THE LOST PRINCESS OF TYE WOLVES

A P

this the entire time. There was nobody else on earth I'd rather be sitting next to right now, in this big unfamiliar hall, starting this whole terrifying new chapter. The orientation started, and honestly, Hanna was right; it was mostly stuff we'd already read online. I was taking notes anyway because that's just who I am. The air shifted slightly when he sat down on an empty seat right next to me and bumped my arm hard enough that my pen scraped straight across my notebook. "Seriously?" I said before I could even think about it. He didn't look at me. "It wasn't intentional." "An apology would still be nice." He turned then, and I got my first proper look at him. Sharp jaw, silver-grey eyes, the kind of face that made it very clear he already knew exactly how he looked. "My apologies," he said, in a tone that had zero apology anywhere in it. "Wow," I said, "super convincing." Something moved across his expression, not quite a smile, not quite annoyance, somewhere right in between. "Alexei," he said, like that was supposed to land somewhere. "Good for you," I said and turned back to my notebook. Hanna was in my ear barely two seconds later. "Oh my god, do you know who that is?" "Someone with terrible manners apparently." "People don't mess with him, Aria. That's Prince Alexei, like actual royalty; his family basically runs half the country; everyone on this campus knows who he is." I glanced over at him. He was staring straight ahead now, jaw tight, like the conversation had already bored him completely. "Good for him," I said, and meant it more this time. Hanna grabbed my arm under the table. "You cannot just say 'good for him' to a prince." "I just did." "Aria." "Hanna." She stared at me with that look she always gave me when she couldn't decide if she was impressed or terrified. I turned back to my notes. The orientation wrapped up about forty minutes later, and people started filing out in groups, loud conversations filling up the hall. Hanna was already on her feet, straightening her jacket. "Okay, first things first," she said, "we need to find the cafeteria because I didn't eat breakfast and I'm about two minutes from being unpleasant." "You're already unpleasant." "I'm delightful, and you know it; come on." We joined the crowd moving toward the exit, and I was just starting to feel like I knew where I was going when I heard him again, right behind me. "You're in my way." I stopped and turned around slowly. Alexei was standing there with two other guys behind him, both of them built like they'd never missed a gym session in their lives. He wasn't looking at me like I was a person; he was looking at me like I was a minor inconvenience standing between him and wherever he wanted to be. "T