The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

"I've been really busy," I say, wrinkling my nose at him, unable to help my wide smile. God, he's just...so precisely the same, isn't he? All tall and sexy and confident. “You know, since you left me naked and crying on the floor of your bedroom."

"Aw, come on, Ari," Luca says with a sigh, the smile slipping from his mouth, his head hanging. "You have to start right in with that?”

"Where would you prefer I start?" I ask quietly, not wanting to be cruel but also knowing that Luca has just got...such an easy way of turning things in his favor, of making it easy for me to forget that he's ever done anything wrong, ever.

And it usually starts with that pretty smile.

"How about we start with me apologizing?" he murmurs, lifting his soulful brown eyes to mine.

I quirk an eyebrow, letting him know that might be wise.

"That's the only thing that's been ringing in my head for weeks, after all," he says on a sigh. "It killed me, Ariel – after I left, and had like...eight seconds to think about it. I'm so, so fucking sorry - and then when you got kidnapped from that battlefield? And I wasn't there?" He hangs his head again and I see the true grief and regret that haunts him.

"You didn't look very sorry at the start," I say quietly, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What?" he asks, lifting his head again, confusion bunching his brows.

I smirk a bit. "I saw the tabloids, Luca,"

He groans, turning his head to the side.

I laugh, light and easy. "Oh please, you were basically posing – you knew I'd see the pictures -"

"I so was not -"

"Oh

yes you were," I say on a sigh, grinning at him, unable to help it. "With your shirt just...casually unbuttoned like that?" I roll my eyes, shaking my head at him. “Come on, Luca, I know you - you were never a messy dresser until very recently."

He sighs, caught a bit, lifting his eyes to mine, apology and mischief mingled in them.

"Come on then," I say, lifting my chin towards his chest. "Let's see it."

"Ten seconds into our reunion," he murmurs, shaking his head slowly from side to side. "And you're already trying to get me to take my shirt off?"

I burst out laughing, my hand flashing out to smack him on the chest. "Come on! You got it for me, after all. The least you can do is let me see it."

Luca sighs, putting on a great shownoveldrama

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of pretending to be put out by this. But even has he does his fingers move to the buttons of his black shirt, quickly undoing them until he can pull the fabric aside and I can see it there – my name tattooed in flourishing letters across his chest, the A directly over his heart.

“Well?” he asks, low. "What do you think?"

"It's beautiful work," I say, leaning in to inspect the lettering, which really is lovely. I mean, I'm no tattoo expert, but whoever did it truly did a fine job. I flick my eyes up to Luca with a smirk as I lean back again. "You're such a drama queen."

It's Luca's turn to laugh now as he lounges again against the tree, not bothering to button his shirt up. Again, deliberate. He gives a casual, handsome shrug, looking like a damn model there against the tree,

Which, I'm well aware, is precisely how he wants to look.

all-dark and moody and

My handsome mate came to play, as he always does. After all, his looks were always the weapon against which I had the least defense.

"How'd you know I was home?" I ask, tilting my head to the side, studying him. Allowing myself to enjoy this, but not falling into his trap.

"Did you think it was a secret?" Luca asks, quirking an eyebrow at me. "Your fanatical public were dying for news of their lost Princess. And the press did not disappoint."

Luca reaches behind him and pulls, of all things, a tabloid out of his back pocket, holding it out to me. Surprised, mildly delighted, I take it from him, my eyes lighting up when I see the picture on the cover -

Jackson covering my head as I duck into a helicopter outside that rusty old gas station on the borders. The picture is hazy – clearly amateur, obviously taken by that clerk we met. I grin, my eyes drifting over Jackson's powerful form -

God, he does take a good picture -

And then moving to the words across the top of the page.

'Princess Saved by Mystery Hunk!'

I burst out laughing, delighted, clutching the tabloid in my hands.

"I know," Luca says, dry. "Mystery my ass. If they knew Jackson at all they'd have rephrased it. 'Very dull hunk of brick accompanies Princess as she saves herself,'

I think, would be the more accurate title."

I just sigh happily, pressing the magazine to my chest, eager to show it to Jackson. "I'm keeping this," I say, ignoring Luca's jealous little insults. They don't matter anyway.

Luca shrugs, not caring that I keep the magazine. His face falls into more serious lines, though, as he holds my gaze. "You're...all right, though? Atalaxia...they didn't...hurt you?"