The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Mark walks down the hall with a heavy heart, his hands sunk deep in his pockets, a scowl across his lips. God, he just...can't seem to do anything right, can he?

He regrets it, of course. Immediately he regretted it, treating Rafe's news so lightly, laughing about it, not paying attention enough to realize that the door was open, not realizing truly - the gravity of the situation. He's devastated at the effect on his brother but Maryam - seeing her face.....

Truly, he acted horribly to the girl who should one day be his sister-in-law. Of course the news was hard on her - a human who doesn't even feel bonds, can't possibly understand them. She deserved to have the news broken to her in a much gentler way - or, even better, to have Rafe...fucking befriend her first.

Mark's father and mother had explained all of this to him in both angry and gentle terms, but he'd understood it all from the start.

That he fucked up and it really hurt a lot of people.

God, he's always been...such a fuck up. When will he learn?

Mark sighs as he continues to wander through the hall, wanting to head outside, to run as his wolf in some of the parkland very close to the palace. But his mom told him not too - told him it's too late, and though things are better in the war that it's too dangerous for him to go out all alone. So, Mark wanders the halls of the palace instead, restless, needing the movement to settle his wolf, who likewise paces in his soul.

But even as Mark winds his way endlessly through the halls, his mind turns to his siblings. All of whom just seemed...

...well, to have grown up without him.

"When the fuck did that happen?" Mark murmurs, shaking his head. Less than a year ago they'd all been kids, but now Ariel and Rafe are both mated... Ariel three times, and now she has Jackson's mark, which means he has a new brother?

And Juniper, trial that she is, is off in some Underworld somewhere battling with some kind of God of Death for...the future of all souls?

What - why had he been left behind? Why did everyone else's adult life start, and he's just here...still a kid?

Mark sighs, shaking his head, wondering. Because that's what everyone has been saying to and about him - his dad, and Jesse, and uncle Roger. That he needs to grow up - that it's time to man up and step into his responsibility. And it's not that Mark doesn't want to do that, just...

Well, how does one do that?

"Oh!"

A surprised voice sounds down the hall and Mark stops in his tracks, lifting his head quickly up. Because...who the hell is awake, and in this relatively abandon part of the palace's guest halls?

Mark's eyes widen when he sees a very pregnant young woman at the end of the hall, her hands pressed tight to her stomach, her bare feet stilling in what looks like a repetitive trek back and forth on the hall carpet.

But Mark continues to just stare at her in surprise. Not because of her presence any longer, or the strange fact that she's alone in the hall in the middle of the night

No Mark's shock is because she's...

She's so pretty.

His wolf suddenly goes wild in his soul, breaking into a reckless sprint, a garbled howl breaking from his mouth.

"I'm sorry," the girl says, taking a step back towards her door. "I – I'm very uncomfortable," she says, glancing down towards her

stomach, "and my Alpha is sleeping, and didn't want to wake him and..."

But suddenly she goes still too, her own beautiful eyes flashing wide as she stares back at Mark.

Mark's wolf, wild and out of control in a way that he so rarely is these days, bites him hard, urging him viciously forward, and Mark takes a few stumbling steps towards the young woman, his eyes flashing hungrily over her, taking in every inch of her very fine robe, her silky hair braided demurely back, the soft curve of her cheek - such a creamy white, just barely flushed with pink -

—

And then her scent hits him, all pomegranate and ginger and autumn air, andnoveldrama

Mark clenches his jaw against the moan that rises in his throat.

The girl's eyes flash wider if that's possible and she steps back and away, pressing herself against her door, her hand fumbling for the handle. Mark gasps, desperate for her to stay, doing his very best to reign his wolf back in -

But she gasps, and finds the handle, and quickly turns it and rushes inside,

slamming the door shut behind her.