The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 36

I smile as I go, though, because it looks kind of cool and spooky – like running through a cloud.

I start to look forward to breakfast now as I crest the final hill, wondering if Jesse is going to fall face-down into his eggs like he used to do when we were preteens and he was going through a growth spurt. God, he’d fall asleep at the craziest moments, his body just taking whatever rest it needed whenever it needed it. One time he fell asleep mid-conversation at the dinner table, his cheek falling right into his mashed potatoes.

We’d all laughed, and Uncle Roger had gathered him up in his arms to carry him to bed, but –

I slow, abruptly, when I see a dark figure forming in the fog ahead of me. His head is down as his arms pump – he’s running too –

But there are only two people who are that all, and that broad, in the barracks right now.

And one of them is a prince who absolutely does not get up for a morning run.

My steps stutter to a stop as Jackson comes more clearly into sight. His head whips up as he senses me – hears me, smells me, I don’t know what – and I freeze on the path, my eyes wide and my arms out like an idiot, ready to bolt.

But when his eyes light on me, and he realizes who I am, and his mouth lifts in a sneer, I realize that my instinct was correct. This man – he is not just going to pass me with a casual morning hello.

Fuck. Fuck! What do I do? Do I run?

But I’m out of time.

“Where are your bodyguards?” Jackson snaps, stalking towards me, his eyes livid.

“Um,” I say, keeping my eyes on him, not at all able to come up with an answer better than that. My mind goes completely blank in my panic.

“Great,” he growls, stepping close so that there’s only a breath between us. I tilt my chin upwards, staring up at the mountain that is my mate, fear streaking through me.

Go! My wolf urges me, for once logical and not telling me to kiss him or something stupid. Run! Get back to Jesse and Rafe!

But before I can move Jackson grabs me by the front of my uniform, twisting it in his fist and hauling me with him so that I stumble backwards until my back is pressed up against a tree. I pant in my fear, staring at him like a trapped animal.

“Then it’s time for us to have the conversation that we should have had that first night,” Jackson hisses, “when you sent me on a wild goose chase after my mate.”

“Um,” I say again, my eyes darting to the side, trying to come up with something, anything.

“And then,” Jackson continues, “why the fuck you smell like her. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Maybe you would have gotten away with it if we hadn’t been paired up in that bout, but I got close enough, Clark, to realize that you fucking have her scent on you – “

My mind suddenly flashes back to that moment in the ring. Because that’s not what he said then – he didn’t say “why do you smell like her,” –

He had said “what are you?”

Which means…

Which means that something has changed. Either he talked himself out of realizing what I am – or he forced himself to forget the pulse in the air – the way my hands heated -

But he doesn’t think I’m her – hasn’t yet figured out that I’m a girl –

“Please!” I beg, pressing myself against the tree, turning my face away from him and pressing my eyes shut. “Let me go! I’ll tell you!”

But, unfortunately, it was the wrong thing to say.

“Let you go?” he growls, leaning closer. “Fat chance, Clark – I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

My heart begins to pound almost out of my chest.