Chapter 201

Dad, of course, just sits with his arms crossed, waiting for me. Everyone continues to sit quietly, idly working on making decorations or wrapping gifts, pretending they’re not listening as intently as they are.

I scowl at all of them – even Jackson, who is pretending to be very interested in the perfectly-stacked logs for the fire. Gossip vultures, each and every one. But they all pretend not to notice.

“Ariel,” Dad says, drawing my attention to him. He nods towards the door to the apartment. “Your young man is waiting for you.”

“Dad,” I sigh, my shoulders slumping. “Can you just…be cool?”

“I am always very cool, Ariel,” dad murmurs, smirking and raising an eyebrow at me. “Right, Ella?”

“Not involved, Dominic!” mom calls, her voice light and sing-song.

Dad’s smirk deepens and returns his eyes to me. “He’ll be welcome in this home again when he fulfills his end of the bargain.”

“What bargain!?” I burst out – hating the fact that my dad has some kind of bargain with my mate that I don’t know about.

“Ask him,” dad says, giving a lazy shrug as I narrow my eyes at him, thinking that he’s enjoying this a little too much.

“I love you, but you’re the worst,” I sigh, storming for the door. I take a moment on my way to pass close to Jackson, to let my hand brush through his hair, to send a long pulse of joy and happiness and assurance down our bond. He sends it right back, which settles me a great deal.

“Home for dinner!” dad calls after me, laughing a little.

“Yeah, yeah!” I call back, pulling open the door and stepping through it in a huff.

My eyes instantly land on Luca, standing against the wall across the hall from me, leaning against it with his head down.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur, pushing the door shut behind me and rushing over to him, placing both of my hands on his hips and peering up into his face.

Luca lifts his head and gives me a sad smile. “Nothing less than I deserve,” he says, shrugging and raising a hand to my face. He takes a moment to look at me seriously, his eyes so sad that my little wolf sits down hard on her haunches and lifts her nose in a mournful, sharp howl. “I am so sorry for how I behaved yesterday, Ariel.”

“Luca, it’s –“

“No, please, don’t forgive me so easily,” he replies, shaking his head. “Storming around the palace like that, shouting for you, trapping you into deals by threatening to leave you – it was…fucking horrible, Ariel. I regret it, every instant of it.”

I forgive him, instantly – just like that. The sadness and regret in his face is enough to convince me that he really does understand the full picture – what was wrong, and why I’m upset, and why I need him to never act like that ever again. But, well. We still need to talk it through, don’t we?

“Come on,” I say, tugging on his hip and turning towards the steps that will lead us down to the front of the palace. “Let’s get out of here – go somewhere cozy, where we can chat.”

Luca surprises me by turning the other way, though. “No, this way,” he murmurs, gesturing down the hall. “To the…elevator down to the garages? Which is…very cool, by the way.”

I grin at him, nodding and turning towards it. “Why?” I ask, curious. “You could have just…pulled up out front.”

“Wanted to avoid the paparazzi,” he says with a sigh, looking down evenly into my eyes with his pretty brown ones, even as he slips an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close as we walk. “I learned my lesson on that point too. Today is…just for me and you, yeah? Not the press.”

My smile deepens as I nod, loving that idea.

Down in the garage, Luca surprises me by leading me to a very simple brown car. When I raise my eyebrow at it – because I know from the tabloids that Luca actually is the owner of at least one very fancy, very flashy sportscar – he sighs and says he borrowed it from his cousin.

“More inconspicuous,” he murmurs, opening the door for me. When I slip inside and buckle my belt, he goes around to the driver’s seat and climbs in, starting the car.

“Such a new leaf, Luca,” I say quietly, turning in my seat to smile at him. “No press at all?”

“No press,” he says, giving me a sad, ashamed little smile as he starts to pull out of the garages. As we go, I note that another car follows us – black, but likewise inconspicuous. Almost assuredly filled with bodyguards that my dad sent after me. If Luca notices, though, he doesn’t say anything. And neither do I.

“Where are we going?” I ask, looking out fondly at our beautiful city as it passes by. Night is already encroaching on this, the second-darkest day of the year. Everyone complains about it – wanting summer sun at all hours – but honestly, I kind of like it. Something about the brief days and the long, quiet nights…I don’t know. It’s peaceful, and mellow, and full of secrets.

“Not far,” Luca says, smirking a little as he drives, being a bit cagey on purpose. He glances at me and I just smile at him, happy to let him have his secrets. He’s not wrong, though – we drive about fifteen minutes towards his neighborhood and then stop, to my surprise, on what feels like a random street by a public park.

When I see the groups of people – families mostly, little kids eagerly clutching their parents’ hands – I gaps, delighted.

“We’re going to a bonfire!?” I gasp, sitting up in my seat.

“Is that all right?” Luca asks, grinning at me and producing two knit caps from the back seat.

“Yes!” I say, almost bouncing in my eagerness. “Yes, yes!”

Luca laughs and pulls the black knitted cap down over my conspicuous hair. I take his meaning immediately, tucking the ends of my hair into the hood of my coat and pulling my scarf up so that it covers half my face. When I look over and see him doing the same, I grin, because he really does look disguised. I mean, there aren’t that many well-muscled Alphas around that are his height – but at the casual glance, there’s no real sign that it’s Luca Grant under there.

“Very mysterious,” I say, laughing, loving it.

“Just for a few minutes,” he says, nodding to me and taking tucking a spare bit of my hair up beneath my cap. “We’ll get some cider, and then find a spot, and then the darkness will do the work for us.”

I nod eagerly, agreeing to the plan, trusting him. And so we get out of the car, and Luca grabs a blanket out of the back seat and comes around to my side. I slip my mittened hand into his gloved one as we start forward, eager and excited. Because bonfires – they’re traditional midwinter activities and almost every neighborhood has their own. But I’ve never been able to go to one – my family, we’re just too obvious when we go out into big crowds like this.

But as Luca and I slip through the gathered people, I realize that when I’m just with him, all wrapped up like this? It’s enough – we’re just…two normal people here for the celebration. Not Princess Ariel, just some girl here with her boyfriend.

And I absolutely love it.

Luca leads me to a little stand where a woman is selling hot mulled cider for charity at what seems like a ridiculously cheap price. Luca buys two and when the woman leans forward, asking if we’d like to spice that up a bit, he laughs and nods. She grins at him and pours a generous portion of whiskey into each cup. Luca tips generously and I smile at the woman – who of course can only see my eyes – before taking my cup and walking close at Luca’s side over to where the bonfire is just being lit.

Unlike most of the crowd, though – which gathers eagerly around to watch the flames start to lick up the wood – Luca and I head to a slight hill behind the bonfire, shrouded with trees and darkness. There, Luca hands his drink to me to hold for a moment and then spreads out the blanket.

As we sit, I notice with a little smile the two dark figures who come to stand behind us – even more inconspicuous than we are. And I’m grateful for them – grateful for my dad for always wanting to keep me safe – even as I know that nothing’s going to happen. That even if anyone did want to hurt us, Luca – my mate – would protect me.

But, well. Dad’s will be dads.

“What do you think?” Luca asks, his voice more cheerful than it’s been all night as he sits down next to me and I hand his drink back to him.

“I love it,” I say, grinning at the orange light of the fire that’s slowly starting to spread out. The heat, too, that I can start to feel on my face. I tug my scarf down and take a sip of my whiskeyed cider, knowing no one will notice. “How big will the fire get?”

“Pretty big,” Luca murmurs, slipping an arm around me and taking a sip of his own drink. “Especially as the night passes, and people get…a little liquored up. And start burning all the old chairs they don’t want anymore.”

I burst out laughing, looking over and up at him. “Does that really happen?”

“Stick around, Princess,” he murmurs, smirking and still staring into the flames, taking another sip of his drink. “You’re in for one hell of a sight.”

I laugh, and snuggle closer to him, and enjoy the warmth of his body alongside the fire. We’re quiet for a long, long time as the fire builds and someone brings out some speakers, beginning to play old traditional songs that everyone knows and can sing along with.

“Why did you bring me here, Luca?” I ask quietly. And I know, through the bond, that he knows that I’m aware that this isn’t just any date – that he picked this location, and this level of secrecy, for a reason.

He takes a deep breath, I think wondering where to begin. “I thought I’d handle it differently, Ariel,” he murmurs, contemplative. “I thought that…all I’d have to do to win you over would be to show you how boring Jackson is, and how fun and exciting I am.”

I burst out laughing here, giving Luca a little smack on the chest. “Jackson is not boring,” I protest.

“Yes he is,” Luca murmurs, his eyes falling a little to the spot on my neck where Jackson scent marked me not long ago – his own little petty shot at Luca, which I now see has found its mark. “Jackson is dull as rocks, Ariel, if you’re an idiot like me and think that the only way to be interesting is to be flashy, and loud, and to have VIP status at all the hottest clubs.”

My heart sinks a little as I start to realize where Luca is going with this.

“But,” Luca continues, “when I started to realize that Jackson doesn’t have any of that – and that you sometimes like him better anyway –“

I open my mouth, desperate to protest, but Luca gives me a pleading look. I hesitate but close my lips.

“It made me realize,” Luca continues, “that, of course, you’re not actually a girl who cares about any of that bullshit. And it made me freak out because…I also realized that the only thing I’ve got is that bullshit.”

My heart sinks because, I mean, is that how Luca really sees himself?