The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

“It’s not a waste of time,” I counter, glaring at Jackson. “It’s the assignment.”

“The assignment was to get the marble to do something. If your powers aren’t telekinesis, why would you try to lift it?”

I stare at him, confused. “Well, how do you know my powers aren’t telekinesis?”

He smirks a little. “Because if they were, you’d probably have lifted the marble by now.”

I blink at him, half baffled by his logic and half…well, half persuaded. I turn back to the marble, which hasn’t moved an inch.

“Maybe you’re right,” I murmur. “Tony wasn’t able to move the marble because his magic has nothing to do with lifting marbles.”

“Alvez is just spinning his wheels, having us all take shots in the dark, hoping we turn something up. Next week he’ll have us trying to do something else.”

“Well, that sucks,” I sigh, slumping a little. “I really wanted to make it float.”

There’s a long silence between us as I scowl at the marble, my hand pressed to his, wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do next.

“Wait, really?” Jackson softly asks.

I turn to him, confused.

He stares at me, and despite any efforts to concentrate on the assignment I find myself again a little lost in the dark blue of his eyes. Such a rare color – I lean a little closer, trying to see the details of it.

“You want to float the marble?” Jackson says softly, his hand tightening just incrementally around mine. “That’s what you’d pick, of all the possible magical gifts you could have?”

I turn my head to the side, considering it. “Well, I mean, it wouldn’t be a bad one…” I murmur, and then I smile softly. “But you’re right. I guess that I don’t want to float the

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marble.”

He smiles too. “Well then. Mission successfully completed,” Jackson says, turning back to the marble. “A+ on this one, candidate Clark, if that’s the new goal.”

I laugh a little, still studying his face. “What would you pick?” I ask.

He shrugs a little. “Don’t know,” he murmurs, “Never thought about it. You?”

I bite my lip, because I mean…I have thought about it. We’ve known about our potential gifts since we were teens. I’d bet that Rafe and Jesse have also spent a couple of idle hours wondering what they will be.

“I think I’d want something useful,” I sigh, and he turns his face back to me, interested. “I mean…well, I’m not really supposed to tell you this,” I say, grimacing a little and deciding to do it anyway, especially as my wolf prods me with her nose, urging me to trust my mate. “But my aunt Ella – she can heal people. Like really heal them – that’s her magic. She accesses her gift and their wounds just knit together.” I snap, emphasizing my point.

“That’s amazing,” Jackson says, his eyebrows going up. “So, that’s what you’d pick?”

I sigh and he grins at me.

“Well, I should pick that,” I say, tilting my head and looking at him with a little bit of guilt. “It could help so many people. But…I mean, if I’m really telling the truth? I’d want something cool. Like flying. Or talking to animals.”

Jackson laughs openly at this, and from the corner of my eye I see Luca turn his head towards us, frowning.

“You want to talk to animals?” Jackson repeats, shaking his head like he clearly does not see why that is as cool as I think it is.

“It would be awesome!” I insist, squeezing his hand, willing him to believe me. “Like, even beyond just having chats with your pets, you could persuade an army of bees to attack people! Or, during a famine, you could persuade all the fish into the sea to jump into a net

“That’s cruel,” Jackson says, shaking his head at me, “you can’t use your powers to convince

an animal to sacrifice itself.”

My mouth twists a little. “You’re right. I would only use my powers for good.”

Jackson smirks at me before peering around the edge of the curtain, looking for the window. “So, do you want to go outside? Try to…talk to a bird or something?”

I laugh now and Jackson turns back to me, surprise and delight suddenly on his face. And my smile deepens as I study him, because I’ve just realized that…he probably doesn’t make people laugh very

often, does he?

And he quite distinctly enjoyed the experience.

“No,” I say, still smiling at him. “Let’s just…save that for another time. Maybe we can try to… explode the marble a little bit. See if one of us is a blower–upper?”

“Be my guest,” Jackson says, gesturing towards the marble.

“Hey,” Luca calls from the couch, drawing both of our gaze to him. “How much longer is this little homework session going to last? Getting a little…loud. Over there.”

Jesse, his eyes still on his book, smirks at Luca’s clear jealousy.

“Fifteen more minutes,” Jackson calls back. Luca narrows his eyes but turns back to his homework.

“I mean,” Jackson murmurs, leaning close to whisper in my ear, “if you want to refocus the exploding attempt on a new target, the couch would also be…fine…”

I burst out laughing at this, slapping a hand over my mouth to muffle the sound so Luca doesn’t know how hard Jackson has made me laugh, but also because I remember what Ben said about me laughing like a girl.

When I look back at Jackson, I see he’s doing his best to suppress a smile.

“All right,” I say, straightening my shoulders and focusing again on the marble. “Let’s try again.”

We spend about ten minutes sitting in silence then, with me focusing hard, Jackson’s hand NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

tight in my own. As we go, heat wells in my body, building and building. I’m fascinated by it, especially by the comparison with Tony’s magic, which cooled me down.

But no matter what I do…nothing happens to the marble.

I’m trying a new tactic – attempting to transform the marble into something else, rather than move or destroy it – when Jackson startles me a little by speaking again.

“Hey, is she…is she okay?” Jackson whispers.

I almost let go of his hand, spinning my head towards him.

“What?” My word is nothing more than a puff of breath.

“My mate,” he says, studying my eyes seriously.

I just stare at him.

and I

“Please,” Jackson says, all earnest honesty. “I know we got off to a bad, weird start really am sorry for that. But I know you remember that first night, out by the pool. My mate – she’s around somewhere, I keep catching whiffs of her all over this castle and campus. But I can’t figure out for the life of me what’s going on. But,” his brows draw together now as he frowns at me, “I know you know something, Clark. I know this is somehow connected to you.”

I begin to lean away, a little afraid, and he clicks his tongue, sighing and leaning closer to me, keeping our intimate distance the same.

“Please,” he murmurs, “I’m sorry – I don’t – I’m not very aware of like, when I’m being intimidating or whatever. I’m not trying to…” he hesitates, at a loss for words, and I exhale an unsteady breath, sitting

back up straight.

“I am not trying to…do anything, Clark,” Jackson says, still peering at me, almost unblinking. “It’s just… god, she’s my mate!” His voice cracks a little, breaking my heart. “You don’t have to tell me anything,” he insists, shaking his head. “But…if you know something…….. just….is she okay?”

“Jackson,” I sigh, my wolf nipping at me, her whole body pressed against my heart, urging me to tell him everything, to let him off the hook he’s clearly hanging from by the tips of

his fingers. “Jackson, she’s fine, all right?”

He exhales a huge breath then, staring at me in both disbelief and relief at once.

“She’s okay,” I insist, nodding carnestly to him. “Just…that’s all I can say, all right? There’s… reasons for it. But I promise you that she’s fine, that you don’t have to worry about her.”

“Well of course I’m going to worry about her,” he snaps, his brows knitting together again.

And despite myself I laugh, just a little bit. “But you don’t need to. She’s cared for – I promise. In good hands.”

Jackson takes a deep breath, and as he exhales it he tilts his head back and closes his eyes, a whole well of tension I didn’t realize he was holding leaving his muscles in a rush.

And as the tension goes, I am suddenly flooded with warmth. So much so that I gasp aloud, and drop his hand, and almost yelp a little bit, skittering away from him across the bed.

“What?” he gasps, snapping his face back to me. “What, Clark!?”

But I just stare at him, shocked, the warmth still rushing through me, though it’s starting to fade now.

“Whoa,” a voice says from the room beyond my nook, and both Jackson and I turn our heads to see Jesse staring at my bed.

My eyes move immediately to the marble on my chemistry book and I gasp again.

“Hoooooly shit,” Jackson murmurs, leaning forward to stare.

–

Because the marble it melted. Completely melted into a little puddle of glass that is now again hardening against the ruined cover of my textbook.