Ch. 206..210: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 206-210

Chapter 0206

Frankly, most of the time I can’t feel anything, because I start to pass out as Jackson moves, somehow miraculously balancing me the whole time. The only times I come to are when Jackson passes more magic, his palm pressed against my back or my side. These come more and more frequently as he feels me fade, as he feels me start to drift away from him.

When my eyes do open, the world is increasingly black, and at first I think it’s because…because I’m dying. But then I realize that it’s just nighttime.

Jackson starts to talk to me then, keeping up a steady string of words, most of them curses and narration of what he’s doing, every step he’s taking, how close we are to the end. But some of them, blissfully, are the sweetest things I’ve ever heard.

I just catch snatches of Jackson’s words, really – of him telling me of how long he thought about me, about what I’d look like. His surprise that I’m a blonde. How much he wants to tell me, and parts of the world he wants to show me.

If I had tears, they’d drip down my face, but I don’t. So instead I just hang limply over my mate’s shoulder, mourning the loss of this incredible bond when I just got hold of it, even as I determine to stay as long as I can – even as I will myself to live, even for his sake, if not my own.

Because Jackson – he deserves a break in life, doesn’t he?

And I laugh, a little, at the irony of that thought – that Jackson needs a break, even when I’m the one dying over his shoulder, being hauled up a mountain. But Jackson laughs too, hearing or feeling my sentiments, and then he passes me more magic, and I clench my fist, determined to live.

I focus on my breathing, when I’m awake – focus on dragging in the next breath as Jackson pulls me higher, and higher.

Until, suddenly, I hear him groan, and then feel him stumble, and then suddenly stand and pause on his two feet.

“We did it, Ari,” he murmurs, panting. He passes me more magic and my eyes flutter, confused. I turn my head, tying to comprehend the weird upside-down world.

“What?” I murmur, still hanging, my fingers now as numb as my legs. Somewhere below my cap fell off, and my hair is streaming down around me. There are people all over, cadets and professors that I recognize – and…other stuff? I try to peer through the curtain of my hair, try to understand but…

Well. It’s kind of useless, so I just sigh and give up. “Okay,” I mutter, giving a little shrug. “Put me down, Jacks.”

But he doesn’t listen to me, instead striding forward, shouting at the top of his lungs that we need a fucking medic, right the fuck now.

Suddenly I jump a little, going rigid, because –

Was…was that my name?

There’s a rush of noise and then a smell hits my nose – a familiar scent I’ve smelled, I think, every day of my life, and I immediately start crying as I hear my name again, and this time I recognize the voice.

“Rafe,” I moan, reaching for him, even though I can’t see.

“She needs a medic!” Jackson snaps, turning sharply away from my brother.

“I’m right here!” There’s another familiar scent and I start to cry in earnest this time, trying to push away from Jackson, desperate to get to it – to that familiar scent of lilies, and rose, and fresh water, and rain.

Jackson snarls, stepping back, even as I try to turn to push myself up.

“I’m a healer,” the woman’s voice says, gentle and stern. “Please, please – I can help, okay!?”

“Let her go, Jacks,” Rafe says, his voice even and persuasive. “Please – you’ve done everything you can, just…give her to me.”

Jackson hesitates for a second before I feel myself moving, and I groan in agony as my mate tips me off his shoulder, and catches me in his arms and then…then passes me to my brother.

“Hey, trouble,” Rafe murmurs, smirking down at me – I think for my sake, because I can see the worry in every line of his face, even if he’s pretending he doesn’t feel it.

“What!?” the woman breathes, and then she steps forward, reaching for me as she gasps, and I turn my face to look up into what could be a mirror image. A thrill of deep love passes through me even despite the pain.

“Hey, mom,” I murmur, trying to smile, reaching for her with a bloody hand –

But before I can brush her cheek, as I so desperately want to…I pass out.

Chapter 0207

Jackson stares down at the tiny woman who is…god, she could be his mate’s identical twin, couldn’t she? Except, a little older…

“Rafe Henry Sinclair,” the woman hisses, moving closer to the Prince, glaring daggers into his face. “What the fuck are you two playing at!?”

“I’ll explain everything, mom,” Rafe growls softly through his teeth, turning away with Ari in his arms. “But right now, you need to heal her!”

Jackson stares, confused at Rafe, because…

Well, why is he calling this woman mom?

Didn’t Ari just…

And then, as the woman shoves Rafe hard on the shoulder and they start to stride towards a door built into the edge of the cliffside, everything suddenly comes together.

That woman – he’s seen her before, of course – seen her picture a thousand times in print and on television. Ella Sinclair – the Queen of the nation, Rafe’s mother.

And mother of three more children, including the eldest Princess, Ariel –

Ari –

Jackson groans, tilting his head back and covering his face in his hands, cursing himself for being such an idiot –

God, how could he have not put that together last night!? It’s not like she was even being sneaky about it! A girl named Ari, living with her “cousins,” Rafe and Jesse Sinclair!? Who the hell did he

think she was!?

“Are you coming?”

Jackson drops his hands from his face to look towards the door, where the Queen has stopped for a moment to glare at him while she holds it open, inviting him to follow where the crown Prince has carried his damn sister.

Jackson nods once and strides towards the door, obeying his summons – not because a Queen has given them, but because his mate is inside now. And he’s not leaving her alone for one damn second.

No, he didn’t come this far to let someone else take control now. No, Ari – Ariel – she’s his. His to carry, his to protect, and he’s not leaving her side again before he knows she’s okay. Maybe not even then – not for a long time.

Jackson steps quickly through the door and follows the Queen down a short hall to a simple room. The Queen shuts the door behind him as Jackson turns to watch Rafe lays a bloody, unconscious Ariel onto a crisp white hospital bed. God, she looks so tiny, so delicate…

“Hey!” the Queen shouts, snapping her fingers up in Jackson’s face to draw his attention to her. “I don’t know who you are, but you need to fill me in on precisely what happened to my daughter!” She glares at him like it’s his fault.

Jackson stands awkwardly by the door, staring at the Queen, not knowing what to say.

“Go easy on him, mom,” Rafe snaps, standing up straight as the Queen rolls her eyes and moves to sit on the edge of the bed, taking Ariel’s hand. “He’s Ariel’s mate, he didn’t do this – he probably saved her –“

The Queen’s eyes go wide as she stares at Rafe and then turns that shocked gaze back on Jackson, who just stands by the door, trembling a little.

“Well, come on, then,” the Queen sighs, waving him over as she leans over Ariel and starts to look over the wounds. To Jackson’s shock, the Queen rather callously grasps the end of a crossbow bolt and just yanks it out.

Jackson gapes because – I mean, aren’t you supposed to not pull the bolt out? What kind of doctor is she –

“Relax,” Rafe murmurs, glancing at him. “Mom’s got…I mean, it’s her magic, all right? She’s going to heal her. Ariel’s going to be fine.”

The Queen sends another glance Jackson’s way before she starts to snap out questions about what happened, and when, and how long Ariel’s been semi-conscious. Jackson answers them all as fast as he can before the Queen takes a deep breath, settling herself on the side of the bed and taking both of Ariel’s hands in hers.

Then, to Jackson’s shock, the queen just exhales slowly and closes her eyes, looking of all bizarre things like she’s just…meditating.

Rafe exhales a long breath of relief and Jackson turns to him, gesturing towards the Queen, silently asking if they’re all crazy.

Rafe just stares at Jackson and then laughs a little, nodding to the side, silently asking him to take a step away. Jackson hesitates but then follows, glancing towards the door, wondering if he should run and get a real doctor or something –

“Look, Ari’s going to be fine, okay?” Rafe whispers, glancing back towards his mom and his sister, “Mom’s…very powerful. So just calm down, yeah?”

Jackson just stares at the Prince’s face, wondering how the hell he’s supposed to do that.

Chapter 0208

Rafe just smirks, his smile a little unsteady, but he takes a deep breath and shakes his head, probably forcing himself to calm down too. “Thank you,” Rafe says, crossing his arms and looking back towards his sister, laying so pale on the bed. “For taking care of her. It…it kills me that I wasn’t there.”

“Of course,” Jackson says, instant, still staring at the Prince like he’s crazy for thinking that he wouldn’t take care of her.

Rafe looks back at Jackson and flinches a little at the intensity on the other man’s face. And then he laughs, just lightly. “I guess you two…figured some things out in the woods?”

Jackson blinks for a second and then realizes that…well, that Rafe Sinclair knows, doesn’t he? But of course he does – he just told the Queen that Jackson’s Ariel’s mate. “Yeah,” Jackson says after a minute, running a hand through his hair and looking over at Ariel again, not wanting to take his eyes away for a single second. To his shock, color has already started to come back to her cheeks.

Is it…is it seriously possible? That…

“Jacks,” Rafe murmurs, and Jackson almost jumps out of his skin when the Prince puts a hand on his shoulder. But Rafe, to his credit, doesn’t pull it away. Jackson turns to him now, starting to tremble all over like a frightened animal. “Look,” Rafe says, keeping his voice low and calm, “if mom gets to them while they’re breathing…I mean, I’ve never not seen her bring someone back, okay?”

The two stare at each other for a long moment, Jackson…not knowing how to understand it, or how to believe it.

“Ariel’s going to be fine,” Rafe insists, his voice still soft, his brows knitting together in concern. But Jackson flinches when he realizes suddenly that Rafe’s concern is…is not for Ariel anymore. It’s for him. “You got her here in time, Jacks. You did it. She’s going to be okay.”

Jackson continues to stare at Rafe for a long, long moment before he gasps in a long breath, suddenly flooded with hope he hadn’t realized he’d lost.

Because he’d repeated to himself over and over again that she was going to make it –

That she’d survive, that he’d make her survive, damn it, if he had to pour his own blood into her veins –

But deep down, after she’d stopped moving? After he could feel her pulse slowing, after she started taking the magic in lesser and lesser quantities?

God, he’d really thought he’d lost her –

And then Jackson, even though he hasn’t done it since he was a very small child, didn’t know he even could anymore – he bursts into tears. Big, wracking sobs, the kind that shake his shoulders and make him gasp for air. Half mortified, half lost in grief and worry, he tucks his face against his palms.

Rafe’s face falls, but suddenly he’s there, wrapping an arm around Jackson’s shoulders before tugging him close. Jackson, not knowing what impulse tells him to do it because he’s never hugged another man in his life, wraps his own arms around Rafe’s back and clings to him, burying his face against Rafe’s shoulder, emptying his tears.

“It’s all right,” Rafe murmurs softly, patting Jackson’s muscled back with his own broad hand. “It’s okay, let it out. She’s going to be fine. She’s going to be fine.”

Rafe murmurs it over and over until Jackson cries himself out, until the big Alpha raises his head and wipes an exhausted hand over his bloody cheek.

Rafe helps Jackson steady himself, find his feet, and then looks him up and down. “You need a shower,” he murmurs, and Jackson pauses before he laughs, just a little, glancing again towards

the bed where Ariel…

God, she looks like she’s sleeping now, even though the Queen still holds her hands, still has her eyes closed, a faint lavender light shining around both of them.

“Yeah,” Jackson murmurs, even though a shower is the furthest thing from his mind in this moment. “I guess…I guess I do.”

“Welcome to the family, man,” Rafe murmurs, clapping a hand on Jackson’s shoulder and leaning against him just a little bit. “Welcome to non-stop drama, probably for the rest of your life.”

Jackson just groans lightly at the thought, and crosses his arms, and stands steadily – even if he needs to sniff a few times and wipe again at the final tears on his cheeks.

Then, quite patiently, he stands still and waits for his mate to wake up.

Chapter 0209

When my eyes flutter open, I stretch myself a little, feeling bright and refreshed.

“All better, baby?” I hear my mom murmur and I go still for a moment before I focus on her face leaning over me.

A smile breaks out on my lips, because it’s my mom – my mom, the best mom in the whole world, who I love so much, who I’ve been dying to see for weeks –

But then I gasp, and sight up straight, with my entire reality flashing back to me in a moment – why I haven’t seen my mom for months, the Academy, the Examination –

“Slowly now, slowly,” mom murmurs, putting her hands on my shoulders and pushing me gently back towards my pillows. “You’re fixed, baby, but you’re still dehydrated and exhausted. Go easy.”

But I resist, not wanting to lay down – only wanting my mom, to be in her arms. “Mama,” I cry, tears springing to my eyes, and she relents, wrapping her arms around me and gathering me to her. She holds me close, shushing me quietly and rocking me back and forth like she has a thousand times, telling me how much she loves me and how precious I am to her. And those words – god, they heal me more than any magic she has.

I mean, that’s an overstatement. But it certainly feels like it.

“Thanks, mom,” I say, my words hitching a little in my voice. “Thank you so much. I was so scared.”

“You were scared,” she says, pulling back a little and looking at me with wide eyes, “Ari, you just laid there – I was the one who was scared. I’m going to kill you for this!”

I can’t help it – I burst out laughing, a rough and shaky sound as I lift my hands and brush my tears from my cheeks. “What a waste of magic, mom,” I murmur, shaking my head, “if you heal me just to kill me.”

My mom just moans then, shaking her head at me and gathering me into her arms again. I cringe, hating that I made her so upset, but there’s a bright side in that too, right? Because if she’s mad at me, that means I’m okay. If I was dying, mom would go much easier on me.

“I’m sorry, mom,” I whisper. “I’ll tell you everything – I promise.”

“Damn right you will,” she murmurs back, tightening her arms. “What were you and your brother thinking taking you off to that dangerous school – you’re so little, Ariel! Why did you think you could –“

“Um,”

I start a little at the manly voice that sounds somewhere to my left, sitting up straight and looking around. And my eyes go wide when I see Rafe and Jackson just…standing there, staring at us.

How – how long have they been there?

“Yeah,” Rafe says, glancing anxiously at Jackson, “I think…I think you need to let this one see that you’re okay? Or else he might have a stroke.”

Another little sob breaks from my throat as I open my arms to my mate, calling to him in my mind, and instantly he’s across the floor – so fast I didn’t even see him move – gathering me into his arms and taking shaky breaths as he runs a hand over my hair, and takes a deep sniff of my scent. As Rafe comes to stand closer by the bed, Jackson does his best to look me over all while keeping me as close as he can, which kind of defeats the point.

“You’re – you’re seriously okay?” he asks, his voice trembling. “How…”

“I’m fine,” I say, nodding my head eagerly to him, “mom patched me up, Jacks, it’s okay –“

He screws up his face in confusion, glancing between me and mom, not getting it. “So, you’re like… you are going into surgery soon? She stopped the bleeding? What about the infection – you need –“

“No,” I murmur, taking his face between my palms and shaking my head, making him listen to me. “Jacks, I’m healed – that’s her gift. It’s pretty incredible.” When he still stares at me, not getting it, I grin and lean back a little in his arms, pulling up my shirt so he can see my stomach, which looks exactly as it did before Wright plunged a crossbow bolt through it – smooth skin, no scar, no wound. Nothing.

“See?” I say as his eyes go wide. “Like it never happened.”

“What…” he breathes, sitting up straight, his arms loosening around me in a way I can’t stand. “How…”

“Well,” mom says dryly, “I think that’s enough bared flesh for one evening. ” She swats gently at my hand and makes me drop my shirt. I laugh, grinning at her, and then glance at my mate, feeling suddenly awkward to be in his arms like this. I mean, he’s here…did they like…meet?

Chapter 0210

Does she know who he is to me?

And, oh my god, has Luca shown up? Did he even finish the Examination? Does he even know that I’m here, that I was hurt? I glance anxiously towards the door.

“All right, young man,” my mom says, sterner than she usually is, leaning forward to deliver a little rap to Jackson’s arm. “You’ve verified that she’s alive and well – now hands off my daughter at least until we’ve been properly introduced.”

Jackson blushes terribly and goes rigid before letting me go, sitting up straight. I grin at him because, I mean, I know that mom is teasing him – but knowing how Jackson is around women?

And especially a Queen?

Oh, my poor baby mate.

“Well?” mom says, sitting up imperiously and holding out a hand to him, palm down with her fingers delicately pressed together. “Will you not kiss my hand and perform the proper obeisances to your Queen, Cadet?”

Jackson just stares at her hand, wide-eyed, having absolutely no idea what to do and in a complete panic about it. I let it all happen for about two seconds, glancing between them and taking in Jackson’s slack jaw, the twitch at the edges of my mom’s lips, before I burst out laughing and smack her hand away.

“Mom, leave him alone!” I order, and she grins, dropping her hand. “You’re scaring the crap out of him.”

Rafe laughs too, enjoying the scene as I murmur to Jackson that she’s just teasing him – that there are no Queenly obeisances due.

“Yeah well,” my mom says, crossing her arms and sighing with pleasure as she looks over me and then Rafe, her first two babies who she loves so, so much. “Your boy here scared the crap out of me, so I thought I’d return the favor.”

“He’s delicate mom,” I murmur, pressing myself warm against Jackson’s side, sensing that he needs it. “He’s –“

“Delicate!?” Rafe questions, his voice full of doubt, but I ignore him, continuing on.

“He’s not used to women’s tricks and pranks. And he’s had a hard night, dragging my bleeding butt all over the countryside. Be nice.”

My mom just sighs, still grinning, as she smiles warmly at Jackson. “I owe you a life debt, boy, for bringing my daughter back to me. I’ll never be able to repay it.”

She leans forward, offering her hand in a normal way. Jackson, sensing that it’s real this time, reaches forward to take it, wrapping his large hand around her small one.

“You’re my family now,” mom whispers, holding his blue gaze, her voice serious and sweet, “nothing will ever change that. Yes?”

My heart swells as I look up at Jackson, because even though mom has no real way of knowing it, I think she’s given Jackson the thing he’s always needed and never knew to want – a family, a mother to care for him. And I know her – I know that she means every word of it. That beyond being my mate – what Jackson did for me today? He’ll always, always have a place in her heart.

“Thank you,” Jackson says, his voice quiet and very reverent. And I grin when I realize that Jackson, like the rest of us, has been caught up in mom’s spell.

How couldn’t he be, though? Mom is the best.

“All right,” Rafe says, his voice dry and a little bored, “this is a lot of love, but you two are both covered in blood and you smell terrible –“

“We do not,” I protest, turning my face up to stare at him.

“Well, he does,” Rafe says, pointing at Jacks in a way that makes me squeak in objection. But my brother just grins at me, a little wicked. “Listen, you just got carried across the countryside, you didn’t have to break a sweat –“

I protest with a louder squeak this time, objecting to the idea that any of that was easy for me.

“But he,” Rafe continues, pointing at my mate with more vehemence, “did all the work. So would you please unwind yourself from him for half an hour so he can get cleaned up? Because dad’s here, and he’s going to want to meet him, and your mate is gross –“

“Dad’s here?” I ask my eyes going wide.