The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0472

"What...what does un-sorted mean?" I ask, looking first at Luca and then a little frantically around at the rest of the boys, all of whom are equally a bit dour.

"It just means that they're deciding where Luca fits," Jesse says, giving a shrug.

"He's sugar coating it," Luca corrects, and I turn my head back to him. "It means that they don't yet see me as... fit for upper service. That I am, essentially, a high-powered grunt for now." "Luca," I say, again raising my hand to his cheek as I frown at him. "Who -"

"Those are his words," Rafe interrupts, and I turn to look at him. "And he's being way too hard on himself. Every Cadet that graduates from the Academy is elite - some are sorted into specializations, some are not. Luca, as-yet, was not. And he might later, or he might not, but it's not a poor reflection on him."

"And now Rafe's being too nice," Luca murmurs, turning back to me and I think - putting up one hell of a front to hide his disappointment. "It's all my fault. I did...kind of shitty on the finals, Ari. I think they might have failed me if it wasn't such a big deal for me to be a Cadet while I was in that boxing match. I think they kind of...pushed me through."

"Luca," I murmur, frowning at him, feeling absolutely terrible that he feels that way. "I'm sure that's not true."

were all here working your asses off and I was just...fooling around and napping and cracking jokes.

true!" I protest.

his hands. "Look, the truth is somewhere between all of it, Ari - and you're not doing him any favors by fawning over him and telling him how great he was and it was not

I turn back to him with a sigh because...well. Because Ben

in you," I say, snuggling closer to my mate and pressing a quick kiss to his mouth as the other boys turn towards each other and start to talk, giving us a

Luca says, giving me a small smile. "So. How about you show me those pens again? Maybe your

a grin, incredibly

night passes faster than it usually does, probably because I came to dinner so late. And it feels, a bit, like I glance at the door every half hour, because that's where my wolf's attention turns, even as I sit close to Luca. She looses a tiny little howl at one point, calling to Jackson's wolf, telling him to come. But, of course, he doesn't, and my wolf and I are

this as best I can, though, and barely an hour later I'm yawning every few minutes,

stretching his arms over his head. "Walk me downstairs so you can pick me up if

like the sack of potatoes you are," Luca murmurs, giving me a kiss on the cheek as he stands up. "See you