The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 677

Jesse feels the change in the room almost immediately and turns towards the rest of the group. “Yeah, Rafe beat me in the end,” he says with a wide smile, breaking into the silence and carrying on as if nothing happened. He doesn’t dropping his hand from its place on Daphne’s back but certainly not staring at her anymore like she’s the only person in the room – perhaps on earth.

“He had my help,” Luca says with a proud smirk, shutting the door behind him and striding happily to the center of the room.

“I mean, if I had simply had command from the start –“ Jesse says, sending Jackson a wicked grin.

I look anxiously between my brother and my cousin, seeing the question on Rafe’s face as he starts to put together the start of what I’ve known for a long time.

“Oh, you’re lucky I gave it to you at all,” Jacks calls, grinning at Jesse as the cheerful vibe returns to the room. I grin a little as I turn my face to Jackson, because it’s clear to me that he’s completely oblivious to the Daphne drama. Rafe roughly shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it, as Daphne moves away from Jesse and takes her spot on the couch next to me. He blinks hard like he’s not sure if he believes what he just saw.

“And what other choice did you have?” Jesse asks, putting his hands on his hips as everyone else settles into the room. Luca comes to me immediately and I reach out for his hand, squeezing it as he drops a kiss to my cheek and then settles on the floor at my feet.

A very tiny growl grumbles in Jackson’s chest but I put a hand on his knee and he settles, taking a deep breath and shoving down his newly intensified instincts regarding his mate.

“The other choice would have been me!” Tony says with a happy grin, leaning back on his palms as he sits next to Ben across from me, the coffee table between us. “Though honestly, I was perfectly happy messing around with the drone and the sniper rifle Ari left me.” He turns to me with a wink. “Thanks for that, babe.”

Luca growls this time and I can’t help but laugh.

“Any time, Tones.” I say, wrinkling my nose at him.

The dumbwaiter bell rings and Jesse moves off to fetch our dinner as the rest of the group happily chats. My stomach growls audibly as I turn towards the dumbwaiter – we didn’t have lunch, after all, and it’s been a long and busy day since breakfast. The mood is very cheerful in the room as we all eat the cheeseburgers and fries that the kitchen sent up, everyone filling me in on the results of the games.

Apparently, once Jesse quite ably took control of Jackson’s abandoned team, Ben brokered a deal between my brother and my cousin so that Jesse and Rafe took Wright’s entire team out together. Then, they went head-to-head in a bloody – or at least paint-y – battle that lasted most of the day. Halfway through the story the results arrive, slipped under our door, and we spend a great deal of time pouring over them and fussing over our victors.