The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



"It happened just how you described, Ari," he murmurs, shaking his head as he recalls it. "Of all things, it seriously felt like someone threw a damn brick at my wolf."

I smile a little, remembering telling him that metaphor at the club after Luca's boxing victory but hating that it feels so accurate for my friend.

"It happened the first time at the boxing match. I knew he was there...instantly, as soon as he walked in."

"Did you know who it was? Like, you could pick them out of the crows?" I ask, a little breathless with interest but not wanting to push him too far.

“I knew.....the area...in the crowd. That something in me had suddenly turned to the Atalaxians. But I couldn't pinpoint it at first." Ben raises his hands to his temples and rubs them in soft, worried circles as he remembers. "But I wasn't sure what precisely it was - my wolf insisted, of course, that my mate was there, but I mean - what the hell does he know."

I smile a little as my wolf bristles inwardly, appalled that Ben would ever doubt his wolf. I smooth a hand over her fur and she turns to give my fingers a fond lick.

“So,” I say, hesitant. “What happened?"

"I felt...sick," he says, raising his head and meeting my eyes. "Did you feel like that? Like...nauseous?"

"I didn't feel nauseous," I say, turning my head to the side. "But my center of balance was off. I couldn't walk right - and it was just before we had to go have that first hand-to-hand fight." I grin at the memory fondly, even though I wasn't so happy at the time. "I think Rafe was worried I had a stroke because I couldn't walk in a straight line."

“God, no wonder you lost so spectacularly,” Ben says, laughing a little. “But it sounds about the same, though – both of our bodies responded almost as if we were seasick, like gravity and perception changed."

"Yeah," I say, smiling at him, glad to have someone who understands it now. I wonder, passively, if Jackson and Luca felt the same and make a mental note to ask them. "So, when did you figure out who it was?"

"After I came back to the fight. I have to admit that I didn't...watch Luca a lot."

I laugh a little, and he laughs with me.noveldrama

"I spent my time instead," Ben continues, "scanning the Atalaxians, trying to catch a scent. It was too hard, though. There was one that I...wanted it to be, maybe? More than knew it was? And he, too, looked a little sick and stood perfectly rigid and still, even though he kept his eyes on the fight."

"And were you right?" I ask, anxious, wanting Ben to have the boy he wanted it to be with a desperation that almost surprises me. Ben, he's such a good friend to me - I want him to have everything in the world that he wants.

"Yeah,” Ben says, raising his eyes to mine and fighting hard against a rather brilliant smile. “I knew for sure at the smaller meeting when Atalaxia declared that they were going to destroy us all. I mean, it was a shit day for everyone else, but my wolf wouldn't settle down in my heart. We could smell him, in that small room, and we knew for sure that it was..." he laughs a little now and covers his face with his hand, embarrassed. “The cute one."

I laugh, delighted, and Ben goes along with me.

"Wait, but did you guys...acknowledge each other? Did you figure out who he was? Did you ever get a chance to talk to him!?"

"I didn't get to talk to him," Ben says, dropping his hand from his face and leaning forward towards me now, not holding back now. "But...he looked at me, once, and I know he felt it, Ari - felt what I was feeling. We didn't say anything - or express anything - but we...we knew what we are to each other. It was...amazing. I mean, terrifying, but...amazing."

"Wow," I breathe, likewise leaning forward, wanting to know more. "But which one was it?"

"I feel like you'll remember him, Ari - you noticed him," Ben says, nodding to me. "I saw you two lock eyes as well."