The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 97

“Well, kind of” he replies, laughing louder now, freer. “I mean, I just didn’t let my mind go there before. You were just another guy. A little shrimpy one who I liked hanging out with, and who I worried about sometimes. But..I didn’t think of you that way.”

I narrow my eyes at him, leaning a little closer, inspecting his face for lies. “That’s not how attraction works, Jackson. You can’t just decide to turn it on and off.”

He stares at me stoically for a long moment before his mouth twitches in the start of a

smile.

I

gasp, pointing at his face. “You totally were!” I whisper, thrilled. “You were into the Shrimp! You had a crush on me!”

He laughs, snatching my finger out of the air and wrapping his hand around mine even as he leans closer. “Fine, I thought…I thought you had a nice smile, okay?”

I grin, leaning into him, making him say more.

He groans, sighing and rolling his eyes. “And nice skin and…and pretty eyes. But! I thought you were my mate’s twin, okay? That was my best guess. So, I was just imagining what she looked like, which was probably a lot like…you?” His face twists up now, getting all muddled in the truth.

I laugh with him, leaning back against him, pleased. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t find me totally repulsive.”

“Not totally,” he murmurs, lightly tracing his fingers down my arm and then around my back, settling me cozily against him again. “What about you?” he asks, his voice a little wicked.

“Oh,” I sigh, leaning my head against him. “It was terrible.”

“What?!” He’s laughing now.

“Rafe had to drag me back to the room all the time,” I say, looking up at him, a little embarrassed. “Told me I wasn’t allowed to moon after you in the hallways –”

Emergency calls only> 0 □ &

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Jackson repeats himself, I think shocked,

leap on you in the hallway when we’d see you between classes, or steal your shirt and hide

join in with him, delighted as I look up

day in his life, laughing like that. God,

glad I didn’t disappoint. That your wolf,” he presses a finger against my chest, where I

happy to be addressed and acknowledged directly. “Oh, she’s a big fan,” I sigh, looking down at his finger and smiling. But then I turn my face back up to his, returning to the question at hand. “Jacks,” I say quietly,

and drops

heart drops along with his gaze, and I worry that I’ve

reaching out and taking my hand, wrapping it in his. “It’s fine – I want to tell you. It’s just…I have been taught, all my life, to keep it

against him, hoping to communicate my support, my genuine interest, my faith. He raises his face to mine with a small smile, and I

he murmurs, smirking a

all.”

only

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but his own smile

mutters, taking a deep breath before slowly releasing it. “I thought my heart was going to pound through my chest

laughing. “Daphne

girl – it’s like meeting–I don’t know, a gigantic whale, or a unicorn or something. Even if you know it’s nice you still don’t know what

to you?” I squeak, pleased to

head. “Almost nearly as mythical,”

say, tilting

and I gasp a little at the drama of it all. “I knew…I knew one girl. For a little bit.”

a thousand questions are instantly on my lips, but they

her okay? Just…not right now. Not when I’ve just found you, and…there’s so

that I do not like, at all, the idea of

not sure I want to know. At least, as he