The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



I groan, snorting awake when Jackson lays me down in my own bed. "What's happening," I murmur, looking around, completely confused.

"You fell asleep,” he replies, smirking at me as he climbs in next to me and reaches out to un-hook the curtain, letting it shush shut. "I figured you'd rather continue doing that in bed, rather than half sprawled out on the floor with your head in my lap."

"Both good," I sigh, snuggling close as he settles himself next to me, wrapping his arms loose around my shoulders. "You're the best pillow I've ever had."

He laughs lightly, pleased to be of service.

I blink for a minute, not eager to fall back asleep now that I have this quiet moment with him, not while I have a second to hold him close, to get a deep sniff of his scent. Jackson growls a little, possessive, pulling me tight, feeling precisely the same.

"How are you doing?" I ask, fighting a yawn and failing as I tilt my head up to look into his face. "About the Games? And...everything else?" "What else?" he asks, frowning down at me.

I laugh a little, shaking my head at him. "I don't know, Jacks, your life? Which has changed drastically in the past week, let alone the past six months. I'm just checking in on all of it."

"Checking in on me," he murmurs, lifting hand to brush over my hair, "when you're the one who discovered today that she can fall into a new dimension."

I laugh a bit, somehow...less disturbed about that now than I was earlier. Maybe because I'm too sleepy. Maybe because with Jacks warm in my bed, it all feels very far away.

"Yes," I whisper, grinning. "I'm sweet like that. So?"

Jackson exhales a long breath and

turns his face up to the ceiling, clearly considering it, which fills me with a great deal of pleasure.

Because I think that it's Jackson met

instinct to always ensure that m

okay and that my emotions are all right, but we need to check in on him too, and I'm glad that he's letting me do it.

"I'm fine with everything that happened in the Games," he murmurs, thoughtful. "Glad we won, proud of you, pleased that Tony's showing that he's on our side and wants to be part of....whatever it is that we're doing. I think he's a good guy- my instincts are saying to trust him, that he's trying to prove to us that we can."

I nod warmly to my mate, encouraging, because I feel the same.

"But if I'm being honest," Jackson continues, raising his eyesbrows at me. "I've been spending a lot of time wondering...who gave me my gift. And

why."

"Really?" I whisper, genuinely surprised. "Why have you been wondering about that?"

Jackson, since I've met him, has had this rather dismissive turn to these sorts of questions – never really interested in the provenance of his magic and instead just concerned with what he can do with it.

“I don't know,” he murmurs, frowning a little as he puzzles it out, “not too many others in the Community had gifts so we never really...talked about where they came from. It was just something we could do - like I could run fast, when others couldn't. I can do magic, others can't. It was just another skill."

I nod to him, listening, intrigued.

"But the more I spend time with you and your family," he says, continuing to pet me absently, "the more I

realize that the Goddess really

thought about this stuff. Thounoveldrama

about which gift to give you and to give Jesse and probably Rafe. I mean, she even said that she thought Jesse's gift matched his personality."

"She said the same about mine," I say quietly, remembering back to our private conference. "Something about my slight tendency for recklessness being a good match for my gift."

"Oh yes," Jackson says, dry, rolling his eyes, "yes, let's give the reckless one the power to burn cities to ash."

I laugh, giving him a little rabbit punch as chastisement, but Jackson laughs too and presses a kiss to my head. "So, you think the same thing happened?" I ask, resting my head back down on his shoulder. "When you got your gift?"

"I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? I don't think the allocation is random. Some...God," he huffs out a disbelieving sigh here, "gave me this...power. And I don't know why."