“You’ll just have to get Ariel pregnant immediately. That way she’ll be chained to you forever.” my fiancé’s father’s voice is cold, calculating. “She knows her place.” my fiancé replies. “She’ll fall in line and become a proper wife in short time.” My heart sinks when I realize that they’re talking about me – and not as a soon-to-be newlywed Princess, but just as…as some kind of surrogate. All my life I’ve been the perfect Princess – learning manners, diplomacy, and always flashing the perfect smile for the camera. Today I’m going to take the biggest step I can towards helping my nation: I’m going to marry the Prince of Gangidor to build the military alliance. For one more extra rehearsal of our immediate wedding, I snuck into the prince’s private suite and overheard the conversation that shocked me. The King, my Prince’s father, chuckles darkly. “Don’t underestimate her, son. Her claws are too sharp now, you will have to nullify that part of her.” “Sharp claws or not, she’s just a girl,” my fiancé says, his voice thick with derision. “What’s the worst she can do? All she’s been trained for is taking pictures, buying jewelry, and decorating the house, just like mom.” “Ariel Sinclair is not like your mother, who came to me ready to kneel,” his father replies. “This Princess has been over-indulged; her parents and brother have doted on her and allowed her to learn skills that women shouldn’t touch. You’ll have to break her, son, and fast. The best path to that is to get her pregnant tonight.” My jaw drops open in shock, my hand covering my mouth to hold back my appalled gasp. Never – not once has the Prince indicated that he felt this way about women! About me! “Ariel’s a prude,” my fiancé says on a disappointed sigh, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment. “She barely lets me kiss her, so I don’t think knocking her up tonight is going to happen. ” “There’s a great deal at stake in this, son,” the King snaps, and I silently peek around the door’s edge to see the two men standing in the middle of the room, their arms crossed in their wedding tuxedoes, casually discussing how to break me. Rage mixes with the disgust in the pit of my stomach, turning over and over until I feel sick. “You need this girl under your thumb,” the King continues. “Conquer her, and then all the resources of her kingdom will pass to us. If she won’t submit to you willingly tonight, you will force her.” “She’ll scream! Her guards will come running!” “She won’t,” the king growls. “It’s in the female nature to submit – women are animals, they obey the strong. Just show her that you are her Alpha – she’ll fall to her knees soon enough.” “And if she says no? Or tries to escape?” My Prince turns considering eyes on his father now, clearly encouraged and liking this plan. “There’s no way she can escape from us,” the King growls. “In our Kingdom, we have complete control over women. Even if she will one day be the Queen, Edward, she belongs to you.” Both men’s lips turn upwards in greedy smiles. And me? I almost vomit with fear and disgust. I’m already out of the suite and dashing down the hall, tears streaking down my cheeks as I run away from the Great Hall where I’m supposed to be married. My mind reels with how much my world just fell apart. Too much is tied up in this wedding – and it’s all my fault. I’m the one who pushed for it, wanted to make the political ties that would give us the extra forces we need to end this war even though my mom told me to wait for love. And I want so much to run to her arms now – but if I do that? Then she’s going to tell my dad – Dominic Sinclair, the most powerful Alpha in the entire world – and he will rip that horrible Prince to shreds without thinking twice. And that will start a second war – I sob harder as I run, totally confused -And suddenly as I turn around a familiar corner, I know exactly where I’m going and where I want to be. I hurry my steps, dashing for the old brown door, shoving it open with all my might. The door bangs hard against the wall as I stumble into the room. My brother Rafe and cousin Jesse look up at me with wide, shocked eyes, both of their jaws falling open. “I can’t do it!” I gasp, falling back against the open door, my face a mess of tears. “Ariel!” Rafe gasps, springing to my side and pulling me away from the door, pushing it shut. “What the hell happened!?” Jesse stands and takes me by the hand, leading me over to the couch as I tell them everything in stuttering sobs. Jesse sits next to me, nodding and listening to every word, but Rafe stands at my side, a deep growl growing in his chest as my story progresses. By the time I finish, his whole body is tense and shaking. “I’m going to kill him,” Rafe growls, and he takes one long step towards the door, clearly meaning it. “I’m going to rip his head off –“ “Rafe!” Jesse snaps, leaning forward and grabbing Rafe’s arm before he can get any further. “Calm the hell down.” “So, you run,” Rafe says, pulling his hands away from his face and staring at me. “You leave he at the altar, and the press paint him as the wounded party.” I nod. “Mom and dad can salvage the treaty this way, even without a marriage. But I…I have to disappear, or else Prince will force me into it – I have too much leverage on him now.” “But where the hell will you go, Ariel?” Rafe asks, sitting up, shaking his head. “He’s going to come after you! No matter where you are, he will find you!” “Nah,” I hear Jesse say, and my eyes fly open to see a wicked smirk on his face. “I never liked that guy anyway – he’s a dick. You deserve more than this. Let’s run.” “What?” I gasp, staring at my cousin. “Where?” Jesse just continues to smirk at me. “With us. Rafe and I are enrolling tomorrow anyway – we’ll just leave tonight and take you along to Alpha Academy.” I stare at my cousin for a moment in shock, and then I let out a frantic little laugh and throw myself into his arms because – because that might actually be perfect. This plan gets me out of the palace and I’ll be somewhere that no one – especially not the Prince Edward – will ever expect me to go. A notoriously secretive all-male military academy designed to weed out and train the nation’s toughest Alpha warriors. Alpha Academy.
“You two,” Rafe mutters, and I glance over to see him pressing the bridge of his nose between his fingers, just like dad does. “This is going to cause a damn firestorm that I am going to have to sort out.” “But you’re the best at solving our problems!” Jesse points out, laughing. “Come on, cousin,” he says, giving Rafe a little punch in the arm. “It’s an adventure.” Two hours later we’re in the boxcar of a train headed east, towards the war front where the Academy is located. It was shockingly easy to smuggle me out of the palace once I got rid of the wedding gown. Jesse just gave me some of the clothes he had packed, and after I had rolled the hem of the pants about a dozen times and tied the waist with some ribbon torn off of my gown…honestly, the clothes don’t fit so bad. “Okay,” Rafe murmurs, leaning back into the hay that fills the boxcar, grimacing as he types out messages on his phone. “Mom and Dad are on board.” “They are?” I ask, wide-eyed with surprise. “I mean,” Rafe says, flicking his eyes at me, “I didn’t give them any details about where we are or where we’re going, and mom is completely flipping out about you being gone from the palace without a guard for the first time in your life. But…she gets it. And they trust us.” We were always inseparable. I didn’t even really figure out that I was a girl – or that being a girl meant something different than being a boy – until I was around eight years old and I had to go to ballet class when Rafe and Jesse went to martial arts. I was devastated when I figured out that being different genders meant we had different futures in store for us. But, well. I figured out pretty quickly that being a Princess means I have my own responsibilities. Even though I loved running wild with Rafe and Jesse, I learned how to be pretty, quaint, and sweet because I knew it would help mom and dad. Plus, it kind of came natural to me. Rafe and Jesse, they secretly taught me everything they learned in their fighting lessons because they didn’t want me to feel left out. But I’m mom’s tiny twin – petite with long rose-gold hair and a heart-shaped face. I’m not built for hand-to-hand combat the way Rafe and Jesse are, but things like ballet come naturally to me.And while I thought that I was eager to do my duties as a Princess, to marry a Prince to save our nation from war? Honestly, I don’t think my heart has ever been as happy as it is right now, running away from those duties and hopping a train with my two best friends. I’m so excited that I can barely catch my breath. Of course, Rafe throws a wet blanket on my excitement. “Okay,” he sighs, tossing his phone into his backpack, finished talking to mom and dad. “What the hell are we going to do with Ariel when we get to the Academy?” “Seriously, why don’t we just take her along with us?” Jesse asks, wrapping his arms around his knees. “What?” Rafe asks, frowning at him. “You mean like, into Alpha Academy?” “Sure,” Jesse says, glancing over at me. “I mean, you promised our moms that we’d keep her safe, right? If we have to keep an eye on her, what’s easier than keeping her by our side?” I gape at the audacity of Jesse’s plan. I’ve been hearing about Alpha Academy all my life and always dreamed about going – but, of course, it only accepts male students. And while Rafe and Jesse will certainly take the warrior track, I fantasized about taking up some of the other things you can study – like espionage, or becoming a master poison maker. There’s even a rumor that you can study battle magic if you have an affinity for it. But honestly – no one really knows what goes on inside of the Academy, it’s all top secret and shrouded in mystery. But whenever one of the Alpha graduates came to the palace to consult with dad or report on the amazing advances they made for our nation? They always had this air about them – like they could take on the world. And damn, did I envy that. Still – my dreams never got far. While we always knew Rafe and Jesse would go, I had to make other plans.“Well, I’m definitely not letting her out of our sight,” Rafe grumbles, his voice growing deeper at the mere idea of it. He shifts his eyes, studying me. I sigh a little, hanging my head, knowing it’s impossible. “It’s not that I don’t want you there, Ariel,” Rafe sighs, guilty. “It’s just not a safe place for girls –“ My head whips up and I open my mouth, ready to protest that I can take care of myself, but my brother is already waving a hand, dismissing the idea. “It’s over a hundred testosterone-fueled Alpha males in their early twenties, Ariel,” Rafe says, frowning, “with no female attention for months. You’ll get eaten alive. There are going to be guys there like Luca Grant –“ “Luca Grant’s going to be there?” I ask, my eyes going wide as my head snaps up. Grant’s a minor celebrity – he’s the junior heavyweight boxing champion of our nation as well as a rather notorious ladies’ man. But he just retired from boxing to join the military in a show of national pride. His story has been plastered all over the news. And it doesn’t hurt that he is…insanely good looking. He’s got these dimples that… Well. His dimples are beside the point. But I had no idea he was going to the Academy or that he’d be part of Rafe and Jesse’s class. “Isn’t the simplest thing just to just keep plans the same?” Jesse asks, interrupting my thoughts. “Ariel just…comes with us.” “You’re being ridiculous,” Rafe scoffs, glaring at Jesse and starting to lose his temper a bit. “What, we’re just going to waltz into the candidate barracks filled with a bunch of hormonal Alphas like ‘oh hey, we brought our little sister! Don’t touch her! Hands off!’” “No,” Jesse says, his eyes bright and eager. “We don’t waltz in with your sister,” he says, pulling his backpack over and rustling around in it, pulling out a grey camo-print patrol cap, standard issue for all Academy candidates. He plops it on my head. “We waltz in with your brother.” “What!?” Rafe seethes, appalled. “No, it’ll work!” Jesse says, grinning now as he scoots next to me and begins to tuck my rose-gold hair up under the cap. I grin right back at him, realizing where this is going. “Rafe,” Jesse says, turning to my brother with a wide grin, “meet Ari. Ari Sinclair.” Rafe’s mouth drops open as I laugh and then rearrange my face, trying to look tough and do my best impression of a dude. “Oh my god,” Rafe groans, allowing himself to fall back into the welcoming softness of the hay. “No, absolutely not – this will never work –“ “No, it will!” I insist, excited now. “It will work, I can do it! I’m Ari!” “No, you’re not,” Rafe mutters, his voice further muffled by the hands still pressed over his face. “You’re Ariel – you do ballet, and you arrange flowers, and you like making seating charts –“ “Not anymore,” I say, turning and grinning at Jesse, who nods eagerly at me. “Now, I’m Ari. And I’m a boy.”
Now I’m Ari Clark, a family cousin on Aunt Cora’s side. But things start to get immediately real as Rafe and Jesse sling their backpacks over their shoulders and we start to walk towards Alpha Academy, a rugged castle built on top of the cliffs that rise before us. I gulp as I stare up at the castle, a little shiver running through me. “It’s cold here,” I murmur, even though it’s just towards the end of summer right now. “You’ll warm up,” Jesse assures me with a wink. “Besides, see that hill?” he says, and I look where he points. “There are apparently some hot springs over there. If you get too cold, we’ll just dunk you.” I move to elbow Jesse in the stomach for this suggestion but he neatly dodges me, laughing. Anxiety twists in my stomach we continue to walk, though. Can I really do this? “Stop stressing about it,” Jesse murmurs, leaning close and bumping his shoulder against me, knocking me a bit sideways. I scowl, wishing I was taller. “You’re trying to solve problems you haven’t even come across yet. Just chill out.” “Classic Jesse advice,” Rafe mutters, shooting him a little glare as we start to climb the hill, “which doesn’t make any sense right now because we actually have very real problems to solve. Like the fact that Ari Clark doesn’t have any ID? And is also in possession of – you know, girl parts? And is tiny, and about to get his ass beat by a bunch of gigantic wolves?” “Hey!” I protest, giving Rafe a shove that…well, proves his point more than it does mine, because he doesn’t budge at all. “I can stand up in a fight against both of you! Don’t doubt me now!” “Are you serious, Ariel?” he asks, stopping in his tracks, his shoulders slumping. “Seriously think about this – about everything that you’re suggesting here. Are you just trying to get away from your asshole fiancé? Or do you actually want to train at Alpha Academy?” My face falls a bit as I realize that his question is a good one – that so far, I’ve basically been running on adrenaline. I take a second to think about it, tilting my head back and looking up at the castle on the cliff. And as I think about it…my mind flashes to all the things I wanted to do but was discouraged from because I’m a Princess and a girl – hockey lessons, and weapons training, and long chats with dad and Uncle Roger about war strategy. It was all boy stuff, but it means a thousand memories of doors closed in my face, a constant reminder that I had to learn a completely different set of skills. Because I’m a girl. Because I’m…a Princess. But I can’t be a Princess right now. I need to hide at least until this all blows over and Edward and his family leave our nation with a treaty intact. That’s all going to take some serious time. And quite suddenly, without the weight of my Princess title for the first time since I was eight…I realize how completely free I feel. I can do…whatever I want. And I know, instinctually, deep in my heart, precisely what I want. My wolf lifts her rose-gold snout to the sky, giving me a little howl of courage. Tell them, she urges. So, I bring my gaze back to my brother and my cousin. “I want to do this,” I say quietly determined. “If it had ever been an option for me, this is what I’d have chosen for myself. And now that it is?” I nod steadily. “I want it, Rafe. I want to be here.” I look around the room while I finish rolling up the wrists and the ankles of my uniform, my hair tucked discreetly up under my cap. And I can’t help but stare open-mouthed at all of the boys wandering around the barracks. I mean, it’s not that I haven’t been around guys before – but the sight of boy after boy flooding through the door? I mean…it’s pretty great. I mean, I’ve flirted a little – and Edward, he kissed me a few times before the wedding, mostly chaste stuff for press, but in general… Well, I’m a Princess. It sort of makes sense that I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life, right? Any guy who wanted to date me had to get through my gigantic overprotective dad, the King, and not many were very willing to do that. I blush now as I look around at all of these guys in front of me. Because they’re all so fit, like they’ve been training for weeks before submitting themselves as candidates for Alpha Academy so that they can hit the ground running. And I have to admit…it’s kind of a buffet. A few guys in particular catch my eye. There’s a tall blonde one who has set up shop in the bed almost diagonal from us, with a jaw so precisely molded it looks like it was cut with a diamond. And nobody can miss Luca Grant at the center of the room – god, he’s actually signing autographs. But he’s just as good looking as he is on TV – maybe even hotter. And then there’s a sort of shy, slim boy with dark hair that falls into his eyes who looks moody and watches everyone. I mean, I never thought that was my type before, but now? I have to admit, I find my eyes drawn to him. Rafe slings his own supplies onto the bed next to Jesse’s and then smacks my arm as he points to the bunk above his. “Up,” he commands, interrupting my reverie. “What?” I ask, confused. “You’re up here,” he says, patting the upper bunk and giving me a big fake grin that lets me know it’s not a request. “Where I can watch you. All the time. And smack you when you stare too openly at all of the guys who are now your comrades, not your eye candy.”
The next two hours are…an education in boy world. I sit perched up on my bunk, staring around in awe. This room has more than a hundred boys in it right now, and we’ll all be sleeping in here together through candidacy. When that’s done, if we make it, we’ll move up to the castle to more private dorms. But seriously? Until then? I’m kind of…thrilled. The atmosphere here – it’s totally different than anything I’ve ever experienced. There’s a great deal of shouting and laughter, and two fist fights have already broken out, along with quite a few arm-wrestling matches. Girls? We’d all be simpering and sizing each other up. Guys? They just clasp hands and smack each other on the back, instant friends. But then a boy walks by in his underwear – which I’m not complaining about in itself – but my eyes go wide with shock when he just blatantly, casually dips a hand into his boxers and scratches his balls – “So, what do you think, cousin,” Jesse says, making me jump as he pops up at my side, standing on Rafe’s bunk and using the leverage to hook his arms over the edge of mine, grinning at me. “Regretting your choices yet?” “Boys are…” I whisper, still looking around with awe, “a completely different species.” “I think our prim little Princess likes it,” Jesse says with a laugh, observing my fascination. I laugh too and lift a finger to my lips. “Don’t tell Rafe,” I whisper, knowing my brother – like my dad – is crazy over-protective. “Your secret is safe with me,” Jesse whispers back, giving me a wink. “Just…try to look more boyish, all right? You’re sitting up there like a pretty little barn owl, staring around with those big eyes.” I gasp a little, realizing that he’s probably right. I hunch my back a little, unfolding my legs so that I’m not so prim. “Is this better?” I murmur, pitching my voice lower and laughing because I feel ridiculous. “Just scratch your ass a little more around people,” Jesse suggests with a grin, “let people see you burp.” Horrified, I glare at him. “Absolutely not.” Jesse laughs and then holds out his arm to me, wrist up. “Here,” he says. “What?” I ask, tapping at his closed fingers, thinking he has some little present hidden in his fist. “No,” Jesse says, laughing, and then he beckons me closer. I lean towards him and, lightening quick, Jesse wipes his wrist across both sides of my neck and then across my own wrists. “What’s that for?” I ask, frowning, confused. “Scent marking,” he replies in a whisper. “Sometimes you smell like a girl. This will disguise it a little, make it not so obvious.” “Won’t I just smell like you?” I ask, confused. He shrugs. “We’re cousins,” he replies. “No one will notice or care.” “Oh,” I say, and then I lean back in my bunk as Jesse jumps down and goes to talk to a light-haired boy who has just come to introduce himself to Rafe. I didn’t even think about smelling like a girl – what else is going to give me away? I try to think it through, to strategize, but soon the room is so filled with young men that I can’t really think about anything else besides watching them, studying how they move so I can move like that and start to blend in. I can’t even really keep track of which one is which as they all move around the room, unpacking their personal items and introducing themselves to their neighbors. Which is why it is so incredibly disconcerting when I find my head snapping to the left, my eyes frantically searching because… Because I swear, I just smelled…the most amazing scent that has ever crossed my nose – My wolf leaps inside me, which is itself shocking – she’s usually so calm that I sometimes forget she’s there – Get it, she commands, instantly starting to prowl, go find it – you have to – it’s ours – “What?!” I say aloud as I sit up stark straight, suddenly a little freaked out. But then I lift my nose and almost moan aloud when I smell it again – that incredible, amazing scent – the sharp bite of citrus, bergamot and wet pavement baking under the summer sun, apricots and almonds – Something snaps within me, an almost physical twist that redirects everything in me – all of my goals, all of my dreams – just wipes them away in the singular pursuit of it, of him – Mate!, my wolf howls, lifting her nose to the sky and singing the word, her feet dancing. Go! Get up! Go and find him – Mate! Mate! Mate! And I gasp, pressing myself back against my pillows because I know it now – know it for certain in my heart and my bones – that my mate is here – But as I look around, frantic, something…something else crosses my path. And I do moan aloud this time, my lower lip starting to shake as I go limp, falling back against my pillows. I have to press my eyes shut against the leather and whiskey scent of him – red hot cinders and the sharp bite of pine on a night so cold even the air freezes – And, to my horror, something else snaps within me, shaking me to the core, so much so that my shoulders start to tremble with it. Because…because the other one is still there – and this one too – They’re both still there, both bonds now calling to me, urging me to run in two different directions at once – I’m suddenly nauseous, my head spinning as gravity reorients itself in two directions, trying to point both north and south at the same time, my internal compass spinning – I raise my hands to my temples and give another soft moan. “Ari,” Rafe says, coming to the side of the bed and peering over at me, concerned. “Are you all right?” But I don’t reply, my eyes pressed tightly shut as I concentrate on my wolf, on the ridiculous thing that she’s saying – Inside of me she prowls back and forth, giving little hops of excitement, turning in eager circles, her tongue lolling from the side of her mouth. Get up! She urges me, snapping her teeth with glee, go and find them! Now! What?! I say to her, frantic. But that’s ridiculous – we can’t – we’re in disguise! Go!, she commands, and I find myself sitting up straight, my eyes flying open despite myself. Go and find them! We need to meet our mates! But as I look around the room – it’s too much of a mess. I know that they’re here – but I have absolutely no idea which ones they are. “Seriously, Ari,” Rafe says, peering at me closely. “You’re…all pale. Are you okay?” I spin my head to look at my brother with frantic eyes, my breath coming fast now. Behind him I see Jesse turn, confused, looking at me with curious worry. I open my mouth to stumble something out – anything – to beg them to help – But before I can, a loud clap sounds at the head of the room and we all spin towards it. Everyone goes silent, staring at the Academy Captain standing there with four Sergeants. He’s a gigantic man with a rough, craggy face that doesn’t look like it’s seen a smile for twenty years. But I can’t think about that now – my head still spins, and I do my very best to keep my eyes forward and concentrate on walking as my body begins to adjust, not allowing myself to be distracted by my surroundings or by my stupid wolf, who is howling at me – begging me to go find them, to hunt them down, to strip off my uniform right now and – The Captain scowls around at us, clearly displeased with our disorder. “Fall in,” he snaps. “It’s time for your first examination.”
“Time for the ranking,” the Captain growls, looking around at us with distaste. “You’re dressed in your grey candidate fatigues because you have not yet earned your Academy black. The bottom twenty percent of candidates will be cut at the end of the second week of candidacy. I suggest you take this seriously.” The Captain surveys us, his eyes cold. “Today’s test,” he barks out, “measures what you won’t survive without at the Academy: physical prowess. Rafe Sinclair! Kenny Dextrin! You’re up – first blood wins!” The Academy is famous for teaching its students the most cutting-edge methods and technologies – but first ranking is determined by a fist fight!? The match is over shockingly fast. Rafe knocks Kenny down and bloodies his nose within thirty seconds. When Luca Grant is called, I smirk a little. Luca dances around his opponent and taunts him for a while before whipping out a swift uppercut that knocks the other boy clean over. I bite my lip a little, admiring his technique – and the spread of his muscled shoulders – when to my horror I hear my own name. Or at least, my pretend name. “Ari Clark! Robert Brown!” My jaw just drops open because – god, I’m such an idiot – but as long as I’ve been standing here watching, I’ve never thought about how I was going to have to do this! I groan as I realize that I slipped into my Princess identity – I’m used to standing on the sidelines, watching Rafe and Jesse fight – “Let’s go, Clark!” The Sergeant snaps when he sees that I haven’t stepped forward. Rafe, next to me, sighs and puts a hand on my back, shoving me forward. I look back at him in shock but he just shrugs, his eyes clearly saying you wanted to join the Academy, kid. Frantic, I turn to Robert, who is already stepping into a fighting stance. As he puts his fists up and I finally realize that I’m actually supposed to punch him, the candidates all around us start to shout and whistle. “Come on!” Robert shouts, urging me forward. “Let’s do it!” But I just stand there, shocked. Someone starts to laugh uproariously and then bellows, “The shrimp’s scared!” Others start to laugh too, and then they pick up a call: “Shrimp! Shrimp! Shrimp!” This, somehow, spurs me on – and finally gets my wolf to pay attention to something besides that insane thing that happened this afternoon – two boys – two scents – Kill him, she growls, stalking forward within me. Show ‘em all… And so I start to step forward, my lips curling back, raising my own fists the way Rafe and Jesse taught me to, moving fast towards the other boy – Everything goes black. When I open my eyes I see Jesse staring right at me, peering again over the edge of my bunk. “Hey there, Shrimp,” he says, smirking at me, but not without sympathy. “How you feeling? He got you good.” I open my mouth to say something but pain instantly flares over my entire face. “Ith it…” I say, my voice all stuffy from my poor injured nose, which I raise a hand to gingerly touch, “Ith it broken?” Jesse takes a moment to press my nose between his thumbs, pushing at it experimentally, which hurts like hell. I gasp and wince, but he shakes his head. “Nah, cousin, you’ll be all right in a few days. You’ll have one hell of a black eye, though.” Well, also, I can’t smell anything with my nose all messed up, can I? So, I have no idea which of these boys are… God, I can’t even think the word to myself. Mate! My wolf gleefully supplies, dancing around inside of me, ignoring my pain. Your mates! Both of them! Get up now, shift into me! I can smell them! I can do it! I would love to do it! I scowl, ignoring her and closing my eyes again, wishing I was still knocked out. A few minutes later, though, my rest is interrupted by something landing on my pillow that makes me jump. I gasp, opening my eyes, and then I scowl when I see a cellophane-wrapped sandwich and a water bottle next to me, along with a packet of pain killers. “You okay, kid?” Rafe asks quietly, and I jump a little to see him standing where Jesse was before, peering at me closely. “No, I’m dying,” I sigh dramatically, collapsing back onto my pillow. “That breaks the pact,” he says, shoving me lightly on the shoulder. “You die, mom kills me – then dad’s only got Markie and Juniper left, their two worst kids. You know we can’t do that to them.” I smirk, laughing a little, but then I flinch when laughing hurts. “Hey,” I say, suddenly remembering that I missed the big event. “Did you win?” Rafe just gives a casual shrug but Jesse pops up behind him. “Of course he won!” Jesse says, looping a proud arm around Rafe’s shoulders. “You should have seen the brute he had to take out though, Ari,” he continues, his eyes wide and thrilled. “You’re being dramatic,” Rafe murmurs, shrugging Jesse off even though he can’t keep the corners of his lips from turning up. “No seriously,” Jesse says, leaning in to me. “He was like, bigger than Rafe, maybe – or at least as big – and totally brutal. You could tell he had never been formally trained, but he just went into his fights like a damn madman –“ “Really?” I ask, curious, sitting up a little. “Which one was it?” “That big boulder over there,” Jesse murmurs, pointing across the room. I see him instantly – who couldn’t? He’s seriously gigantic – rivaling even my dad in size. He hunches over in his bunk, looking down at his mattress with his arms resting lightly on top of his knees, totally stoic but clearly disappointed to have come in second. His dark hair falls in his face like he can’t be bothered to push it away. “You beat him?” I ask, turning shocked eyes on my brother. “Don’t act so surprised,” Rafe snaps, frowning at me, offended. I laugh a little and lean over to give him a shove on the shoulder. “You’re right,” I say in an overly-girly voice, like a deranged cheerleader, teasing him. “No one can beat Rafe Sinclair!” Jesse laughs with me, turning to watch Rafe turn red as he scowls. “Eat up,” Rafe mutters as he hops down from the bed, “and take the painkillers.” Then he hesitates, looking over his shoulder, and leans in to whisper. “There are some closed shower stalls, but…I don’t think you should go in there anytime soon. All right?” “I’ll do it in the morning,” I say with a yawn, reaching out to grab the cold water bottle and press it to my face, moaning a little at the instant relief. “I’ll get up at 3, before anyone else.” “Okay. Wake me up too. I’ll come with you.” “No,” I say, shaking my head. “You need sleep. It’ll be okay.” “Just wake me,” my brother growls. I nod to appease him and lean back against my pillow with a groan. Fine, my wolf growls as I drift of, displeased. But tomorrow, we’re finding them! Unfortunately, as fate would have it, tomorrow is too long of a wait.
I wake up in the middle of the night and groan a little with pain from my stiff muscles and my aching face. I prod at my nose, pleased to find that it’s already much better – the speed of wolf healing really is great, even though my nose is still too swollen to truly smell anything. But as I sit up, I realize that the real problem here is that I am…grimy. I’m completely covered in sweat and blood and my body feels…disgusting. I stick out my tongue as I survey myself, not even really able to believe that I was able to fall asleep like this. I mean, how much pain had I even been in? A lot, my wolf reminds me, nudging me with her nose. Can we go find them now? I scowl and mentally push her away, not able to think of it – or maybe just not wanting to, not right now. I mean, what the hell does it mean – what do I even feel about any of this? Did I imagine it? Or did…did two mating bonds actually snap into place yesterday afternoon, the day after I left Prince Asshole at the altar? But no. That’s impossible. You get one fated mated – just one! And most people don’t even get that! I don’t even know what one mating bond snapping into place feels like, let alone two. My wolf must be wrong – whatever happened must have just been…I don’t know, some kind of hormonal reaction to being around so many boys all at once. I’m not wrong! she growls, snapping her teeth at my denial. But I ignore her again. I quickly move to the wide communal bathroom at the end of the room. I grab a set of supplies from the waiting shelf and dash towards the shower stall. But when I pull back the curtain I gasp – actually gasp – in horror at the site before me. The floor and walls are covered in muck, and boy hair, and – oh my god, is that even blood in the corner? I scowl at myself, hating this side of me that’s decidedly a Princess… …but I have to get clean. And quite suddenly I remember what Jesse said on the way in – that there are some hot springs over the far hill. I breathe out a little moan, instantly wanting nothing more than a long, hot bath all by myself. To get clean, and to refresh myself – I just know it’s the one thing that will set me right. —— After about five minutes of searching for the hot springs, I find them. They’re everything I hoped they would be. Clean, fresh water – smelling just slightly of sulfur – bubbles out through a set of rocks, creating a little steaming pool that’s just deep enough to sink into. With a quick glance over my shoulder to check that I’m actually alone, I strip off my clothes and fling off my hat, running my fingers through my hair as I wade into the pool, moaning a little at the luxurious warmth of it enveloping my exhausted and battered body. When that’s finished, I tie my hair back in a knot at the base of my head and I take a deep breath, closing my eyes and turning my face up to again stare at the castle against the sky as I start on my body. As I run the bar of soap all over my skin, pampering myself a little as my muscles unwind, my mind turns to the question of battle magic, and just how the Academy might teach something like that. Because Rafe and Jesse and I – we’re all supposed to have some kind of magic, a gift from our Grandmother, the Goddess. Mom and Aunt Cora told us each about it when we turned sixteen, but…none of us have manifested anything yet. Mom is an incredible healer, and Aunt Cora can control the weather, but the three of us?
Not so much as a spark, no matter what we’ve tried. Mom tells us not to worry about it, that the Goddess will reveal her gift in time… But the Academy…would it have a way to bring something like that out in me? And if so…what form would my magic take? My imagination spins as I consider the possibilities as I soap myself down and I smile a little, staring to feel, finally, like myself again. I even hum to myself a little bit, carried away by how good this feels. Of course, the feeling is short lived because just as I set the soap aside and splash a handful of water up against my face, a voice rings out behind me. “What the hell are you doing here?” And I gasp, spinning and instinctually dipping low into the pool so that I’m up to my chin in the opaque water, staring up at the dark figure standing at the edge of the pool. I push myself away from him through the water, terrified but unable to see who it is – But as I reach the far side of the pool, terror streaking through me, the cloud covering the moon skates away revealing… Another candidate – and not my brother or cousin. My eyes go wide in shock as I realize, quite suddenly, that it’s Luca Grant – all six-foot-two of him, staring down at me – “Seriously, Shrimp,” he says, crouching down and looking all around. “What are you even doing here? And did you see a girl running around? I’m looking for her.” My mouth drops open a little as I realize that…that in the dark he can’t see my long hair knotted at the back of my neck, or any details about my body underneath the water. And, simultaneously, I realize that I smell like all girl right now because in soaping myself down I washed off all of the scent Jesse rubbed on me, which was covering me up – My mind whirs, but luckily my mouth responds without me. “Um,” I say, pitching my voice a little lower. “No, I haven’t seen anyone.” “Shit luck,” the boxer says, standing and sighing as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been getting bits and pieces of her scent all day…she’s got to be around, but I can’t figure out where…” “Why…” I say again, hesitating and rubbing at my nose, desperate now to be able to smell something – “why are you looking for her?” “’Cause,” he says, sighing in frustration. “She’s my mate.” “Impossible,” a growling voice snaps, making both of us jump and spin towards the hulking figure that comes out of the shadows next. And my eyes go wide when I realize that… That it’s the huge, scarred brute that Rafe beat in the last bout – who hung his head in disappointment in his bunk – “Pardon?” The boxer says, raising an eyebrow at the bigger candidate who comes close to glower over him. To his credit, Luca doesn’t flinch. “She can’t be your mate,” the brute snarls, glaring down at Luca and not even sparing me a second glance. “Because she’s mine.” Yes! Yes! Yes! My wolf yelps within me, spinning in eager circles, holding her tail high like a banner. Our mates! Both of them! But my reaction is the opposite. “Ohhhh no,” I whisper, shaking my head as I look between them. Two mates – both looking for me? And neither of them realizing that I’m treading water right here!? How the hell am I going to get out of this?
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