The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy



"What do you mean?" the Goddess asks, grinning at Jesse, clearly a little entertained and looking around the room as if she's going to see Jesse's mate hiding in a corner or something. "Of course you've met your mate - that's how it works! My magical gifts can't develop until your mate comes along to spark them - that's why I gave you the mates. But also," she laughs again as she shrugs, "for fun."

A little pulse of shock goes through me as the Goddess admits this - both that Jesse has a mate and that, somehow, he's met her. And the confirmation that magic develops once you've met your mate...god, but that's important news.

Down our bond, I feel Jackson go still - anxiety turning in him as he wonders why his magic developed so soon before he met me.

"I - I'm sorry, Goddess," Jesse says, pressing his hand to his heart. "But my wolf and I - we have not found our mate. How can I have accessed my magic?"

The Goddess frowns, humming deeply and reaching for Jesse again, pressing her hand to his forehead and concentrating this time. Then she sighs, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, that's odd - you truly have no memories of meeting her," she says, clearly frustrated. "But...if you have your magic, then you have met your mate. Or," she shrugs, "she has met you. The spark is biological - if your body came close to hers - if you smelled or sensed her, even if you were, perhaps, unconscious? It would have been enough."

The Goddess shrugs like it could be anything and turns away from my cousin, even as Jesse's eyes go wide because...well, it's a very creepy thought, isn't it?

Still, there's no time to rest on it as the Goddess turns to me at last, her face breaking into her most beautiful smile. "And there she is," the Goddess says with a happy sigh, flitting to me next and likewise taking my face in her palms. "My little granddaughter," she laughs her tinkling laugh that sounds like bells and joy and moonlight, looking over her shoulder at Cora and mom as she wrinkles her nose. "Looks like me, doesn't she?" "Yes," Cora says with a happy little smile. "Yes, she certainly does."

I just stare up at the Goddess in disbelief because...there's no way. There's no way I can look at all like someone who is that beautiful.noveldrama

"And what do you think?" the Goddess says, turning back to me and laughing again as she leans towards me, conspiratorial, nodding sideways towards Jackson. "Do you like my choices?"

I glance towards Jackson, who still just stares between the Goddess and I in awe.

"Yes," I say, laughing a little too as I turn my eyes to Jacks, whom I love so incredibly much. I raise my hand to cover hers as it presses to my cheek. "Yes, I like him very much. Thank you."

"Good," she says with a happy sigh, straightening up. "You know, your gift is particularly complicated, my girl, and without -"

But then she stops talking mid-sentence and frowns at me, leaning forward to peer very closely at my neck. I breathe in sharply as something flares at the Goddess's eyes as she suddenly turns her glare on Jackson.

As she does, everyone in the room - everything - goes completely still.

My heart starts to pound as the Goddess turns her gaze on me once again. "And where, granddaughter," she says, leaning down towards me to glare directly into my eyes, "are your marks?"

My heart starts to pound and I again grip my desk, not knowing what to say. She blinks once and exhales slowly, clearly growing impatient.

"I - I'm sorry!" I sputter out. "I didn't know - they haven't given them to me yet?"

The Goddess's eyes flare, suddenly

filled with the fire that I recognize as part of my gift. "Do you think that this is a joke, granddaughter? That I have given you these mates for your pleasure alone? Why haven't they given you their marks!?"

My chin trembles a bit because I know, already, that she's not going to like my answer.

"They...they want me to choose between them," I whisper, still staring up at her star-filled form, her gorgeous face. "They want to wait to give me their marks until...I decide which one of them to keep."

A growl grows in the Goddess's chest as she turns her head to glare at Jackson, who sits frozen in time next to me. As she crosses her arms over her chest, I begin to pant with anxiety.

"Jealous fools," the Goddess growls,

her eyes flaring again as she

straightens, "Receiving the greatest gift directly from my hands and turning their nose up at it like that? Do they think that it is wise to reject my generosity?"

"Please!" I beg, shaking my head vehemently. "They - they didn't mean it like that!" I press my hands to my chest directly over my heart, sensing that this is going very, very poorly and that it is all my fault.

The Goddess turns her eyes back to me and her expression softens, just a little. In a flash she is closer to me, bending forward, her face very close to my own. My breath stills in my chest to see her so close - to see... the infinity within her, the endlessness, the power.

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