Chapter 0961

But my grin falls when I turn my head to look up at Mark, because that

devastation…it persists.

“Mark,” I say quietly, leaning towards him, wanting very much to play the big sister right now.

“Still not yet, Ari,” Mark says on a sigh, glancing down at me. He gives his best attempt at a smile, but it fails.

“Okay, then let me get you a drink, little boy,” I say, resting my cheek against his

arm.

Ben laughs a little. “He’s not a little boy at all, Ari,” he says, shaking his head. “He’s gigantic – nearly as tall as Rafe and Jacks -“

“Incorrect, Benny,” I say, spinning my head to grin at him. “He’s just teeny tiny, like me. Come on, both of you – drinks all round.”

Ben, Mark, and I head into the family apartments, which are empty, suggesting that the meeting about the Community is still going on. I do as I promised, fetching us a couple of drinks and handing them round, but we’re a quiet little group tonight. None of us feels particularly chatty, each of us instead lost in our thoughts about burgeoning parenthood, and the loves of our life, and what on earth the future looks like.

I smirk at Mark and Ben sitting on either sides of the same couch, considering that…..if what I suspect about Markie is true, then he and Ben have a great deal more in common than I ever thought they would. Privately I wish that they would just talk to one another, thinking that they could really be a help to each other. But, not wanting to push it, I just sigh and leave them to their easy silence as both sip calmly at their drinks, lost in thought.

I move to the window, sipping at my own glass of wine, looking out at the beautiful city as dusk falls. I sigh, happy, struck by the beauty of our capital city even as my thoughts turn to the surprising new developments of my life. To Jacks, and sweet little Marigold, and how she fits into our world. Because while it’s clear that she slips into the family quiet easily and that everyone has fully embraced her, what does my life look like going forward?

Do we go back to Alpha Academy for our second and final year? How do we manage to balance Marigold’s needs with our own responsibilities and ambitions? What am I supposed to do, like, carry her up into the sniper’s blind in a sling on my back or something?

I smirk a little at the thought, thinking that Jackson would completely flip about it, when my eye suddenly catches on movement in our courtyard below. My attention immediately shifts, something in my wolf instinct allowing me to focus immediately on the figure that stands in shadow, leaning against a tree. Looking up at this very window.

At me.

And my lips curl quietly into a smile, because even if the figure is indistinct…

I know, instantly, precisely who it is.

“I’m going downstairs for a minute,” I murmur, swallowing the rest of my glass of wine down in a single gulp and leaving the glass on the windowsill.

Ben and Mark mumble something

sel

back but I’m already moving, heading for the door, my wolf prowling restlessly in my soul. As hurry down the steps to the first floor, heading for the door that leads directly to that courtyard, I send a pulse down my bond to Jackson, careful to keep it cheerfuPand easy.

You good? Jackson asks, interested but not worried.

Yup, I say, reaching for the doorknob. Just going outside for a bit of fresh air – the

east courtyard. In case you’re looking for me.

Cool, Jacks says, calm and a bit distracted. We’re almost done here.

I send a happy little pulse of love back to him in confirmation, even as I push the door open to the courtyard and rush through it. Then I close the bond off – not completely, but numbing it a great deal.

Because this? This is…just for me.

I slow my steps, slipping my hands behind my back as I walk forward towards the figure who still leans far too casually against the tree. My wolf gives me an anxious nip of warning as I step close, but smooth a hand over her fur.

Because this one? He can’t hurt me. Not anymore.

“Hey, Luca,” I say, smiling slowly up into his gorgeous face.

“Princess,” Luca says, one corner of his mouth turning up into a dimpled smirk. “How’ve you been?”

Chapter 0962

“I’ve been really busy,” I say, wrinkling my nose at him, unable to help my wide smile. God, he’s just…so precisely the same, isn’t he? All tall and sexy and confident. “You know, since you left me naked and crying on the floor of your bedroom.”

“Aw, come on, Ari,” Luca says with a sigh, the smile slipping from his mouth, his head hanging. “You have to start right in with that?”

“Where would you prefer I start?” I ask quietly, not wanting to be cruel but also knowing that Luca has just got…such an easy way of turning things in his favor, of making it easy for me to forget that he’s ever done anything wrong, ever.

And it usually starts with that pretty smile.

“How about we start with me apologizing?” he murmurs, lifting his soulful brown eyes to mine.

I quirk an eyebrow, letting him know that might be wise.

“That’s the only thing that’s been ringing in my head for weeks, after all,” he says on a sigh. “It killed me, Ariel – after I left, and had like…eight seconds to think about it. I’m so, so fucking sorry – and then when you got kidnapped from that battlefield? And I wasn’t there?” He hangs his head again and I see the true grief and regret that haunts him.

“You didn’t look very sorry at the start,” I say quietly, crossing my arms over my chest.

“What?” he asks, lifting his head again, confusion bunching his brows.

I smirk a bit. “I saw the tabloids, Luca,”

He groans, turning his head to the side.

I laugh, light and easy. “Oh please, you were basically posing – you knew I’d see the pictures -“

“I so was not -“

“Oh

yes you were,” I say on a sigh, grinning at him, unable to help it. “With your shirt just…casually unbuttoned like that?” I roll my eyes, shaking my head at him. “Come on, Luca, I know you – you were never a messy dresser until very recently.”

He sighs, caught a bit, lifting his eyes to mine, apology and mischief mingled in them.

“Come on then,” I say, lifting my chin towards his chest. “Let’s see it.”

“Ten seconds into our reunion,” he murmurs, shaking his head slowly from side to side. “And you’re already trying to get me to take my shirt off?”

I burst out laughing, my hand flashing out to smack him on the chest. “Come on! You got it for me, after all. The least you can do is let me see it.”

Luca sighs, putting on a great show

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of pretending to be put out by this. But even has he does his fingers move to the buttons of his black shirt, quickly undoing them until he can pull the fabric aside and I can see it there – my name tattooed in flourishing letters across his chest, the A directly over his heart.

“Well?” he asks, low. “What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful work,” I say, leaning in to inspect the lettering, which really is lovely. I mean, I’m no tattoo expert, but whoever did it truly did a fine job. I flick my eyes up to Luca with a smirk as I lean back again. “You’re such a drama queen.”

It’s Luca’s turn to laugh now as he lounges again against the tree, not bothering to button his shirt up. Again, deliberate. He gives a casual, handsome shrug, looking like a damn model there against the tree,

Which, I’m well aware, is precisely how he wants to look.

all-dark and moody and

My handsome mate came to play, as he always does. After all, his looks were always the weapon against which I had the least defense.

“How’d you know I was home?” I ask, tilting my head to the side, studying him. Allowing myself to enjoy this, but not falling into his trap.

“Did you think it was a secret?” Luca asks, quirking an eyebrow at me. “Your fanatical public were dying for news of their lost Princess. And the press did not disappoint.”

Luca reaches behind him and pulls, of all things, a tabloid out of his back pocket, holding it out to me. Surprised, mildly delighted, I take it from him, my eyes lighting up when I see the picture on the cover –

Jackson covering my head as I duck into a helicopter outside that rusty old gas station on the borders. The picture is hazy – clearly amateur, obviously taken by that clerk we met. I grin, my eyes drifting over Jackson’s powerful form –

God, he does take a good picture –

And then moving to the words across the top of the page.

‘Princess Saved by Mystery Hunk!’

I burst out laughing, delighted, clutching the tabloid in my hands.

“I know,” Luca says, dry. “Mystery my ass. If they knew Jackson at all they’d have rephrased it. ‘Very dull hunk of brick accompanies Princess as she saves herself,’

I think, would be the more accurate title.”

I just sigh happily, pressing the magazine to my chest, eager to show it to Jackson. “I’m keeping this,” I say, ignoring Luca’s jealous little insults. They don’t matter anyway.

Luca shrugs, not caring that I keep the magazine. His face falls into more serious lines, though, as he holds my gaze. “You’re…all right, though? Atalaxia…they didn’t…hurt you?”

Chapter 0963

“No, they didn’t,” I say quietly, shaking my head. “I’m good.”

“And the pictures of you in a crown…”

I shrug, giving Luca a quick summary of my time, holding out my wrist so he can see Gabriel’s mark there too. His eyes widen at first when he sees it and I note, with a bit of a smile, that his fangs extend a little bit, a growl rumbling in his chest. But Luca tucks it all away quite masterfully and I drop my arm, not bothering to mention Jackson’s mark.

Because that’s clearly visible, isn’t it? Just where the curve of my neck meets my shoulder. Luca’s eyes flick to it, and then to his own mark high up, beneath my jaw. Except they’re different, aren’t they? Luca’s mark has faded now – just a collection of scars. Jackson’s is healed but alive, blushing warm and pink.

Luca sighs, dropping his eyes from my neck, his shoulders slumping. “I’m so, so sorry, Ariel,” he says, shaking his head. “I regret…everything, that day. Everything

I did was wrong. I was a…fool and a child. And I’m so incredibly sorry.”

“I forgive you,” I say, meaning it, my wolf howling a little to see him in such genuine pain. I care about him, after all – after everything. And he means this apology – we can tell that he does, both by the true grief we can see in him as well as…well, alongside the little pulse of it that I can feel coming down that’s left of our bond.

Because it’s still there, that little scrap. Not enough, anymore, for us to have a true and vivid connection like we once had. But…still extant. Still my mate, in this tiny

little way.

Luca just shakes his head, I think overwhelmed. I tilt my head to the side, thinking that it’s so strange that I…just don’t know precisely what he’s feeling. When I’m so used to knowing.

“I’m sorry too,” I say, reaching for him finally, my hand coming to rest on his forearm.

He lifts his head to look at me. “What?”

“I wasn’t as good to you as I could have been, was I?” I whisper, my heart sinking, because I know that it’s true.

“Ariel -“

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I mean, what you did was…really shitty, Luca. But I was keeping secrets too. I didn’t choose Jackson as you accused me of doing – at least, not at that point. But I was hiding things from you and it wasn’t fair. I should have told you that I had lost my virginity. I should have told you that he was sleeping in my bed every night -“

“He was what?” Luca’s eyes go wide in appalled shock.

I grin a little and shrug. “The details don’t matter.”

“Like hell they don’t!”

I laugh a bit, shaking my head, wrinkling my nose and taking a step away. “They don’t. Not anymore. Just

on from it?”

maybe we can both agree to forgive each other? Move

“Yes,” Luca breathes, taking a step towards me, reaching for me again. “Ariel, yes – if we could that would be amazing -“

“You’re really important to me Luca,” I say quietly, holding my ground. “I always want you in my life. I think that given time there’s space here for a beautiful friendship.”

Luca stops in his tracks, narrowing his eyes at me, straightening up and slipping his hands in his pockets probably to avoid grabbing me. “So that’s where this is going? You’re friend-zoning me, Ariel?”

I wrinkle my nose at him and smile. “Oh no, Luca, I think that you’ll find that you friend-zoned me.”

“I never -“

“You rejected me, Luca!” I say, laughing and shaking my head at him. “You broke our bond -“

“I held onto it -“

“You broke it,” I say, staying firm even under the weight of his desperation when my first instinct is, as it always is, to say whatever it is that will make him happy.

“Ariel,” he breathes, shaking his head at me, begging.

“When someone tells me they don’t want to be with me,” I say quietly. “I have enough self-respect to take them at their word and let them walk away.”

“But I came back,” he whispers, shaking his head.

I shrug, not giving into it. “It’s done. Besides,” I say, glancing over my shoulder. “I’ve made my choice. And got a new cute little family now to boot.” My eyes travel upwards to the window to my family room where a figure looms in the window, a little gir held high in his arms, both of them peering down at us one curious, one grim.

I break into a grin at the sight of my sweetheart mate, all murdery and livid at Luca but still letting me deal with this myself. I give a little wave and, to my delight, Marigold waves Po

back.

Luca leans forward, peering up wards as well, unphased by the silent threat of Jackson standing there, all tense and lethal. “Who is that little kid?”

“Jackson’s daughter.” I turn back to Luca, pleased, wanting to see his reaction.

“Wha-“ Luca says, the word falling out on a appalled exhale of breath. “Where the hell did Jackson get a daughter!?”

Chapter 0964

“Oh, come on, Luc,” I say, laughing a little, delighted at the shock on his face. “Of my three mates, you were never the one who I thought needed the ‘where do babies come from’ chat -“

“Who the hell was he sleeping with!?” Luca whispers, shocked, still staring up at Jackson and his little girl in the window. Luca runs a mystified hand through his hair. “He’s such – he’s so awkward – how did he get a girl -“

“He’s also insanely hot,” I point out, raising my brows at him. “I don’t think it’s very hard for him.”

Luca scowls a little, snapping his eyes back to mine. “He’s not that good looking.”

I just lift a hand to tap at the magazines still pressed to my chest. “The people are with me on this one, Luca. Jackson’s a babe.”

Luca ignores this very valid point. “Is that – is that like his biological kid!? Or did he just like, snag one off the street -“

“Please, he’s not my mom,” I say, rolling my eyes. “She’s his! That’s his daughter, Marigold. She’s great!”

Luca’s eyes flash back to me. “She’s great!?”

I raise an eyebrow at him, challenging him to try that again.

“I mean, I’m sure…she’s a great kid,” Luca says, shaking his head as if to clear it. “But Ariel, you can’t tell me that you’re actually happy about this -“

“Why not!?” I scoff, kind of appalled at his reaction.

“Because because that’s someone else’s kid, Ariel!” he says, taking a step closer, shaking his head at me like I’m a little crazy. “Now Jackson’s what, a dad? And you have to change your whole life to accommodate that!?”

“He’s my mate, Luca,” I say, my voice deepening as I start to get mad. “What did you expect I’d do, just kick him out the door at the first big challenge? I love him, of course I’m going to welcome his daughter into my family!”

“You deserve better,” Luca snaps, shaking his head and crossing his arms, standing up to his full height. “You shouldn’t have to raise someone else’s kid just because Jackson made some kind of youthful mistake.”

“The only mistake here, Luca,” I say, quite low, my magic beginning to simmer in my heart. “Is you thinking that it won’t be the honor of my life to raise Marigold at Jackson’s side.”

“Ariel,” Luca says, leaning closer and reaching for me with both hands. My glare stops him before he touches me and his arms fall to his sides. Still, he persists, holding my gaze steadily. “I’m serious – you deserve your own family without these complications!” He shakes his head, pressing a hand to his chest. “Come with me – you want kids? Let’s have kids! But they’ll be our kids – kids produced from a goddess-blessed bond – we’ll be so happy -“

“Or,” I say, tilting my head to the side, ironic. “If I want goddess-blessed

kids, why don’t I just go back to Atalaxia and take Gabriel up on the same offer? Be his Queen and have a whole bunch of Princes and Princesses with pretty black hair and blue eyes!”

Luca scowls as he stands straight, as he realizes that his offer to me is not as unique or shining as he thought it was.

“If you think the problem here is that I don’t understand my options, Luca,” I say, stepping towards him and tilting my chin up as I hold his gaze. “Then you’re very mistaken. I choose Jackson. I choose that little girl.”

I point solidly up to the window, where I can feel Jackson still standing, steady

and…well, not precisely patient. But enduring.

“They’re mine,” I say, firm. Possessive. Right.

Luca just sighs, hanging his head for a long, long moment.

I let Luca take the time and space to think, dropping my hand. As I do my anger floods from me and my wolf presses herself warm against my heart. Because it’s hard – all of this is hard. Luca is right – it is a surprise and a challenge to have Marigold show up on my door.

But his suggestion that I should walk away from her, that there’s a child that I might want more?

God, it just solidifies for me, in my heart, precisely how much I really want her.

“Where does this leave us?” Luca whispers, raising a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers like he does when he has a headache.

And my heart goes out to him too because…well, he broke our bond. And I came out of it whole and strong. And he…

Chapter 0965

He has much less, doesn’t he?

“It leaves us as friends, Luca,” I say quietly, meaning it very much. He lifts his eyes to me with a sigh. “We…start over from there. See where it goes.” I smirk a bit. “I still own half your gym, after all.”

He huffs a laugh, looking to the side. “I know. My uncle is pissed.”

“Your uncle is a dick,” I say, dry. Luca laughs harder at this, turning that gorgeous smile on me. And, as usual, my stomach flips a bit at the sight. “Are you coming back to school?”

He shrugs, clearly implying that he’s unsure.

“Think about it,” I say on a long exhale. “And…we’ll go from here. But I’m sorry, Luca. And I forgive you and I care about you a great deal. I’m…very happy that you came today.”

“Yeah,” he says on a sigh, slipping his hands into his pockets, regret taking his features as I take a step away. “I’m glad too.”

“I’ll see you soon?”

He shrugs, tacitly agreeing to it but unhappy that this apparently didn’t go as planned. “I love you, Ariel.”

I give him my best smile – a true one, not a Princess Ariel smile. “I love you too, Luca. Just…in a different way, now.”

He sighs as I turn away, clutching the magazine to my chest and hurrying into the palace. As soon as I get inside I turn my mind away from Luca, knowing I’ve got more important things to deal with right now. I rush up the stairs, eager as hell to find my mate and fill him in, to assure him that everything is fine.

When I hurry into the living room my eyes quickly sweep around, taking in Rafe, Mark, and Ben sitting around the coffee table with Jesse, a sleeping Seraphina sprawled chaotically over his lap. My cousin grins at me as I immediately stride across the room, heading for the hall and my room beyond.

“Hey, cuz,” Jesse says, grinning wickedly at me. “What have you been up to?”

“Try me not, fiend!” I call to him over my shoulder, lifting a hand and letting a bit of my blue fire burn there. “I’ve gotta go find my mate!”

“Hey, what was that magazine?” Rafe calls after me, cheerful and entertained. “Seriously, who’s the mystery hunk!? Is it me!?”

I ignore them all, darting down the hall and working to steady my breath as I push open the door to my room. My eyes move

immediately to the big Alpha sitting

on

the edge of the teeny tiny bed in

the corner of the room, stroped in

hand over the hair of the little girl who struggles to keep her eyes open.

his

“Hi,” I whisper, instantly becoming

softer as I realize that Jackson wasn’t avoiding me – it’s just that Marigold, like Seraphina, is exhausted and needed to go to bed. Relief flies through me as I push the door shut behind me and cross to them, only wondering for half a second how a kid bed got in here when neither of us were here all day.

Because mom did it. Of course she did. My wonderful, sweet, thoughtful mom.

“Hey,” Jackson says, reaching for me, pulling me close and letting out a possessive little growl as he does. I grin at that, liking it very much that he perhaps wasn’t completely immune to the sight of me speaking with Luca.

I slip onto my mate’s lap, running a hand through his hair and pressing a kiss to his cheek, taking a moment to let my eyes move over his face. But he sends a calming pulse down the bond, letting me know that it’s all okay. I smile at him, loving him a great deal and letting him feel it. I kiss him again, on the mouth this time, and then turn my attention to the sleepy little girl.

“Hey, Goldie,” I whisper, moving from Jackson’s lap to the bed next to her, laying

my body horizontal and propping myself up on my elbow, laying the magazine face-down next to me. “Did you have a busy day?”

“Yes,” she whispers, happy and sleepy, looking up at me. “Ariel.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” I whisper, laughing a bit, reaching out to pet her little dark head. “You feeling sleepy?”

She nods, taking a deep breath. “Can Fifi come tomorrow?”

I laugh lightly, delighted at their growing friendship. I glance at Jacks, who shrugs, letting me know he has no idea what the plans are. “We’ll see. Hey, I brought you an amazing story book,” I say, grinning wickedly, turning the tabloid over and handing it to her.

Jackson leans forward, confused and curious.