The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 161

I smirk a bit, my eyes dancing, silently admitting that he’s right – that I’m certainly the one keeping secrets. “You’ve got them too, you know,” I say quietly as we reach the stairs at the end of the hall and begin to climb them up to my floor. “Things you’re keeping back from me.”

Jackson’s the one who sighs now, shaking his head. “I’ll gladly tell you everything you want to know – every single thought in my head, Clark, for the secrets you’re keeping from me.”

Guilt builds in me as we make our way to my door. And somehow, by the quietness radiating from the entire hallway, from the silence behind my own door, I know that I’m the only one here – that Jesse and Rafe are away, probably exercising. That Luca and Ben are likewise off doing their own thing.

It would be so easy, to just…tug Jackson inside…

To tell him everything…

But even as my wolf howls at me to do it do it do it, I shake my head up at Jackson, knowing that it’s still not right. Not yet.

Jackson sighs again, intuiting the direction of my thoughts, knowing that I’m still holding on to my secrets.

And again, it’s not that I don’t want him to know. It’s just…as always, the timing. It’s not right. Not now – not when I’m still figuring things out with Luca, when we’ve got finals and the Examination looming, when Jesse and Rafe still think I have one mate, even if they think it’s different people.

It’s just not right to blow up everyone’s world with this, not yet.

I stare up into my mate’s dark blue gaze, willing him to trust me, to just…give me more time. But he just snaps his head away, frustrated.

“Jacks,” I murmur as he shifts his weight, taking a step away. I grab his hand, ignoring the pulse that pounds through the hall when I do. He turns back to me, his jaw clenched in frustration. “I promise,” I say quietly, shaking my head. “I promise that one day I’ll tell you everything, all right?”

“Why one day?” He exhales the words all in a rush, shaking his head at me, even as he moves closer. “Why not now, Ari? What’s – what’s holding you back?”

But I shake my head as I stare up at him, knowing that the reasons why I’m holding back are part of the secret. “Can’t it be enough? The promise that I’m going to tell, as soon as I can?”

“Would it be enough for you?” he murmurs, stepping closer. Despite me, my eyes flicker half-shut as his scent floods my nostrils, making something warm and hungry stir in my core. God, if I could just…

I dismiss the ridiculous impulse to beg him to give me his shirt so I could tuck it under my pillow, breathing in that scent all night, and force myself back to full consciousness. To my surprise, he’s just smirking at me.

“Goodbye, Clark,” he says, putting particular emphasis on the farewell that he usually omits. “Tell me next time Alvez calls you alone. I’ll think something up.”

“Thank you, Jackson,” I say, tightening my hand, not letting him go just yet. “You saved me from…some weird stuff back there.”

“Are you going to tell me about that, at least?” Jackson presses, shifting his weight back to me curiously. “Like what did he do? Did he…”

But my answering smile just makes him groan and pull his hand from mine, because it’s very clear that I’m not going to tell him a damn thing.