Chapter 0189
I stare at Jackson like he’s an idiot now. Because…honestly I really kind of did think that he’d
figured it out, at a least a little bit. Or that once I told him, all the pieces would snap into ce.
But the way he’s looking at me…Jackson does not know.
He bought, hook line and sinker, the lie that I’m Ari rk, royal cousin who has some strange and
elusive tie to his mate.
“Jacks,” I growl, shaking my head. “No, it’s…it’s me. Your mate is me.” And with that, I whip off my
cap, revealing the hair braided in a coil on top of my head, letting my true scent free.
He continues staring at me, uprehending. But I see him stumble back a step, his eyes going
wide the moment my scent hits him.
“How…” he murmurs, his voice trembling. “How can you…you’re a Cadet…you’re male…”
“Oh my god,” I groan, dipping my face into my hand for a second before dropping my hat and
grabbing the hem of my shirt, tugging it up halfway as fast as I can so that he can see the shape of
my body beneath, my wider hips, my trim waist. “Jacks, no, I’m a girl.”
I stand there, my shirt fisted against my breasts, staring at him, breathless.
Realization hits Jackson like a bus.
His eyes go wide and he stumbles back a step, not breathing, his face going deathly pale in the light
of the moon. I stare at Jackson, watching him struggle to make sense of the newly disparate pieces
of the world. His eyes move fast over me again and again before, always, returning to my face.
But he just stares back at me, ck-jawed, not saying a word.
And then, after a long, long moment of staring at each other, Jackson just…turns on his heel.
And stalks away.
And I stare after him in…absolute shock.
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Jackson’s tall form disappears quickly into the darkness and I stare, my mouth hanging open, into
the ck night for way, way too long.
And then I groan a long, slow groan, standing up straight and burying my face in my hands,
wondering what the hell I just did.
It’s okay, my wolf says, a little frantic, it can’t be bad – we told him the truth…the truth can never be
bad…
Yeah, I reply, deeply sarcastic, unless the truthpletely upends your world in the middle of an
insane trial. And your core reaction is to just run and leave your mate stranded on a cliff
somewhere.
My wolf murmursforting things about how that can’t possibly be what’s happening, that he just
needs a minute alone to process because he’s the solitary sort, but eventually she runs out of
pleasant, hopeful sentiments as we both just stare into the darkness waiting for him toe back.
But…he doesn’t.
I curse, slowly and fluently, and turn towards the little overhang of rock where I’d been sitting with
the water. I sink into that spot, sitting hard on my butt and ignoring the pain as I rest my elbows on
my knees and then prop my miserable chin into my hands.
Because, I mean, what did I think was going to happen!? That he was just going to be like, “Oh,
cool! How nice! What a relief, now I can stay!”
No, of course, my weird outdoorsy Alpha mate reacted to his panic by goingpletely back to his
roots. He probably shifted into his wolf and is now prowling around the cliffside in the moonlight, not
even thinking human thoughts anymore, just letting his animal instincts take over and forgetting all
about me.
I scowl a little because…well, because as sorry as I feel about losing my temper and blurting it all
out in a rush…
It did hurt my feelings, a little bit, that he just…walked away.
I mean, did he…did he reject me?
Does he hate me? Did he realize that I’m a girl and think, immediately, “ew”?
Oh my god…does Jackson think I’m ugly?
I groan, putting my face back into my hands and shaking my head, hating that these are my
thoughts right now. I mean, I hate not knowing, I hate that he’s not here to talk this through with me,
to hear my apologies and my reassurances, but I also hate that I’m dealing with mate drama while
I’ve got less than twenty-four hours now – or thereabouts – to get to the top of a mountain so that I
can keep my ce at Alpha Academy.