The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

I can't help but huff a little laugh and shake my head. "Why are you telling me this, Elias?" I wonder, passively, if it's a lie. But...why tell me lies? It's not like I'm going to be able to go home and report on them. Simply to further my trust in him? "Whose side are you on?"

"I," Elias says, quietly putting his coffee back down on the table, "am on whatever side gets me the hell out of this place, Ariel. Although I should more properly say 'us,' because I'm not leaving without Pippa or our child."

My eyes widen in surprise as Elias looks over at the door.

"Pippa is the only good thing in this entire damned place," he says, quite soft, almost as if watching for her. "She is purely good, in every sense of the term, but I can't stand to see - every day - how this world crushes down her spirit, obliges her to be smaller to serve the needs of the men in her life. Me included. And our child," he sighs, turning back to me and locking his eyes with mine. "Is a girl."

Instantly, I understand. Because I'm not a mother - and honestly, I've never given a lot of thought about whether or not I want to be. But the idea of raising a little girl in this horrible world? Where she can't even shake hands with a man and will be bought and sold through marriage?

No. Absolutely not.

But even as I understand everything Elias has said, I keep my face smooth and calm, blinking at him like a very simple deer who only understands every fourth word that he said.

Elias smirks at me. "I hope you'll learn to trust me at some point," he murmurs, tracing the edge of his coffee cup with the tip of his finger. "But I understand now why you don't. But I promise, you, Ariel - I'm on your side. I've done a great deal of work to ensure that Gabriel trusts me, but the moment I get a chance to run? I'm leaving. And...I hope you'll help me with that. For Pippa, if not for me. She's my best friend - has been since we were little children."

I stay very still, my heart aching for this poor man who I hope very much is telling the truth. I want more than anything to lean forward and take his hand, to promise him that I'll do everything I can to help. But even as my wolf howls, I just...don't have enough information yet. I don't know if I can trust him.

The door's handle clicks and Pippa saves me, slipping back into the room with another little jug of cream neatly balanced on her hand. "Back!" she says, smiling cheerfully at both of us and slipping the pitcher onto the table. "I hope I wasn't too long. Did you get on okay?"

"Yes," I say, smiling up at her, which is easy. "Elias was just telling me that you met as children."

"Oh," she says, glancing at me and blushing a little before straightening up and smoothing a hand over her baby bump. "Yes, and now we've got one of our own on the way. Such an exciting time."

She smiles prettily at me and takes her seat next to Elias, leaning happily against him. And as I look between the two I wonder...well, I wonder actually how much of it is a façade between them. Is the love between them quite real? Is it a friendship, a marriage of convenience? Or has Elias been lying to Pippa the whole time, ruthlessly using her as his beard in a world where he desperately needs one to survive?

My wolf nips me internally, almost making me jump. Not Ben's mate, she says, her teeth flashing a bit. Someone mated to our Benny couldn't possibly be that cruel.

But as the door creeks open again and my eyes dart towards it, finding a very cruel man indeed standing there, leaning against the door frame, leering at me like he can't wait to tear me to shreds...

I wonder if that can be true.noveldrama

Because here's a man that I'm mated to - unequivocally. And he is...absolutely horrible. Does this mean that...some part of me his horrible too?

Or is something else going on?