The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0634

"When I was a kid," Luca whispers, still not looking at me. "My wolf was...wild. Completely out of control."

My hand tightens around his arm in what I hope is an encouraging gesture.

"He would just...flip out," Luca whispers. "Make me do all sorts of insane things. Like I would just...shift. In the kindergarten classroom." He glances over at me, I think embarrassed to say it. "And just run around tearing things to pieces. When I could hold back the shift - which was rare - he would just constantly howl in my mind and distract me and do all sorts of ridiculous stuff. It was...horrible. And everyone knew."

I think back, as Luca takes a moment to collect his thoughts, to all the times when Luca has told me about his troubled childhood, how angry he was after his dad left, how alone and trouble he felt. But I hadn't realized that his wolf had been part of it.

"My uncle helped me," Luca said, sniffing hard and raising a hand to wipe at his face. "It was the only thing that worked, and it was way too late," he shakes his head. "A strict regimen. Working out so much before and after school that I didn't have the energy to shift. And then keeping a strict, strict leash on my wolf," he says, turning to me, his eyes sad, almost as if he knows what I'm thinking when he says that.

Because a leash on my wolf...god, the thought of it. I mean, I know wolves need discipline so that we can live normal lives but...leashed? My wolf shakes her fur at the thought of it and I run a mental hand over her sweet face, down her neck.

Never, never, I whisper to her. And she licks my hand once before turning back to the wall, licking that too.

"You don't understand," Luca murmurs, hanging his head again, shaking it. "I'm...I'm chaos, without my wolf under strict control. And I'm not letting him out around you."

I

at the words as

a therapist, as my brother Mark did when his own wolf was rambunctious and disruptive, learning how to talk and negotiate and understand his wolf's needs, balancing them with his own. That instead Luca just...shoved his wolf down

I say, lifting my head to look him steadily

shaking his head vehemently. "I can't

soft. And when he doesn't move, I reach for him, cupping his cheek in my palm, leaning close. "You're my mate," whisper. "You're mine, which means he's mine too. Take down the

pauses, not even

QUMS

at the other end of my bond with Luca crumbles to the ground. My wolf rises to her

it doesn't take long to find him - despite Luca's insistence that his wolf is tucked away, deep down...the poor

instantly when she hears his soft whine, her eyes narrowing as she peers into the darkness towards the sound. When the whine sounds again and she trots forward,

only when

soft fur that

He looks down and

he's... right there. As we peer into the darkness, Luca's breath catches in his throat