“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.”