Alphas of Raven: The Forbidden Triplets

Chapter 12

Aria's POV

I almost froze as the oak and smoke scent exploded through my body.

There he was, the raven-eyed monster, or, as I had named him, my jerk of a mate.

He stood tall in nothing but his workout shorts, which hung way low on his ass, giving a rather enticing view of his pelvic bones that cut into, we know, where. Sweat glistened across his chest, highlighting every contour and every ridge that formed his muscular body, giving a full view of his dragon tattoo.

Arrogant or not, there was no denying that he was a fine specimen. A walking-talking s*x god, who had my heart racing in milliseconds, all thanks to the treacherous mate bond.

His smug smirk intensified as he caught me checking him out.

Get a hold of yourself, Aria!

I scolded myself, averting my gaze from the Greek god and focusing on dumping my gym bag..

"Never f*****g took the White princess as the warrior type?"

He commented like the ass he was, making my wolf wince at his words.

His remark was met with a chorus of giggles from the audience, particularly from the gang of girls standing directly behind Sole.

This was turning out to be another wonderful day!

"You are right, Alpha Xaar; she so does not look like a warrior."

The athletic brunette from that group of girls offered, frowning at my thick ass and boobs in comparison to her well-toned muscles.

Her body and posture told me that she was one of the warriors.

"Maybe she is just following her ex-fiance." The girl commented again, looking for unnecessary drama.

"No one's asking you," Max growled at her.

I knew better than to indulge in her mean girl spat.

But come on, when would people just let go of the Sole-Aria saga already? It was getting old.

And I did not see anyone taunting Sole for it.

"Also, I do hope you know that we are all not here to serve you, princess. You are not in the White Kingdom anymore." He continued taunting, "So, for f**k's sake, respect everyone else's time and mine."

Before I could say anything to him, he just walked back to the front of the training ground.

I knew I was late for training, so there was not much for me to argue about at this point, but that did not change the fact that he was an asshole of the first order.

"Ooh! Someone has got his pants in a bunch," Max chimed in, trying to lighten my mood as she liked her arms with mine.

"Oh yeah!" Jacob concurred, taking his standard position next to Max.

Just when I thought I was off the hook, the screechy voice of that brunette reached my ears again.

"Of course, you will lose sense of time if all you have to do is pose for the paparazzi." She continued mocking me as her lackeys giggled at her every word, along with some of the other students.

"b***h Alert!!" Max called out loudly enough for the rest to hear, shutting the brunette up instantly.

See, I knew I liked Max; she was a gal's gal.

It was clear that the girl was targeting me, but I just could not be bothered.

I knew her type well.

She was one of those self-appointed Queen Bs, with a series of extras hanging around her, massaging her ego and fake attitude. And in all likelihood, she was sleeping with one of the jocks or campus stars.

There was no way in hell that I was going to give her the time of my day.

"Everyone eyes up here." The jerk Raven commanded

"Let me make one thing clear." His voice was laced with pure power, one that demanded you obey.

"This is not one of those gym classes or a random extra class that you take." His alpha aura rolled across the ground as he spoke.

"We are Ravenwood, and this is the most elite warrior program in the world, and mind you, I will not have anyone tarnish that reputation because of their tardiness or entitlement."

He declared, sweeping his gaze across the hundred or so of us who stood on the ground. But, I was no fool; I knew that he had spelled out that warning for me.

I won't lie; hearing those words come out of your mate's mouth hurt like hell. For some unknown reason. That bastard had already made up his mind that I was some attention-hungry, entitled brat.

"For the first week, we will go super simple. Just some basic workouts and sparring so we can access your proficiency levels and decide if you are fit for this intensity of training or not. And then we will move on to the real deal." He continued to go into specifics about the program.

"Real deal, my foot!"

From the corner of my eyes, I could see Sole rolling his eyes as he muttered the words under his breath, just loud enough for a few people to hear but not loud enough to reach Xaar's ears.

He absolutely despised the Ravens, and that made me wonder again what Sole was doing in Ravenwood.

"Sole is alone. No Rhea today." Max observed.

Sole had never wanted me to train, so I guess it was the same with Rhea as well.

"Ignore him," Jacob whispered.

"Let's stretch before we start with some friendly sparring matches."

Xaar spoke again, while everyone remained glued to their respective places as Xaar spoke, giving him their complete attention; even Sole did not dare to undermine his authority.

"What the f**k are you waiting for? Go now; I don't have f*****g all day." He barked orders, sprinting the crowd into action.

"So, what did you do to piss off the old man here?"

Max asked while we were stretching.

It was actually funny that she referred to him as the 'old man'.

Well, he was certainly my father's age, though I doubted anyone could call him old.

He was super attractive, almost swoon-worthy. Perhaps it was the mate bond talking, but he was smoking hot.

My assertion was validated when I noticed every other girl in the room eyeing him up, giggling like schoolgirls. It was clear that he had quite an effect on the female population.

"Nothing that I am aware of."

I was being honest with Max; I really did not know why he hated me so much. There was no way that all this disgust was only because I was his mate.

No, he disliked me even before he knew we were fated for each other.

"He just seems to have it out for me, like he has already made up his mind about me."

Goddess! I had said too much; I just hoped Max did not pick up on it.

"Not that I care." I shrugged off the topic, trying to be nonchalant about it.

"Don't worry; he is known as the asshole brother."

That was news!

Did that mean she had heard about him behaving like this with others? That was one possibility, since Max's pack was one of the satellite packs for the Ravens, so she would have heard some rumors about Xaar.

My eyes scanned the ground as if on autopilot, searching for the 'asshole brother', as Max had put it. Only to see him standing with that brunette from earlier, who was literally all over him.

From the looks of it, they were discussing some fighting techniques, but they were just too close for my liking. She was giving him those flirty smiles and eyes, roaming her hand all around his chest, and being all touchy-feely.

Were they sleeping together?

Jealousy welled in my throat, giving rise to a deep ache somewhere inside that I couldn't ignore.

I knew it shouldn't have affected me.

Trust me, I did not want to care or be bothered about the skunk who was throwing herself at 'Alpha Jerk' there.

But no matter how hard I tried to brush it off, the sight of them together made my blood boil.

The mate bond was colored with fury, making my wolf see red. I clenched my fists, trying to suppress the anger that was brewing inside, egging my wolf to come forward and claw that b***h's eyes out.

We both knew we could not do that; he might be my fated, but I had no claim here, and he had made that plenty clear.

The wheels in my head started turning as I hatched another plan.

We could not kill her, but we could do something here. Something to make him feel the frustration I was experiencing.

I did not know if he desired me sexually or not, but from what I had witnessed with the other two yesterday, I was sure Xaar did feel the pull. Unless, of course, he did not find me desirable.

He better, after all, my whole plan was based on that.

I hesitated, plagued by uncertainty. For a second, my intent wavered, but my wolf was adamant, she wanted to get back at Xaar.

This better work out, or I will just end up making a fool of myself. Thank Goddess there were no mobile phones allowed here, at least there will be no photographic proof that the media could get their hands on.

Taking a deep breath and gathering my courage, I grabbed the hem of my t-shirt. Peeling it away from my body at a glacial pace.

Like most other girls, I was wearing gym shorts and a sports bra; the only difference was that I had covered myself up with a t-shirt that reached below my ass, hiding away all my assets.

And then, with one tender movement, I gave a peek at the curves that lay underneath.

My heart was beating frantically. I had never done anything like this.

For those three seconds, everything around me dulled away, as I unveiled my skin inch by inch, one curve after another.

I moved with exaggerated slowness, keeping the anticipation of what was to come alive and balancing between subtlety and suggestion.

The appreciative murmurs I heard told me that it was a job well done. I so hoped that it had done the intended damage to a certain someone.

"Ooh! Look at those two mamas," Max hummed. Only the goddess knows why you are intent on hiding them. If I had breasts like that and an ass to go with it, I would flaunt it all over town."

I had always been insecure about my curves; they were a little too much for me. So, I had always avoided bikinis, sports bras, and all the stretchy material that provided an accentuated view of my assets.

Today, however, I was feeling oddly confident. Maybe it was the adrenaline or pure rage, but I was now adamant about proving my point.

And Max's encouragement was the perfect prod I needed to keep going.

So, I made it a point to redo all of my stretches and some basic exercises. Putting extra effort into the ones that highlighted all of my curves.

I could feel his eyes on me.

In fact, I could feel multiple eyes on me. I was aware that I was giving a mini-show to the rest as well, but at this moment I didn't care. All I could think of was getting a reaction out of him.

As luck would have it, a rather angry voice rang through the grounds, interrupting me mid-squats and my little show.

"Enough with the theatrics." Xaar almost yelled, but not before his eyes dipped to my cleavage for just a second too long.

"I think you're confused." Xaar tried to calm his voice down, but he had lost the notes of sarcasm.

"This isn't a f*****g photo shoot, or runway, for that matter."

His snarky comment was enough to tell me how affected he was.

I smirked, knowing that I had gotten under his skin.

There is no question that the mate bond had a bearing on him as well, though that also meant that he really did hate me.

The sweetness of victory was shortlived, as his disdain for me soured my mouth.

"You may enjoy workout fashion, but this is a sparring arena." The crude words pulled me out of my head.

""I bet she is only wearing this to be clicked by the paps." The brunette chimed in as she continued to hover around that jerk.

There was no way I was going to engage with her, not unless I wanted to be front-page news tomorrow. Or worse, a leaked social media story.

Aria White bullies warrior brunette!!

I could even imagine the headline that would be plastered all over.

There was no way I was giving her those ten seconds of fame by stooping down to her level.

And seriously, the girl lacked innovation; she could not even come up with a new insult and just kept repeating the old one. Who does that?

So, I turned to Xaar instead.

"Oh! I am just wearing this for better mobility during the fight." I answered, keeping up my innocent act.

"They are just practical to wear."

He could not fault that fact now, could he?

"Don't tell me; you can fight." He said, with his sarcastic tone back on.

How dare he? He was really pushing the limit right now.

He didn't know me from Adam, so he had no right to go on making presumptions about me.

Before I could smart mouth him back, he spoke again.

"Let's see if you can actually fight."

He smirked as he turned to the rest of the students.

"Ok, people, listen up. Today we will have our first official fight of the season. Princess vs. Paris," he announced as he turned to look at the brunette, who presumably was Paris.

Now, that will be interesting!!

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