Chapter 700

"Hey," Luca says, giving me a small smile and wrapping an arm around my shoulder as we, too, start towards the castle. "That was insane, as usual." "Luca," I say quietly, looking up at him, brushing off the niceties. "What's wrong?"

His face tenses and he looks away from me. "Nothing's wrong."

I stop in my tracks, not letting him do this. "Luca."

He sighs and looks back at me. "What do you want me to say, Ariel?"

"I want you to say the truth, Luca," I reply, staring up at him. "You don't like this. I can tell that you don't like this. And you can't just...hold it in and be silent about it. You're part of this and you're my mate- I need to know where you stand."

Luca huffs a little, looking down at me. "I do like it -"

I take a deep breath, looking up into his face, shaking my head. Because he's lying and we both know it.

He groans, turning away from me for a moment, putting his hands on his hips and hanging his head. I give him the time, letting him put his thoughts together.

"What do you want me to say, Ariel?" he asks. "I'm not part of your little magic group - I haven't been one of the ones who's been talking about magic all semester, experimenting with it. I've been actively excluded from that group for months and then I'm summoned by your mom and all of a sudden you ask me to hold your hand and there's a fire tornado?" He turns back to me, his eyes worried and hurt. "Yeah, I'm a little freaked out by it all!"

I bite my lip, a little at war with myself. Because quite suddenly I'm aware of what Tony pointed out earlier - that Luca here is feeling very real emotions, and he's allowed to be freaked out by the magic. But he is again making this all about him.

There's no support for or recognition of the incredible things that I did yesterday and today. It's just...all about what he feels.

Suddenly, I very much want my mom to send that therapist to the school as fast as she can. Because I am way, way out of my depth regarding how to talk to him and not get bowled over.

"I'm really sorry that you feel that

way, Luca," say quietly. "But I'll do whatever can in the future to ensure that you're included. And Km sorry if didn't fight for you to be included before - but I didn't know that we could do this. I'll try to do better in the future." Content belongs

I reach for him then, and he takes my hands and pulls me close. "It's okay."

"I'd like your support too, though," I say, my throat tight. Because I honestly feel like I'm kicking him when he's down, and I'm not used to advocating for myself and...this is really hard.

He looks up at me in surprise. "What? Do you...do you seriously think that I don't support you?"

"I think you want to," I say quietly. "But when I think you could have come and talked to me about how you were feeling last night instead of just sending me a note. And I think you could be more excited for me at this development, instead of standing around quietly with your jaw clenched." Content bélongs to noveldrama

"I needed space last night," Luca says, gasping a little. "I'm allowed to take space!"

"You are," I say, gritting my teeth for a moment against the urge to just agree with him and make him feel better. "But it made me feel really, really sad and worried that you didn't come to dinner last night without. taking a minute to explain it to me and check in on how it made me you don't like the magic and we should talk about why. But I shouldn't have to railroad you into that conversation, Luca...I would hope that you'd want to talk to me about it." Content

feel. And today - I can

belongs to

Luca sighs and drops my hands, putting his arms around my shoulders instead and resting his cheek against my head. "Okay," he says. "I'm sorry. I didn't think of it that way."

I wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him close.

But even as I do, I find my wolf turning away from our bond, not wanting to move down it and nudge the wall that we both feel built up again on the other side. Because it's too much - a great deal of effort from us, as always, to ensure he's okay. And very little in return from him.

"I'll try harder," Luca whispers, giving me a squeeze and turning me back towards the castle. "I really will. But now, let's go get you some sustenance, yeah? Probably burned a lot of calories with that fire."

I just murmur my consent, walking back to the castle with Luca and chatting idly, wishing desperately that he'd truly let me in.

But considering that wall that's up between us again?