The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 21

I sigh and drop my head back on my pillow as I finish my sandwich, curling up tight and pressing my eyes shut, going over every moment of my conversation with Luca in my head.

Thinking about his handsome face, the way his eyes fell to my mouth, the way the shiver ran down his spine –

The fact that I did that to him…

This is…

I sigh, feeling suddenly overwhelmed.

Because this is getting into some dangerous grounds, isn’t it?

Some wonderful grounds, my wolf corrects, curling into a little crescent and tucking her nose warmly beneath the edge of her tail. Sneak back over – let’s see if we can make him go all shivery again!

No, I growl inwardly, shaking my head. Because as much as I’m completely distracted and fascinated by my new connections, I have to resist the urge to explore them right now. There’s far too much at stake –

If I let Luca or Jackson in too much, I could get caught and then I risk losing my shot at trying myself in the Academy and I’ll risk having to go home and fulfill my promise to marry Prince Edward. As much as I’m intrigued…

I have to keep my distance. Which means doing my best to avoid my mates during the two weeks of candidacy.

I can do that, right? Mates are forever – I will have time to explore my connections with them later, and right now I need to turn my mind to other things.

I can do this, I tell myself with a steady nod, my eyes still pressed shut.

No you can’t, my wolf sighs sleepily, closing her eyes.

But I just ignore her, determined, and steady my breathing, willing myself to fall asleep.

When a hand shakes my arm the next morning, I gasp awake out of a much-needed deep, dreamless sleep.

“Morning, Shrimp,” Jesse says quietly, grinning down at me from his perch on the side of my bed. “Time to get up!”

“What?” I mutter, confused because it’s so quiet. Usually the mornings here are a mess of noise, all the candidates getting ready at once. I sit up and look around, realizing that everyone’s still in bed. So…

“Come on,” he whispers, hopping silently down from the side of the bed. “We’re going for a walk and a chat.”

“Oh god,” I sigh, but I pull my blankets off and hop down softly, taking note of the single finger pressed to Jesse’s lips as he glances towards the still-sleeping Rafe. I grimace, realizing that if we’re going without my brother…

There’s only one thing we’re going to be talking about.

I groan, pulling on my boots and quickly lacing them before Jesse and I sneak quietly to the bathroom for our morning ablutions and then out the door of the barracks. As we pass my bunk I smile at my brother’s sleeping form, grateful again that he’s a good sleeper.

But then again, in our big crazy family there wasn’t much choice but to be able to sleep through a great deal of noise.

Jesse pushes open the door to the barracks and slips a friendly arm around my shoulders as we walk out into the dawn light, the fresh morning air bracing as the door shuts behind us. But as we start to walk, I glance back at it.

“Why aren’t there any guards?” I ask, confused. “Like, why are we able to just walk in and out of this place?”

“Because,” Jesse says, looking around happily at the pretty morning as we start out on a dirt track that leads towards the hills. “Candidates are all here voluntarily and they’re all determined to hold themselves to the rules. Because the school is going to cut the bottom 20% anyway, there’s no reason to stop candidates who want to take themselves out of the running.”