Ch. 286..290: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 286-290

Chapter 0286

“Children!?” I gasp, “who else is out?” I peer back over my shoulder at my mom as I head down the stairs.

“None of your business,” mom says, very lofty, giving me a secretive smirk. “I’m not going to rat on my own children, after all.”

“Is it Rafe!?” I ask, eager and a little scandalized, glancing back at Jackson too, who listens with interest.

“Not my meatball!” mom says, laughing and continuing to escort us down. “My perfect little meatball, who’s never done anything wrong in his entire life!?”

“It was Rafe,” Jackson murmurs to me with a wink, pressing a hand to the small of my back as we get to the bottom of the stairs and mom walks ahead. “Your mom put me in his room, like she put Daphne in yours, but he snuck out even before I did.”

“Rafe,” I sigh, shaking my head. “God, I wonder where he went…”

I look up at Jackson curiously, wondering if he knows.

But, dead serious, Jackson just shakes his head at me. “Even if I knew,” he says, his voice low with the gravity of his charge, “I wouldn’t tell. I have been sworn to secrecy, and I take my charge quite seriously.”

I scowl at him, mumbling discontentedly about how mates aren’t supposed to have secrets from each other, but he just laughs like that’s quite rich coming from me.

And I laugh too, realizing that he’s right.

But when I get back into my room, and cast my eyes over Daphne, I see that she’s wearing a little pair of pink slippers that she certainly wasn’t wearing when I left the room.

And that her eyes are pressed shut…a little tighter than I think they need to be for a girl deep in sleep.

But I don’t say anything, letting my friend keep her secrets. I just climb into bed, pulling my blankets up with a contented sigh, and let sleep find me.

All of my determination to let Daphne keep her secrets ends, however, the moment she wakes up. “Sooo,” she says, still groggy, waking up and rubbing her eye as she grins at me. “Someone was a bad little princess last night, sneaking out!”

My mouth falls open for a second at her gall, but I snap it shut with a grin.

“Oh really, Daph,” I say, flipping around on my bed so that I’m laying flat on my stomach as I grin at her. I perch my chin on my hand. “Do you really want to have a chat about who was bad, and who snuck out, with a certain someone’s brother?”

Her jaw drops but then she bursts into laughter and flops back on her pillow, covering her face. “Wait, how did you know!? I got back before you!”

“I know everything,” I say, exaggerating obviously but enjoying the way that she shakes her head in complete disbelief. “Sooo, Jackson and I took the roof. Where did Rafe take you?”

“The kitchens,” she sighs, dropping her hands and smiling at me. “We sat on the counter and had cake. It was…very cute.”

“Did you kiss?” I ask, eager, my eyebrows going up.

She laughs and shakes her head. “No, Ari, it wasn’t like that. It was just…” she sighs and covers her face with her hands again. “It was very sweet.”

“Is that all the detail I’m going to get?” I ask, twisting my mouth in disappointment.

“It’s your brother, Ari!” she says, laughing and turning her face back to me.

“I know, I need dirt to blackmail him with,” I say, grinning and throwing a pillow at her before jumping out of bed. I move to my wardrobe, picking some clothes out for the day and letting Daphne keep her secrets if she wants to. It’s her love life, after all – she doesn’t have to share.

But even as I sort through the dresses and clothes that hang before me – mom has clearly been updating my wardrobe, even in my absence – I let my mind wander. Rafe and Daphne, wow…I mean, are they becoming a thing?

Or is it just…flirting?

Are they just friends? Do they want to be more?

“Ohhh, wear this green one,” Daphne says, appearing at my side and reaching into the wardrobe, pulling out a stunning but simple dress. “You’re going to Luca’s, right? This has very ‘meeting the mom’ vibes.”

I laugh but nod, taking it from her hands, grateful for my friend’s impeccable taste. “It’s perfect,” I say, wrapping her in a quick hug before hurrying off to the bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

Because Daphne’s right – questions of my brother’s love life aside, I’ve got a lot on my plate today, and it’s time to get started.

Chapter 0287

Daphne and I chat amiably on the way to breakfast, her telling me all the things she wants to see in the city, me giving my own recommendations. But when we turn into the breakfast room, I go a little still to see that it’s just my dad sitting at the head of the table, having a quiet cup of coffee while he scrolls through some document on his tablet.

He looks up when we come in. Daphne freezes awkwardly beside me as dad stands up, giving us both a wide smile.

“Daphne,” he says, giving her a little bow that makes her blush. “As much as I’d love to have breakfast with you as well, Ella’s set up a little something for you and the boys down the hall.” He gestures to the hallway behind her. “I think my daughter and I need a little moment alone to have a chat.”

My eyes go a little wide because…well, I mean, I don’t think I’ve done anything to be in trouble...

But did mom tell dad I snuck out with Jackson last night!?

Does it even count as sneaking out if you don’t leave your house!?

“Okay!” Daphne says, her voice a little squeaky as she scurries out into the hall. She looks back at me anxiously, though, not knowing where to go.

“Three doors down on the left,” I whisper, grinning at her and nodding, knowing that’s the only other room mom would use to serve breakfast. Daphne grins at me and mouths “good luck” before heading down the hall.

“The door, Ariel,” dad says, his voice stern, and I take a deep breath as I press it shut and move to the seat at his side, which is already set for breakfast, a cup of coffee waiting for me. “A bit late,” he

says, glancing at the clock as I seat myself. I glance at it too, and nod, realizing that this is more of a brunch or a lunch than a proper breakfast.

“We were all tired,” I say, giving my dad my best innocent-Princess smile, “after our long journey home.”

Dad just laughs a little, shaking his head, and seeing him smile allows my shoulders to unwind. “Don’t be so anxious, Ariel,” he murmurs as one of the cooks comes into the room with a plate of food for me. “You’re not in trouble.”

The chef sets a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of me, my favorite breakfast since I was a little girl. I smile my thanks at the chef, who murmurs that she’s glad to see me safe home before discreetly disappearing form the room. As I begin to eat, I turn my attention back to my dad.

“If I’m not in trouble,” I say, scooping some of the eggs onto my toast and making a little sandwich for myself by folding the slice of toast in half, “then…why the one-on-one?”

“Because,” he says, settling back in his chair with his coffee in his hand, studying me. “I thought we should talk. About this two-mate stuff.”

I grin at dad, anxious again because – well, because dad and I don’t really talk about romantic stuff. But when I see him clear his throat and flick his gaze away, I realize that he feels just as awkward as I do. And my anxiety subsides, replaced by love for him.

“I could kill Roger,” dad sighs, a growl rumbling in his chest as he looks down into his coffee. “For not telling me about this sooner.”

“Aunt Cora says you would have locked me up,” I say, taking a bite of my eggs and toast.

“Still might,” he says, flicking his eyes up to me. I squawk a little, horrified at the idea, and then cough a bit as toast crumbs get stuck in my throat. Dad laughs, leaning forward to pat me on the

back. “Or I’ll just let your mates watch you eat,” he murmurs, “that should be enough to make them run for the hills.”

“They’ve already seen it,” I mutter, mouth still full, as I reach for my glass of water and take a sip, swallowing. Then I turn my eyes back to my dad. “They were able to get over it.”

“Brave men,” he murmurs, smirking at me, and I smirk back, and then everything feels…quite suddenly right again. Dad and I – we’ve always had a very special bond. And even if it is strange to talk about boys, I know that he’s got my best interests in his heart. And as we smile at each other, I know he’s realizing the same thing.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to have these relationships, Ariel,” dad sighs, leaning forward and talking to me more naturally now. “I just…it’s going to be hard on you, isn’t it? And I’ve got that dad thing where I just want things to be easy for my kids – want it to be all right.”

“Well, was it hard on you?” I ask, reaching for my coffee and taking a sip. “Aunt Cora told me that you have a little…experience here with the two-mate thing.”

 

Chapter 0288

“It wasn’t…hard,” dad says, leaning back in his chair and thinking about it. “But it was different. It wasn’t like yours – I met your mother long after I met Lydia, and we had enough trouble figuring out that your mom was a wolf before we ever figured out that she was my mate. I think that had I met them at the same time…” he hesitates and then grimaces at me. “I think it would have been… insane. Mostly because they would have torn each other to pieces.”

“Yeah,” I say, grimacing too as I lean back in my chair. “We had…a bit of that.”

“No!” dad says, grinning at me and leaning forward, clearly wanting to hear more. I smile at my dad, because as much as he pretends he’s so serious, he loves gossip as much as the rest of us. And so I launch into the story, telling him about the night that Jacks and Luca found out about each other, and how they shifted, and how Jesse and Rafe had to intercede, and how Ben knocked me out of the way and probably saved me from some serious harm.

“Wow,” dad says when it’s all done, looking a little pale as he runs a hand through his hair. “You were…lucky, Ariel. That could have been way worse. And I like this Ben character even more than I did before.”

“Yes, Ben’s a gem,” I say, smiling. “But Jesse and Rafe have been amazing,” I continue, keeping my voice soft. “They really helped me to negotiate the whole thing, and calm Luca and Jackson down, and helped me advocate for myself when emotions were running high. I’m very lucky to have them.”

Dad nods, thinking it through, and then we proceed to have a very long breakfast in which he asks for more details about my bonds with Luca and Jackson – nothing intimate, just the basics of how they feel, any abilities that come along with it, the politics of having to manage them.

And then, to my surprise, he tells me the long story of his first mate. Of how she had been engaged to Uncle Roger, and the torture of discovering that she was his mate when he reached his majority, and how she made it worse for years by insisting that he keep it a secret until Grandpa Henry finally

decided to declare dad his heir, not Roger. And then Lydia had shocked everyone by revealing her mating bond with my dad and leaving Roger for his younger brother.

“Wow,” I say, kind of shocked. “She sounds…not nice.”

“Lydia was…complicated,” dad says on a sigh, lifting his eyes to mine. “And it wouldn’t have bothered her, at all, that people didn’t think she was nice. She cared much more about being powerful, and refined, and in control. She was a whirlwind of a woman – very easy to get caught up in, not at all concerned with the destruction she left in her wake.”

I go quiet for a little, studying my dad, wondering how someone like that could be his mate. Because mom…mom is the opposite of all of that. And dad and she match so well.

“I was a different man when I was younger, Ariel,” dad says evenly, intuiting the direction of my thoughts and telling me the truth even though I can see it pains him a little to do so. “I was…angry, and desperate for Lydia after so many years pining for her. And Grandpa Henry was…a different man too. He was still mourning the loss of mom and his political position.” Dad sighs, shaking his head. “It almost killed Roger and my relationship – we only got back on track after Cora and your mom came on the scene. They changed our entire world for the better.”

I smile a little, liking that part of the story. “So, how did you change?” I ask quietly, really wanting to know. “How did you becoming…someone who matches mom, instead of Lydia?”

“Grief,” he says, quite honestly, meeting my eyes. “It was a dark time, realizing that Lydia wasn’t the right match for me. Rejecting her – it almost killed me, Ariel. And I mean that quite literally – almost killed me in a physical way. The claim that a fated mate has on you, body and soul,” he sighs, looking down. “It is no small thing to reject them. It took me years to recover, but I think the crucible of that pain…allowed me to become the man who was worthy of your mom.”

He looks up again, studying me. I look back at him quite seriously.

“Does that make sense?” he asks, his voice quiet.

Slowly, I nod. But I don’t say anything.

“What is it, daughter?” dad asks, leaning forward and taking my hand. Because he can tell something is wrong.

And then, my voice soft in my fear, I tell him about Luca and Jackson’s decision – their request that I eventually choose one of them, and not just have them both. Because now that I know, at least second-hand, what it’s like to reject your mate?

God, could I even do it?

 

Chapter 0289

My dad sits quietly by me as I finish telling him what Jackson and Luca have asked of me, as I wipe a few stray tears from my eyes. Dad is strong and stoic as I speak – the rock in my life that I always need him to be, letting me feel my pain and sitting quietly by me as I do. And when it passes, he’s still there, holding my hand.

“What do you think?” I ask, my voice a little shaky, wanting to know.

He sighs. “Well, I’m not surprised,” he says, tilting his head to the side. “The possessiveness I feel towards your mother – there was a moment when we thought she had a second mate too, and I… completely flipped out –“

“What!?” I gasp, shocked. Why – why are there all these things about my parents’ past that I had no idea about!?

Dad laughs a little, squeezing my hand. “I ripped the door basically off its hinges, went tearing through the Palace looking for him, fully intending to murder him, scared poor Conner nearly to death.” He laughs again, like it’s a fond memory, as I stare at him with wide eyes.

“But he wasn’t her mate?”

“No,” dad says, shaking his head. “Just…a misunderstanding. We checked with the Goddess, who confirmed things.”

My eyes go wider. “How does one check with the Goddess!?”

“Cora can do it,” dad says, waving a passive hand before reaching for his coffee. “Just summon her up – the rest of us can’t see her, but…”

He goes still for a second, staring into space and collecting his thoughts, as I just gape at him. Aunt Cora can just summon the Goddess? God, and I thought it was impressive that she could control

the weather.

“Actually,” dad says, turning his green eyes back on me and gently taking his hand from mine while he takes a sip of his coffee, sensing that my sadness has passed fully now. “You should consider asking Cora to call the Goddess for you, or see if you can do it –“

“If I can do it!?” I gasp, appalled.

“You’re a little demigoddess too, Ariel,” dad says, grinning over his coffee at me. “I mean, we avoided saying that to you as much as we could when you were a kid because we didn’t want you getting a big head about it. But being the grandchild of a goddess – the first girl, too? It…might have some perks.”

I just stare at him, completely baffled, before I blink myself out of my shock and concentrate on his words. “Wait, so, why would we summon the Goddess? To ask what?”

“To ask if you need to choose between Jackson and Luca,” dad says, nodding slowly to me. “I mean, I’m not saying that you should break your word to your mates. But, I think it’s worth realizing that if the Goddess gave you two mates, she probably had a reason for it. After all, she gave me Lydia, I think, so that my loving her, and then rejecting her, would make me become the man who was worthy of being her daughter’s mate.”

I grin at dad now, seeing where this is going, and very warmed to think that my dad really is the best – that if anyone on earth deserves mom, who is so amazing, only he can fit the bill. So, maybe his first mate really was part of the Goddess’s plan – that she made him go through a trial by fire to create the only man who was good enough for my mom.

“So,” I say quietly, “you think I should talk to her?”

Dad nods slowly. “And I think Jackson and Luca should be there. Just to…get things on the same page. I think she has her reasons,” dad continues contemplatively, “and she gave you two mates at once for one of those reasons. If you ask, she may tell you why, or give you advice on how to proceed.”

I exhale a deep breath and look down at my plate of food, suddenly not hungry anymore as I contemplate the fact that I’m adding “summon a goddess” to my list of things to do.

My dad laughs a little, gently, turning my attention back to him. “Don’t let it scare you, Ariel,” he says, his voice a little growly as he leans forward and smiles at me, fond and loving and warm. “If anyone can handle this, it’s my brave girl.”

Chapter 0290

I burst into a grin and then I’m out of my chair, reaching for my dad, who pulls me into a warm bear hug as he laughs. I hug him back, likewise laughing, so grateful that he always knows the right thing to say. “Thanks, dad,” I murmur, tucking my face down against his neck.

“I love you, baby trouble,” he murmurs, holding me tight. “Don’t let those stupid boys walk all over you. You’re a Princess and a Sinclair, after all. You’re in charge.”

“I won’t,” I promise, sighing happily. And as my dad releases me and gives me a little shove towards the door, telling me to get a move on with my day because I’ve got in-laws to meet, I’m grateful again that I’ve got absolutely the best dad in the world.

As I move towards the door and smile at him, he smiles right back.

And I know that he feels just the same about me.

“Love you, dad!” I call, grinning as I push the door open.

“Love you more, baby,” he says, heaving a happy sigh.

I’m not at all surprised when I find Captain Conner waiting outside the door to the breakfast room. He pushes himself up off the wall when he sees me, his eyes crinkling with his smile. “Ready to go, Princess?”

“Yup!” I say, grinning up at my old friend. Conner – he feels like so much more than a bodyguard. I’ve known him my whole life, and I know that mom and dad basically consider him family at this point. “Dad was just telling me about how he scared the hell out of you one night when he thought mom had another mate and he hunted him down with the intent to kill.”

“Oh, that old story?” Conner says easily, raising an eyebrow at me that makes me burst into laughter.

“How can you talk about it like it’s so simple!?”

“It was a long time ago, Princess,” Conner says with a grin, gesturing down the hall and then walking at my side as we get started.

“What other stories about my parents do you know,” I ask as we walk, narrowing my eyes at him.

“Oh, what I know about your parents could fill a book. A couple of them, actually,” he says, giving me a wink. “Did they ever tell you about the time they lived in a bunker for a few months because they were being assailed by Priests of the Dark God?”

“What!?” I nearly shriek, laughing in my shock.

“Oh yeah,” Conner says, nodding and grinning as we make our way down to the garages beneath the palace, where a town car is waiting to take us to Luca’s gym. “Buckle up, Princess,” he says, gesturing towards the car. “I’ll tell you on the way. This one’s a good one.”

By the time we get to the gym, I’m absolutely gaping at Conner, who is clearly enjoying himself with the telling. “Wait,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief, “mom’s estranged uncle was trying to kidnap Rafe and take the throne for himself!? But that’s…that’s insane!”

“It was a wild time, kiddo,” Conner says, unbuckling his belt as he puts the car in park. I nod like that’s one hell of an understatement, and he smiles at me. “You ready for this?” he says, raising his chin towards the gym.

“Um,” I say, looking over towards it, a little anxious now. Because for the first time, I’m walking into Luca’s turf, which I’m very aware is a world filled with big tough Alphas who are all trained to beat each other up. And while I guess that’s not very different from the Academy…I’m walking into it as a girl now, aren’t I? And a princess. And Luca’s mate.

I bite my lip, looking back at Conner. “Will you come in with me?” I whisper, wanting our family’s old friend by my side.

“Of course I will,” he says, bursting into a grin. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to get a look into the Grant Gym for a long time now! This will be fun.”

Captain Conner gives me a wink, and together we get out of the car and head inside.