The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 682

At night, the whole thing is a great deal more powerful and stunning, a red and burning whirlwind that reaches for the sky. I play with it more this time, making it hotter so that we can all feel the heat radiating off of it, experimenting with the brightness and the colors, pushing it this way and that to see how much I can move it around. I’m quite pleased when I see that I can use Luca’s wind to blow it like an actual tornado, whipping it around the open space before us, though of course I’m careful to keep it from getting too close.

“Hooolly fuck,” the Captain whispers. I glance over at him, desperately pleased to be able to make such a stunning point. He looks over at me as well. “Can you…can you talk to me while you do that?”

“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “It doesn’t need my full concentration.”

“What more can you do with it?” He asks, eager. “Can it go…wide, as well as tall?”

I tilt my head to the side, experimenting, and am desperately pleased when the fire goes wide and low, creating a wide ring on the ground instead of a tall funnel.

“God damn it,” the Captain says, his face bursting into a grin. Then he looks over at me. “How…how big can it get?”

I glance over at Jackson who looks down at me, quite casual. “I’ve got…acres of power left in me, Ari. I’m not kidding when I say this is a croissant.”

When I look back at the Captain his face is twisted in confusion. “A croissant?”

I laugh. “He just means it can get big. Really big.”

I squeeze my mate’s hand, loving him a great deal.

“You ready for the good part?” I ask the Captain.

His eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. “This isn’t the good part?”

“Jesse?” I say, turning to him with a smile. “If you would?”

“Oh, it would be my pleasure,” he murmurs. And then he sends his power coursing through me.

I quickly give her a wink and draw my fingers over my lips like a zipper, letting her know the secret’s safe with me. She laughs and turns to the man in question, talking to him excitedly about the shadows and something about mittens? I don’t understand, but I turn towards the rest of my friends anyway.

We spend a few minutes talking excitedly about the potential for invisible night-time fire, but all the while I keep half of my focus on Luca, realizing that he’s quiet. And starting to realize, a little bit, that it’s deliberate.

“Okay,” I say with a happy sigh. “Can we go back upstairs? I didn’t even get all the way through my cheeseburger.”

Everyone agrees to it, happily trooping forward, but I hang back until it’s just me and Luca at the back.

Jackson looks over his shoulder with a frown, of course, but I send a little pleading nudge down the bond, asking him for a moment. He grumbles about it, inwardly, but does as I ask and walks with Jesse and Rafe back towards the castle.

Leaving Luca and I alone for a much-needed chat.