The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0288

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“It wasn’t…hard,” dad says, leaning back in his chair and thinking about it. “But it was different. It wasn’t like yours I met your mother long after I met Lydia, and we had enough trouble figuring out that your mom was a wolf before we ever figured out that she was my mate. I think that had I met them at the same time…” he hesitates and then

grimaces at me. “I think it would have been…insane. Mostly because they would have torn each other to pieces.”

“Yeah,” I say, grimacing too as I lean back in my chair. “We had…a bit of that.”

“No!” dad says, grinning at me and leaning forward, clearly wanting to hear more. I smile at my dad, because as much as he pretends he’s so serious, he loves gossip as much as the rest of us. And so I launch into the story, telling him about the night that Jacks and Luca found out about each other, and how they shifted, and how Jesse and Rafe had to intercede, and how Ben knocked me out of the way and probably saved me from some serious harm.

“Wow,” dad says when it’s all done, looking a little pale as he runs a hand through his hair. ” You were…lucky, Ariel. That could have been way worse. And I like this Ben character even

more than I did before.”

“Yes, Ben’s a gem, “I say, smiling. “But Jesse and Rafe have been amazing,” I continue, keeping my voice soft. “They really helped me to negotiate the whole thing, and calm Luca and Jack

down, and helped me advocate for myself when emotions were running high. very lucky to have them.”

Luca

majority, and how she made it worse for years by insisting that he keep it a secret until Grandpa Henry finally decided to declare dad his heir, not Roger.

of shocked. “She sounds…not

dad says on a sigh, lifting his eyes to mine. “And it wouldn’t have bothered her, at

1/2

and refined, and in control. She was a whirlwind of a woman get caught up in, not at all concerned with the

very easy to

his mate. Because mom…mom is the opposite of all of that. And dad and she match so

((

intuiting the direction of my thoughts and telling me the truth even though I can see it pains him a little to do so. I was…angry, and desperate for Lydia after so many years pining for her. And Grandpa Henry was…a

better.”

liking that part of the story. “So, how did you change?” I ask quietly,

mean that quite literally – almost killed me in a

crucible of that pain…allowed me

to recover.

of your mom.”