Page 44 of Missing

"Fuck you," I growled, unwilling to deny it. My heart twisted with jealousy.

”Alright, alright," Orlando chuckled, raising his hands defensively. "No need to get your panties in a bunch."

"Fine, I'm jealous. Happy now?" I threw my hands in the air, glaring at Orlando. He softened at my admission, his eyes losing their teasing glint.

"Hey, I get it," he said, sitting on the end of Griffin's bed. "Honestly, I thought you and Griffin would have mated with her first. It just... happened, you know? Not that I'd change it, but it wasn't planned."

"Was it all they say it is?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity. My heart ached with envy, but I needed to know.

Orlando's face lit up with a smile, his eyes dancing with happiness. "It's so much more than they say, Dante. And she's so powerful. She doesn't even know the amount of power she holds."

"Seriously, though," I said, raising my brows at Orlando. "How the hell did Harper grow up human with parents who had three levels of power? I can't wrap my head around it. She just slipped under the radar?"

"Beats me," Orlando replied, his expression thoughtful. "There's definitely something going on that we don't know about."

As if on cue, Griffin walked back into the room, fresh from the shower. "I'm calling Mom today," he announced, running a towel through his dark hair. "I want to find out if our parents knew Harper's parents. They all would've grown up together, right? And they would've served in the army together during the war twenty-two years ago."

"Great idea," I agreed, nodding my head. "Something's off here, but I do believe Harper was kept in the dark about everything."

Griffin nodded in agreement while Orlando sighed. "She was definitely in the dark. Now that we're bonded, she can't hide much from me."

"Alright then," I said, standing up from the bean bag and walking towards the door. "Come on, fuck faces. Let's go collect our girl for breakfast.”

Chapter 39

Harper Hillstrom

Aknock came at the door just as I was finishing my mascara, and I knew it was Griffen, Orlando, and Dante. Rolling my eyes, I walked over and opened the door, revealing their smirking faces.

"Morning," I say, turning back around to head to the mirror to finish my makeup quickly. Adding a small amount of gloss to my lips, I noticed the boys still standing in the doorway. "You can come in, you know," I said, a little exasperated.

Dante commented "Those, um, skirts are probably the best thing this school has ever done," he stammered, clearly checking me out. It took me a moment to realize that I was leaning over the desk to get a good look at my face in the mirror, which was giving the boys a full view of my ass in this stupidly short school skirt.

I felt my face grow warm but decided to own it. "Thanks," I replied, raising an eyebrow at them. If they wanted a show, I wasn't going to let them think it bothered me. I straightened up and turned to face them, trying to suppress a grin at their wide-eyed expressions.

"Come on then, let's go to breakfast," I said, grabbing my phone and slipping out the door. My heels clicked against the hallway floor as I walked over to Melody's room and knocked. The boys trailed behind me like lost puppies, still wearing goofy grins.

When Melody opened the door, her eyes widened at the sight of my entourage. "Ready?" she asked, clearly amused.

"Yup, let's go," I replied, gesturing to the guys behind me. "We've got the full entourage today."

Melody laughed, eyeing the boys. "What did you do? They look dumbstruck."

With a smirk, I recounted my lip gloss incident. "I bent over to put on lip gloss in the mirror. They seemed to appreciate the view."

"Please tell me you at least have underwear on," Melody wheezed, trying to catch her breath between laughs.

"Of course," I shot back, rolling my eyes. "There's no way anyone could free ball under this pathetic excuse for a skirt."

From behind me, Dante growled protectively. "No freeballing. I don't want people seeing what's mine."

Melody and I burst into laughter again, our giggles echoing through the hallway. "Noted, big guy," I managed to say between laughs. "Now let's go eat."

My pinkie linked with Melody's, I couldn't help but smirk as we confidently led our group towards the dining hall. The scent of breakfast wafted down the hallway, making my stomach rumble in anticipation.

As we entered the dining hall, there they were: Jessica, Yasmin, and Olivia, all perched at our table like a trio of vultures. Griffin sighed. "Little one, I can't stop them from being mean girls, but I can stand between them if you want me to."

I patted his arm gently. "Thanks, but it's okay. They just want what I have." With an air of defiance, we strode over to sit down.

---