Dragon Fire Academy 1 First Term an RH academy romance - Rachel Jonas Page 0,61

his hand. Beyond confused, I accepted it. “Welcome to the family, and good luck putting up with all four of these hoodlums. Also, make sure you’re at the barbeque tomorrow. I want you to get acquainted with the other girls. They’re gonna love you.”

“But I’m … we’re—” I barely got a syllable out of my mouth before Joel turned and gestured for the other alphas—minus Ori—to follow him back downstairs.

And just like that, our night ended on the most awkward note ever.

Chapter Seventeen

Kai

For many reasons, it was a strange night. To start, having Paulo snoring on the couch outside my room kept me up, but it was more than that. Having Noelle sleeping under the same roof disrupted the usual balance, but not in a bad way.

It seemed every time I tried closing my eyes, images of her kept coming to me, filling my head with thoughts that woke me—all of me—entirely. The visions were of us, hidden behind the waterfall, losing ourselves in one another. Had it not been for the call to help at the orphanage, there’s no guarantee things wouldn’t have gone further. Tossing and turning in my bed, I fought the urge to go to her, picking up where we left off.

Then, this morning, we all ate in near silence, and part of the reason was that I don’t think any of us knew how to take what Joel had said, assuming Noelle was with us—belonged to us. He’d come right out and called her our mate, and that wasn’t something any of us would forget anytime soon.

However, having kissed her, and connecting with her the way I did, the idea of it didn’t feel so farfetched to me. Not like I’m sure it must have to the others.

Ori paced the dock while the rest of us sat with our feet in the water, waiting for Noelle to finish getting dressed. This was just a casual barbecue, but she seemed pretty nervous about it.

Probably thanks to Joel not having much of a filter.

“She shouldn’t be going,” Ori seethed. “None of us should. It’s still too dangerous. Are we just going to pretend the Darkness didn’t take a special interest in her last night?”

“Are we going to pretend that … whatever that was she did isn’t the reason we didn’t have to take any lives during the attack?”

Rayen surprised me with his boldness. It wasn’t often that we spoke against our hive alpha, but I agreed with him that it was necessary.

“She’s different. I’ll give you that, but not in the way we all thought,” Paulo interjected, clearly speaking to Ori. “Not sure about you, but I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong. If you ask me, last night proved that she’s definitely on our side.”

“Yeah … maybe for now.” With tension riding his shoulders, Ori began to pace again.

The way Paulo and Rayen spoke on Noelle’s behalf was new, but not totally unexpected. I’d watched two of my brothers soften toward her, slowly but surely, as the weeks wore on. It made me think back on the conversation between us in the grotto, the powerful feeling that passed through me when we kissed. I’d never felt it before, with anyone. It reminded me of what the other hives described feeling when they found their mates.

That, coupled with Joel’s slipup, had me questioning everything—starting with Noelle’s role here—on the island, within our hive.

However, I now knew something else; there was a strong possibility she could leave. If things went down that way, and what Joel said was true, and what I felt was real … that could possibly be the biggest tragedy our hive had ever known.

Which was why I was determined not to let that happen.

“Was I the only one impressed with how she held her own last night?” Paulo asked with a proud grin.

“I just wish we’d seen it for ourselves,” Rayen added.

Ori turned toward them swiftly, casting a hard stare on them both. “She has you all distracted. Have any of you stopped to think this is what the Darkness wants? Have you considered that it’s using her to take our focus off what’s really going on here?” His shoulders heaved with frustration. “The three of you can’t stop thinking with your dicks long enough to be rational.”

His accusation didn’t sit well with me, and judging by the furious glares the others cast toward him, I guessed they didn’t like it either.

“Why is that always your go-to?” It was Paulo who spoke up