Ch. 901..905: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 901-905

Chapter 0901

"No way," Jackson breathes, shaking his head, his eyes moving down to Rafe's chest, where his wolf lives. "There's...there's no way -"

"Jacks," Rafe groans, leaning into his friend's hand a little bit. "Please, don't tell anyone, I'm so confused – I have no idea what's going on –“

"No way," Jackson whispers again, fascinated. "I mean, Rafe, are you sure? It - it's not possible -"

"Are you sure?" Rafe growls, snapping his eyes up to meet Jackson's. "If I tried to tell you that Ariel wasn't yours, what would you say?"

Jackson rankles at even the hypothetical. But still, he pushes. "She doesn't even have a wolf, Rafe. How can there...how can there be a bond?"

"I don't know," Rafe growls, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "But...my wolf is sure. And he's been flipping out — it's so fucking annoying - he's so excited every time she opens her mouth to say anything and he keeps urging me to do all this stupid stuff -"

"Yup," Jackson says, laughing a little and squeezing Rafe's shoulder. "That's... that's a mate, all right."

"You went through this?" Rafe asks, his eyes opening with a bit of hope.

"Oh my god," Jackson says, nodding eagerly. "The insane shit my wolf told me to do when we figured out it was Ariel, not Ari. He wanted me to rip off -" but Jackson cuts his words off abruptly, standing straighter, clearing his throat, remembering that this is Ariel's brother he's talking to. "It was intense, yes."

Rafe opens his mouth to ask another question but he's interrupted by a hysterical, disbelieving laugh from across the room. Both Rafe and Jackson spin their heads towards the closet, where there's suddenly a figure standing there, silhouetted against the light.

"You've got to be kidding here," Mark breathes, fascinated and delighted. "Are you — are you serious, Rafe!? Maryam is your mate!?"

"Mark!" Rafe barks out, his head clearing slightly in his panic. "Get your ass over here!"

"No way!" Mark laughs, taking it all as a joke – as he always does. Rafe snarls as Mark begins to stride for the door to the living room, his face lit with a wicked glee. Inwardly Rafe's wolf howls in desperation - because Mark - he's so fucking immature, and he's the worst secret keeper in the family, one little nudge from Ariel and Mark will tell her everything -

"I'm serious, Mark!" Rafe snaps, striding for his little brother, grabbing for his arm. "You have to keep this to yourself! This is serious -"

"I have to go find Ariel!" Mark snaps back, laughing and pulling his arm out of

Rafe's reach. "She's going to die - this is going to be so great -"

Rafe snarls, true violence in his tone now as his heart begins to pound. He

snatches again for his brother, whiskey sloshing out of his glass and all over the floor.

"Mark!"

"If you think I'm keeping this to

ou're insane! It's way too

g good, even the idea theet

-"

The door to the living room creeks open -

"Boys?" Ella calls, soft, curious.

you

“Could be mated!” Mark continues,

loud, laughing, not noticing his mother standing in the open door. "To fucking Maryam! That she would be our future Queen!"

Rafe and Ella go still.

Jackson groans, ducking his head into his hand.

Beyond Ella, every single person gathered for the party in the room beyond goes still too.

Except for Ariel and Jesse, who burst through the door that opens to the rest of the palace, gasping for air.

"Rafe!" Jesse calls, desperate, but

then he and the Princess go still when they realize that everyone else at the party has frozen in shock.

"Oh, shit,” Mark whispers, going pale as his mother looks at him with wide eyes,

disappointment all over her face.

Silence rings out in the room for three long, desperate heartbeats.

And then a single hissed word breaks through the air.

"What?"

Slowly, everyone turns to where Maryam stands, livid at father's side, her hands clenched into fists.

"What did you just say?"

Her voice is a growl, low and vicious enough to match any Alpha.

Chapter 0902

Rafe's stomach sinks to his feet and he ducks his head, clenching his empty whiskey glass in his hand. Because this is...this is the worst possible way he could ever imagine Maryam finding out about their bond.

"Mark!" Dominic barks, pointing solidly to his side, demanding that his son come to heel. Mark ducks his shoulders, glancing apology at Rafe as he does as he's told, moving to stand next to his father.

Slowly, Maryam starts through the room, advancing towards Rafe. He hears every one of her footsteps and sighs, lifting his head, meeting her eyes as she stops ten feet from him, hatred radiating off of her in waves.

"What did he just say?" she snarls, pointing at Mark, her words slipping from between clenched teeth.

Rafe sighs and stands straight, meeting his mate's gaze, knowing that she deserves more than for him to cower right now.

"He said that you're my mate, Maryam."

A stir goes through the room but Rafe doesn't look at anyone but her, at this... fairly magnificent creature standing before him, powerful and delicate and vicious. Even as anxiety and regret turns in him, Rafe's wolf howls his pleasure. Rafe's mental hands snaps out, wrapping around his wolf's muzzle because...this is not the time for that.

A laugh, thick with derision, slips from Maryam's lips as she leans forward to stare at Rafe in disbelief. "Tell me this is a joke," she demands, her voice harsh. "A stupid, very poorly conceived joke – the kind of bullshit trick you Alphas play on your human guests just to embarrass them."

"It's not a joke, Maryam," Rafe responds, his voice low and serious. "I wouldn't do that to you."

She guffaws again, disbelief all over her face for a moment until...until something shifts, and she stands straight, suddenly realizing that...

That he's telling the truth. That he fucking means this - that he actually believes that he is her mate.

Maryam's mouth falls slack and she just...stares. Stares into the prince's impossibly handsome face, her eyes flashing all over him, his form, judging him. Rafe stands true and steady, ready to be judged, letting her see that he is unwavering in his conviction that she's his. Utterly his, forever, his mate.

And as he watches, Maryam rankles under this silent claiming.

"Bullshit," she snarls, leaning forward towards him, her hands tightening at her sides, her teeth flashing in – well, in rather a wolfish way. Rafe's wolf dances from paw to paw, loving it, loving the strength in her, the defiance.

"Maryam, I'm very sorry," Rafe says, taking a step towards her with a hand out, sending his little brother a hearty glare from the corner of his eye. "This is not the way I wanted you to find out -"

-

"Find out!" She spits back, laughing a little at the ridiculousness of it all. "Find out what that you - that you~~ just...fucking claim me!? That I'm yours att of a sudden, your fucking mate that you own me!? And what

-I have no choice in this or

whatever!?"

She spins to stare at everyone else in the room, appalled and shocked.

"And all of you are just – just going to stand there!? And let him make this ridiculous claim!?"

"Maryam," Hank says, his voice quite gentle as he begins to cross the room to his daughter, his eyes full of worry and sympathy for his daughter. "It's not...like that

"Even you won't stand by me on this!?" Maryam gasps, stumbling back a step away from her father. But she quickly turns again, realizing that the step takes her closer to Rafe and moving hastily away pressing her hands out to the side like she wants to keep everyone away - wants to stand completely apart.

ver

"Maryam," Hank snaps, drawing her eyes back to him. "Of course I'm on your side," he says, arriving next to her and holding out his hand, begging her to take it. "But, please, love you...you are vastly misunderstanding if you think that any wolf - and especially any Sinclair - would make this kind of statement as a joke."

Maryam begins to pant in her panic, staring at her father in disbelief. Then she snarls again, her eyes moving around the room, hate in the set of her jaw, in her eyes.

"No," she snarls, roughly shaking her head, standing up tall and proud. “No. I am - I am not going to be claimed - claimed just because you," she spins to Rafe here, "you like me or something. Absolutely not! I fucking refuse!"

Rafe's wolf howls in regret and his face falls in sorrow and horror to see her so upset, to see her panic like this. God, he couldn't imagine this going any worse -

"Maryam, please," Rafe begs, taking another step towards her. “Please just talk to me - it's not like that, not at all -"

"You stay the fuck away from me," she snarls, taking a vicious step towards him, stopping him in his tracks. She holds out a hand towards him, palm out. "I - I refuse this. Or what - whatever fucking thing it is that you say. What is it?"

Chapter 0903

She pants a little in her panic, looking around the room again for some help. But everyone's face - everyone's, her father's included - is rich with a great depth of sadness and pity. Maryam, finding no recourse there, turns her vicious gaze back to Rafe.

It cuts him in his soul, the hatred in her gaze. Deep, like a knife.

"I reject you, Rafe Sinclair - or whatever the fuck it is they say to make this end. Categorically, unequivocally - no. I - I will not have this - I will not have you. You have absolutely no claim on me, ever!"

She stands to her full height then, rage pulsing through her, and then turns striding for the door. She shoves past Jesse and Ariel who stumble out of her way, yanking the door open and striding out into the hall.

The sound of the door slamming behind her echoes through the silent room. Rafe...doesn't breathe.

He just...stares. Stares after her. Wondering what the fuck he's supposed to do

now.

The party breaks up awkwardly, with Cora and Roger quietly gathering their kids together and ushering them out the door. I watch them go without protest for once, their eyes wide as they realize the gravity of the moment, even if they don't realize what happened.

I stand between Jesse and Jackson as the people not staying in the palace tonight pack up their things and say their quiet goodnights. Mom is at Rafe's side, of course - she was the first to move after poor Maryam left. Hank quickly gave his apologies and followed after his daughter, eager to comfort her in whatever way he could.

And even though I know in my heart that he doesn't deserve it, pity swells in me for Mark, who is getting the scolding of a lifetime from our dad in the corner of the room.

My mouth turns down in a deep frown as I look over at the pair of them - dad laying into Mark about responsibility and needing to realize the gravity of certain issues, of considering the consequences of his actions before he makes any moves. But my poor baby Mark - he's all pale, and his head is hanging, and he just looks so ashamed.

"Don't you dare, you big softie," Jesse murmurs to me, glancing over at me with a tiny smile. “Mark deserves every bit of that."

"He's just a little guy," I whisper, my hands pressing to my cheeks as I glance at Jesse and then back at Mark. "He didn't know what he was doing."

"You baby him, Ari," Jacks murmurs at my side. I look up at him with a very, very small snarl. But he just shrugs, standing by his words. "He's older than June, and yet you hold him to a much lower standard."

"It's true," Jesse murmurs. "If June did this, you'd be flipping out at her."

I sigh, snapping my hands to my hips, realizing that they're right and totally hating it. "Fine. I will now redirect all pity to Rafe."

"Good choice," Jesse says, smirking at me. "Come on, let's go get our boy. He's going to need some council and cheering up from all of us, who are wise and mated and can give him the guidance he needs."

"Oh, you just want to drink more and make him tell you the whole story," I sigh, following along after Jesse as he starts to move towards mom and Rafe, grabbing Jackson's hand and towing him along with me as we go.

"That too!" Jesse calls over his

shoulder, forcing himself to be more cheerful than I think he feels. "All right, Auntie Ells," he says, interrupting her as we all arrive at Rafe's side. "We're taking over from here."

Mom hesitates for a moment, wrapping her arm around Rafe's and looking around at us for a second. But then she sighs and lets him go Rafe's head hangs and he loses his balance a little, leaning on mom physically and emotionally as he was. "All right, but you be nice to my meatball," she says, narrowing her eyes around at all of us. "He's had a hard night."

"We promise," Jesse says, slinging an arm around Rafe's shoulders and grinning at him. "Kindness and whiskey. Come on, we'll go up to the yurt, let Midnight feed you cookies."

Rafe sighs and glances at mom for one more moment before nodding and shifting his weight to lean on Jesse. "Cookies sound good. Yurt sounds good. Let's do it."

“Let's go!” Jesse calls out, striding out the door with Rafe pressed close to his side.

I pause only a moment to step close to my mom and press a kiss to her cheek. "Tell dad to go easy on Mark okay?" I whisper. Mom grins at me and nods and then gives me a little swat on my rump as Jackson wraps an arm warm around my waist and the two of us likewise head towards the door.

Chapter 0904

Mark walks down the hall with a heavy heart, his hands sunk deep in his pockets, a scowl across his lips. God, he just...can't seem to do anything right, can he?

He regrets it, of course. Immediately he regretted it, treating Rafe's news so lightly, laughing about it, not paying attention enough to realize that the door was open, not realizing truly - the gravity of the situation. He's devastated at the effect on his brother but Maryam - seeing her face.....

Truly, he acted horribly to the girl who should one day be his sister-in-law. Of course the news was hard on her - a human who doesn't even feel bonds, can't possibly understand them. She deserved to have the news broken to her in a much gentler way - or, even better, to have Rafe...fucking befriend her first.

Mark's father and mother had explained all of this to him in both angry and gentle terms, but he'd understood it all from the start.

That he fucked up and it really hurt a lot of people.

God, he's always been...such a fuck up. When will he learn?

Mark sighs as he continues to wander through the hall, wanting to head outside, to run as his wolf in some of the parkland very close to the palace. But his mom told him not too - told him it's too late, and though things are better in the war that it's too dangerous for him to go out all alone. So, Mark wanders the halls of the palace instead, restless, needing the movement to settle his wolf, who likewise paces in his soul.

But even as Mark winds his way endlessly through the halls, his mind turns to his siblings. All of whom just seemed...

...well, to have grown up without him.

"When the fuck did that happen?" Mark murmurs, shaking his head. Less than a year ago they'd all been kids, but now Ariel and Rafe are both mated... Ariel three times, and now she has Jackson's mark, which means he has a new brother?

And Juniper, trial that she is, is off in some Underworld somewhere battling with some kind of God of Death for...the future of all souls?

What - why had he been left behind? Why did everyone else's adult life start, and he's just here...still a kid?

Mark sighs, shaking his head, wondering. Because that's what everyone has been saying to and about him - his dad, and Jesse, and uncle Roger. That he needs to grow up - that it's time to man up and step into his responsibility. And it's not that Mark doesn't want to do that, just...

Well, how does one do that?

"Oh!"

A surprised voice sounds down the hall and Mark stops in his tracks, lifting his head quickly up. Because...who the hell is awake, and in this relatively abandon part of the palace's guest halls?

Mark's eyes widen when he sees a very pregnant young woman at the end of the hall, her hands pressed tight to her stomach, her bare feet stilling in what looks like a repetitive trek back and forth on the hall carpet.

But Mark continues to just stare at her in surprise. Not because of her presence any longer, or the strange fact that she's alone in the hall in the middle of the night

No Mark's shock is because she's...

She's so pretty.

His wolf suddenly goes wild in his soul, breaking into a reckless sprint, a garbled howl breaking from his mouth.

"I'm sorry," the girl says, taking a step back towards her door. "I – I'm very uncomfortable," she says, glancing down towards her

stomach, "and my Alpha is sleeping, and didn't want to wake him and..."

But suddenly she goes still too, her own beautiful eyes flashing wide as she stares back at Mark.

Mark's wolf, wild and out of control in a way that he so rarely is these days, bites him hard, urging him viciously forward, and Mark takes a few stumbling steps towards the young woman, his eyes flashing hungrily over her, taking in every inch of her very fine robe, her silky hair braided demurely back, the soft curve of her cheek - such a creamy white, just barely flushed with pink -

—

And then her scent hits him, all pomegranate and ginger and autumn air, and

Mark clenches his jaw against the moan that rises in his throat.

The girl's eyes flash wider if that's possible and she steps back and away, pressing herself against her door, her hand fumbling for the handle. Mark gasps, desperate for her to stay, doing his very best to reign his wolf back in -

But she gasps, and finds the handle, and quickly turns it and rushes inside,

slamming the door shut behind her.

Chapter 0905

Mark cries out, just slightly, as his wolf howls and scratches and begs him to go forward, to grab the door, to push it open, to find her, to grab her into his arms -

Mate mate mate mate mate - he snarls again and again, over and over in Mark's mind.

And Mark groans, because he knows - he knows his wolf does this, that he lets his impulses take control, and that he - Mark - knows better. Knows that this poor girl she's just afraid. But -

God, who is she?

Who whose baby is she carrying!?

Should be our baby, his wolf snarls, angry now. Go kill him, whoever took her, whoever took our Luna, it will be our baby - we will kill him, and then she will be

ours -

Mark groans, putting his head in his hands, digging his fingers into his hair.

And then he does the only thing that he can think of the only thing that works when his wolf takes over like this, and he shifts.

Shifts into his wolf and then runs, runs as far and as fast as he can, letting the exercise wear his wolf down.

Mark runs through the mostly silent halls of the palace, mentally begging his mother's forgiveness as he disobeys her and dashes through the doors, past the guards who shout after him, out into the parkland beyond.

And the entire time - with every footfall - his mind turns over the same word.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Because there's only so far and so fast that Mark can run before his life catches up to him. And right now, he has no idea how the hell he's going to face it.

"All right, big boy," Jesse says, laughing and giving Rafe a shove into his room. "You go sleep this off. We'll figure it out tomorrow."

Jackson and Ariel call their little goodnights as they continue down the hall, Jackson carrying the exhausted Ariel in his arms, her head on his shoulder. Jesse gives them a passive wave, his eyes still on the probably-too-drunk crown prince.

"Whattam I gonna do, Jess," Rafe murmurs, turning and slumping in the door frame, not yet ready to turn towards his bed.

"We spent all night talking about that, cuz," Jesse says, grinning at Rafe and giving him a friendly pat on the cheek. Indeed, the five of them had spent hours going over possibilities, coming up with a plan for how Rafe can talk Maryam down and get to know her more. "You'll remember tomorrow. Just...go lay down. You need to rest.”

"Can't rest," Rafe sighs, petulant, his head dropping dramatically to the side. "She's upset. I can't rest when she's upset. I should go...find her."

"You are...not precisely the most eligible suitor right now," Jesse laughs. "Trust me, you don't want her to see you like this."

Rafe snarls, lifting his head up to glare. "Ima prince," he mutters. "And I'm...cute. I'm eligab...eligible. Plenty eligible."

Jesse bursts out laughing and gives Rafe a shove. "You're a mess, not a prince. Go!"

Rafe finally takes the advice and stands, turning towards the bed. "You sleeping over?" he mutters, gesturing towards the other bed in the room, the one Jesse has slept in thousands of nights.

"Nah," Jesse says, slipping his hands into his pockets, glancing at the clock on the wall. Shit, when did it get that late? "Got something to do."

Rafe gives Jesse a look like he's crazy even as he flops into his bed. "You don't have anything to do. Go to bed."

"Oh, don't I wish that were true,"

Jesse sighs. But then he blows his cousin a kiss, making him laugh, and pulls the door shut behind him. Then, heaving another sigh, he turns on his heel and strides out of the family apartments, through the halls, up the stairs, and out onto the roof.

The pilot standing by the helicopter shakes his head at Jesse, giving him a sour

look. "You're late. Two hours late."

"Sorry," Jesse says, nodding to the pilot, genuinely meaning it. "Things...got complicated downstairs."

The pilot smirks at him, shaking his

head, aware of the Sinclair

want

family's penchant for drama that he's fairly unphased by this. "You still want to go? It will be late in the morning by the time you get back if you still want to do a round trip."

"Yeah, let's go,” Jesse says with a sigh, his wolf singing in his soul in desperation

to get going.

The pilot nods and starts to climb into the tiny two-man helicopter, gesturing with this thumb for Jesse to take the co-pilot seat.

"All right," the pilot says, putting on his headphones and pressing the buttons that start the chopper's blades spinning. "One round-trip ticket to Alpha Academy, coming right up."