The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Mark watches Pippa carefully, still completely at a loss regarding what to do or say to calm her down, to let her know that it's all right. Because she's right - completely right. None of this is simple. She is, by all accounts, married to another man and newly the mother of his child.

But despite all of that, besides her slim little chest heaving with anger, Mark notes that.....Pippa doesn't leave the alcove.

And it's not because he's keeping her here by force.

Be cool, be cool, his wolf cautions, even has he fails to take that advice himself and darts anxiously back and forth in Mark's soul.noveldrama

Mark exhales slowly and holds Pippa's gaze. "Your situation is even more complex than you're painting it," he says, doing his damn best to stay calm.

Pippa stiffens, her shoulders straightening as she glares at him. "By which you mean?"

He raises an eyebrow at her. "You're leaving out the fact that your Alpha is mated to someone else as well. Happily so, by all accounts."

Pippa inhales deeply through her nose, her eyes flaring as she glares at Mark. His wolf howls in his soul, anguished, wondering if it was the wrong thing to say. But damn it, what the hell is the right thing to say in a situation like this?

"Elias will never leave me," Pippa says, her voice tight, lifting the baby higher in her arms. Mark's eyes move for a moment to little Bianca, seeing that she's calming somehow, his heart gladdening for it. Because that little baby - she's not even his child, and he feels...such a tie to her. His mate's little girl - of course she's precious to him.

"I'm not really...concerned with Elias right now," Mark says quietly, sighing as he runs his hand through his hair. "Pippa, can we just...talk? Normally? I mean, you're so resistant to this, but I'm not going away."

"I wish you would!" she snaps.

"What, so you can hang out alone in the alcove?" Mark asks, sarcastic, waving around to it. But then he drops his hand, a little ashamed at himself for snapping like that.

Pippa just glares at him, so Mark carries on.

"Pippa, you are my mate," he says, sighing, shaking his head at her, pressing a hand to his heart. "I know that you feel it too. Can we just...calm down? Take a minute to get to know each other?"

"Is that seriously what you want to do, Mark?" she snaps, taking a step towards him, her mouth pulling down at the corners. "You want to just take some time to get to know each other?"

"Well, yeah?" Mark says, wary, knowing that this is a trap but not understanding it yet.

"And how would you suggest we do that?" she snaps, glaring hard.

"Um, we could... hang out?" he says, awkward, curling in on himself a little as he realizes that he has...absolutely no answer to that question and feeling like an absolute idiot. "We could...have dinner? Talk?"

A rough little laugh breaks from Pippa's mouth. "My entire life is falling apart, and you want to hang out?"

He grimaces, not getting it, but knowing that this is bad. "Um, yes?"

"And what does one do when they hang out?"

Mark sighs. "I don't know, Pippa. We could...get some pizza? Just...relax? And talk?"

"I am a Luna and a mother," Pippa snaps, advancing on him again, cradling her baby close. "I am fighting to adjust to the loss of my family and my position in society so that I can give my little girl a better life. And while I am happy to make that sacrifice for her, I am struggling at every turn to understand who I am in this world! Not to mention that my Alpha has fallen in love with another man - an act that would result in his death in our home nation. And that might very well result in me being abandoned and alone here"

"Pippa, we would never let you be abandoned, of course we'd always support you

"My life is falling apart!" she shouts, breaking in, desperate, her voice cracking. "And I am trying to hold it together with the bare edges of my nails! I have all the responsibilities of a grown woman, Mark Sinclair am the mother to an infant child, I have my Alpha's household to establish and run, and you want to...hang out!?"

Mark groans a little, hanging his head, seeing her point.

Because even if he and Pippa are the same age their lives are completely different. And his suggestion that she act like any other nineteen-year-old girl and just

โวเ

hang out with him - grab some pizza, watch a movie, chat about their interests- utterly neglects to take into consideration who she is and what she needs.