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 □ &

Chapter 97

8094%

15:46

I think shocked, but

telling me to do ridiculous things, like just leap on you in the hallway when we’d see you between classes, or steal your shirt

in with him, delighted as I look up into his face to see

had a happy day in his life, laughing like that. God, but it does wonders for

fades his turns his head back down to me, his eyes shining. “Well, I’m glad I didn’t disappoint. That your wolf,” he presses a finger against my chest, where I suppose he imagines she lives, “likes me, at

the question at hand. “Jacks,” I say quietly, and he turns his face to mine, more serious now but nodding to invite

and

I worry that I’ve said too much,

been taught, all my life, to keep it a secret. So, it takes a little bit of unlearning, you know? To muster up

different reasons now, and press myself against him, hoping to communicate my support, my genuine interest, my faith.

that I didn’t know you were a girl when we first met, really,” he murmurs, smirking a little,

all.”

calls only NOOD &

Chapter 97

%94%

15:46

own smile brings mine forward. “I know,” I whisper, nodding. “I saw you

releasing it. “I thought my heart was going

“Daphne is really

something. Even if you know

you?” I

shaking his head. “Almost nearly as mythical,” he

tilting my head and wrapping a hand in the fabric of his shirt, possessive,

looks away for a second. “Well, no, he murmurs and I gasp a little at the drama of

lips,

“I…I will tell you about her okay? Just…not right now. Not when I’ve just found

grip on his shirt. I find that I do not like, at all, the idea of this singular other girl. It is somehow, bizarrely, worse than Luca’s fifty anonymous women.

on from it, because I’m….honestly not sure I want to know. At least, as he says, not