All Chapters of Disguised Before The Alpha Prince: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

PEARLWe reached the edge of the Scholar Woods, where a few academy staff waited to tie the blindfold and time us. The forest loomed ahead, tall trees casting dappled shadows across the marked path. I could already spot ropes, low-hanging branches, and what looked like a shallow stream near the middle.Perfect. Just enough to humiliate us.Demyan turned to face me, his hands already behind his back like a prisoner accepting his fate.“Go ahead. Blind me,” he said dramatically. “Let the world fade into darkness.”“You are so dramatic.”He grinned. “That’s what makes me fun.”I tied the cloth over his eyes a little tighter than necessary. “If you fall, don’t blame me.”“Oh, I will,” he said easily, “and I’ll make sure the whole academy knows it.”“Ready?” one of the scholars asked, raising a small brass timer.I took a breath. “Ready.”“Begin.”We stepped into the woods, my voice already firm and clipped. “Okay, step over a root in three… two… now.”His foot barely missed it.“Oh, you a

DEMYAN – POVLater that day…The classroom was quiet. Scrolls rustled softly, quills scratched faintly over parchment, and the low hum of the lecturer’s voice droned on about werewolf treaty negotiations from the Old Age.I should’ve been listening. I really should’ve.Instead, I was watching Perin out of the corner of my eye.He sat beside me, hunched slightly over his notes, a tiny furrow between his brows as he wrote. His sleeves were rolled up, and a few strands of hair had fallen loose near his cheek. He kept blowing them away absentmindedly.It was… distracting.And not in the usual, he’s-a-good-duel-partner to me but today it was something else. Something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something I didn’t want to feel, especially not for someone who constantly avoided me like I carried the plague.And yet, there I was.Staring at his hands. Wondering why he smelled faintly of wildflowers and smoke. Wondering why, when he looked at me sometimes, I felt like I was standing too clos

PEARL – POVThat guy—Lucien—walked straight toward me like he belonged here. My spine stiffened the moment he leaned down, his breath grazing my ear.“Don’t worry. I won’t bite,” he murmured, voice smooth like silk laced with poison. “But remember what I told you.”Then he moved away and took a seat in the back row like nothing had happened.But everything had changed.My fingers curled tightly around my quill. Goosebumps prickled my arms, and a cold sweat broke out at the back of my neck. I couldn’t focus. His words kept circling in my mind like vultures.What exactly does he know?Is it… that I’m a girl?My throat tightened.My aunt had warned me that those responsible for my parents' deaths still believed I might be alive. That they were watching. Waiting. And if anyone suspected—even slightly—I could be their next target.Was Lucien one of them?I tried to keep my expression blank, but inside I was spiraling. I forced myself to breathe, to look down at the parchment in front of me

PEARL – POVBy the time I made it back to the dorm room, the sky had already begun to shift to soft hues of gold and peach. My legs felt heavy, like each step dragged the weight of everything I was carrying—Lucien’s cryptic warnings, the near disaster with Demyan, the fear of being found out.When I pushed the door open, my heart skipped a beat—not from nerves this time, but mild relief.Demyan wasn’t there.Instead, I was greeted by the familiar calmness of Killian, who was quietly scribbling something into his notes, and Rowan, who looked up from where he sat on the window ledge, his face immediately lighting up when he saw me.“There you are,” Rowan said, hopping down and walking toward me with a warmth that almost made me forget everything else. “We were wondering where you ran off to.”Killian glanced over his shoulder, nodding. “Demyan said you needed some air. You alright?”“I’m fine,” I lied, forcing a smile as I placed my book bag on the table. “Just needed a breather.”Rowan

ROWAN POVFrom the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew.Perin wasn’t like the others.Maybe it was in the way his gaze flickered too gently. Or how he flinched slightly when spoken to too harshly. There was something soft hidden beneath that forced composure. Something familiar… something feminine.And then I knew.Perin was a girl.And since then, it hasn’t been easy. Watching her laugh with Killian. Watching her bicker with Demyan. Especially Demyan.He gets under her skin—close in ways I don’t like.I clenched my fist as I leaned against the outer wall of the academy, just beyond the garden. I could see her silhouette through the stone arches. Sitting with her head low. Maybe she was still upset. Maybe she missed him.I didn’t.In fact… part of me felt relieved that they were distant now.Demyan was always so intense around her. Always watching her like he knew something. Like he deserved to.But he doesn’t.He doesn’t know the truth like I do.He doesn’t know the kind of mate she c