The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 208

Rafe just smirks, his smile a little unsteady, but he takes a deep breath and shakes his head, probably forcing himself to calm down too. “Thank you,” Rafe says, crossing his arms and looking back towards his sister, laying so pale on the bed. “For taking care of her. It…it kills me that I wasn’t there.”

“Of course,” Jackson says, instant, still staring at the Prince like he’s crazy for thinking that he wouldn’t take care of her.

Rafe looks back at Jackson and flinches a little at the intensity on the other man’s face. And then he laughs, just lightly. “I guess you two…figured some things out in the woods?”

Jackson blinks for a second and then realizes that…well, that Rafe Sinclair knows, doesn’t he? But of course he does – he just told the Queen that Jackson’s Ariel’s mate. “Yeah,” Jackson says after a minute, running a hand through his hair and looking over at Ariel again, not wanting to take his eyes away for a single second. To his shock, color has already started to come back to her cheeks.

Is it…is it seriously possible? That…

“Jacks,” Rafe murmurs, and Jackson almost jumps out of his skin when the Prince puts a hand on his shoulder. But Rafe, to his credit, doesn’t pull it away. Jackson turns to him now, starting to tremble all over like a frightened animal. “Look,” Rafe says, keeping his voice low and calm, “if mom gets to them while they’re breathing…I mean, I’ve never not seen her bring someone back, okay?”

The two stare at each other for a long moment, Jackson…not knowing how to understand it, or how to believe it.

“Ariel’s going to be fine,” Rafe insists, his voice still soft, his brows knitting together in concern. But Jackson flinches when he realizes suddenly that Rafe’s concern is…is not for Ariel anymore. It’s for him. “You got her here in time, Jacks. You did it. She’s going to be okay.”

Jackson continues to stare at Rafe for a long, long moment before he gasps in a long breath, suddenly flooded with hope he hadn’t realized he’d lost.

Because he’d repeated to himself over and over again that she was going to make it –

That she’d survive, that he’d make her survive, damn it, if he had to pour his own blood into her veins –