The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

My eyes immediately dart to Rafe and Jesse across the room, but they’re caught up in their conversations with Jackson and Tony.

“No no,” Aivez says, his voice soft and pleased. “Don’t shout for your brother, Ariel. That would be a poor choice.”

I turn my eyes back to the professor as, inside me, my wolf’s hackles raise.

“Don’t misunderstand – I am excited that you are here, highness,” Alvez murmurs, giving my hand a little squeeze. “I’m looking forward to working with you, developing your powers. But, of course, if anyone were to discover that I knew that a young woman had infiltrated the academy…I would lose my job.”

I stare at him, instantly realizing the trap that he’s laid for me here. If I reveal to anyone that he knows who I am even my brothers – he’ll have me expelled, even

if it means he goes too.

“Mutually assured destruction,” he murmurs, seeing me process the consequences. “So, I think it’s best that the two of us work together, don’t you? Trust, after all,” he says, his voice low and luxurious, “is the foundation of any great relationship.”

“Fine,” I say, my word hardly a whisper as I nod. “Please just…don’t…”

“Ariel,” he murmurs, moving closer, his eyes slowly drifting over my face. “Your secret is safe with me.”

I exhale slowly.

“But,” he continues, “you could thank me for my generosity.”

“Thank you,” I say instantly, the words falling from my mouth, and the way that he grins…

Instantly I realize how under his thumb I am.

How much he likes forcing my hand, making me his little puppet.

“You are welcome, my Princess,” he purrs. Alvez takes another moment to stare into my eyes before turning to look at the marble, his entire demeanor changing in an instant. I stare at him, shocked a little to see that he is again the mind- mannered professor. “Now,” he says, grinning. “I’ll do my best to push my power

towards you. What do you think, should we try to levitate it? Or push?”

“Um,” I reply, still staring at him, a little shocked.

“Let’s try push.” he says, glancing at me with a friendly grin. “Concentrate now, Clark. See what you can do.”

I stare at him for a moment longer, still rattled by his revelation and the way that he took control. But then I loose my breath and concentrate because…what else am I going to do?

Any way this turns, if I do anything at all beyond what he says, I’m kicked out of school. So…I comply and focus on the marble in front of me.

To my surprise, my hand where it’s clasped in Alvez’s begins to heat – and more than the usual body heat produced by two people holding hands. I flinch a little, turning towards him.

“Nooo,” he murmurs, giving my hand a squeeze. “It’s totally normal – don’t get distracted. Concentrate, Clark.”

I turn my attention back to the marble, and I do willing it first to lift, and then to move, and then to…I don’t know, do anything.

My whole body is sweating after about fifteen minutes of concentration, but then Alvez sighs and drops my hand. “It was good work, Clark,” he says, smiling at me with encouragement as he claps me on the shoulder. “It may just be that our particular magics do not speak to each other. Shall we switch it up?”

Alvez claps his hands in the air and asks for results, but when no one reports any ability to make the marble do anything at all, he just sighs and puts us in new couples.

I’m with Tony this time, who gives me a friendly nod. “Hands okay?” he asks, offering his.

“Sure,” I say, taking it. It’s completely different this time, and a coolness rushes through me as Tony and I stand for a long, long time looking at the marble before me. After awhile I find myself almost in a… meditative state. I’m calm, and relaxed, and honestly I feel like I’m almost…floating. All of the heat which resulted from my experience with Alvez is wiped from me, replaced by utter calm.

I jump when Alvez again claps his hands – because, how long was that? It felt like

about three minutes….

But as I glance at the clock, I realize that about half an hour has passed. I gape.

“Any results?” Alvez calls out to us, and Rafe begins to murmur something about. the marble maybe moving a little bit as I look up at Tony in surprise.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

He blinks down at me, a smile on his lips, and I instantly grin as I realize that his experience, somehow, matched my own. “I kind of forgot about the marble,” I say, smiling up at him.

Tony laughs. “Me too, but…”

“That was cool wasn’t it!?”

“I feel like I’ve been at the spa all day,” he whispers back, laughing more now with the joy of it. “I’m so cozy, warm in my soul. I’m so fucking relaxed.”

“I know! I –”

“Results?” Alvez says, pitching his voice louder to interrupt us. Tony and I both turn to him and when Alvez flicks his eyes down to our still–joined hands, I blush a little and pull my hand away.

“The marble didn’t move,” I say, my voice solid. Tony looks down at me, perhaps wondering why I’m not sharing more, but I just stand straight and don’t look at him, hoping he holds his tongue.

Good, my wolf says, though she’s laying languidly in my soul now, her eyes half- lidded in her relaxation. Let’s not tell the professor anything until we know more about what he wants.

I nod, agreeing with her.

“Shame,” Alvez says, quirking his head to the side. Then he looks up at the clock. “We are out of time,” he says with a little chagrin. “For homework, I’d like each of you to get into your last pairing and try again for longer this time. At least a full hour. Come to our class in two days ready to report your results. Sinclair? Please come over here to arrange a time to meet with me privately.”

Alvez nods around to us before moving to his desk, starting to pack up his bag as Rafe approaches to arrange a time.

My eyes immediately move to Jackson, who turns to me.

Because he’s the only one who’s left.

Tony leaves my side, heading for Jesse as Jackson slowly moves over. I have to crane my head back on my neck to look up at him as he moves close.

“I’m glad to see you made it into the Academy,” Jackson says quietly, his voice gruff as he stares down at me, his expression stony and unkind.

I can’t help it, I burst into a grin and laugh, just a little bit.

“What?” he asks, frowning now, confused.

“You just said something really nice,” I answer quietly, shrugging one shoulder, “even though your tone and your expression still say you want to rip me to shreds.”

Jackson flinches back a little and stares at me. “Wait, really?” he asks.

4. 4.

“Yeah,” I say, laughing a little more now. “Are you now aware of it? The fact that you’ve got like, murder in your eyes pretty much all the time?”

“Oh my god,” he murmurs, dropping his head and scraping a calloused hand down the length of his face. “No, I guess I wasn’t.”

“Well, I’m glad I’m here too,” I say quietly, more serious now. “And thank you for

“Don’t mention it,” he murmurs, and as he glances around I realize that it’s as much a desire for secrecy as it is a downplaying of his generosity in the obstacle course. “So, we have to…”

“Yeah,” I say, clearing my throat a little awkwardly. “Um, do you want to come up to our room for dinner? You could eat with us and then…” I reach out and grab the little marble still sitting on the desk. “Try to blow this to smithereens, or whatever.”

Jackson smirks at me and glances over his shoulder towards Jesse and Rafe.“Yeah, Jackson,” Jesse says, and I smile as he appears at Jackson’s side, holding my

Chemistry textbook out to me. “Come to dinner – you can have your food sent up with ours.”

From the other side of the room, I hear Rafe groan as he hears the invitation.

“Ignore him,” I say, stepping closer to Jackson and shaking my head as I look up into his face. “He’s being a dick. Seriously, come!”

“I’ll think about it,” Jackson says, glancing over his shoulder at the crown Prince who so clearly doesn’t want him to do that. “If not, I’ll send word about my schedule. See if we can’t make a time to meet.”

“Okay,” I say with a shrug, taking my books from Jesse and smiling up at my mate, kind of unable to help it. Because…honestly, I’m not scared of him at all anymore, even if I probably should be. After his apology in the bathroom, and then how he helped me?

I don’t know. I’m starting to realize that there’s more to Jackson than just his gruff surface.

For a second, my mind flashes to Luca –

But I push it away, not letting myself go there.

Jackson nods to me and Jesse, not bothering to say any other words of goodbye as he grabs his satchel and heads from the door.

“He’s not all bad, that one,” Jesse says, considering Jackson as he disappears. “Even if he is mildly terrifying even at the best of times.”

“I agree,” I say, contemplative. Jesse just grins at me and nods towards the door, where Rafe is waiting at Alvez’s side, Alvez patiently holding the key to the classroom in his hands.

“Good luck!” Alvez says to the three of us cheerfully as we move through the door. “Rafe, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Jesse, Ari, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you need anything.”

–

We murmur our thanks to our professor, turning away –

And honestly, I thought it was all finished, until I feel fingers trace down the length of my spine as I turn away.