vibrating with tension already I just scowl and smack him on the arm, making him burst out laughing. On my other side, Luca and Jesse chat idly about their warrior class that morning, Jesse explaining some details of a map-reading project that Luca doesn’t quite understand.

“You shut up, Benny,” I murmur. “Your fate’s at stake too, you know.”

“I don’t think so,” he sighs, sitting back in his chair and looking at the door with me. “In past years Ambassadors have played a bigger role in the Games – but this year some people,” he shoots me a little look, “have just been shooting us at first sight –“

“Oh, Tony did that too,” I murmur, waving a hand at him.

“Yes, the pair of you are very anti-ambassador,” Ben murmurs, reaching for a muffin and beginning to peel the paper off the bottom. “It’s disheartening.”

“We love you, Benny, don’t worry, you’re very important.” I murmur this distractedly, though, probably undermining the earnestness of my statement. He just grins and shakes his head, taking a bite of his breakfast.

“Eat up, Ari,” Luca murmurs, reaching over to tap on my still-full plate with his fork. “You’re going to waste away to nothing. And then I’ll miss you.”

I glance at Luca as I pick up my own fork, pleased to see him looking fresh and bright this morning. Down our bond I hear his wolf give a happy yip, calling to mine over the bond even if he doesn’t make any move to cross it. My wolf gives a happy yowl back and Luca beams at me. I do the same, knocking my shoulder into his.

But our warm moment is short-lived as the doors to the hall open and Rafe and Jackson walk into the room, both of their faces stern and worried.

My breath leaves my lungs a bit as I watch them – as we all watch them. Rafe and Jackson, side by side, look like…I don’t know, like warriors out of a myth or something, so tall and broad and radiating so much power that it’s hard to believe that they’re real. The sheer physicality of these two, especially together, is enough to make even the toughest Alpha quail.

Luckily, I’m not an Alpha.

I perk up in my seat, dropping my fork and raising my hand to wave eagerly at them. It doesn’t get far, though, when Ben snatches my wrist and lowers my hand to the table.

“Boys don’t wave and call cheerful hellos to their mates and their brothers,” he murmurs, smirking at me.

“Well, that’s very rude of boys,” I say, blinking innocently at Ben, even though I laugh, grateful for his help. I have to admit – the more comfortable I become at the academy the more I forget that I’m supposed to pretend to be a boy. Ben – he’s just helping.

“Yeah, we’re not fun,” Ben says, smirking at me and turning his head up to Jackson, who looms over him as Rafe takes his own seat moodily next to Jesse. “Oh hey, Jacks!”

Jackson just growls at Ben, not in the mood, wanting to sit next to me.

“Oh, did – did you want this seat!?” Ben asks, beaming up at Jackson and playing dumb to tease him.

Jackson’s growl just deepens.

“Well sure, buddy!” Ben says, his voice over-friendly and cheerful. “Any time!”

I give Jackson a sharp nudge down our bond alongside a glare, reminding him of his manners, and he sighs and turns to our friend as Ben takes his plate and moves over to the next seat to Jackson can sit next to me.

“Thank you, Ben,” Jackson says, his voice dark and testy. “That was…very nice of you.”

Ben just gives Jacks a wink and turns to Rafe as Jackson sits next to me. I give my mate a warm pat on the knee, and he growls again – warmer, this time, which is pleasing to me – but still clearly in a bad mood from whatever happened at the draft.

I turn my attention to the table at large. “So?” I ask, perky and excited. “How did it go?”

“It was…weird,” Rafe says, nodding kindly to the waiter as he brings his warm breakfast plate. “Not like the last time. Wright and Blythe have…something up their sleeve.”

“What was weird?” I ask, my eyes going wide with interest.

“That Blythe didn’t contest any of it,” Rafe replies, meeting my eyes with a frown. “Just…hung out like he didn’t care. Wright put up a fight for the best Cadets, which is to be expected but…”

“Either Blythe gave in because Wright bribed him to throw the games,” Jackson says, looking over his shoulder to where I suppose the other Captain is in the room, “or…something’s up.”

“I think we’re about to find out,” Luca says, getting swiftly to his feet as a Lieutenant comes through a door at the front of the room, stacks of paper in his hand. Luca’s moving for the head table before any of the rest of us even stand up. I make a move to do so but Jackson puts a hand on my thigh, halting me.

“Everyone’s so bossy today,” I mutter, keeping my eyes on Luca.

“He’s faster than you,” Jackson murmurs, keeping his eyes on Luca. “He’ll be back with the results before you could even make it to the table. I’m just saving you the trip.”

I sigh, recognizing that he’s probably right, watching as Luca reaches the Lieutenant first, followed closely by a mass of other Cadets. Luca takes a few sheets of paper and looks down at them even as he starts back. But then he stills mid-step, staring down at the papers, as a whisper and then a roar begin to spread through the room.

Rafe is instantly on his feet, sensing that something is wrong, and Jesse is too a second after him. Jackson stays in his chair but stretches his arm out to wrap around the back of mine, protective.

“What’s happening?” I whisper, as the room basically explodes with whispers, everyone staring down at the sheets and then talking to each other in hushed, shocked tones. I go still when I realize that almost every eye takes a moment to glance up at…at us.

At me.

“Luca!” Rafe barks, striding a few steps forward as Luca re-starts his walk across the room towards us. “Get the fuck over here!”

Luca jogs back, his face pale, holding out a sheet to Rafe. “There has to be some mistake.”

“What’s happening?” I whisper, starting to get scared as Luca looks back at me and then closes the distance, handing a sheet to Jackson that he takes and turns so that we can both read it at once.

Simultaneously, Jackson and I both go pale.

Because while Jackson’s and Rafe’s individual teams are stacked with impressive Cadets…I’m not on either of them.

No, my name is listed under Captain Redman Blythe.

And it’s the only name on his list.