The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0527

"What's going on, Daph?" I ask, frowning, genuinely concerned for her. After all, I want my friend to be happy, especially when we discuss her relationship with Rafe.

"To begin," Daphne says, straightening her shoulders and looking right at me. "Can we pretend, for a little bit, that we're not talking about your brother? That could get...weird."

"No problem," I say, nodding eagerly, understanding as I hold my mug of wine tight in my lap.

"Um," she says, running a hand through her long auburn curls in what I think is an anxious habit. "Things just have been...progressing, lately. In a way that I'm not sure I'm comfortable with."

"What like, emotionally?" Ben asks, totally casual, taking another sip of his wine. "Or like... physically?"

"Mostly emotionally," Daphne answers on a sigh, "but...yeah. Also physically."

I go a little stiff, not sure if I'm ready to hear the details of this. Daphne glances at me and then laughs, shaking her head, raising her glass to her lips and taking another long sip. I take her point, doing the same, as Ben chuckles at us.

long sigh, smiling at Ben and me. "It's not like he's pressuring me to do anything I want to do - we just haven't had sex, and things are progressing towards it. And I can tell that he's getting deeper and deeper into his feelings and I'm just...not sure I want to go there." She gives a

Daphne," Ben says gently. "So...if you're afraid he's just using you or something,

she says. "Even if...well, if I can't quite

that's nonsense," I sigh, smacking

you see someone in a magazine, and think they're so cute,

believe it.

nod to

and interested even though I feel quite tense and eager to know her answer. "It sounds like you're

says, nodding and tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, looking down into her wine glass. "And part of it is...the mate thing. Like, I know he has a mate coming at some point," she says, looking up at me now, perhaps for confirmation. I give a little shrug, not denying

back down at her wine. "So, even if I did let myself go further with him -

but that

now,"

telling Rafe he has a mate - she didn't meet hers until she was in her thirties, and she says her entire life would have been different if she was waiting every day for her mate to come strolling around the corner. She doesn't want Rafe to hold back on love and experiences just because a mate is coming along. I mean, Cora and Roger knew I was going to have two mates, and yet they still were going