Ch. 746..750: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 746-750

Chapter 0746

Jackson just stares at me. "Ariel, what are you talking about? What would have changed?"

I shrug, my hand awkwardly coming up, my fingers brushing the bandage over Luca's mark. "I would...I mean, I understand. If things are different for you now that I'm...marked. I know I'm not the same as I was before. I would...understand if you felt differently about me."

"Ariel." My name is almost scolding as it falls from Jackson's mouth, as his fingers snap up and capture my chin, raising my eyes to meet his. "Don't ever doubt it. Nothing - nothing about how I feel about you has changed, okay? If you feel differently, I'll understand that, but -"

"I don't," I croak out, shaking my head vehemently, tears again streaming from my eyes. "Jacks, I don't -" "Well I don't either - I'm - I'm fucking in love with you, Ariel - I'll take you in whatever form - I don't care a stupid mark -"

"But you did care," I whisper, shaking my head, taking his cheeks between my hands - not wanting him to lie just to make me feel better. "You saw it - saw me and you threw up -"

He groans, shaking his head. "Please, Ariel," he murmurs. "Forgive me - you have to forgive me for that. I was shocked, and confused, and your scent was weird, and the sight of it turned my whole world upside down but it's different now, I promise -"

But he doesn't get any more words out because I throw my entire weight against him, sobbing my heart out with relief.

And Jackson catches me - as he always does.

He wraps me up close, and falls back to the floor, and takes me with him so that I'm sprawled out over his chest. Where I belong.

"I'm not saying that the events of the

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past week are wiped away, Ariel," he whispers, boosting me up so that our faces are even, inches apart. "The past happened - and it changes us. But if you're asking if it makes me love you any less? He solemnly shakes his head. "I love you. All versions of you. Forever."

I sniff hard and tuck my head down to rest on Jackson's shoulder, letting my eyes slip shut. He holds me for a long time laying on the floor like that, letting me cry myself out, his wolf carefully inspecting every inch of mine, licking her little face, nudging her paw so he can better see where she twisted her ankle, giving a mournful little howl in

commiseration with her pain.

At some point, Jacks stands with me in his arms, and carries me over to the Nook where we collapse into the bed together. "At some point," he murmurs, his lips against my hair. "I'm going to need you to eat. And then, when you're ready, we'll talk."

I sigh against him, content if not yet perfectly happy after all I've been through - all I've lost. "Okay," I whisper, nodding my agreement. "Food first. And then we talk."

Jackson leaves me for a few moments to ensure that the door is properly locked and then to bring over some of the food that Jesse ordered up hours ago from the kitchen. I perk up when I see the selection of cakes and pies that Jacks carries over on a tray. He laughs to see my eager expression, hear my stomach growl.

"Here," he murmurs, handing me a fork. And then to my surprise he moves around the bed to take the little DVD player out from its spot in the bottom drawer, picking out a

movie at random and turning ne

it on.

As I begin to see his line of thought a little smile takes my face as I eagerly stab at a piece of sponge cake, because as weird as it might seem, Jacks is entirely correct.

We need...a minute.

There are huge conversations to be had - very big ones. But no matter what those conversations are, Jackson and I both now know that we're on the same page: no matter where those conversations go, we're getting through them.

We're going to be together. For good. No matter what - we're going to put in the work, and the effort, and the grit to ensure that we get to a good spot. Even if we're not there yet, we both know that we're going to

be.

And with that knowledge intact, we know that we can take a minute to simply rest. To remember what it's

like to be bodily together, side-by-side, even if my bodily chemistry has changed slightly now, perhaps on a fundamental level. Perhaps forever.

 

Chapter 0747

Wordless, but with understanding passing down the bond between us, Jackson places the DVD player in front of me on the bed and then squeezes in behind me, his back against the headboard. He presses a kiss to my hair as I lean back against him and continue eating my way through the desert tray, giving him a bite every few minutes as well.

When Rafe and Jesse come back half an hour later, their faces are very, very surprised to see the easy scene before them.

"Wow," Jesse murmurs, wandering over to us. "I kind of thought you'd fight. Or at least not go immediately for cake."

Jackson growls, glaring at my cousin, I think feeling crazy levels of protective and unable to help it.

I just snuggle back against him and shift my eyes to Rafe, who I find smiling subtly at me.

"Did you two even talk?" Rafe asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Cake first talk second," I murmur, patting the bed, knowing my brother doesn't understand but also know that right now...he doesn't really need to. "Wanna watch?"

Jesse and Rafe look at each other but then both shrug.

"I'll get more cake?" Jesse says, turning towards the dumbwaiter.

"Get something savory too," Rafe murmurs, crawling across the bed to my other side and resting his giant head on my knee as he cuddles up and gets comfortable.

"You got it!" Jesse calls over his shoulder.

And I smile, and rest against Jacks, and allow myself to feel the peace I don't fully feel I deserve. Because he's too good to me - too forgiving, and I'm well aware of it. And tomorrow we can talk it all through.

But right now, when my wolf is curled up basically encircled by his, her head resting against his paws, feeling the warmth of him as he breathes softly around her? How? How could I disturb them both when they've been tortured for days and have finally found this peace?

And so I eat, and rest, and slowly let myself again drift off to healing sleep with my mate behind me and my brother and cousin on either side.

"Hey, trouble."

Rafe's voice stirs me from my deep sleep in the morning, from the dream in which Jacks and I were running, cliffside as our wolves, like we used to do even before we knew we could share dreams.

I blink, dazed and hazy, and look up at him.

He smirks and I can almost see the deep pleasure running through him to have me back where he can watch over me, back where he can see me getting better.

"We're going for our run," he murmurs, gesturing towards Jesse over his shoulder.

I moan, closing my eyes and pressing my cheek back to Jackson's chest. "No, don't make me run," I murmur, shaking my head. "I can't do it. I am weak. I am illness."

Rafe laughs and I hear Jesse's booted footsteps coming to his side. "To begin, you're lying," Jesse says, and I open one eye to peer up at him. You could totally run if you wanted to. You're just lazy

I scowl at him because he is right. But I don't want to go. And they can't make me.

"It's fine," Rafe says, laughing a little. "Stay in bed, we just wanted to let you know where we were going. Maybe...see you at breakfast?"

I nod up at him, noncommittal but letting him see that I understand.

My brother and my cousin nod to me again and then wave, headed for the door.

As the lock clicks, Jackson slowly begins to move his hand in its place on my back, slowly stroking up and down over my pajama top.

"Hey," I whisper, smiling a little, relishing the warmth of him beneath me.

"Hello," my mate says, quite soft, passing a great rush of warmth and affection down our bond.

I sigh and lift my head, resting my chin on his chest and peering up at him. "Ready to talk?"

"You hungry?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me.

I laugh, smiling at him. “Jackson, I've eaten enough for an Alpha ten times my size in the past four days.

Honestly, I'm not at any chance of withering away."

He grumbles something about

miniature people being swept away by the wind but I just laugh and shake my head. "Seriously, Jacks," I whisper, my face falling a bit "I want to have this chat."

"All right, tiny," he murmurs, cupping my cheek in his palm. "Let's have it, then."

Chapter 0748

Jackson and I each take a moment to clean up, brushing our teeth and splashing water on our faces, before we return to the nook - the place where we feel most secure. But I push the curtain back, letting the pre-dawn light stream in. Because that feels right, feels better.

"So," Jackson murmurs, wrapping his long arms loosely around his knees as he leans back against the pillows. "Where do you want to start?"

I bite my lip, wondering at it, but also...distracted. Distracted by the sheer physical presence of my mate, sitting there across from me in our bed, all gorgeous and understanding and willing to hear every bit of what I have to say. Almost despite my resolve to be stoic and serious, my eyes move away from his face and down his form, taking in the beautiful way that his body has been crafted, honed, over years of punching stuff and running and whatever else it is these warrior-types do. My wolf shifts from paw to paw, giving me a nudge, telling me to go to him to touch him -

But -

I hesitate, knowing where that got me last time. With Luca. Giving in to impulse and attraction is...not always the best choice.

When I raise my eyes again to Jackson's face, I see that his jaw is tight, his teeth clenched as he senses the direction of my thoughts. To that day, with Luca. And all the things that lead to being marked, if not the marking and the rejection itself.

"Did you want it?" Jackson asks, his voice tight. I can almost feel the tension over every muscle in his body.

I exhale slowly and hold his gaze. "I wanted to sleep with him. But I didn't want the mark. Not yet."

And then I tell him everything. I soften, where I can, the information that he doesn't necessarily need - about how attracted I was to Luca, and precisely how much it hurt when his wolf attacked and he rejected me. These things, I sense, he doesn't need the details of. But beyond that I tell him everything, wanting things to be an open book between us, wanting him to have it all.

And when I finish, Jackson tells me

his side of the story. What it was like to have a Cadet burst into his and Rafe's meeting with the Captain and tell Rafe he was desperately needed, and then seeing me there in the hall. en seeing His own pain and confusion has me weeping as silently as I can, not wanting to stop him from the story but unable to hold it back. But my mouth falls open when Jackson gives me the details about Luca - about chasing him down, and their fight, and then letting him go even though he left the Castle intending to kill.

"Oh, Jacks," I say, pressing my hands to my chest and shaking my head at him. "I'm so sorry. I - I've been so bad and unfair, through all of this."

He just frowns at me. "You've done what you had to do, Ariel. Your grandmother gave you two mates. Who the hell am I to do anything but try to deal with my jealousy in the face of a divine gift like that?"

I shake my head. "But I agreed - I told you both I'd choose one of you - Luca was right when he pointed

out that I said I wouldn't sleep with either of you before I made my choice - and I broke that -"

"That was a shit place to put you in in the first place," Jacks murmurs, his head hanging a little. "We both...Ariel, as the weeks passed it was becoming increasingly obvious that a choice was going to be е impossible. That Luca and Were just going to have to...deal with it. Find a way to live with each other."

I gape at him. "Is that.....is that seriously where your heart was?"

He raises his eyes to look at me. "Was being the important word here, Ariel. I wouldn't share you with that jackass now for the world - he - ke fucking deliberately put you in danger- he knows there are. potentially others in this Castle who were trying to hurt you and he left you naked and alone with an open door -"

His words get angrier and angrier as they fall from his lips and I lean forward, putting a hand on his knee, stopping the tirade.

Nearly shaking with rage at the memory, Jacks takes a deep breath and nods to me, letting me know he's got it back under control.

"But yes, before that?" he shrugs. "I was... finding a way. I don't know. It felt right. Luca was...frustrating and difficult. I'd have rather shared you with someone like Tony, who was cooler and nicer and I think quite a wide margin smarter than Grant -"

Chapter 0749

I tilt my head to the side at this, curious about that thought process. Where on earth had that come from? Tony as my mate? Honestly, the idea is...ridiculous to me, even though Luca was jealous of him too, so some kind of romantic connectoin was clearly on his mind as well. But Jackson catches himself mid- harangue and clears his throat, drawing in a deep breath.

"Clearly," I murmur, "you gave this some thought."

"I mean, I didn't like the idea of sharing you," Jackson murmurs, slowly shaking his head as he holds my gaze. "But if that was your destiny?" Another shrug as he looks away into space, like he hated it but he was willing to bear it.

For me.

And suddenly my heart sinks as I realize just how precisely good he is. That Jackson - he'd take a half happiness, as long as it meant having me in his life.

I groan and crawl to him, unable to stand being apart anymore and pressing myself to his side. Jackson wraps his arm around me and pulls me close, taking a deep sniff of my hair.

"I'm very sorry," I whisper, shaking my head. "I don't think the Goddess's gift was very fair to you, was it?" "Any deal that comes with you attached, Ariel," Jackson murmurs, "is the lion's share of the riches. And I'm not just some poor orphan saying that - just some kid who's never been loved taking whatever the world would give him. I'd say the same even if I were the Prince of Atalaxia, with all the world's riches at my feet. You are worth it all, Ariel Sinclair."

I sigh, thinking that it can't possibly be true, but grateful instead to be so overwhelmingly loved.

And so I tell him, finally, of the extent of the Goddess's gift. Of her command to me, that day in the magic classroom, to get all of my mates' marks. That what he was moving towards was correct anyway, even if I hoped that the three of us would have time to get there on our own. Even if, apparently, we didn't. And then I apologize, profusely, for keeping it from him. But Jackson, as he so unendingly does, understands and works hard to see my side.

I can feel him thinking through it as he holds me close for a few moments, turning over the details of what the Goddess said, the consequences of what happened.

"So, what do you think?" he asks, his deep voice rumbling and low and contemplative. The back of his fingers barely graze the bandage still over the mark on my neck. "Do you think this is enough, that you've got his mark now? Or...do you think the Goddess is going to give you a replacement mate?"

"I don't know," I whisper, shaking my head, kind of terrified at the idea. "I think we have to get Cora to call her up again and ask. I'm not sure how long I can stand not knowing."

He nods, grumbling something.

But I bite my lip and sit up and face him again, my own hand moving hesitantly to the bandage over my neck. "You know this is...all for show, right?"

Jackson raises an eyebrow at me.

know that your mother wouldn't

have let you leave that spa un net

every inch of you was fully healed, if that's what you mean."

"Yes," I say, shaking a bit. "But...I haven't looked at it yet."

"Do you think you're ready?"

"Are you?" I ask, a bit wide-eyed.

Jackson smirks a little. "I can handle it."

I turn my head a bit, my eyes narrowed at his confidence. "You aren't going to barf again?"

A little laugh huffs from him, his eyes crinkling as he shakes his head no.

"How are you so confident?"

Jackson shrugs. "I'm good with it.

—

I've made my peace. All parts of you are precisely that Ariel - parts of you. Which makes them beautiful to me, so." He shrugs. "If you're

wearing that bandage for my sake, you don't need to."

Slowly, my fingers shaking slightly, I reach up and peel away the gauze from my neck, letting the bandage fall to my lap. When Jacks doesn't even flinch, I turn my head to the side and let him see the full extent of Luca's mark, high on my neck.

"Well?" I whisper, my wolf quailing a bit with the fear that he'll change his mind. "What do you think?"

Chapter 0750

Jackson's silence is long. Too long.

I whip my face back to him, my mouth a grim line.

His expression is...carefully blank.

"Oh no," I whisper, slumping down, my hand whipping up to cover the mark. "You hate it —"

"Ari," he sighs, scowling and swatting at my forearm, attempting to knock my hand aside. "Don't do that - I don't hate it -"

"You do!" I protest, a little more devastated than I thought I'd be, even if I knew this was coming. I mean, he can't like it, can he?

"I don't hate it!" Jacks insists, laughing at me a little as I stubbornly keep the mark covered and frown at him, leaning away. "Seriously, Ari, it's fine."

"It's fine?"

He laughs again, giving up the attempt to pull my hand away and leaning back against the pillows. "Do you want me to lie and say I think it's my new favorite feature?"

I narrow my eyes. "Well then tell me what you really think."

Slowly I drop my hand and Jackson leans forward a bit to peer again.

"I stand by my words. It's fine."

"Jacks!" I groan, lashing out a leg and kicking at him. "You can't possibly think it's fine!"

"Yes I can!" he says, laughing and grabbing my leg, using it to haul me closer to him. "Besides, when I was at your place for Midwinter, Seraphina told me -"

"Seraphina!?" I screech, a little shocked. "How the hell did she come into this!?"

"If you'll listen," he growls, gathering me further into his lap, even as I go limp in protest to make it hard for him. "I'll tell you."

I grumble noncommittally but allow myself to be fully ensconced on his lap and wrapped up in his arms. "Sera told me," he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair. "That if I don't have anything nice to say...I shouldn't say anything at all. So. It's precisely fine. That was very wise, by the way, how did a little girl come up with something like that?"

I laugh a little but then groan at the realization of the truth - that he really doesn't like it. I mean, not that I expect or want him to like it - I just

- I mean

—

if he hates it, he's the

one who has to look at it every day for the rest of his life.

"Oh no," I moan, covering it again with my hand. "It's very ugly."

"It's not," he murmurs, cuddling me closer and dropping kisses to my hair. "It's simply...not to my taste." "That phrase has Ella written all over it," I grumble.

"Yes, a very useful one for when people try to feed me duck liver," he murmurs, "or mark my mate with an uneven bite very high on her neck because they're arrogant and need everyone to see it -"

I burst out laughing and smack Jackson on the shoulder, and then I sigh when I take in the full meaning of his words - that it truly is not to his taste.

But Jackson keeps me tight in his arms. "I'm serious, Ari, you shouldn't be worried about what I think," he murmurs. "Feel how you want to feel about it. I think that it is precisely fine."

I sigh, shaking my head, wondering how he can be so good - so even tempered and sweet despite the Alpha impulses that must be hating, every second, the idea of another man's mark on my body. Honestly, when the Goddess chose Jacks for me, she must have known what she was doing.

"Plus," Jacks murmurs. "It helps that it's faded."

I go a bit still. "Faded?" I ask, looking up at him.

He frowns down at me and nods. "I guess because of the rejection. Yes, it's...faded."

"What?" My face twists in confusion.

"Go look," he says with a shrug, nodding towards the bathroom. I do as he says, climbing swiftly out of his lap and moving into the bathroom to peer in the mirror. Jackson walks in behind me a moment later, ducking a bit to peer at the mark as well.

My breath catches as I look at it truly

for the first time - the indelible

impression that Luca left on my body. It really is high, like some Luna's marks are, meant to be worn proudly for everyone to see. My stomach sinks as I realize that, for me, that's not precisely the case.

But I push past the thought, leaning close to the mirror, trying to see what Jackson means about it being... faded.

"I don't get it," I murmur, glancing up at him, "what's faded."

"You can't see it?" he asks, curious. "Look at the mini mark."

My frown deepens as I straighten up and glance down at my finger, where Jackson playfully gave me my mini mark on the day I lost my virginity. A day that feels...so, so long ago. But as I stare down at it my mouth forms into a little "o" of surprise.