The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0476

The run is as grueling as I knew it would be, with Rafe, Jesse, and Jackson each taking turns to backtrack and run at my heels, forcing me to pick up speed or get trampled down by their gigantic feet.

By the end of it, I'm bending over with my hands on my knees, my head hanging, trying to catch my breath while the three of them chat casually about their plans for the day.

"Come on, little man," Rafe says, clapping me on the back and making me stumble a few steps forward. "You smell terrible. Let's get you showered before breakfast." He just grins when I straighten up and glare at him.

I scowl, following along with them, but glance anxiously up at Jackson when he drapes a casual arm around my shoulder. "Do I really smell?"

"It's a nice musk," he says, giving me a sad smile that breaks into a laughing grin as I tilt my head back and groan with embarrassment. Together, the four of us hurry back to the rooms to clean up before breakfast.

Breakfast passes quickly as we fall easily back into the rhythms of the school. Ben and I sit on either side of Luca, giving him some tips about how to pay attention in lessons when things get particularly boring - something he's apparently never tried before - but before I know it, we're slugging down the rest of our coffee as we stand, Ben and I still planning to head for the library for our free study period.

a finger in his face. "You're on bodyguard duty

ducking under the finger as he heads for the door. "We've survived this long, I'm sure we can make it out of the library alive." I laugh and hurry to keep up with Ben, waving over my shoulder at my brother, my cousin, and my mates,

grin as we start for the elevators that will take up to

Alpha too, Benny," I say with a happy sigh. "Plus, they're not

presence of two of them, and making out with the others," Ben says, dry, shooting me a glance out of the

him lightly on the shoulder with my finger as the elevator doors pop open again. He laughs, shrugging as he admits it, and the two of us make our way

the round velvet and leather chairs gathered together in little study groups. "This place is amazing," I murmur, shaking my head as I look around jealously at all the books I haven't yet read, following Ben to a set of green velvet chairs in the corner. "We should come here more often. We don't

you wouldn't get much work done," Ben says, flopping into a chair settled neatly next to the fireplace as I take the one across from it. "Not with people coming over all the time to fan over Luca, to try to buddy up with Rafe and Jesse as royals." "Well, that's we have Jackson to scare them away," I say cheerfully, folding my legs beneath me and opening one of my books

think he

eyes and thinking of all the girls sliding into Jackson's nonexistent

his palm, eager for the details. I just wrinkle my nose at him and shake my head, letting him know that it's

far before