Ch. 21..25: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 21-25

Chapter 21

1 stare wide–eyed at my brother, waiting for him to react.

But Rafe just…stares at me, his face ghostly–white, until I start to get seriously worried.

“Rafe,” I murmur, leaning forward a little, starting to reach out a hand to touch him.

“What the f**k Ariel,” Rafe whispers, so fast that the words all bleed together into one, so low that I can barely hear him. But the sentiment…is perfectly clear.

“Well it’s not like I asked for it,” I say, spreading my hands out, my eyebrows going up. “I didn’t do anything. Rafe!”

“We’re getting you out of here,” he says, his head snapping back towards the barracks, coming back to himself now and just like dad – immediately springing into action. “We’re calling mom – this

is over

“What!?” I gasp, and then I dart forward, smacking him as hard as I can on the arm,

“Rafe! No!”

He turns his head to me and growls, ready to retort, but I hit him again, which makes him pause.

“Rafe! You are not taking this from me just because that idiot doesn’t know how to handle himself! I want to be here I want to train as part of the Academy! This isn’t up to you anymore, you asshole!”

Rafe blinks at me in surprise – probably because I don’t think I’ve ever in my life sincerely called him an asshole. But I bare my teeth at him now, meaning it, because he kind of is being one. Rafe is not in charge of my future even if he thinks he is.

“He is going to kill you, Ariel,” Rafe growls, leaning forward and staring at me, making me see what’s at risk here.

“He’s known something was up since the first night, Rafe,” I counter, stubbornly crossing my arms. and glaring at him. “We’ve gotten through almost two weeks of him having no opportunity to hurt me – we can get through a few more days!”

“And then once you’re in the Academy?” he says, raising his eyebrows. “Because he’s f**king good, Ari he’s definitely getting in too.”

“When we’re in the Academy we’re allowed to carry weapons,” I say, speaking my ideas aloud as I think them because honestly I haven’t planned this far ahead

– – “I’ll learn how to protect myself!”

Rafe groans and buries his face in his hands, realizing that he’s not talking me out of here without a big fight – and also realizing, I think, that as much as I’m his little sister I’m grown now it’s

actually not his job to decide whether I stay or I go.

And damn it? I’m staying until they make me leave.

–

Mar

Rafe takes a few deep breaths, his face tucked away against his palms, clearly putting the pieces of his reality back together. I press my hands against my thighs, waiting, working to slow my own breathing.

Slowly, Rafe starts to look up at me. “Seriously,” he whispers, his green eyes peeking over hist fingertips. “He’s your mate?”

I nod seriously.

“You’re sure?”

I nod again.

“How do you know?”

I shrug. “It’s like people say. My wolf she knew instantly when I smelled him.”

“And Jackson…he don’t know?” Rafe asks, exhaling deeply and dropping his hands from his face, resting them on his knees.

– he’s I shake my head. “Jesse’s scent marking is enough to confuse my scent, I think. Jackson figured out his mate is here, and that I have something to do with it. But he hasn’t figured out it’s

me.”

you

“So,” Rafe cocks his head to the side. “That’s why he’s trying to kill you – because he thinks have something to do with keeping his mate away. But you know it’s him…so…” My brother studies me carefully, narrowing his eyes. “What? Are you like…in love with him?”

“Rafe!” I gasp, an instant blush coming to my cheeks. “What!? No! I don’t even know him! And!” I fling a hand out in the direction in which Jackson disappeared, “He keeps trying to murder me!”

“But he’s your mate!” Rafe’s face screws up in confusion. “Doesn’t that mean

“I don’t know what it means!” I say, throwing my hands in the air. “But do not mistake my being mated to him for any like affection! I have no idea what’s going on! I am brand new to this as well!”

Rafe sighs, looking off into the distance. “Maybe we should call mom,” he murmurs. “She has a mate. She knows more than we do.”

“We’re not calling mom,” I sigh, and then I push myself to my feet, holding out my hand to my brother. “Let’s just…get through the week, all right? And then we’ll figure out this stupid mate stuff when we’re enrolled in the Academy and have a second to think it through.”

Rafe takes my hand – not because I can actually pull him up, he weighs way too much, but certainly as a sign of solidarity. When he’s on his feet, Rafe uses his grip on my hand to pull me

close.

“All right, Shrimp,” he growls, and I smirk a little to hear him use my barrack nickname. “But we’re doing this on my terms now, okay? Which means you don’t go anywhere alone, and you stick to my god damn side like glue. Do you hear me?”

Slowly I nod, looking earnestly up into his face.

“And,” he

forbid it.”

, narrowing his eyes at me again. “You don’t say another damn word to your mate. I

“Fine, Rafe,” I sigh, scowling and pulling away from him, knowing it’s logical but hating the way he pulls his big brother card and bosses me around. “Can we get to breakfast? Jesse’s going to start to freak out.”

“Fine.” Rafe growls, grabbing my jacket and tugging me close to his side.

1

“Let me go,” I groan, pulling away, but he doesn’t let me go.

“Like glue. Ariel,” he snaps, glaring down at me. “Glue.”

“Glue, Rafe,” I agree, rolling my eyes up at him. But when he lets my jacket go, I stay close, hardly a hand’s breadth between us as we walk the short distance back to the barracks and inside for

breakfast.

As I predicted, Jesse is indeed freaking out. He’s watching the door like a hawk when we come in. Ben and Luca at the table with him. Jesse throws his hands up in the air like we can’t believe what we’ve cut it this close, but Rafe just waves a hand at him and pushes me over to the food line.

Overprotective barely begins to describe it as Rafe fills his own tray and mine with whatever’s left, a random assortment of cereal and breakfast meats and granola. When another candidate leans over me to grab a yogurt, Rafe literally growls and snaps his teeth at him, making both of us jump.

The candidate jumps almost out of his boots before muttering his apologies and darting away, wide– eyed.

“You need to cool it, Rafe,” I say, looking up at him in shock as I pick up my tray.

“F**king mates,” Rafe growls, shoving me between the shoulder blades and making me stumble towards our table. I just heave a sigh and ignore him, sitting next to Ben when I get to the table as far away from my other mate as I can get.

Because I absolutely do not need Rafe finding out the other half of my secret – not seeing how he reacted to the first bit.

“Where were you,” Jesse snaps, glaring at us. “I wake up and you’re both gone? And you almost missed breakfast!”

“Ari decided to go for a run on his own,” Rafe growls, glaring at me but not saying anything else.

Ben studies his breakfast and doesn’t get involved, but Luca lifts a spoonful of cereal to his mouth, blatantly watching our little cousin drama with interest.

“Ari,” Jesse breathes, staring at me. “You know you’re not allowed to –”

“Rafe already schooled me, all right?” I growl, flicking my eyes in Luca’s direction

– an action he

catches, of course, because he’s starting at me. Jesse looks over at Luca and realizes that he’s perhaps saying too much. “Just let’s let it go.”

Jesse heaves a big sigh as Rafe starts to shovel food into his mouth and we all sit in stubborn silence I pour some dry sugary cereal into my hand and shove it into my mouth, crunching on it, not having much stomach for anything else. Luca smirks at me, somehow entertained by that

I glare at him. His smirk just deepens.

But before we can get any further, the Captain stands at the front of the room.

“All right.” he says, gathering everyone’s attention to him differently. “This year, we’re changing things up for the final few days of candidacy.”

Everyone sits up straight at this and Rafe looks around at all of us in surprise. Luca and Ben shrug. letting him know they have no idea what’s coming.

“Academy officials have reported a level of discontent with our candidates‘ survival skills. Apparently, we’ve been sending them a bunch of cadets who can beat each other bloody but who fall apart after a single night in the wild. So, over the next forty–eight hours we’re splitting you up and sending you out into the woods in teams to test your survival skills as part of your candidacy ranking.”

He continues speaking, laying out the rules as our little group looks anxiously around at each other.Luca curses under his breath, tossing his spoon down on his tray.

“No survival skills?” Jesse asks him, a little pity in his voice because he and Rafe, at least and me, to an extent – have been camping with our dads for years.

“I’m a city kid,” Luca mutters, shaking his head.

“Same,” says Ben, his voice filled with dread.

“You’re staying with me,” Rafe mutters, glaring at me across the table and looking around. “I’ll find a way to pull some strings.

“You can’t do that, Rafe,” I grumble, sitting back and crossing my arms.

“You are not going into the woods with that maniac,” he growls, glaring hard at me.

“What maniac?” Luca asks, frowning.

We all ignore him.

“No,” I say, my eyebrows going up as I look past my brother at the leadership board, which has changed now to show the groups with which we’ll be headed into the wild. I point at it. “I’m not going into the woods with him- but I’m not going with you either.”

Everyone’s head whips towards the board, Rafe going pale as he realizes that Jesse, Rafe and I have

for the first time – been completely split up. And I’m right – Jackson is in a totally different group

as well

But after he stuches the board for a second, Luca turns to grin at me

Because be and Our names are on the same.

Chapter 22

Jesse and I quietly pack our rucksacks over the next half hour while Rafe pitches a fit with the Lieutenants, insisting that he be allowed to transfer to my team or me to his. Jesse grimaces at me, shaking his head to let me know that he doesn’t think that it’s going to work.

I just sigh and roll my eyes at my cousin, communicating that I don’t even want it to work. I mean, it would be different if I was being sent out in the forest with Jackson – but I’m not. As far as I know? No one on my little team of five people wants me dead.

Eventually the Captain is called over and he has about four short words to say to Rafe before my brother scowls and stalks back to our bunks, grabbing Luca along the way and dragging him with

1. US.

“You,” Rafe snaps, shoving Luca to a stumbling stop before our bunks. “Are responsible for him.” He points a stark finger right at my face, his eyes still on Luca’s. “If Ari dies, you die. If he even gets a papercut, you get a papercut. Am I perfectly f**king clear?”

“Geeze,” Luca says, looking Rafe over with surprise and a little distaste as he runs a hand through his mussed hair. “Message taken, your Highness. I’d have done it anyway, all right? We’re friends.”

“You’d better f**king take this seriously –” Rafe leans in, just getting started, but Jesse cuts in smoothly.

“It’s so nice to have friends,” he says, looping an arm around Luca’s shoulders and grinning broadly at my brother. “Let’s not try to drive them all away today, right? Rafe?”

Rafe scowls, leaning back and realizing that he’s going a little overboard.

I sigh and shove Rafe’s pack into his arms. Jesse and I prepared it while he had his meltdown at the front of the barracks.

Rafe sighs and slings it over his shoulder, glancing at all of the candidates who are starting to filter to the front of the room. “Fine,” he snaps, turning to me. “You take care of yourself, all right? You know how to do this shit. Don’t let anyone boss you around or take advantage of you.”

“Right back at you, cousin,” I say, giving him a little glare – because as much as I love my brother, it’s getting a little embarrassing at this point.

Rafe shakes his head at me as I pull my own pack on my shoulders and turn towards the front door. And then as a foursome, we start to walk forward.

“Good luck out there,” Jesse says, his voice calm as he gives me a harmless little punch on my shoulder. “You’re going to kill it.”

“Don’t be too jealous when I take first.” I say, grinning at him. And then we reach the door, and Jesse and Rafe start towards their groups – Rafe giving me another anxious look before Jesse drags him

away.

And then, quite suddenly, it’s just me and Luca. Alone..

“What’s his deal with him?” Luca asks, frowning after Rafe. “He treats you like you’re made of glass or something.”

“It’s always been like that.” I sigh, staring after my big Alpha brother. “I’m the baby. I’ve always been

kind of…a mascot.”

Luca laughs and turns his eyes to me, and I can’t help but burst into a grin when the full force of his smile hits me. “A mascot?”

“Sure,” I say. wrinkling my nose a little. “I’m the little spunky one. I get them all full of spirit and then send them out to kick ass while I cheer on the sidelines. All of the victory, none of the work.”

Luca laughs again, slinging his arm around my shoulders, and I know we both ignore the tingles that run through us like…god. I don’t know, like twinkling starlight under my skin, or fresh winter air blowing in the first snow, or something equally dramatic and wonderful.

“Well,” Luca sighs, starting to walk towards our numbered van and taking me with him, “no sitting on the sidelines today. Do you know how to do any of this survival shit?”

“A little bit,” I say, underplaying my knowledge in case it turns out that I forget it all when we’re out there.

“Good,” Luca sighs. “You teach me to start a fire, I’ll punch anyone who comes at you. Deal?”

“Deal,” I say, grinning. But my face falls when we reach out van and the rest of our group turns to us with cold expressions. I blink, surprised – because while I don’t know any of their names? They certainly know ours, and they’re not happy to see us.

–

skin. Next to “Well, look who it is,” says the tallest a broadly built guy with dark hair and pale, pale him stand his shorter twin and another who looks unrelated, with dusky brown hair and freckles. “The Prince’s pet, and his pretty boy bodyguard.”

I blink in surprise and a little bit of wonder, my mouth falling open a bit. What the what the hell

is this?

–

Luca, to his credit, responds much more ably, dropping his arm from my shoulder and putting his hands on his waist, grinning at the three other guys with the easy confidence of a man who can punch their lights out in a second.

Which, granted, he probably can.

“I’m sorry,” Luca says, his words easy though his tone carries just the barest edge, “looks like our reputation, naturally, proceeds us. But I can’t say the same for you, as I have no f**king clue who

you are.”

“Alan Wright,” the tallest says, stepping forward and glaring into Luca’s face. A little bit of me is pleased that he has to look just slightly up to do it. “And you should know me, Grant

I’m ranked

higher than you.”

I tilt my head a little in surprise because I do recognize the name – alongside my two mates, my brother, and my cousin.

it’s consistently in the top ten,

“For now,” Luca says, giving Alan an easy smile. “And these two?”

“Perry Gibson and Graham Wright.” Alan growls, and I quickly put together that the slightly shorter paie–skinned guy is related to Alan somehow, though I’m not sure it matters how. “And none of us are

pleased with the way that your little pet here has been getting perks because he’s connected to the royals, even though he’s clearly the weakest candidate here –”

“Hey!” I protest, stepping forward with a frown because I mean – I’m shit at a lot of stuff, but I have definitely held my own in marksmanship and the intelligence exam

“Don’t be so jealous Alan,” Luca says, stepping forward with some venom in his voice. “It’s not Clark’s fault that your own pets are so damn ugly.”

I smother the tiny absurd laugh that tries to burst when I hear him say that, and Alan stares at us in shocked surprise, having no idea how to respond.

“Yeah,” Luca says with complete confidence, glaring down into Alan’s face and then flicking his eyes to Perry and Graham – Alan’s pets who look equally surprised. “Nothing to say? That’s what I f**king thought.”

Alan is still speechless with a confusion when Luca grabs my arm and pulls me into the van with

him.

“What the hell was that!?” I hiss, following Luca to the back of the van, where we take the back bench.

“It doesn’t matter what you say,” Luca murmurs to me as we watch the other three climb into the van after us. “As long as you do it with the authority and get the last word. That guy has no idea what just happened – it will keep him thinking all night, which is what we want.”

I shake my head at Luca and laugh a little, kind of impressed with the way he lets his sheer confidence carry him through the word. Honestly, he didn’t do much, but he definitely got the upper hand in that conversation. Why can’t I do things like that?

“That’s good,” Luca says, smiling and laughing along with me, his words whispered. “Let them see you laughing – don’t let them see that they rattled you.”

“I mean, they didn’t –”

“Well maybe they should have a little bit, Shrimp,” Luca says, raising his brows and looking forward at Alan, who glares back at us over his shoulder for a moment. “Because that guy could definitely kick your ass, and he definitely wants to.”

I purse my lips a little considering it. “Well then I guess I’m lucky that I’ve got my pretty boy body

guard to keep me safe.” I say, turning to look up at Luca with complete innocence.

His face bursts into a grin as he looks down at me. “Pretty boy, am I?”

“Oh, come on.” I say, my eyelids dropping a little in disbelief, “it can’t be the first time you’ve been called a pretty boy, has it. Grant?”

“I’ve endured that particular slur all my life,” he sighs, tilting his head back and staring at the roof of the van like it’s a great burden he’s had to bear. “It’s just been so hard being this good looking.

“Poor baby.” I laugh, shaking my head. I open my mouth to tease him more, but I don’t get the chance, because our Lieutenant climbs into the front seat of the van and starts to drive us away from the barracks and out into the wilderness.

 

Chapter 23

The five of us stand in a small clearing of forest in a semicircle around our Lieutenant who repeats the instructions we were given his morning. I look around as he talks, only half–listening because 1 already know what our job is. I’ve got a good memory, after all.

I look up at the sky above the trees, thinking that it took longer than I thought to get everything ready and get us here. It’s already well past noon, which doesn’t give us a ton of time before night falls.Our task is pretty simple, though. All we have to do as a group is light a fire, boil water so that it’s potable, produce some kind of sustenance for ourselves – fish or edible plants – and demonstrate that we can do basic first aid if anyone gets hurt in the process. Once that’s done, we’ll be given a compass and a map with our location marked and we’ll be required to traverse the ten miles back to the barracks. Anyone who doesn’t complete the group tasks, or fails to make it back tomorrow by dinner, receives a failing mark.

I shrug, thinking it will be pretty simple, as the Lieutenant hands Alan our small packet of supplies, which contains the first–aid kit, flint, a machete, and a small spool of wire with some fish hooks. We’re strictly forbidden from using anything in our packs to aid us – they’re only supposed to carry extra clothing and blankets in case we need to sleep out here before the jobs get done.

“I think.” Alan says, turning towards the group of us, “that our best plan is to get this done and hike through the night. I, for one,” he says, looking at Luca and I with particular venom, “have no true interest in spending more time as a group than we have to.”

“No argument for me,” Luca says, nodding in agreement. I don’t say anything at all as Alan begins to parcel out the supplies to his friends.

“How the f**k,” Perry murmurs, “are we supposed to boil water when they didn’t even give us a pot?”

Alan looks askance at Graham, who just shrugs, making my eyebrows go up. Am I seriously the only one who knows the answer to this?

I wait a second for Alan to volunteer the answer but he just stares at the flint in apparent confusion while Graham grabs the machete and strides over to a tree, starting to hack at the branches. Luca’s eyebrows go up as he smirks, and I can tell that he’s a little entertained, watching the smaller smack at the branches.

“What – what the hell are you doing?” I ask, my voice ringing through the clearing.

guy

All eyes turn to me, including Graham, who glares. “I’m getting firewood,” he says, as if it’s obvious.

“Oh my god,” I huff, stalking over to him and grabbing the machete out of his hands. “You can’t use live wood for a fire – it’s wet. Wood has to be dry.” Graham shouts and grabs back for the machete but I quickly move out of his way. I sigh and look around. “Do any of you know how to do any of

this?”

“I can fish,” Perry says, reaching out for the coiled wire and set of hooks. He looks over at the deep

stream that runs by our clearing. “I mean, I usually use bait, but…I can dig up worms and tie these lines to some poles.”

“Great,” I say, my voice dry. “Why don’t you take Graham and do that. Us other three will get

started on the rest.”

“You’re not in charge here. Clark,” Alan says, his voice bitter.

“I think he is.” Luca says, crossing his arms and grimacing at Alan. “I mean, if you want to pretend you know what you’re doing out of pride, I guess that’s fine – but I’m completely lost here, and willing to take direction if it means not losing my place in the standings. What about you?”

–

Alan takes a deep breath, so clearly battling his pride and not wanting to admit that I might have skills he doesn’t even if I am a shrimp. But eventually he exhales and tosses the flint at me. I barely catch it after it bounces off my chest.

“All right.” Luca says, turning to me with raised eyebrows. “What’s next?”

“Fire first,” I say, nodding. I give terse instructions, falling into a very pale imitation of my father, who taught us all of this stuff when we were very young. I mean, Jesse and Rafe have been going on big camping trips with dad and Uncle Roger for years, doing much more complicated stuff than this. But dad? He always made sure I could do the basics.

“Luca,” I say as I begin to gather dry brush, wood, and stones – both flat and round. “I want you to go see if you can find some berries.” I snap my head up and hold his gaze, “do not eat any of the ones you find a lot look good but will make you sick. Just….bring them all back here, in case the fishermen don’t have any success with their worms. Alan, I want you to go into the woods and find the fattest birch tree you can find. White, with smooth bark – do you know the one I mean?”

–

“What the f**k is this,” Alan growls, crossing his arms over his chest. “Are you trying to embarrass me, sending me on a mission to find a fat tree?”

I roll my eyes at him, exasperated. “I don’t know what your problem is with me, Wright, but it

– the bark would be great if you could get over it until we’re through this. I’m not f**king with you can be used to make a container for the water. So will you just go find it?”

—

Alan stares at me for a long moment but then turns and heads into the woods, his hands fists at his sides. Luca winks at me and gives me a little salute before heading in the opposite direction. I take a glance over at Graham and Perry, who are busy tying the fishing wire to long sticks. Pleased to see them busy, I get started with the fire.

After arranging the flat rocks in a circle, I create a small pile of dry brush in the center. Then, kneeling quite close to the pile of brush, I use the machete to scape some magnesium on the back of the flint. Leaning close, I strike the flint with the metal edge of the blade, sending sparks onto the pile.

The magnesium lights in a flash and when one of the sparks catches, I’m ready for it. I lean forward, blowing gently on the flame to give it oxygen. I dangle some dry brush above the baby flame so it has something to consume. It stutters for a moment, but the flame greedily takes the

bait, starting to flare. I grin. pleased, and sit back on my heels, starting to add some small sticks.

“Wow,” a voice says, and I blink, looking up at the Lieutenant, who nods at me. “That was….that was crazy fast.”

“Thanks,” I say, giving a pleased little nod. Fire it’s never really been hard for me. I’ve always even been faster than Rafe and Jesse with this part. The lieutenant nods again, making a notation on his clipboard, and I grin, realizing that I’m getting credit for making the fire.

By the time Luca come back with two handfuls of berries, the fire is burning cheerfully and I’ve started adding small logs that I’ve hacked up with the machete. “Holy shit,” he says, his eyebrows going up. “Did you did you do that?”

“No.” I say, looking at him with blank sarcasm. “When you were gone the Lieutenant tossed me a lighter.”

“That is…seriously impressive, Shrimp,” Luca says and I grin, stupidly pleased at his compliment as I stand up and reach out my hands.

“Show me what you’ve got, pretty boy,” I say, teasing. Luca laughs as he drops his haul into my hands. I sigh as I quickly sort through the selection. “No luck,” I murmur, tossing the berries into the fire. “None of those are edible.”

“How do you know that?” he says, looking mournfully after his bounty.

–

“Why do you keep asking me these things? I already told you I went camping.”

“With like, the King?” Luca asks, wrinkling his nose a little in disbelief.

“Yes,” I say, grinning at him a little. “Except, we don’t call him the King. We just call him…Uncle Dom.” Or, dad. Uncle Dom is just what Jesse and his siblings calls him.

“That’s so weird,” Luca breathes, shaking his head at me, making me grin.

“I found the fat tree,” Alan says ruefully, coming into the clearing and renewing his glare.

“Show me” I say, giving him a thumbs up. Scowling seriously, does this guy ever cheer up? – Alan leads Luca and I into the woods. I grab the machete on our way. It doesn’t take long to get to the tree

Alan selected and I nod it will work.

“Okay,” I sigh, lifting the giant knife, “this is going to take a while. I need you two to go back and feed the fire while I work. Just….keep giving it more wood, make it burn really high and really hot. And when it gets really hot and there start to be coals beneath the live flames, start putting those round stones into the embers.”

“Why?” Alan asks, his voice snotty, and I turn to glare at him.

“Because little elves told me to, Alan,” I say, totally dry. “Does it matter? Just do it.”

Luca bursts out laughing and Alan glares at me, but Luca pats Alan on the back and leads him away.

12:38 Sun, Tu Mar

I shake my head, starting to cut and peel back a large swatch of the birch bark.

“It’s gonna be a long night,” I murmur to myself as I work.

Yes! My wolf says, trotting back and forth inside of me. Let’s stay all night under the stars! We can share a blanket by the fire cuddle up! We can –

“Oh my god,” I sigh, doing my best to ignore her.

1

But honestly? I’d be lying if I said that I don’t share some of her impulses.

—

we can sit with Luca

Because the opportunity to hang out with Luca alone, at night, under the stars? Well. I’m not going to get very many opportunities to do that with Rafe glowering over my shoulder.

So…..do I take advantage of this opportunity?

Or just let it pass?

And if I did decide to take advantage of it…

What would that look like, precisely? I bite my lip, my stomach fluttering as I consider it.

Chapter 24

Fortunately or unfortunately for me, my wolf has a lot of ideas about how I can take advantage of a night in the woods with Luca. And every single one of them is incredibly impractical and ridiculous.

Just let down our hair and then he will know and then he will grab us and press up against a tree and kiss us and kiss us –

I grit my teeth as I make the final cut, finally freeing the long, single piece of birch bark that I’ve been peeling off the tree for hours. Seriously, it’s slow, painstaking work.

“What are you even thinking about?” Luca asks from behind me, and I gasp and jump, dropping the piece of bark to the forest floor.

“Luca!” I growl, glaring at him and bending over to scoop the bark back into my hands. “You scared me! What are you talking about?”

“I saw you.” he says, leaning back against another tree and grinning at me. “You were all growly, muttering things to your wolf, shivers running down your spine. What is going on with you?”

Youuuuu! My wolf supplies internally, howling the answer. We were thinking about you!

“Why are you being so creepy?” I ask instead of answering, working very hard to hide my terrible. blush and failing. “Spying on me like that?”

“Well, I was just coming to get you,” he says, standing up when I come near. “I didn’t realize you were going to put on a show.”

“It wasn’t for you,” I say, my voice low as I step close enough to give him a little shove with my fingertips against his chest.

Yes it was! My wolf counters, her toes tapping eagerly, but I ignore her.

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it,” Luca murmurs, leaning close and smirking down at me. I freeze for a second, turning my head and staring up at him.

Because I mean I don’t have a lot of experience with guys –

–

But I would swear to god that he’s…he’s flirting with me…

Luca stares down at me, holding my gaze, his smile growing incrementally as he blinks his long lashes slowly over his pretty brown eyes in a way that makes my breath catch. But I clear my throat, blushing again as I force myself to turn away, starting to stalk back to where the Lieutenant is waiting.

“Did we get any fish?” I ask over my shoulder, not taking the risk of looking at him. Because, honestly, if he looks at me like that again…

Sun, TU Mar

…I’m at severe risk of throwing myself into his arms.

Do it, my

wolf hisses, and this time I mentally smack her on the nose, because there is too much at risk for her meddling right now. She gives a little yelp and retreats, just a little.

“We got one!” Luca says, his voice cheerful. “Just one little guy, but it counts, right? Food is food.”

“I think so,” I say, smiling as I come into the clearing and seeing my other three teammates sitting around the fire, the tiny fish guted and sizzling on one of the hot stones nearest to the flames. “Nice job, guys!” I say, grinning around at them cheerfully.

“Not nice for all of us,” Perry murmurs, holding up a bloody finger.

“Oh.” I say, gathering two round sticks about the same size and coming to sit next to him. “What happened?”

Perry explains about a slight mishap while attempting to gut the fish with one of the hooks – I took the machete, after all – and I nod to him, saying I’ll patch him up in a minute.

“Don’t bother,” Alan mutters, flipping open the first–aid kit. “I know how to do this.”

I half watch, grimacing as he starts to put a bandage onto Perry’s finger before cleaning it, but luckily Luca stops him so I don’t have to, stepping in making sure that the finger is properly cleaned before being covered. In the meantime, I split the sticks about halfway down their centers and fold the long strip of birch bark in half, and then at the edges, wedging the ends inside the split sticks to make a sealed little pocket. It looks for all things like a pillowcase made of bark – sealed on three sides with one open end.

When it’s ready, I take it down to the stream and fill it with water before bringing it back.

“What the hell are you going to do with that?” Luca asks, genuinely interested.

“Fill it with rocks,” I murmur.

“What?” Graham asks, baffled. But I don’t answer, asking Luca to hold the pocket steady and using another pair of sticks to lift the round rocks that have been heating in the embers, dropping them one by one into the pocket full of water.

The boys start to realize what’s happening almost instantly. “There’s no way that’s actually going to work,” Perry murmurs, leaning forward with interest.

“It will,” I reply, glancing up at the sky, which is starting to grow dark. All of this took a lot longer than I thought.

I keep rotating the stones, removing cooled ones and replacing them with burning hot rocks, until the water in the pocket first steams, then simmers, and finally comes to a rolling boil.

“Amazing.” Luca murmurs, lifting his eyes to mine with a very genuine smile on his face. “That was amazing, Shrimp.”

“Is it even drinkable?” Alan asks, leaning forward to peer at it. “It’s all…dirty.”

“It’s just carbon,” I say, giving a little shrug as I study the slightly–cloudy water. “Like what they use in water filters. It’s not the prettiest water, but it won’t kill you.”

“And I suggest you pack it up,” the Lieutenant says, pushing off the side of the tree and tossing an empty canteen to us. “It’s all you’ve got for the hike home. Are you sticking with your plan to hike through the night? Or…”

The five of us look around at each other and Alan nods, scowling at me.

“Yup!” Luca says, answering cheerfully for all of us and smiling at the Lieutenant. “As much as we’d love to sit around swapping fireside stories…I think it’s best for us to head home.”

“Great,” he says, dry, pulling a map and a compass out of his pack and tossing it our way. your fire before you go. Try not to die.”

“Bank

And then he turns without another word and heads for the van, getting in and driving off before the rest of us can say a word.

“Wow,” Perry says, his eyebrows high. “Abrupt.”

“Whatever,” Alan growls, standing up.

“Let’s go.”

“Why are you so mad,” Luca says, passing the canteen to me and getting to his feet. I slowly fill the canteen, watching them. “We passed – now all we have to do is get home.”

“Because your flashy little shrimp did all the hard stuff and took all the credit,” Alan growls, leaning into Luca’s face. “The rest of us barely had a chance –”

“Oh whatever,” Luca snaps, leaning down and grabbing the map and the compass. “You want your fair share? Lead us home.” He smacks both objects against Alan’s chest, shoving him a little as I screw the cap on the canteen.

“No one even gets individual credit for that,” Alan retorts.

“Trust me,” Luca says as I stand. “We’ll all make damn sure the Captain knows who got us home. All right?”

Alan mutters something, turning away as I head to the stream to fill the little birch pocket with water to douse the fire. “Does he even know how to use a compass?” I ask, bending down to dip my little container into the stream.

“Better than me,” Luca says, shrugging as I stand and turn to him. I laugh a little as we head back to the fire and I pour the water over it, kicking dirt on top as well.

“Seriously, Luca,” I sigh, looking up at him when it’s all finished. “You should learn some of this stuff it’s survival basics

–

“Well,” he says, grinning down at me, standing closer than he really needs to. “Maybe you can teach

Sun, Mar

me.”

My lips turn up at him a little as I smile, forgetting to reply as I stare up into his gorgeous face. God, seriously, it’s so unfair that a boy has lips as lush as that with a perfect cupid’s bow cresting

the top-

“Are you guys coming!?” Alan barks back at us, making us jump.

“Yup!” Luca says, his voice oddly tight, and he doesn’t look at me again as we start down the road, letting the other three take the lead.

 

Chapter 25

Luca and I chat the entire walk home.

us down

And though the walk takes us about five hours the terrains rougher than a flat road, which slows

the time passes in what feels like a blink. The three ahead of us are relatively quiet, trudging along the miles and tripping on stones in the darkness, but Luca and I get lost in latighter.

God – he’s funny, and he laughs at my jokes too, all of which just twists my heart a little because as each mile passes my crush on him grows bigger and bigger, inch by inch.

He tells me all about his childhood, raised in a big family like mine. How he was so angry as a kid after his dad left, but how his mom’s brother took him into the gym and taught him to redirect that anger into solid blows at a punching bag, teaching him the art of boxing and keeping him out of trouble. And honestly, it should be a sad story, but the way he tells it – god, my cheeks ache for laughing so hard and smiling so much.

“Honestly, Shrimp.” Luca says, smirking down at me as our final mile begins, “if any animals were thinking about taking us out, they’d certainly shy away knowing we’ve got a hyena in our group, shrieking into the night.”

“Shut up,” I laugh, swatting him in the stomach with the back of my hand. “It’s your fault –”

“It is not my fault that you keep making that shrill noise –”

I burst into laughter again as he teases me, unable to help it, shaking my head at him. “Stop making me laugh, then,” I say, grinning up at him.

Luca doesn’t say anything for a moment, staring at me, connecting with me in that quiet way we’ve been doing all day. “Stop making me want to make you laugh,” he murmurs, just the corner of his mouth turning up. “Honestly it’s….weirdly rewarding, seeing you crack up like that.”

I blush a little, biting my lip, and I look ahead, wrapping my arms around myself to ward off the goosebumps that are forming on my arms. I don’t bother to wonder if they’re a result of the growing cold or the butterflies he’s sent looping around my stomach.

“You cold?” Luca murmurs, drawing close.

“Um,” I say, not knowing what to say. Because if I say yes, I feel like he’s going to…

“Here,” he sighs, slipping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. I sharply draw in my breath but… I don’t move away. Instead, I slowly exhale, leaning into him just a little bit.

Just for body heat, I tell myself, not letting myself consider that we’re both carrying backpacks filled with extra jackets and blankets.

WHATEVER, my wolf says on a gleeful exhale, laying on her back and letting her tongue hang out of her mouth in ecstasy.

I scowl at her and turn my attention back to the task at hand: getting back to the barracks safely and ignoring the tingling sensation that passes all along the side that’s pressed close to Luca, and across my shoulders where his arm lightly rests.

We’re quiet for the rest of the walk, but when I glance up at Luca I see that there’s a smile on his face, his eyes trained on the road ahead, both of us just ignoring the fact that he’s walking with his arm draped around me. And I grin, and keep walking because…

Honestly, it should be more awkward, but it’s not. Everything in me just screams right.

Luca drops his arm from my shoulders as we come closer to the light of the barracks, letting his fingers trail down my back before he moves away. We’ve dropped back far enough where our other three teammates are unlikely to have seen us, but…well, we’re back in the real world now, aren’t we?

We step inside and I notice with surprise that our group is the only one that made it back this early. “Wow,” I murmur. “I mean, I thought we were slow, but…”

“Maybe the other teams didn’t hate each other’s guts as much as ours did,” Luca says with a shrug, walking slowly for his bunk. I follow.

“I don’t think Perry hated us,” I murmur, glancing towards the bathroom where the other three have disappeared.

“Yeah, well. I don’t think we’ll be swapping recipes with him anytime soon,” Luca says, his voice dry. “Not when he’s tied up with those two.”

I hum a little consideringly as Luca grabs his bathing things and then waits for me as I grab mine. We head into the bathroom together, but I blush horribly when Luca heads for the showers, stripping off his shirt.

“Are you coming?” he calls over his shoulder.

my

I mumble something awkward about it being late and how I’m tired, and Luca just shrugs. I turn

back, pressing my eyes shut as Luca drops his shirt on the bathroom floor and starts at the buckle of his pants. I brush my teeth as fast as humanly possible then, congratulating myself for accomplishing

the monumental act of personal restraint it takes to not glance backwards when I hear the shower turn on.

Instead, I scurry out of the bathroom, mentally scolding myself to respect my mate’s privacy, especially when he thinks I’m a boy.

Then, denying my wolf’s near–constant urge to strip–down and climb into that shower alongside my mate, I haul myself into my bed and flip back onto my pillow, pulling my cap down over my eyes so I can get some sleep, or at least contain myself marginally.

My rest is interrupted, though, about fifteen minutes later when I hear Luca’s voice disturbingly close to my ear.

“Hey,” he says, and I shriek and jump a little, spinning towards him, realizing that he’s standing on

the edge of Rafe’s best his arms looped over the side of my own, the way Jesse usually stands when he wants a spnet word Lanca grins instantly, laughing at me “Jumpy,” he comments.

“Tired.” I say, glaring at him a little but turning on my side, propping my head on my hand and gazing at him “Why do you disturb my slumber, pretty boy?” I try to inject some teasing into my own voice then, but honestly I think it fails. Because I mean with his dimples flaring like that–he really is just so pretty

“Brought you dinner,” Luca says, lifting one of the wrapped sandwiches I’m getting very sick of and placing it by me on the bed. “I figured you forgot to go get one for yourself.”

“Why did you think I’d forget?” I say, smiling and taking the sandwich, pulling it close but not unwrapping it.

“Because you always do.” he says softly. “Rafe always has to bring you food, remind you to eat.”

A little smile pulls at my mouth. “Have you been watching me, Grant?”

He stares at me for a long moment. “Can’t seem to help it,” he breathes, and my heart feels like it completely stops as he reaches out a hand, his fingers drawing dangerously close to my cheek –

But at the last moment his eyes shift to his hand, and he clenches it into a fist, drawing his lips into a tight line. “Good work today,” he says, nodding and shifting his eyes away from me. “Um. Yeah. Good job.” He hops down from his spot and waves to me over his shoulder. “See you…tomorrow. Today. When…whenever.”

“Night, Luca.” I say softly, though I know he hears me.

And I groan as I flop again back on my pillow, holding my sandwich against my stomach, wondering how the hell I’m supposed to get to sleep while my heart is racing this fast.

But my doubts are soon proven wrong as I hastily eat my sandwich and rest my head back on the pillow again, totally beat. I curl up in my blankets, at least content in the knowledge that I don’t have to get up early, because candidates aren’t even expected back until dinner time.

—

Still, my last thoughts are inevitably – about Luca, wishing he’d stayed, wishing we’d had chance to talk more – even for a few minutes or for a few more hours….

1

My dreams tonight are unusually vivid, and I feel more conscious in them than I usually do. I blink, looking around at the hazy birch forest, which is somehow bright even though it’s edged with fog. I turn my head, considering the pretty white trees with their leaves turning golden for autumn, pleased and surprised. And then I run my hands down over my favorite white nightgown from home – relishing the

soft feel of it beneath my palms. Smiling, I next run my fingers through the long length of my hair, which I never get to do anymore because it’s always tucked up under that

little cap –

“Hello?” a voice calls, and I go very still.

Who the who the hell is that?

And suddenly, as I peer through the forest, I instantly recognize Luca, even though he’s standing far away. I groan a little, because of course I can’t stop thinking about him even when I’m asleep – hell. I fell asleep thinking about him, wanting to spend more time…

“Seriously, where the hell am I?” Luca mutters, his voice carrying through the trees.

And suddenly my eyes go wide because….

Because…

My mind flashes back to what my mom and Aunt Cora have told me before

About meeting their mates in the dream state-

Which they can only do once they’ve met, and invited them there –

I gasp. slapping my hands over my mouth as I realize that…

“Who’s there?” Luca calls, turning towards my gasp..

Frantic I dart away, hiding behind a tree. “F*ck, f**k!” I hiss, peeking out and seeing him walking closer.

My breath comes in fast pants as I panic – because he can’t see me here – he can’t see me like this – even if he does figure out that this is just a dream, he’ll have seen me in a dress with long hair! And he’s not stupid – he’ll remember it in real life and put the pieces together!

I clench my fists at my side, forcing myself to think

I press my eyes shut, willing the dream to end.

No, my wolf says, her voice echoing out loud now – because she’s in my head and so am I now.

“Let me out!” I hiss, looking around for her.”

No! she says, more cheerfully this time. Play with him! We need this!

Cursing, I listen carefully and panic when I hear Luca’s footsteps moving closer

“Hello?” he calls again. “Seriously, is there someone there?”

My heart starts to seriously pound when suddenly I realize that…that this is my dream, right?

And if it’s my dream…I have control.

I look down at myself, willing my nightgown to change….and suddenly, it’s gone, replaced by my grey candidate uniform. I gasp and reach up, realizing that my hair has been tucked into my cap as it always is.

And, slowly, I start to smile.

Sun, Tu Mar

That’s my girl, my wolf says huffing a wolfy little laugh. Now got

And, smiling, cursing myself for being an idiot and taking needless risks…I step out from behind

the tree.

“Hey,” I say, and Luca turns to stare at me.