Chapter 0616

Blaze lashes a back-handed fist at me so fast that I barely have time to dodge, stumbling back and raising my right arm to block the blow I know is coming next.

But my teacher outwits me, as he so often does. Constantly, if we’re being honest. His left foot lashes out, hooking deftly behind my knee and tugging me forward. His right hand comes next, but it’s already too late – I’m off balance and out of options.

He hits me hard with the palm of his hand against my turning shoulder blade, sending me flat to the floor, which I hit with an oof.

“Slow today, little bird,” Blaze says, standing above me. I groan, rolling over and staring up at him, an apologetic grimace on my face. “You need more sleep.”

I sigh, and nod, agreeing as he holds out a hand to pull me to my feet.

“I know, I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m…distracted too.”

“Life is full of distractions,” he says, quite kind. “As is war. You must learn to put them out of your mind and concentrate on the moment. Or else…” “Yeah, or else I’m flat on my ass,” I sigh, nodding to him, knowing he’s right.

“Flat on your little princess butt,” he says, smiling warmly at me before wrapping his arms around me in the hug that always ends our practice. “What?” I ask, surprised. “Are we…done already?”

“Oh, I sense that you will not be improving today, my sparrow,” Blaze says with a happy sigh, pulling away from me. “Plus that one,” he points to Luca, sitting on the floor in his usual space, “is buzzing to speak to you. I will not torture him further.”

“What!?” Luca gasps, looking between us. “I – I didn’t do anything!”

“You did not need to do,” Blaze says, giving Luca a kind grin as he turns towards his door. “You simply were. It is not bad, boxing boy, you just have an energy that is easy to read.”

I call my goodbyes to my teacher, smiling after him, as Luca gets to his feet and begins to stretch his arms, frowning after Blaze. “My energy?” he asks, confused. “Can be read?”

“Yes,” I say, peering at him curiously. “Your aura is very frazzled today – azure and purple instead of its usual sunshine yellow…”

“What?” he gasps, staring at me in shock, clearly thinking that I’m serious. “Did you did you get new magic? Is this something you can -“

I burst out laughing and give him a little shove, interrupting his panic Luca’s face breaks into a smile when he realizes I was teasing him, and he grabs me to him, pinning me to him with my back to his chest.

I just laugh, pleased to be in my mate’s arms, happiness racing through me despite my rather abject failure at hand-to-hand and the strange day I had.

“I missed you,” Luca murmurs, dropping his head to nuzzle my neck a bit, planting a kiss or two there before loosening his grip so that I can turn in his arms, smiling up into his face.

“Missed you too, handsome,” I say,

et

reaching up to tuck a strand of his glossy hair back behind his ear, taking in the contours of his gorgeous face. I mean, I know that Faiza teased me today about may harem, and she’s right that all of my coffected boys make a handsome group. But out of all of them? Luca for sure has the prettiest face.

His face bursts into a dimpled smile as he senses the direction of my thoughts, and I blush a bit to be caught up in them.

“So,” I say, moving on from those thoughts and lacing my fingers behind Luca’s neck and nodding towards Blaze’s closed door. “Was he right? Do you want to talk to me?”

“I do,” Luca says with a sigh, looking around. “Though, do you want to practice first? I don’t want to take away from your education.”

“No, Blaze is right,” I say, dropping my arms and taking Luca’s hand, tugging him with me as I settle cross-legged on the ground. “I’m going to be any good today – too. distracted. And even more so now that thear you have something to say.” Luca comes with me sitting the same way across from me, our knees touching.

Chapter 0617

“Why are you distracted?” he asks, frowning at me.

“Faiza,” I say with a sigh, stretching my tired arms up over my head. “She gave me kind of a weird assignment. Fun, but…weird. But I’ll tell you about that next I kind of want your help with it.”

Luca’s face brightens at the prospect, but I just lift my chin at him.

“You, please,” I say, dropping my hands and beaming at my pretty mate. “What was your news?”

Luca’s face falls and he leans back on his hands. “After you left breakfast early, messengers came with notes. We’re having the second set of Games early too – crazy early. Draft tomorrow, Games the next day.”

My jaw drops open in shock. “But that’s…that’s ridiculous,” I say, shaking my head at him. “I mean, we haven’t even had time to learn from our mistakes the last game -“

“I know,” Luca says, his voice full of dread as he nods in agreement. “It is…it feels really bad, Ari. Like they’re doing it all fast because they want us to have as much experience as possible before they ship us to the front too.”

“Shit,” I whisper, my shoulders slumping as I cast my gaze down into my lap, terribly worried now. I wish quite suddenly for a phone so I could call my dad, ask him what the hell is going on. But none of the other cadets have that privilege and I guess if he really thought it was important, he’d get in touch with me and Rafe. He wouldn’t keep us in the dark – not really.

“Yeah,” Luca says on a sigh. “I think we all feel the same.”

I nod, forcing myself to move on from it and lifting my eyes again to meet his. “Are the captains the same?”

“No, actually,” Luca says with a grimace. “Heggardy and his co-captain are back amongst the general draft pool and there are four teams this time. Each only with one captain.”

I quickly do the math, my eyes going

wide. “So, Jacks and Rafe are

against each other this time? And… I gasp, leaning forward towards him, suddenly livid. “And Wright and Blythe are captains too!? What the hett! They came in last place!”

“Yeah,” Luca says, leaning back and running a hand through his hair. “We can only assume that your boy Tony had something to do with that.”

My wolf turns towards Luca now, curious about the slightly bitter way that he calls Tony “my boy.” What is the deal with these two, anyway? Why is there this weird antipathy?

“Wait, how did Tony have something to do with that?”

Luca shrugs. “Our best guess is that the Captain doesn’t think that Wright or Blythe got the chance to show what they could do. And then,

considering that Heggardy and

Jones still got their asses kicked after Tony basically took out his entire team…” Luca shrugs and I nod, putting the pieces together.

“Well, this sucks,” I sigh, shaking my head and leaning back against my own hands. “We’re going to be even more divided now.”

“Unless Rafe or Jacks decides to throw their draft so the majority of us can be on one team…” Luca shrugs. “Yeah. Looks like it.”

“I hate that I murmur, staring into

space a bit as I think it through. “We shouldn’t be split up. We’re not going into an actual battle without each other, so why would we practice without each other?”

“Ariel,” Luca says, his voice full of doubt. “How do you know we would go into a battle together? As a group?”

I turn my head to him and blink once, as if it’s obvious. “Because I won’t let us.”

Chapter 0618

Luca’s face bursts into a grin, I think loving the confidence with which I declare that none of our little group are going into battle without the others by our side.

“What, you don’t believe me?” I ask, grinning at my mate.

“You just…” he shrugs, smiling and shaking his head at me, “have absolutely no authority to make that kind of claim.”

I sit up straight. “I am a Princess of this nation,” I say, tilting my head a bit.

“But you’re not in the line of command,” he says, holding out a hand to me. “Listen, Ariel, I have utter faith in you – you just…have no grounds on which to make that call.”

I twist my lips to the side, considering this. “Well then,” I says quietly, mostly to myself. “Looks like I’m going to have to get some grounds.” Luca hums his support, nodding to me, and I heave a little sigh and turn my eyes up to him. “Is that all the news you wanted to tell me about?” “That’s the gist of it,” he says with a shrug. “I’m sure Rafe and Jacks will have more to fill you in on in their own way.”

“Okay,” I say, my eyes glittering now with a bit of devious excitement. “You ready to do Faiza’s homework with me?”

Luca quirks his head, picking up on my strange shift in mood. “I don’t know, Ari – am I?”

I laugh, leaning forward and grabbing his hand, pulling him up to his feet. “You are – just trust me,” I say, beaming up at him when he stands straight. “This is right up your alley. You’re going to love it.”

“I kind of already do,” he says with a smirk, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Anything that’s got you this excited is bound to be interesting.” “To say the least,” I say, grinning and heading towards the door, grabbing his hand as I do. We stop to scoop up our bookbags as we hurry out. “Where are we going?” Luca asks, laughing as I pull him along the hall.

“To Daphne’s room!” I call over my shoulder, giving him a grin.

My mate looks at me with surprise but then hurries his steps, as eager to hear what I’m planning as I am to show him.

A few minutes later, I rap excitedly at Daphne’s door.

She opens it quite quickly – almost as if she was waiting for me. “Hey!” Daphne says, her eyes as bright and eager as her smile. “Come in!”

“Hi hi!” I say, laughing and wrapping my friend in a hug. “Did Faiza come up?”

“Yes, I met your terrifying teacher,” Daphne says, giving me a hug and then moving to give Luca one after he closes the door.

“Terrifying!?” I gasp, looking around at the few boxes that Faiza dropped off here. “She’s not terrifying, she’s nice.”

“You…have a different definition of terrifying, Ariel,” Daphne says, giving a little laugh and crossing her arms as I look up at her with a surprised grin. “think it may come from the fact that you grew up calling the scariest Alpha in the nation dad’ and being bounced on his knee.”

“My dad is not scary,” I say with a frown, defensively crossing my arms over my chest.

Daphne opens her mouth to object,

but Luca beats her to it. “Trust me, gorgeous,” he says, crossing his own arms and giving me a level gaze. “Your dad is scary. Terrifying actually is the right word.”

“He’s very nice in repose,” Daphne eagerly qualifies, holding out a hand to me. “But…I don’t think anyone wants to cross him.”

Luca’s face pales at some memory but I just roll my eyes at both of them and turn back towards the boxes. “You guys are crazy, dad’s a big softie. What’s in these?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t open them,” Daphne says, coming over to me as I sit down between the boxes, starting to dig in.

“Have you no curiosity?” I ask my friend, my eyes glittering with excitement.

“Oh, I have plenty of curiosity,” she says, folding her legs elegantly as she sinks to the floor next to me, peering into the box I’ve started to open. “I also have a job.”

“Job schmob,” I mutter, waving Luca over to us. He, too, takes a seat on the floor.

“What’s all this?” he asks, likewise peering into the boxes.

“Disguises!” I say, laughing as I pull out a silky black wig that looks a great deal like Faiza’s own hair – why on earth would she need this?

“Ohhhh,” Daphne says, beginning to eagerly dig into the box, pulling out article after article of interesting clothing. “Oh, there’s some good stuff in here…”

“What on earth is all this for,” Luca murmurs, pulling out a short candy-pink wig and peering at it, baffled.

“My assignment,” I say, pulling out

more objects of clothing and

accessories. “It’s my new

assignment, while Faiza takes some time off. She wants me to

el.ne

concentrate on being able to blend into my environment, to change my personality to become…whoever I want people watching me to think I am.”

Chapter 0619

Luca and Daphne make appreciative noises as I explain, as fast as I can, Faiza’s plan for me over the next few weeks. That I’m supposed to take time practicing how to control the way I am perceived in a room of strangers. Not only how to draw all attention to me in a room, but also how to disappear and become someone unnoticeable – a maid, a member of the serving staff. How to play it sexy and lure people away into corners, or how to play it so stupid that people think I don’t understand what they’re saying. Just to…become whoever I need to be to get my job done.

“Why on earth does she want you to do this?” Luca asks, frowning at me and then at all of the stuff. “Why this, when the war is coming to such a……. crux?”

My voice is a little softer now, some of the excitement leaving it. Because this is something that Faiza and I discussed quite seriously and at some length. “Faiza thinks that I’m more useful as a spy than on the battlefield,” she says quietly. “Neumann and she have been giving me good reports. She thinks it’s more likely that I’ll be… behind enemy lines, rather than on them.”

“Whoa,” Daphne says, her eyes going wide. Next to her, Luca goes rigid at the idea.

“I know,” I say, my shoulders curling in a bit under the weight of the responsibility. “She’s taught me a lot about how to do things unseen – how to pick pockets and locks, how to slip something into someone’s drink – but in order to do that stuff…I’ve got to get into the room in the first place. Which sometimes means…not being Ariel Sinclair. Or Ari Clark. I’ve got to learn to become…other people too. Or at the very least, other versions of myself.” “Holy crap,” Luca whispers, staring at me curiously. “That is…no small task.”

“Yeah, that’s what all this is for,” I say, spreading my hands out to encompass all the stuff Faiza left in Daphne’s room. “This is all on loan, by the way, but she wants me to practice being…comfortable in other people’s skin. Adopting new identities, making it convincing.”

י

“Other people’s skin and their hair, apparently,” Luca murmurs, lifting a shaggy brown wig experimentally. “Who on earth is this supposed to be?” I just laugh and snatch the wig from his hand, returning it to the box.

“Wow,” Daphne says, pausing as she rifles through the second box to look at me with interest. “I would have…no idea how to do any of that.” “Yeah, me neither,” I say with a little sigh, shrugging my shoulders. “That’s why she wants me to go practice out in the real world.”

“How the hell are you going to do that?” Luca asks, doubt in his voice.

“Well, that’s where you come in, babes,” I say, grinning and reaching out a hand to rest on his forearm. “You’re taking me out tonight.” “What?” he breathes, staring at me like I’m insane.

“Actually,” I say, laughing and reading for a long wig of curly auburn hair. “Technically, you’re taking…Daphne.”

I shake the wig out and toss off my

cap, quickly stretching the laceting with my fingers and settling it onto my head. That done, I sit up quite prim and proper, and press my fingers delicately to my chest. “Hi,” | say, pitching my voice way too high, “my name’s Daphne, I’m as seamstress at Alpha Academy, and I like long walks on the beach and

Daphne bursts out laughing, giving me a shove. “That is so not me!”

“I’m a workaholic with high-fashion ambitions, and I like to dress my princess friends in very skimpy gowns -” “You loved that gown!”

I give up the act, laughing too hard

e

along with my friend and wrapping her up in a hug, murmuring my apologies and that I don’t mean any of it. She just nods, accepting my teasing with the good grace with which it was intended.

“All right,” Luca says, smiling between us even as he shakes his head, though I can feel his anxiety down outbond. “As cute as you are as a redhead…what…what on earth

are you talking about?the

hett am I supposed to

take…Daphne?”

He holds out one hand towards me, pleading for an answer.

“Like I said, handsome mate,” I say, leaning forward to grin at him. “You’re taking me out tonight – to the bars in Newtown, so I can test my skills.” For the second time this hour, Luca pales in shock.

Chapter 0620

Thirty minutes later, Daphne and I have utterly ignored Luca’s objections and turned me out in what is actually a pretty convincing facsimile of her outfit, hair, and makeup.

“I mean, you’re shorter than me,” Daphne says, gnawing on her thumb nail as I slowly turn in a circle for her, letting her observe the effect of the long skirt she so hastily hemmed to my height and the jacket she nipped in at the waist and chest. “And I don’t like that we just rolled up those sleeves – here, take it off, I’ll hem those too -“

“Oh, it’s fine, Daph!” I say with a laugh, eager to get started – Newtown, I know, is a bit of a walk away, and I want to get started.

“Hair’s not precisely the same shade of auburn too,” Luca murmurs from where he leans against the wall, his mouth pursed. “But…I mean, I think at first glance…it’s pretty convincing. Nicely done, you two.”

“Thanks,” I say, turning towards him and giving him a pretty smile.

He laughs at me, shaking his head. “Daphne is sultry, not perky. You’ve got to work on that.”

“Sultry!” Daphne laughs, shaking her head at him and coming forward to nip at a spare thread on my jacket with a tiny set of scissors. “Look at you, Luca Grant, giving me compliments.”

“Just the truth, Daph,” he says with a smirk.

I think for a moment, watching Daphne move, and when she steps away to put her scissors on the shelf, I put my hand on my hip with a sigh and move towards Luca with the long, confident stride that Daphne uses to cross a room – nothing like my usual short absent-minded steps.

Luca’s eyes go a bit wide as I reach him.

“Was that better?” I ask, transforming back into myself.

“Holy shit,” he says, laughing at me as he puts his hands on my hip. “You’ve definitely got the walk down!”

“I have a walk!?” Daphne asks, laughing and turning towards us, curious.

“You have like, a signature strut, Daph,” I say, wrinkling my nose her way.

She blushes and waves a hand at me. “Oh, I so do not. Now get out of here so I can get back to work.”

“Actually,” say, grimacing a little as I

move to the door where Luca and I dropped our bookbags. “Would you take these…upstairs for us? Maybe with a

note so that Rafe and Jesse

don’t totally flip out?”

“Of course I will,” Daphne says, giving me a broad grin. “Good excuse to go check in on the Sinclairs anyway.”

I squeak with joy, thrilled to have such a good friend. I quickly cross the room to her, throwing my arms around Daphne and thanking her profusely for all of her help.

“Anytime, babe,” Daphne says, laughing a little and hugging me tight. “The only payment I ask is a full story the moment you come back.”

“You got it,” I say, giving her a final squeeze and then hurrying over to my bag where I pull out my notebook, beginning to write a hasty note.

Jesse hums to himself as he goes

down a flight of steps at the back of

I

the castle, absently messing with his shadows as he does – making shapes fit into the air, and then disappear, and then manifesting a shadow cat first in front of him and then dissolving it to mist as he passes through it, reforming it behind him. Just fooling around, really.

But a flash of auburn outside one of the stairwell’s narrow, slitted windows has him doing a double take and backing up a step, pausing to lean close to the wall and peer out the window with a frown on his face.

Because…

Because he’d swear his life on it that that’s Daphne’s bright hair trotting away down the path towards the hills that they run through every morning, but…

But what the hell is she doing holding that guy’s hand?

Jesse goes stiff as he sees it, his

nostrils flaring his wolf turning towards the sight with a heavy growl that echoes.in his chest. Jesse focuses on the sight before him, fascinated, as the guy turns a

Del

brilliant smile on Daphne, laughing at something she said, his dimples ffaring. Jesse’s growl deepens, his canines starting to extend – because he knows that smile.

And that face, and that confident stride.

What the fuck is Luca Grant doing holding Daphne – his Daphne’s hand!? And running away from the Castle just as the sun is going down!?

Jesse’s head fills with a buzzing rage as he completely fails to comprehend the truth presented clear before his very eyes. Because – why – they would never – not Daphne – and Luca – but – who –