Chapter 660

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.noveldrama

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 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.