The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Oh, would you lay off, Jesse growls, swatting his wolf away. Obviously, I would never.

"Hey, are you listening to me?" Midnight snaps. Jesse whips his head up to see her with her hands on her hips, glaring down at him. He smiles, laughing a bit.

"I'm sorry, Midnight, will you start again? I got lost in my thoughts."

She frowns for a minute but then slowly her expression turns into a smile. "I like it when you apologize," she says, quiet. "It's nice."

"Then I'll keep doing it," Jesse says, smiling back. "But please, continue."

She does, and Jesse does his best to truly listen. But just before he gives Midnight his full attention, Jesse reaffirms to himself and his wolf the very real truth in his mind: that even if she is his mate, Midnight is off limits, physically and romantically. To cross that line with someone so damaged would be a sincere violation. And he would never do that not to her, not to anyone.

And so Jesse determines, instead, to be Midnight's best friend - her protector and her buddy, by her side whenever she needs him.

Because mate or not, everyone deserves someone like that. And Midnight's never had it.

So, Jesse steps up to the task, determined to keep Midnight by his side even as he tries to get back home to his family and the people he loves.

At the meeting, Jackson just stares at the floor, clenching and unclenching his fist - the one that held Ariel's hand. The one she was ripped from. The one that failed her.

He knows that he's supposed to be paying attention but...god damn it, he doesn't want to fucking be here. He doesn't understand why he's here - just standing at Rafe's side - listening to people debate what the hell they're going to do.

Why - why isn't anyone taking any action!? Why isn't he racing from the room -

"Hey," Rafe murmurs, lightly knocking his shoulder into Jackson's. "Are you okay, man?" Jackson looks over at his friend, his mate's brother, with a solemn frown. Ben, on Rafe's other side, looks at Jackson with worry too.

Unwilling to answer that question, because he knows they want a yes and he's not going to bother to lie, Jackson just tersely turns his gaze on the King and the Duke at the front of the room. Dominic and Roger listen closely to advisors who tell them vital information about the state of Atalaxia's military and anything they know at all about Jesse or Juniper or Ariel.

But after the good news about the fact that Ariel basically obliterated Atalaxia's entire air force in one go stupid of them to send them all out at once - the rest of this meeting has been useless gibberish. The kind of bureaucratic hemming and hawing that makes Jackson want to tear his hair out. Despite himself, Jackson lets his eyes drop again to the floor, lost in his thoughts.

This morning, he'd woken up in his old bedroom at the Palace with Ella in a chair at his bedside. She'd looked worn and exhausted as she explained that she had healed his palm, on which Ariel had left third-degree burns. And then Ellá had held Jackson as he sobbed after she told him what happened – that Roger injected him with something to knock him out, and that they took him from the battlefield, and that Ariel is gone.

—

Gone, completely gone - snatched right out of his hands by someone that intelligence had identified as a fucking Atalaxian prince.

Where.., Where the hell had he taken her? Jackson understands completely why they'd want her and why they'd want her off that battlefield. She had been absolutely obliterating them and was about to burn herself out letting loose more hell on their armies.

But...where? Where the fuck is she now?

The question gnaws at him. Because despite Moon Valley's apparently extensive resources, no one seems to fucking know.

"All right," Dominic Sinclair says, snapping Jackon's head back up. "So that's the plan for now. We marshal our intelligence units, we send queries and ambassadors, and we...hope. Hope that we get some information soon."noveldrama

Jackson turns away from the room

the moment the meeting breaks up, disgust filling him. Rafe calls after him, grabbing for his arm, but Jacks he doesn't want to hurt his friend, but god, he's just got to get out of here. He's got to make a plan, he's got to -

The moment he steps out of the door, though, someone grabs him by the hand, startling and nearly

knocking him off balance. Jackson growls, whipping his head to whoever, his teeth bared -

But he gasps and reels it all in the moment he realizes that it's the Queen.

"I'm sorry," Jackson stumbles out, shaking his head, horrified. "I'm so sorry, Ella -"

"It doesn't matter," Ella snaps, her hand still tight on his, looking up into his face. "Jackson, you have to go

to get her. You know that, right? This is - this is all taking too long."

Jackson's vicious snarl is all the confirmation Ella needs.

"Good," Ella says, giving him a steady nod. "Then I'll help you. Let's go."

Side by side, the two start off down the hall.