The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 507

“I am,” Luca says seriously, pushing up from the floor as he intuits that the lesson is done.

“Well then,” Blaze says, looking at him for a long second and then shifting his eyes to me. “Perhaps you can put our Ariel through a different set of paces. See if her dodging skills adapt well to a different fighting style, or if she’s only able to dodge me because I’m the one that taught her.”

My eyes go wide a bit as I start to understand Blaze’s proposal. “Wait, you want me to fight Luca? Do you – do you know who he is? What he can do with those fists!?”

“You said he is your creature,” Blaze says, shrugging, I think a bit pleased with himself as he turns quietly and heads towards the other door in the room – though I don’t know where it leads. “I doubt he will punch you very hard, Ariel. See you tomorrow!”

And with a little wave, Blaze disappears through the door.

“What do you say, gorgeous,” Luca says, grinning at me and moving to the center of the room. “Wanna fight me?”

“Um, no!” I say, even though I follow him to the spot at the center of the room where I always start with Blaze. When I get there, Luca raises his fist into his boxer’s stance, his muscles smoothly settling into it in a way that suggests he’s done it a hundred thousand times before. Which, of course, he has.

“Oh, come,” Luca says, smirking and giving me a cheeky wink. “I won’t hit hard.”

Luca does as I ask, taking a step back to the center and raising his fists again. I bend my knees, getting ready, and then we’re off again. I duck under Luca’s fist this time but Blaze was right – I was getting used to his method of fighting. With Luca, I have to completely adjust. He gets me on the second blow and I bare my teeth at him, making him laugh, and then I shove him backwards, making him start again.

We go on for a further thirty minutes and I fall completely into the practice, concentrating hard and finding new ways to predict the blows, moving back faster than I do with Blaze to stay out of Luca’s reach, dodging lower and feinting different directions to confuse him. The result, I’m pleased to see, is that I finally make it to the back of the mat without him touching me.

I give a shriek of victory when I get there, throwing my hands up, but Luca – scoundrel he is – snarls roughly and dodges forward, wrapping his arms around me and yanking me up into the air. I shriek with laughter, pounding my fists against him, shouting about how he’s a cheat and needs to put me down immediately.

“I made it!” I pant, still smacking at him a little, “admit it! I made it, I won!”