Ch. 436..440: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 436-440

Chapter 0436

I sigh sharply out of my nose and take my seat next to Jackson, giving my mom and dad a final glare for good measure. My mom nods to me, a small smile gracing her lips, letting me know that she isn't fully happy about it either. But, she wouldn't have let it happen this way if it wasn't necessary.

With a nod from my father, Hank begins by telling Jackson all about his years in the northern provinces - about working hard to bring medical aid to impoverished communities there, both wolf and human. Then he begins to speak of the Community, about never being able to break into it – listing the things he does and does not know, the gaps in his knowledge.

"Do you know?" Hank asks, clearly very curious. "About the status of the medical facilities within the Community?"

"I don't know much besides my personal experience," Jackson says, still feeling a little cagey. "I was trained as a warrior - they didn't...they didn't want me to know anything except what I was supposed to know. Everything I know about the medical facilities I know from being patched up inside them but..." he shrugs, "I heal very fast. I only had to go to the medical facilities once and from what I remember it was very...bare bones. Just a cabin like most of the others."

"What sort of supplies did they have inside?" Hank asks, eager, and from the way he leans forward I can see that it's all professional curiosity shining in his eyes. "Do you think that if we offered more supplies - completely free - just dropped at the door - that the Community would take them? Use them?"

Looking down at the table Jackson shakes his head sharply, his shoulders tense. But he doesn't say a word.

I squeeze his hand, anxious for him, feeling the tension radiating off of him like heat from a flame.

"What is it, Jackson?" mom asks, leaning forward towards him. When I look up at her, I can see that she likewise senses that something is off and that her heart is in her throat. I swallow hard, knowing that she loves my mate almost as a son now and hates putting him in a situation where he's uncomfortable.

Jackson raises his head and looks only at mom, the only person besides me who I think he's comfortable talking to. "I'll answer all your questions," he says softly, tentative. "But...you have to understand. The Community values secrecy above all else - I have been trained since I was a child to believe that if I told anyone outside the community anything at all that I'm committing the greatest sin. I am...fighting a great deal of indoctrination here. You'll have to forgive me if I don't find it easy." He shifts his gaze now to look between Hank and my father. "But I won't hold anything back. It might just...take me a minute."

"Thank you, Jackson," my mom says quietly, and I see her fight her urge to reach across the table for his other hand. "You take your time." "I agree, son," dad says, holding Jackson's gaze with a gravity I know is innate to him. "Thank you."

Jackson exhales deeply, hanging his head a bit, and continues. "The Community wouldn't take the medicine - they'd see it as a weakness. They'd throw it out – destroy it. Not only would they be suspicious of anything given from the Moon Valley government, they believe that illness and injury only make you stronger, and that if you're not able to survive it on your body's capacity alone then you...probably shouldn't live. Strength of the individual, and of the Community as a whole, was...critically important."

Hank exhales a long breath as he begins to type some notes on his laptop, shaking his head, I think hating that the Community thinks that way. His whole creed as a doctor, after all, is to help everyone - especially the weak and the sick.

Jackson and Hank continue to talk for a while, Jackson answering each of Hank's questions about the medical status of the Community to the best of his ability, though his answers are limited by the fact that the Community didn't let him in on most of the information. Dad lets Hank ask all of his questions, but I see his tension growing, see him waiting patiently for his own turn to ask Jackson questions of his own.

And as I see it, I frown because...if this meeting is not to increase Hank's knowledge of the Community's medical status and see what we as a nation can do to help those people, then what the hell else is it about?

My dad turns his head a little, feeling my suspicious gaze, and he sighs and nods when he sees it. A tiny confession that there is more to this than just what Hank wants to know.

When Hank turns to my father, letting him know that he's got all he thinks he needs from Jackson, dad finally begins to voice what I suspect is the real reason for this little interrogation.

"Hank has also told us some more worrying things about the Community, Jackson," dad says quietly, though his deep and resonant voice has no trouble filling the room. "About the Community's allegiances and their...stance regarding my rule."

Chapter 0437

My eyes flash at this because...what?

“They're citizens, aren't they?" I ask, sitting up straighter and looking between Jackson and my father. "Of Moon Valley?"

"They are," dad says, nodding to me. "The lands the Community lives on are within the borders of Moon Valley - everyone born there has the rights of a citizen."

"That's not how they think of it," Jackson murmurs, looking down at the table.

"What do you mean?" dad asks.

My mate lifts his eyes to meet my father's. "I mean that...if they draw maps, they would draw the borders differently. They understand the Community to be a sovereign nation within itself. I mean, no one talked to me about it - not in those terms. But the way we were asked to think of ourselves? They...certainly do not think of you as their King, sir. And they do not at all see the laws of Moon Valley as applying to them."

"You keep saying 'them," Hank says quietly, curiosity thrumming in his voice. "Jackson, do you...not understand yourself as a member of the Community?"

"Not anymore," Jackson says instantly, turning his gaze to Hank. "Ella and Ariel know this - but I had some time living in the Capital before I came to school here, time during which I was meant to acclimate myself to Moon Valley customs so that I would not stand out so much at the Academy."

Mom's mouth twitches a little, like she's aware that three months was not nearly enough. But Hank and my dad stay still, letting Jackson continue. "During that time," Jackson says, moving quickly now, I think not wanting to remember it, "I...learned a great deal about the world, and about Moon Valley, and all the things that the Community purposefully kept from me. All the lies they told me, which they asked me to believe were true."

He hangs his head now and I tighten my hand in his, wishing there was something else I could do to make this easier for him.

"I made a decision in those three months," Jackson says quietly, looking down at the table, "even before I met Ariel that...I was never going back. What they do to people is not...right. I'm not stupid," he says, raising his eyes again and looking hard at my father and Hank, “but...I am ignorant. What I don't know about this world could fill a library - but I do know that what the Community does to its people is wrong. That there should be more...free will. If that's a thing."

My heart breaks for my mate as it does every time he tells me about his life in the Community. Once glance at my mother lets me know that she's feeling the same. Dad, however, remains stoic, his eyes on Jackson.

"I have to ask you, son," dad says, his voice tight and stern. "Why the Community would risk your learning so much about the world by sending you away. Why did they send you to the Academy."

Jackson straightens shoulders and looks my dad in the eye. “I was sent as a spy, sir,” he says, solid and even.

My eyes flare in shock at this bland confession.

Jackson glances towards me but then looks back at my father. "It's not a secret - it's never been," he says, shaking his head. "I told both Ariel and Ella that I was sent to the Academy to learn cutting edge military techniques and technologies. That when I felt I had learned enough I was expected to drop out and desert, to return to the Community to share that knowledge with them."

Dad raises his own eyebrows in surprise, glancing between me and my mom, perhaps wondering why we didn't tell him this. I blush terribly - but honestly, Jackson isn't doing that anymore, so why would I tell?

"And are you still a spy?" dad asks, returning his hard gaze to Jackson.

"I am not," Jackson says, almost harsh in his vehemence. "I'm never going back there. I'm not telling them a damn thing."

Dad studies my mate for a moment, clearly working hard to decide whether or not he's telling the truth. My spine stiffens at dad's even needing to think about it and I glare hard at my father, even though he doesn't look at me.

"You're enrolled in a military academy and receiving a salary from Moon Valley, Jackson," my father says, straightening up and leaning across the table a bit to look hard at Jackson, to impress him with the depth of his meaning. "Part and parcel of your education and your pay is the assumption that you're willing to fight for our nation. If you're no longer allied with the Community, does that mean you understand yourself as a citizen of Moon Valley now? Are you a patriot?"

Jackson takes a long moment to stare at my father, his throat working hard. Then slowly, without looking at me, he squeezes my hand. “No sir,” he says quietly, looking hard at my father. "It does not."

My gasp rings out in the silence of the room.

 

Chapter 0438

"Please," Jackson says, snapping his eyes to me before looking around at everyone else in the room, all of whom sit in shocked silence. "Let me explain."

My father narrows his eyes and nods once to my mate as I continue to gape at him, appalled.

"My entire life," Jackson begins, "I have been raised to believe wonderful things about the Community and horrible things about Moon Valley. In the past six or so months I'm coming to realize that I've been deeply mislead and that actually the opposite is true – that the Community is a bad place and that Moon Valley is much fairer than I'd ever believed. What I had been taught about you, sir," Jackson says, lifting a hand towards my father, "has been...directly countered by our personal interactions."

Dad nods slowly, hearing him, but the frown tugging at the edge of his mouth lets me know that he, too, does not yet understand.

"I'm inclined to believe that Moon Valley is a good place," Jackson says, "but if you're asking me if I love it enough to give my life for it?" Slowly he shakes his head. "It would be easier, sir, to simply lie to you and say that I am a patriot. But you've been incredibly good to me," he looks at my mom now as well "both of you. And I won't lie to you. I don't love Moon Valley and I'm not a patriot - at least not yet. I...haven't had the time."

My father raises an eyebrow. "Then why should we allow you to continue in this school?" he asks. "We are attempting to raise an army against a serious foe, Jackson, and you could be an incredible asset for our teams -"

“Oh, I'll still fight for you," Jackson says, leaning forward, quite serious. I just stare at him, baffled – because honestly none of this is adding up. "Please," my dad says, leaning forward and holding up an open hand, begging for an explanation. "Make this make sense, Jackson."

"The only thing to which I have any allegiances in this entire world is Ariel," Jackson replies immediately, turning to look at me. My eyes go wide again as his gaze sweeps over me once, as if to reconfirm what he already knows to be true before he turns back to my dad. "She is...the only thing in this world that I know to be true and good - I don't have faith in anything else, not really. Our bond is the only thing that's real to me. I'll never betray her. And Ariel, I know, is a patriot - which is enough for me."

Jackson turns his eyes back to me now as mine start to fill with tears, as my mouth starts to wobble a bit.

"If Ariel's fighting for Moon Valley," Jackson says softly, "then I am too. She's a Princess of this nation and she takes that role quite seriously, and thus so do I." He turns his head back to look at each of the three others in the room in turn. "You never have to doubt me - not a single moment. Ariel would give her life for her country and I will give mine before I let her do that. I think...it amounts to the same thing. I'll fighting for Moon Valley because that's what Ariel is doing. To my death, if you ask it."

Jackson shrugs as if it's the simplest thing even as the tears start to slip down my cheeks. When he glances at me and sees my wet cheeks he frowns, reaching out to gently brush my tears away with his thumbs. "Don't cry," he murmurs, shaking his head like he forbids it. "It won't come to that. I won't let it."

"Jacks," I croak, totally shattered by the sweetness of him, about the depth of this confession that I don't think he truly understands.

"Please stop crying," he says, laughing a little like he doesn't know what to do as he takes my cheeks in his broad hands. "I - I can't think when you're like this. Please -"

"I can't," I say, melting a little at his touch but laughing at myself anyway - because I know I'm being ridiculous and that everyone is watching. "Yes, you can," Jackson murmurs, smirking at me. "Come on, Clark - pull yourself together. You're a soldier, after all."

"Oh, shut up, McClintock," I say, laughing and taking my face from his hands, swatting him away and brushing at my cheeks with my sleeve. "It's all your fault anyway - quit making such touching confessions and I won't have to cry so much."

Jackson just laughs again and we both turn back to the others in the room, a little more embarrassment running through me as I see that all of them are just staring at us, looking rather touched themselves. Mom wipes her own tears from her cheeks with the heels of her palm, taking a deep breath and trying to settle down.

 

Chapter 0439

“I'll take that,” dad says quietly, holding Jackson's gaze. "Your offer to fight for Ariel, if you're not yet ready to call yourself a patriot of Moon Valley, as it does amount to the same thing. But I hope that in time you will come to love this nation as she does. As I do."

"Oh, I think I'm well on my way, sir," Jackson replies, giving dad a steady nod.

Dad nods back and then turns back to Hank. "What else do you need?"

"Oh, a lot, unfortunately," Hank says, turning to my dad with raised eyebrows. "If what Jackson says is correct then the Community is enacting great injustices against its citizens - huge violations of their human rights. I think..." he glances anxiously at Jackson here, "that you have an obligation to intercede, Dominic."

Dad hums a little consideringly and then turns his gaze back to Jackson. "And the Community," my father says softly, "you believe it strips its citizens of their free will?"

"In every way," Jackson says with a solid nod. "It denies them choices. It denies them even the knowledge of choice - knowledge that a different life is possible. There are no...options, only commands. They...take children away from their parents - raise them in different sections of the Community where they have no connection to their biological family, no chance to foster affection, because those things are marked as weakness. It's a move that strips and isolates people - allows their only allegiances to be to the Community itself. It is..." he sighs again, shaking his head. "A bad place, sir."

I see a muscle flick in dad's jaw as he works hard to keep his emotions off his face. Family, we all know, is incredibly important to him - and the idea of someone taking his children away...

Dad takes a deep breath, tucking the thought away and turning back to Hank. "How would you suggest we proceed?"

"If young Jackson here is willing," Hank says, glancing at Jackson for a moment, “I would like to continue asking him questions - quite a lot of questions. The information needs to be amassed and could save lives."

Dad turns to Jackson with a raised eyebrow and Jackson nods, agreeing to it.

"It means my relocation to the Capital," Hank says with a sigh, raising his hand to rub at his temple. "God, Sarah's going to kill me. But...it's important work. I want to do it. Maybe...I come here once a week, to continue my interviews with Jackson? Until we feel like we're done? In the intervening time I can confirm his answers and start coming up with a plan.”

Hank raises an eyebrow at Jacks to see if this works for him and my mate nods, steady. Warmth and pride for my Jackson raises steadily in me and honestly, I can't take my eyes off him.

Mom squeaks in delight at the prospect that Hank and his family will be moving closer and leans forward to him, instantly beginning to make plans. "You two can go," dad says, sighing and pushing himself up from his chair. "I think we're done for now." He comes around the table and holds out his hand to Jackson, who shakes it warmly, dropping my hand for the first time to do it.

"Thank you, sir," Jackson says, holding my father's gaze steadily. "For believing me."

"Oh, how could I not," dad says, a little Sinclair smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. "Someone who clearly loves my daughter that much is... difficult not to believe."

Jackson blushes lightly but nods, dropping my father's hand as mom comes flying at us, wrapping Jackson in a big hug before darting over to give me a kiss, murmuring lots of things about how much she loves us and how grateful she is for Jackson's information.

I hug my mom tightly, pressing my eyes shut, not wanting to let her go. "You'll be fine, baby," mom whispers. "Stick with this one and you'll be fine." "I know," I sigh back. "Just gonna miss you."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll see me around," she says, and I pull back a little in surprise to see her grinning a little wickedly. "Because if Hank is coming here every week by helicopter - I'm sure I'll catch a ride every so often.”

I burst out laughing and hug her close again before kissing my dad on the cheek, shaking Dr. Hank's hand, and moving to Jackson's side.

Our family is still calling their goodbyes as we slip out the door, pulling it shut behind us. As soon as we're alone I reach my arms up, standing on my toes, emitting a little squeak of demand. My mate immediately complies with my unspoken command, letting out a little snarl as he pulls me up into his arms, lifting me completely off the floor.

Chapter 0440

Jackson hugs me tight against his chest and falls back against the wall outside the interview room, sighing deeply as he does. I tuck my head against his shoulder, letting him hold me, going almost completely limp against him. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "That was intense. And they shouldn't have sprung it on us like that."

“It's okay,” he murmurs against my hair, giving a little shrug. "They just...care. I don't mind and I've got nothing to hide."

I pull my head up a little bit, studying him, running a hand through his dark hair. "I love you too, you know."

Jackson bursts into a deep grin. "What?"

“When dad said you were in love with me? And you didn't deny it?" I look at him steadily. "I want you to know it. I'm in love with you, Jackson. And I'll fight for you and die for you too if I need to. Our allegiances are the same."

Jackson exhales, long and slow, before he closes his eyes and presses his forehead gently to mine. "I love you too, Ariel Sinclair. I always will."

I murmur his name like a prayer, raising a hand to his cheek and letting my thumb drift over his cheekbone. Jackson raises his chin and kisses me, swift and desperate, and I can feel down the bond how incredibly much it means to him to hear me say that - and then to say it back. We stay like that for a long time - connecting with each other, passing love and faith and devotion up and down the bond.

But Jackson breaks away what feels like too soon, glancing down the hall, clearly more aware than I am that we are indeed back in the Academy - that we've got to be more discreet than this. After all, I just promised the Captain that no one would know I'm a girl, and even if most of the other Cadets aren't here yet, if anyone sees us like this?

Yeah. It's going to raise questions.

"Also," Jackson says, returning his eyes to mine when he's assured that we're alone. "No more of this talk of dying for each other, all right? Neither of us is dying for a long, long time. So. Let's just go hang out with your brother and your cousin and put that out of our minds."

"Okay,” I say, wrinkling my nose at him and pressing a kiss to his mouth. Jackson holds me tight for a second before lowering me to the ground. And then, even if it is a little less discreet than we've ever been at school, we walk back to my room hand-in-hand.

Back in the chamber, Hank, Ella, and Sinclair watch as Ariel and Jackson leave, the door closing softly behind them. All three are quiet for a long moment.

"So," Sinclair says, his voice low. "What do you really think, Hank?"

Ella squeaks in protest, her head spinning to stare at her mate. "You can't possibly disbelieve a word that boy said, Dominic!"

Sinclair laughs, turning to his wife. "I didn't say what I thought, Ella," he says, grinning at her. "I'm just asking Hank for his professional opinion." "It's not a professional opinion," Hank murmurs, still studying the door, "I'm a doctor not a...I don't know. Whatever kind of person is in charge of interrogating people who were raised in violent cults."

“So?" Sinclair asks, Ella moving to his side and wrapping her arms around his waist, leaning against him, her eyes on Hank the whole time.

Hank sighs and turns towards the two of them as Sinclair wraps his arms around Ella in kind. "I think that boy's been fucking through hell. I think he's lucky to have found his mate, to have a kind of...north star as his entire knowledge of the world falls apart and he struggles to rebuild it." Sinclair nods, accepting this. "And?"

"And I'm inclined to believe and trust him," Hank says, giving a little shrug even as he crosses his arms. "I don't think he's faking it. I don't think that anyone could pretend to be that passionately in love. He is...very dedicated to your daughter."

Ella and Sinclair grin, looking at each other, a silent communication passing between them before they look back at Hank. "We think so too," Ella says, clearly pleased.

"I'll never get used to this," Hank murmurs, gesturing between them. "The whole...mindspeak thing."

Ella grins and Sinclair just laughs.

But Hank twists his mouth to the side, looking off into the distance, his eyes unfocusing as he does.