The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 24

Fortunately or unfortunately for me, my wolf has a lot of ideas about how I can take advantage of a night in the woods with Luca. And every single one of them is incredibly impractical and ridiculous.

Just let down our hair and then he will know and then he will grab us and press up against a tree and kiss us and kiss us –

I grit my teeth as I make the final cut, finally freeing the long, single piece of birch bark that I’ve been peeling off the tree for hours. Seriously, it’s slow, painstaking work.

“What are you even thinking about?” Luca asks from behind me, and I gasp and jump, dropping the piece of bark to the forest floor.

“Luca!” I growl, glaring at him and bending over to scoop the bark back into my hands. “You scared me! What are you talking about?”

“I saw you.” he says, leaning back against another tree and grinning at me. “You were all growly, muttering things to your wolf, shivers running down your spine. What is going on with you?”

Youuuuu! My wolf supplies internally, howling the answer. We were thinking about you!

“Why are you being so creepy?” I ask instead of answering, working very hard to hide my terrible. blush and failing. “Spying on me like that?”

“Well, I was just coming to get you,” he says, standing up when I come near. “I didn’t realize you were going to put on a show.”

“It wasn’t for you,” I say, my voice low as I step close enough to give him a little shove with my fingertips against his chest.

Yes it was! My wolf counters, her toes tapping eagerly, but I ignore her.

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it,” Luca murmurs, leaning close and smirking down at me. I freeze for a second, turning my head and staring up at him.

Because I mean I don’t have a lot of experience with guys –

–

But I would swear to god that he’s…he’s flirting with me…

Luca stares down at me, holding my gaze, his smile growing incrementally as he blinks his long lashes slowly over his pretty brown eyes in a way that makes my breath catch. But I clear my throat, blushing again as I force myself to turn away, starting to stalk back to where the Lieutenant is waiting.

“Did we get any fish?” I ask over my shoulder, not taking the risk of looking at him. Because, honestly, if he looks at me like that again…

Sun, TU Mar

Chapter 24

at severe risk of throwing myself

Do it, my

I mentally smack her on the nose, because there is too much at risk for her meddling right now. She gives a

got one!” Luca says, his voice cheerful. “Just one little guy,

think so,” I say, smiling as I come into the clearing and seeing my other three teammates sitting around the fire, the tiny fish guted and sizzling on one of the hot stones nearest to

Perry murmurs, holding up a bloody finger.

same size and

about a slight mishap while attempting to gut the fish with one of the hooks – I took the machete, after all – and I nod to him, saying

Alan mutters, flipping open the first–aid kit. “I know how to

watch, grimacing as he starts to put a bandage onto Perry’s finger before cleaning it, but luckily Luca stops him so I don’t have to, stepping in making sure that the finger is properly cleaned before being covered. In the meantime, I split the sticks about halfway down their

stream and fill

to do with

rocks,”

But I don’t answer, asking Luca to hold the pocket steady and using another pair of sticks to lift the round rocks that have

to realize what’s happening almost instantly. “There’s no way that’s actually going to work,” Perry

will,” I reply, glancing up at the sky, which is starting to grow dark. All of this took a lot longer

until the water in the pocket first steams, then

Luca murmurs, lifting his eyes to mine with a very genuine smile on

Chapter 24

forward to peer at it. “It’s

shrug as I study the slightly–cloudy water. “Like what they use in water filters. It’s not the

canteen to

around at each other and Alan nods, scowling at me.

cheerfully for all of us and smiling at the Lieutenant. “As much as we’d love to sit around swapping fireside stories…I think

he says, dry, pulling a map and a compass out of his pack and tossing it our way. your fire before you go.

“Bank

then he turns without another word and heads for the van, getting in and driving off

his

growls,