The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

To my surprise, Jackson makes absolutely no move to put me down. Instead, he just looks at Luca evenly for a second. "Your girlfriend?" he asks, the words low and light with disbelief. He hums consideringly and then turns his face back up to mine. "What do you think, Clark?" he murmurs, nodding over to where Luca stands, not bothering to look his way. "That your boyfriend over there?"

I can't help it then, loving the assurance in his voice, the calm way he dismisses Luca's jealousy. A slow, happy smile spreads over my lips as I stare down at him, not saying a single word regarding whether Luca's my boyfriend or not.

Because honestly, I don't know.

But Jackson's right - Luca doesn't get to boss him around on this, does he?

"Didn't think so," Jackson murmurs, low enough that maybe only I hear him. But then he grins at me and lowers me to the floor as Luca strides to my side, grabbing my hand.

"Okay, okay," Rafe says, stepping forward with a sigh. "Clearly, clearly we need some ground rules here."

And I sigh, glancing up at both of my mates, before crossing the room to Rafe's side.

we got some things straight and

growls at Jackson, his

a calm shrug. "I was invited." He glances at Jesse

asks, starting to pour

room to

bullshit," Luca snaps, clearly worked up. "What is all this happy family nonsense!? Are we all just going to pretend that McClintock and

you," Jackson says evenly, taking a calm sip of his coffee. I blink at him, a little surprised, wondering where all this confidence came from. This is, in some ways, a very different Jackson than the grief-stricken wolf who stormed out of

the aggressor now that Jackson has proclaimed himself neutral. Then Luca grits his teeth, storming over to Jackson. Rafe grabs the back of my shirt, not letting me go to them, knowing that my first instinct is to stand between them, to

them figure it out," Rafe murmurs when I look back at him. "This, weirdly, is not

my arms. "I'm going to go from two

laughs lightly, but we both just watch as the

think I can't see what you're doing?" Luca snaps, glaring into Jackson's face. "You get to come in here all calm, pretending you're fine with this, looking like the good guy - making me look like the bad guy But I'm the only one being honest here - you don't want her with me just as much