The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 42

“What, is your subconscious homophobic?” I ask, continuing to be frustrated and a little annoyed at him for not believing me even though I’m telling him the truth and spilling a serious secret for his own good.

Because honestly! I could make out with him here! And I would be the only one who knew that it was real!

I’m doing this for him, to be fair, and yet he persists in not believing me! It’s very rude.

“It might be,” Luca says with a shrug, still looking down at me. “I wouldn’t think that it was, but here you are, still not kissing me, even though I keep trying. Honestly, Ari, being shut down by the figment of my own imagination is very annoying –”

“I’m real!” I insist again, this time through my teeth.

“Prove it,” he says, shrugging.

“Ask me anything!”

“That won’t work,” he says, turning his head to the side. “Anything you say is something I already know or think I know. No way to verify that it’s true.

“Fine,” I say, crossing my arms and lifting my chin. “Ask me something tomorrow, in real life – something impossible, that you’d never predict. I’ll give you the same answer here as I do then.”

Luca turns his head a little, considering. “That could work,” he murmurs, but then he turns back to me with a sly smile. “But in the meantime, you and I could, you know, fool around a little…”

In the distance, my wolf howls with delight.

“Whoa,” Luca says, turning to look for her. “What was that?”

“It was my wolf,” I sigh.

“Really?” he asks, and then the turns back to me, smirking. “Your wolf does…not sound adverse to the idea.” He leans more fully against the tree now, bringing his body closer to mine and kind of pinning me back against the trunk in a way that…

12:49 Sun, 10 Mar

Chapter 42

That I do not mind at all.

“Luca,” I sigh, and honestly I have to close my eyes as I turn my face away from him, because if I spend even a moment longer looking up at the shadows his long lashes cast against his cheeks…I am definitely going to do something I regret.

“What?” he asks softly, cupping my cheek in his palm and turning my face back to his, his hand and his voice both impossibly gentle. “What do you want, Ari?”

And his question…I know instinctually that there are layers to it. That he’s asking me what I want, but also what I like –

want to be

precisely I want him

want him to pull me tight against him as he presses his mouth hard to mine – which I

weight deliciously against me, pinning me back against the tree in a way that feels….god, it feels fucking amazing, his body pressed flush against mine. “I

eyes fly open, already glaring. “Not that

of my cheek. “Real–Ari had my nan’s

answer immediately, “with whipped cream.”

I decided last time. It is not fair to be in this dream

very clearly want

we’re both going to

Luca asks, teasing – because, I mean, it is a very girly desert. “Of course sprinkles,” I murmur, sighing

press of his muscled torso against me for one last second. I hesitate, but then I lift my hands, and let my palms press against his sides, feeling the lines of his obliques as

imagine what his

shudder passes through Luca’s

it, Ari,” he growls,

eyes shut, and

with a groan, turning and burying my face into a pillow to stifle the

myself vehemently for having a sense of ethics and the willpower to stop Luca from doing something he’d probably

god damn it, god damn it I wanted to kiss him.

of his imagination that looks like me so he can figure out how he’s feeling. As soon as he

run screaming

up in my pillows and wrapping myself up in my soft white duvet, considering it. Because Luca – he still thinks I’m a boy, and as much as he’s

think that he is straight, and that I’m just unfairly confusing him because I’m his

Ben revealed today how tenuous my secret already is. And as much as I’m fine with Ben knowing… Luca? My mate? It’s a different story – an unpredictable level of exposure that

school,

Chapter 12

And I’ve just, just gotten hold of the thing I never knew I always wanted: a chance

I am not at all ready to give that up

the chance to make

blankets, and I close my eyes and force myself to try and go back to sleep – a

Rafe wake up early, some kind of Alpha alarm clock that I was not born with making them rise before sun.

throwing a pillow into the open curtain of

growl, pulling the blankets over myself

if they want breakfast, they don’t,” Rafe says, laughing and

duvet

the dumbwaiter?” I ask, sitting up finally when I realize they’re

of the bathroom, brushing as he strides around the room in his underwear,

looking around for my boots. Rafe tosses one in my direction as he takes Jesse’s place in the bathroom. I sigh and grab it, yawning so wide my jaw cracks. As I pull my boot on I hope that there’s coffee with breakfast – because while dream states do happen while you’re dreaming, I’m not sure that I’d say they let you wake up relaxed and rested.