The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0490

Ariel doesn't come up once the dinner is served and Rafe scowls at her portion, growing cold on its plate.

God damn sisters. Why does she have to be so...willful, always pushing forward on her instincts, blurting things out or taking insane actions just because it "feels" right? And what even is going on with her sudden complete trust of Tony? What the hell -

Inwardly, his wolf pauses Rafe's train of thoughts by giving his heart a lazy nudge with his snout. She's very rarely wrong, his wolf says, taking a deep, calm breath and letting his eyes drift shut. Just like mom. Stop getting so worked up about it and just trust her. Even though he knows his wolf is right - that he should just trust Ariel and calm down - Rafe grits his teeth against this advice. Because...she's his little sister. If anything ever happened to her...

But he shakes the thought away, dismissing it, knowing it's not useful.

It just...it makes it so hard to protect her when Ariel's so chaotic - just flying by the seat of her pants. It was one thing last semester when Ari stuck close to him and Jesse, when they were able to take her under their wing a bit and make sure that she was safe. But now that she's getting more independence? In her own classes, with her own tutors - one of which an insane woman, at that - walking around the castle by herself?

Rafe exhales a deep sigh through his teeth, letting his head fall back against the chair.

"You all right, man?" Ben asks, looking at Rafe a little askance from his place on the couch as he works on some notes for a speech he has to give in a few days.

word snappier

him levelly. "I just noticed that you were grinding your teeth so hard that they might just crack. Or be worn down into a find sand. Not very useful, for a

his friend for a second before huffing a laugh and dropping his forehead into

to your every mood," Ben

this too, shaking his head, looking over at where Jesse and Luca are sitting on the floor with some books spread

what's bugging you?" Ben murmurs, curious enough to invite conversation but passive enough to be brushed away if Rafe isn't in the mood for it. Rafe smiles a little, glancing

calm down and concentrate instead of worrying about the thousand ways she could get

shakes his head, turning his attention back to the books. "You need to let off some steam, your highness," he

when he sees that he is digging his fingers

then, suddenly, he realizes that

relax and take his mind off of things, and there is certainly one thing he'd rather be doing

grabbing Ariel's plate off the table and striding for the door with it in his

Jesse's face is shocked as he

later," Rafe calls over his shoulder, not