Chapter 29

“Wake up!”

My eyes fly open as a hand slaps across my mouth, accompanying the whispered words. I gasp in a quick breath of air through my nose, but as soon as I realize that it’s Jesse –

“Asshole,” I breathe, though the word is muffled against his palm. I start to swat at him, wanting to

back to sleep.

go

“No way,” he whispers, grinning at me over the edge of my bed. “You’re coming with me – we are having this long–delayed chat.”

And before I can even protest, Jesse grabs me by the collar and starts to drag me from my bunk. I give a little gasp of surprise but then nk my uniform from his hands, turning and find my c way down before Jesse hauls me bodily to the ground. Because while Rafe will probably sleep through a couple of whispers, he is not going to sleep through my sound of my body hitting the floor.

And Rafe – he cannot know what Jesse knows. Not after yesterday’s surprise.

So I glare at my cousin as my feet hit the floor, scowling as I snatch my boots out of his waiting hand. He’s still grinning at me as he nods his head to the right and I nod, following him away from the bunks and towards the front of the barracks.

I glance over my shoulder at the bulk that is Rafe, sleeping soundly in the bottom bunk of our bed, and when we get far enough away that we probably won’t be heard I give Jesse a hearty shove on the shoulder.

“What the hell were you thinking,” I growl, stopping by the door to tug my

boots on.

“I was thinking,” Jesse says, pushing the door open and gallantly bowing me through into the night. air, “that we need a little cousin time, just to ourselves, to discuss a certain little secret

“Okay fine,” I hiss, pushing the barracks door hastily shut as soon as Jesse skirts out of the way, looking around to make sure that we actually are alone. Because, I mean, these doors are unguarded, and other candidates could be anywhere.

And this conversation? I desperately want it to be private.

“Come on.” Jesse says, still gleeful, and he heads for the path that we usually take in the morning when we go for our run, leading me to the top of a sparse hill where we can see for about fifty feet in every direction.

Up here on the top of the hill? We definitely, completely know that we’re alone.

“Jesse, I sigh, trying to figure out how I want to navigate this –

But he just shoves me, hard, on the shoulder. “Is Luca Grant seriously your mate!?” he demands.

glaring at me.

I heave a deep sigh, closing my eyes, realizing that Jesse is not going to give me any control of this conversation. He’s here to make demands.

So…I just give in.

“Yes, Jesse.” I say, hunching my shoulders and hanging my head a little bit. “Luca’s my mate. I’m sorry-

But before I can get any further, my eyes fly open because Jesse lets out a ridiculous whoop of joy.

“Yes!” Jesse shouts, pumping a fist up into the air. “This is amazing! This is the best, Ari! I’m so excited!”

My own face bursts into a grin because I mean – this is not what I expected. “What – Jesse –”

“Ari,” he e says, smiling so hard it seems to stretch his face in two directions “don’t you see how great. this is!?” He strides forward, putting his hands on my shoulders and giving me a little shake, “I mean, Rafe and I – we already like Luca – he’s already our friend! You could have been mated to anyone in here – a real loser, or a jerk! But it’s Luca!”

I laugh too – Jesse’s joy is infectious. But also because – I mean – I really like Luca too. I never dreamed that if I had a mate it would be someone who is so fun, and funny, and gorgeous.

“Soo…” I turn my head a little, looking Jesse up and down. “You’re not pissed?”

“Oh no, I’m pissed,” he says, laughing a little as he takes his hands from my shoulders and puts them on his waist, “you have been sneaky as shit, and you should have told me as soon as you knew, but I mean – I’ll get over that. But Luca – I mean, he’s going to be part of our family – he’s going to be, like, our brother–in–law! I love it!”

I blush when I hear Jesse’s words, and then I go completely red all over because –

I mean

I have not thought that far ahead.

– a mating ceremony. And while I guess that’s the natural conclusion of these things mate, Luca becoming part of our family, I mean – it makes sense –

with my

fated

“What’s wrong?” Jesse asks, his voice suddenly all concern. noveldrama

“Can we just…slow down, Jesse?” I say, looking up at my cousin, whose face falls when he realizes his

mistake. “I mean –”

“No, I totally get it,” he says, reaching out a hand for my shoulder again, “I’m so sorry, Ari – that was very uncool of me, you just met the

guy-

“And he doesn’t even know that I’m…“I hesitate now, and then gesture at myself from top to

12347 SO, YO M

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bottom–at everything Lawa doesn’t know I am: his mate, a girl, a princess, the daughter of a seriously powerful Alpha who is not going to react well to meeting anyone who has a romantic claim on his little girl no maner how cute their dimples are.

“Wait, what?” Jesse breathes, his face lightening suddenly at the drama of it. Jesse, much more than Rate, loves a little gossip “He doesn’t know he’s your mate

“He doesn’t know anything. Jesse.” I say, raising my eyebrow at him and crossing my arms. doesn’t even know I’m a gul”

Jesse’s mouth drops open and then he bursts into laughter, running a hand through his hair and turning around to stare out into the sky, putting the pieces together.

“Wait,” he says, turning to look at me again, “but I thought you were using the drearn state with him

“Well, that was an accident,” I mutter, looing down as I scuff the toe of my boot in the dirt.

“An accident!?”

“Well, I didn’t know I invited him to the dream state, Jesse.” I say, looking up and rolling my eyes. “Until it was too late! And then my wolf wouldn’t let me out!”

Jesse stares at me for a long moment before cracking up again. And his laughter is so infectious that he gets me going as well, so much so that for about a minute or two we’re both just cackling on the top of a hill outside the barracks of the most elite military academy in the nation the night before we find out whether or not we’ll be admitted.

And, honestly.

It’s kind of the stress reliever I need. I laugh with my cousin until my stomach aches with it, his arm wrapped loosely around my shoulders in a brotherly hug.

“Okay okay,” Jesse says, catching his breath and sitting down on top of the hill, tugging on my arm so that I sit down across from him, our knees almost touching. “You’ve got to tell me everything right from the start. I need all of the details, little cousin.”

And so…I do. I tell him everything, only leaving out the details about Jackson – because honestly, it’s such a relief to talk to Jesse about Luca that I don’t really want to spoil it by adding that information in. And Jesse he’s thrilled for me to have Luca as my mate. For a moment, I just want to concentrate on that.

So I tell him about Luca finding me in the hot spring, and then him asking me hard questions about where his mate is, and how that struck up a friendship. Then I move on to describe the way that Luca and I are drawn to each other. Jesse smiles when I tell him about how well we connected during the survival test, but he can’t contain his laughter when I tell him about Luca admitting his attraction to me in the dream state when I again appeared as a boy.

“Oh man.” Jesse says, “you’re probably giving him a serious crisis about his s*xuality, Ari. And I

Chapter Ho

shouldn’t laugh, bun damn, that’s funny. I did not expect that.”

“I know.“I say, laughing too, wrapping my arms around my knees. “I feel really bad –”

“But you can’t tell him.” Jesse says, still smiling, cocking his head to the side. “I mean, right? You’ve got to keep this a secret”

“Jesse.” sigh, sighing a little “I mean, I’m certainly not going to tell him like, tomorrow, when we’re both still candidates – but I can’t keep this under wraps forever. I mean, I feel like even if Luca is confused and struggling with this, he’s not going to let it drop. Even if I don’t tell him, he’s going to figure it out.”

Jesse’s shoulders slump a little at this.

“What.” I say, considering my cousin closely. “Why is that bad?”

“Because,” Jesse says, with a little shrug. “I just…I know Grant’s reputation, Ari. And as much as I think that he’s going to respect you when he finds out that you’re his mate, I did kind of like the idea that you two were getting to know each other as friends first. Luca – he’s an Alpha. When he finds out you’re his mate, you’re going to be like…his mate.”

I sit up straight at that, frowning. “What do you mean by that?”