The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

But suddenly Gabriel appears in the middle of my room and strides immediately for me. "You are not to go there," he snarls. "Sleeping there!? In the Darkness!? What were you thinking!?"

I cringe away from him again even as my wolf snarls.

"Gabriel," Elias says, his voice warning. "Reel it in."

To my shock, Gabriel does as Elias says, stopping before he reaches the side of the bed and comes within arm's distance of me. Still, he turns his furious face back to mine. "Did you like the pretty cage I built for you, pet?" he growls, leaning forward to stare into my eyes. "So that even if you try to escape me by going to the Land of Darkness, I've still got you trapped."

I realize it all with sudden clarity that rather takes my breath away. That all of those cages in the Land of Darkness - they're for me. Just in case I try to run away using that world - because, somehow, I'm better at it than him. Better at shifting there, better at navigating it, because he only dedicated himself to Darkness five years ago.

But me? I've had this gift since I was born.

I fight, hard, to keep a smile from curling on my lips. But the desire to keep my pleasure hidden is aided

by the realization that...it must have taken ages for them to build all of those cages in the other world - the miles and miles of steel fence to keep me trapped.

Which means that they've been planning to trap me for...a long, long time.

I look up into my mate's seething face and suddenly make a decision that I...do not want to be in his presence any longer.

And so I shift again, as easily as breathing, my eyes catching a sly smile on Elias's face as he watches me go.

Suddenly I'm back in my bedding in that dark world, looking up at the moons that still hang in the sky, letting that smile come fully to my lips.

Because Gabriel can follow me here, but I can just shift back. And every time he chases me from one world to the other, his talisman - whatever that is - will weaken. Which means his only real choice is to eventually leave me the hell alone.

I sigh, slightly mollified by this tiny victory, and curl up in my stolen duvet, looking up at the sky, my wolf huffing with sadness as she curls up in my soul.

Because it really is just a tiny victory in a very horrible situation. Honestly, the idea that sitting alone in a cage in a wasteland world is my best refuge...

My wolf gives a little howl and I press my eyes shut, knowing that this is going to be along road. Wondering, honestly, how I'm going to survive here. Because my mating ceremony is in a week! And I can't spend the entirety of that time curled up in this cage.

Even if it's the only place where I can even start to feel like myself.

Jesse groans, pressing the heels of his palms against his closed eyes, laying flat on the ground in the yurt Because by now, to his best

estimate, he's spent a week here net

with Midnight in this strange world

of Darkness, even though it's hard to tel because there's no sun and no clocks and time is...weird here.

But regardless of how much time has passed, he's never, ever been so bored in his entire life.

Midnight, on the other hand, is delighted.

"Do you want to play the cards again!?" she asks, her voice thrilling with anticipation.

Jesse sighs and drops his hands to his chest, turning his head to watch as his funny little mate lays out

the scraps of paper in front of her, shuffling them up. In this past week they made a little deck of cards and he taught her to play poker, using little bits of stick as chips.

To his surprise, her agile little mind immediately took to the game and she fleeced him for all that he was worth after about two days. He grins at the memory, laughing a little.

"Come on!" Midnight urges, grinning at him. "I'll loan you some sticks."

"I already owe you ten thousand sticks," Jesse sighs, shaking his head. "I don't need to get into any further debt. I'll end up like my father."

"Oh, come on," she replies, laughing. "I'll go easy on you."

Jesse sighs and pulls himself up to a sitting position, groaning as he does. Because, of course, he refuses

to share Midnights bed and also refuses to let her sleep on the floor instead of him. Which makes him feel quite gallant but is doing one hell of a number on his back.

"All right, Ace," Jesse says, scooting closer to Midnight and rubbing his hands together. "Put me down for fifty stick and deal me in."

She laughs, delighted, and does as he says.

Jesse watches Midnight, a little

smile on his face as he watches her

.n

sort the flimsy little cards and then deal them out. Because even if the majority of the week has been horrible - just hard labor doing the basics to stay alive, and terrible food, and an incredible amount of boredom and anxiety worrying about everyone at home - getting to know Midnight has been...

Well, it's been lovely.

As she peeks at the two cards she delt herself, Jesse thinks again on his initial hatred of this girl. And even if he realizes that it was justified in this moment -he was scared for himself, after all, and for Daphine - he knows now that it was too harsh. Because she really is just a sweet girl in a horrible situation.