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 kissed.

precisely I want him

him as he presses

I sigh, as he rests his 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 want you to ask me a question.”

darkly and my eyes fly open, already glaring. “Not that kind of question,” I growl, and he laughs again.

the skin of my cheek. “Real–Ari had my nan’s coffee cake tonight, which is

cream,” I answer immediately, “with whipped

fair to be in this

very clearly want to?

to know that

a very girly desert. “Of

of his muscled torso against me for one last second. I hesitate, but then I lift my

imagine what

shudder passes through Luca’s body.

damn it, Ari,” he

I turn my head, and press my eyes shut, and will

open in my bed and I clench my teeth with a groan, turning and

spend too long with my face buried in my pillow, feeling sorry for myself, cursing myself vehemently for having a sense of ethics and the willpower to stop Luca from doing something he’d probably regret.

god damn it, god damn it I wanted to kiss

the hell knows when I’ll have the chance – because Luca, he just wanted to kiss the figment of his imagination that looks like me so he can figure out how he’s feeling. As soon as he

screaming from the

I think he will. I sigh, curling 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 willing to subconsciously consider experimenting with kissing a guy…

I’m just unfairly confusing him because I’m his mate underneath

as I’m fine with Ben knowing… Luca? My mate? It’s a different story – an unpredictable level of exposure that I’m just not ready

gender at this school, because failing to

Chapter 12

And I’ve just, just gotten hold of the thing I never knew

ready to give that

the chance to make

sigh, turning over again in my blankets, and I close my eyes and force myself to try and go back to sleep – a state

Alpha alarm clock

the open curtain of my nook. I

growl, pulling the blankets over myself and nestling

breakfast, they don’t,” Rafe says, laughing and yanking my away, making me shriek

duvet

up in the dumbwaiter?” I ask, sitting up finally when

he strides around the room in his underwear, getting ready for the day.

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 –