Love Athena

Chapter Two

Camila smelled him before she saw him.

She was at the royal pack's north side high school library doing her daily rounds, organizing and removing books the students had put in the wrong places.

"Your Highness, a pleasure to see you," she said, not looking down from the top of the twenty-foot tall ladder she was on.

"You do not feel pleasure, archivist," the prince said coolly.

She listened for the presence of another person. She could hear a few behind a shelf twenty-five feet away, trying to either get a look at the prince or eavesdrop on their conversation. Both reasons irked her. She felt another emotion coming, the first since she saw him last night.

Irritation.

"Social mannerisms are a chore. Did I say it wrong?" she asked him as she put the last book in its place, trying to mask how she felt. He still noticed.

Are you okay, sweetheart?, he mindlinked her. She jerked her head in the direction of the eavesdroppers.

I noticed them as soon as I entered; we'll leave here when you're done, he mindlinked again.

"I have a message from the king," he said, with formality-the king, not my father.

She slid down half the length of the ladder and jumped down the rest at neck-breaking speed. His hand moved forward to hold her, but he stopped himself at the last second.

Don't do that to me, mate, he exploded in her head.

"I was fine, and you knew it," she muttered, knowing he would hear her. She made quick work with a bow, and he rolled his eyes.

Why not just mind link? he asked.

"My wolf is inactive. I cannot mind link." When she straightened, she continued, extending her hand to receive the scroll. "But this is not the time or place for that discussion, Your Highness."

She moved to put it in her bag, but he held her hand to stop her.

The reaction was immediate: his hands flew into his pockets, and she clumsily dropped the scroll.

As she bent to pick it up, ensuring her back was to the girls, she muttered, "I would rather we refrain from touching each other in public, Your Highness."

So we can in private, he said slyly. In mind link, of course.

She reached under his right ankle and yanked out his leg hairs. He flinched but composed himself, glaring at her. She stood and began to walk outside of the building in the direction of her office, three streets away.

When Camila entered and shut the door of the fairly unused building, she turned to him and held up the scroll. "I assume I am expected to read the contents right away."

He had been staring at her, and her voice seemed to snap him out of the trance he was in. Camila took two steps back.

"Yes, yes, you are," he said, shaking his head. She opened it and read through it, realizing her plan of avoiding him had failed.

"Your Highness, do you know what is in here?" she asked him, studying his actions to check if he would lie.

"No, but my dad did look smug as he handed it to me. Now that I think about it, why did he send me to you?" he said, rubbing my jaw. Truth.

"You only just think about it now," she said.

"The only thing I did think about was the fact that I was going to see you without making up an excuse," he smiled. Another truth.