Ch. 916..920: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 916-920

Chapter 0916

"All right, who's in!?" Jesse asks, beaming around at our little circle with a laugh.

"Absolutely not," Midnight says, slowly shaking her head and looking around at all her collected cake like she has no reason at all to leave. "Abandon this to go drink demon juice? With the ruffians and the whores? No thank you."

Jesse laughs and narrows his eyes at her. "You don't have ID anyway. And no one will believe you're older than twelve."

She nods sharply like it's decided, quite pleased.

"Well, if Midnight isn't coming then I'm calling it a boy's night," Rafe says, quite grave.

I gasp and turn to him, appalled.

"You'll be the only girl, Ari," Jesse says, screwing his face to the side. "It's very clearly becoming a boys' support club – a healing evening of debauchery with the ruffians and the whores. You'd hate it anyway - all whiskey, no wine. That's a rule."

“This is sexist and horrible,” I snarl, crossing my arms over my chest even as I realize that honestly, I'm not sure I want to go anyway. My wolf nudges me, urging me to get in touch with Daphne and to spend a little more time with Pippa if I can - my friends who I really shouldn't abandon for a day of drinking. Even Maryam, if she'll see me, could probably use someone to talk to.

Besides, I don't need a day of debauchery to run away from my problems. My life is...kind of coming together right now.

"I'm out too," Elias says on a sigh, screwing his mouth to the side. "I've got a baby on the way, no leaving the palace for me."

Jesse and Rafe nod to him, understanding and supportive, and then turn their eyes to Ben. Ben looks at Elias with a grimace.

"Oh, go!” Elias says, giving him a little shove on the shoulder. "You deserve it. Besides I think..." he glances around the tent and laughs a little. "I think you have kind of some news to break, don't you?"

"What?" Rafe asks, looking around at all of us, trying to figure out what the news could be.

Ben laughs and shrugs. "All right, I'm in. Jacks?"

"What?" Jackson says, sitting up straight.

"Jacks is coming," Jesse says, grinning and pointing at him.

"I am staying with Ariel," Jackson says, pulling me first against and then slightly in front of him, almost like a shield.

"Jackson!" I say, laughing and turning a bit to look up at him, "you should go!"

"What?" he asks, going tense. He glances around, bringing his mouth close to my ear. "Ariel, I want to stay with you -"

“Booo,” Rafe calls out, cupping his hands unnecessarily to his mouth. "Happy relationships are lame! Come out Jacks!"

"Jackson, I am your best friend -" Jesse says, looking at him with wide, sincere eyes.

"You use that line too much,"

Jackson says, narrowing his eyes at my cousin, making me laugh. "I'm starting to think you get more out of being my best friend than I do."

BUMS

"Then let me buy you twelve glasses of whiskey, my guy," Jesse says, grinning at

Jacks, a wicked flash in his smile. "Besides, you're family now."

"It is true, Jacks," I say, pointing over at Rafe. "Your brother is sad."

"He's my brother?" Jacks asks, screwing up his face a little and turning to look at Rafe, who nods seriously.

"Yes, and I'm sad. I need you."

"Oh my god," Jackson groans, letting his head fall. "Fine, I'll go."

A shout goes out through the tent and I laugh turning and wrapping my arms around Jackson's neck, pulling myself close and giving him a few kisses on the cheek. "It'll be good!" I whisper to him. "You need time with the boys."

"I need time with you," he grumbles.

Beaming, I lean back to look in his face, absolutely loving how much he genuinely

likes my company and wants to hang out.

"Let's go!" Jesse says, laughing and getting fast to his feet. "Boy's night out!"

"Have fun!" Midnight calls, smiling around at her assorted cakes like a dragon in a very specific kind of treasure trove.

Laughing, excited, our little group calls our thanks to her and spills out of the yurt, heading down the stairs.

"Are you going to see Pippa?" I ask Elias, moving to his side, Jackson coming with me. "Would you mind if I came?"

"Sure," Elias says, giving me a happy grin. "I think it will do her some good."

I nod eagerly to him and we set off down the stairs, Jackson staying close to me until the last second before Jesse hauls him away to go find Mark.

The boys' night out is...fine.

Jackson sighs, sipping at his beer, and turns to look around the bar. He frowns a little when at least a dozen eyes most of them women's dart immediately away from him, blushes coloring cheeks. What...what was that about?

ΛΟ

SWAC

 

Chapter 0917

His frown deepens as he puts the thought out of his mind, knowing that he's never going to get it right if he tries to venture a guess, so he turns his eyes back to his companions. Jesse and Mark stand close to each other, laughing about something, and Ben and Rafe sit quite close, whispering – probably about the great secret that Ben revealed at the beginning of the night, about liking men romantically, and being mated to Elias.

The others had been shocked by this but Jackson had been largely unphased. Honestly, when Ben had told them Jackson had kept waiting for the real secret to be revealed. It was only a few minutes in that he figured out that that's all it was. Ariel - she thought she had some great secret about Ben up her sleeve, but he'd kind of already known.

Ariel has known about Ben liking guys for a long time, after all, which means that on some level Jacks knew too - her thoughts and considerations of Ben trickling down the bond in little pieces. Plus, growing up in a barrack with a couple of dozen young men who were forbidden to talk to, touch, or even really think about girls...

Well, he'd never dabbled in the sexual assignations that some of the other boys had tried to be so discreet about. But it certainly wasn't uncommon. So Ben telling everyone that he likes men - it hadn't been nearly the shock to him as it had been to others.

But tonight, he's relieved to find that nobody is getting as drunk as Rafe and Jesse first implied back in the yurt. That it's not really a night of debauchery and instead a few good drinks to loosen everyone up. They seem to have done their job - Rafe and Jesse certainly do look more cheerful after their fairly dramatic experiences with their mates and girlfriends over the past twenty-four hours. And Jackson is happy about that - it's good to see them, his family, calmer, happier.

But...he has to admit it. He just wants to go home.

Jackson sighs, taking a long sip of his drink, wondering what Ariel is getting up to back at the palace. Whether or not she's alone in the room. If she's maybe wearing that slippy little night shirt he saw in her closet, and if the lace is sliding up her thigh. God damn it, her legs -

"Hey big boy," a light voice says next to him. Jackson blinks and looks down at the pretty, dark-haired girl giving him a sultry smile. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"You want to buy me a drink?" Jackson says, smirking a bit, looking down at the girl, a little confused. "Why? I already have one."

"In the hopes that I can get you a couple more," the girl says, stepping closer - close enough to wrap her hands around his forearm. “And in the time it takes you to drink them, convince you to take me to bed."

Jackson blinks in surprise, staring at the girl. Because...damn. Well, at least she's not playing coy - he hates that. It takes him so long to figure out if they're just being nice or trying to date him.

Even if...well. Apparently, they're usually trying to date him.

"Sorry," Jackson says, smiling a little and shaking his head at the girl. "I'm mated."

He lifts a hand and presses it over his chest where Ariel's mark is.

"Happily so?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

Jackson laughs and nods, low and deep.

"To whom?" she says on a sigh, her apparent disappointment giving her the opportunity to lean closer. "I see the company you're with," she says, flicking her eyes over to the pair of princes and the duke. "Those royal girls are always so stuck up and uptight. Not like me," she wrinkles her nose at him. "I'll do whatever you want."

Panicking a little, Jacks looks over at his friends and is relieved to find Rafe coming over to his rescue.

"He's mated to my sister," Rafe says, smirking at the woman and then flicking his eyes pointedly down to where her arms are still wrapped around his forearm. "And trust me, no one describes her as uptight."

"Juniper?" the woman asks, standing up a bit in surprise. "Damn, she's young.

You royals get started early."

"No, my other sister." Rafe says, leaning on the bar next to Jackson. "Ariel."

The woman goes still and then rolls

her eyes, dropping her hands. Jackson exhales a small, relieved breath. "Look," she says, crossing

ет

her arms over her chest, offended. "You don't have to lie to get me to go away."

"I'm not lying," Rafe says, his face breaking out into his million-dollar smile.

The girl rolls her eyes. “Everyone knows Ariel Sinclair is mated to Luca Grant."

Rafe and Jackson both smirk, turning their eyes to each other, thinking that this girl...has no idea what she's talking about.

 

Chapter 0918

The girl rolls her eyes again, waving a dismissive hand at the Prince and the super hot Alpha. "Whatever, lie all you want, I get the picture." She turns and begins to walk away, giving them both a wink over her shoulder as she goes. "Come find me if you ever change your mind!"

"Damn, you really pull them in," Rafe says, standing straight and grinning at Jackson. "You'd have made a good wingman in high school."

"Trust me," Jackson says, dry. "I wouldn't have."

"Hey, so, are we done here?" Mark asks, looking anxiously towards the door. Jackson frowns at him because...what does Mark have to be worried about?

"Yeah," Jesse says, coming over with Ben, slipping his hands guiltily in his pockets. "I thought I'd be more fun tonight but...I can't stop thinking about Mids all alone in that yurt. You guys want to head back? We could continue drinking there if -"

"Nah, I gotta go...find Maryam," Rafe says on a sigh. "Try to apologize even if... god, even if she's probably going to make me flip out again. Let's go!"

Rafe slaps some cash on the bar for the drinks, including a generous tip, and then the group heads out. The car ride home is nice, cheerful and chatty, full of jokes. But Jackson mostly sits quietly, his mind on the girl who he hopes is waiting for him in their room. He can't decide, honestly, if he wants to hear all about her day first or...

Just tear all her clothes off.

When they disembark at the palace steps a little later, Jackson has to admit that he's leaning towards the latter.

The group starts up the steps together, laughing at one of Jesse's jokes.

But Jackson turns suddenly, towards where his name is shouted behind him. His wolf immediately leaps to his feet because -

Jackson knows that voice. Would know it anywhere - heard it every day for the first twenty-three years of his life -

Jackson's eyes immediately fasten on the figure standing next to a beat-up junker of a car parked right out front of the palace, his shoulders tense, his face panicked.

"Cr-Cristof?" Jackson gasps, stunned still in his awe.

"Do you know this guy?" Ben asks, stepping close to Jacks and staring at the fairly ragged young man standing at the base of the palace steps, an expression on his face that can only be described as...well, devastated.

Jackson doesn't answer and instead moves, bounding down the palace steps, taking them three at a time. "Cris!" he shouts. "Cris, what the fuck!?" Jackson laughs with joy as he races for his true best friend.

Jesse and Rafe glance at each other, not knowing how to feel. They recognize the name, of course, as one of Jackson's best friends from the Community.

But what the hell is the Community showing up at the palace for?

"Cris, I can't believe it's you!" Jackson roars, grabbing his smaller friend into a

huge hug, lifting him off the ground.

A smile comes to the young man's

—

อน

face - he can't help it. "All right, all right, put me down!" Cristof says, laughing, even as he wraps his friend in a hug of his own, pressing his face tight to Jackson's shoulder. "God, I missed you."

I

"How did you find me!?"

५

"I saw you – on a god damn magazine -" Cristof says, laughing a little. "We all did, you fancy fuck."

Jackson laughs a little but shakes his head, awed. "What are you doing here!?"

"Are you okay?" Cristof asks, avoiding the question. Jackson puts him back on his feet but doesn't let him go, keeping his hands on his shoulders as he steps back, looking Cristof up and down.

"Are you?" Jackson asks, his face falling a bit. “God, Cris, you're so thin -"

"Look who's talking, you asshole," Cristof growls, even as he smiles. "But I'm serious, man," he glances up towards the palace, at the set of Alphas still standing on the steps; carefully watching and ready to intercede if Jackson needs it. "Are you like - good here? Are you safe and stuff?"

-

“Yeah,” Jackson says, nodding, his own face falling as he realizes that...Cristof isn't here just to visit. That there's an anxiety in the set of his shoulders, the way he keeps looking around. "I'm fine, Cris I'm..I'm great. I found my mate."

Cristof whips his face back to his friend. "No shit," he whispers. "True not kid?"

"True not kid," Jackson says, nodding seriously, using their old Community shorthand. "She's amazing - come in side, she'll love to meet you -"

 

Chapter 0919

"I can't, man," Cristof says, shaking his head, his face breaking a bit to show the true sorrow that's running through him. "I have to get back."

"Back?" Jackson asks, going still. His hands tighten on Cristof's shoulders. "Cris, don't go back – it's fucking awful there, it's so much better here - there's so much you don't know -"

"There's so much you don't know," Cristof snarls, stepping towards Jackson and baring his teeth. His eyes flick to the Alphas standing on the steps, all who move forward towards them. But Jackson flashes up a hand towards Jesse and Rafe and the others. They pause, tense.

"What's going on?" Jackson asks, his voice low and serious, finally realizing that...that something really is wrong. "Why can't you stay? We - we'll build a life for you, Cris. We can do that, we really can -"

But Cristof just shakes his head, his throat working. "I have to get back. Zachary -" his voice breaks on the name and he hangs his head.

Jackson's hands tighten. "What's wrong with Zachary?" he growls.

“He's.....in fucking deep, Jackson. They..." Cristof taps his temple with a finger. "They got into his head, or whatever. He's - it's fucking awful, okay? And the command is getting really cruel, way worse than it was when you left - they're... hurting people..." Cristof's words come out thin and choked towards the end and he looks away, working very hard to avoid crying.

"Come inside," Jackson says, his hands tightening on Cristof's shoulders. "We'll tell the King - there are people who want to help –“

"I'm not talking to that jackass King," Cristof snarls, stepping away from Jackson and jerking himself out of Jackson's grasp.

"He's not like that - everything they told us in the Community were fucking lies Cristof -"

"Did they get into your head, Jackson?" Cristof asks, again looking up at the palace, worried. "You're all fucking...fancy now? And turned your back on your people? Just...left us?"

"Cristof," Jackson says, holding a hand out towards his friend, guilt running through him because...well, because the accusation hits hard. And it's not completely untrue. "I'm...trying. I'm working with a doctor to get aid - to get people in -"

"Well, it's not working, Jackson!" Cristof bites out, tears starting from his eyes now. He snarls, wiping hard at his face with his sleeve, desperately unhappy that his emotions have worked their way to the surface. "They're fucking hurting us, Jacks! And the ones who run away, they get fucking killed if they don't starve to death - they're —"

"Who gets killed?" Jackson whispers, grabbing Cristof's arm again.

"Jacks, do you need help?" Rafe asks, and Jackson whips his head to the side to see his friends all standing close. But Jackson snarls, telling them wordlessly to stay back, and Rafe holds up his hands, letting Jacks know that he'll obey.

“Who. Gets. Killed,” Jackson snarls, turning back to Cristof, his hand tightening on his arm.

"Your fucking Tasha girl, for one," Cristof growls back, anger and jealousy and rage and terror all plain on his face.

All the blood drains from Jackson's face and he just stares at his friend, who glances over at the Princes and the duke and the ambassador and wipes again at his face, at the tears streaking down his cheeks.

Jackson just stares at Cristof, hardly breathing. "How do you know about Tasha?"

—

Because never - not once - did he

tell anyone about her. Ariel - and

—

Hank and Ella they're the only

ones on earth who have heard her

name from his lips.

-

"Because she found me, Jackson," Cristof says, freely crying now even despite his efforts to stop. “She ran when she got big-bellied - and she was starving - her and the pup both - and she needed help, and she begged me for anything - helped them, I did everything I could in secret, but it wasn't enough -"

Jackson's heart pounds in his chest. The pup.

A pup.

Tasha - and...

Tasha and a pup.

"They died?" he whispers, shaking Cristof hard, needing an answer now.

Cristof just stares at him for a too-long moment. Jackson's entire life, his reality, hangs in the balance and he waits, desperate, not breathing.

"Tasha died," Cristof whispers.

Then he turns, his arm slipping out of Jackson's hand, and reaches for the handle

to the door on the back seat of the car.

Jackson's heart seizes in his chest.

 

Chapter 0920

Cristof seems to move in slow motion, grasping the handle to the car door, pulling

it open. Jackson's body moves without him, stumbling after Cristof, bending low to see inside as the door swings wide.

Jackson blinks into the darkness, his eyes adjusting.

And then he sees her, the little girl.

Asleep, curled up in some ragged towels and blankets, her dark hair spread all around her in a wild tangle.

Jackson's wolf howls as soon as he sees her.

Ours, Jackson's wolf snarls. Grab her, take her - she is ours -

But Jackson can't move, not...not believing it.

A child.

Hank said - Hank said that there were no children born that autumn in the Community -

She - she would have been on the record -

But, if Tasha had run away...

Jackson groans, stepping towards the open door, and he trips over his own feet, falling hard against the side of the car as soon as her tiny little girl scent hits him. Because even if his wolf knew it upon sight, her scent -

Pine and winter, and flowers and sun - half him - his.

His child. His...daughter.

Jackson just stares into the car, his entire world unraveling around him, with this new tiny creature at the center of it all.

"How..." he whispers, unable to take his eyes away.

"Her name is Marigold," Cristof whispers, his voice thick with tears.

"What the fuck..."

Jackson half hears Rafe's awed whisper, but he can't take his eyes away from the little girl in the back seat of the car. His little girl in the back seat of the car. Marigold.

"She's a good kid," Cristof says, starting forward suddenly, his brisk movement surprising Jackson into sucking in a deep breath. "You'll like her - and she's easy - she won't give you any trouble -"

“Wait, what?” Jackson whispers, his

entire body starting to shake as Cristof bends into the car, gathering the tiny little girl into his arms. Her face scrunches and Jackson watches in awe as she moves her eyes open, bleary and looking around.

as

He stills again, his heart stopping when he realizes that her eyes are...blue.

A dark, pretty blue.

God, they're just like his.

"She doesn't talk much," Cristof says, straightening with the girl in his arms, frowning at her a bit and pushing her hair back. "But I haven't been able to figure out if that's because she's...stupid. Or if just doesn't like to."

"She's not stupid," Jackson growls.

Cristof looks Qver at him with a shrug, talking fast. "I didn't think she was, honestly. She watches everything, all quiet, and she listens a lot - she understands everything I say. It could just be that she was alone with her dead mother for like, days, Jacks that probably does

—

weird shit to a kid -"

Jackson groans, his arms reaching for the girl without him realizing what he's doing.

"But I think if you feed her up, she'll be fine," Cristof says, passing the child over into her father's arms.

Jackson stares down at the girl, shocked by the sudden weight and reality of her in her arms. He stops breathing again as the little girl looks up into his face and just...stares back at him.

The pair look at each other in complete silence for a long, long moment before the little girl's face crumples, and she tilts her head back, and bursts into screaming tears.

"Oh, yeah. And she does...that." Cristof says, putting his hands on his hips and grimacing a little. "More regularly than I'd like."

The little girl shouts wordlessly, her voice somehow at once tiny and light and maddeningly loud as she turns in Jackson's arms and reaches for the man she knows. Jackson gasps, nearly dropping her, snapping his gaze to his friend.

"It's all right, Marigold!" Cristof says, stepping forward and smiling at the girl, stroking a hand over her hair. "You're with your father now! This is where you should be! He's – he's going to be nice to you!"

She screams louder, reaching for Cristof, wriggling harder in Jackson's arms. He curses lightly, working hard to keep hold of her.

"You're going to be nice to her, right?" Cristof asks, snapping his eyes up to Jackson's with a frown.

"Of course I'm going to be fucking nice to her, Cristof,” Jackson growls, his eyes darting between the wriggling child and his friend. He hoists the little girl up, pressing her to his chest, one hand flat on her back while the other supports her little rump. She continues to wail, panicked, her head tilting back so that the sound rings out to the sky.

Jackson stares at her for a moment, shocked that such a little person can make that much noise.

Then his eyes flash to Cristof as he moves for the front of the car.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going," Jackson snarls, closing the distance between them as Cristof slams the back door and reaches for the driver's handle, yanking it open.