Chapter 123

Neumann laughs at my inappropriate remark, shaking his head. “I was hard on you to push you, Clark. You work harder when you’re terrified. Someone has to herd you along towards your potential, after all,” he looks around the room now, glaring a bit at my friends and my family, who all beam at me. “These ones, I suspect, pet you a little too much.”

“Thank you, sir,” Rafe says formally, coming forward, but Neumann just waves a hand at him, turning his attention back to me. I grin, a little pleased to have a professor pay more attention to me than Rafe, who is usually the golden boy.

“Don’t listen to what those other Cadets said at the final test, either,” Neumann says, stern. “Do you hear me on that? Half of them failed anyway, so they don’t know what they’re talking about. You’re very promising, and we’re incredibly excited about your future in the department. Not every successful cadet needs to be a bastion of physical force in order to be useful to the nation’s military. Understood?”

I nod eagerly, tucking my hands behind my back and straightening my shoulders, bolstered by the fact that he believes in me. And, quite frankly, the fact that half my classmates failed out.

Jerks.

“And,” Neumann says, leaning forward to speak softly to me now, conspiratorial, “if any King has any particular objections on the matter, you can tell him that I said that. And that if he has any questions about your aptitude and potential, that he can ask me directly. I want you here in the Spring, Cadet…Clark.”

My mouth drops open a little as I realize that Neumann… knows. He has perhaps always known.

“Don’t disappoint me,” my professor finishes, giving a sharp nod and then turning away and striding down the hall. “I wish you all a happy winter break!” he calls to us, “get it out of your systems, children! When you return in the spring, I will expect you to work!”

I stare after him, shock and thrill pulsing through me.

And then, slowly, I turn to stare around at the group of Alphas standing in the room, all quietly beaming at me, waiting for me to process my surprise.

“I passed!” I shout, punching my fists up into the air, my eyes squeezing shut in my joy.

A roar goes up in the room and suddenly I’m swept off my feet. I laugh, hugging my brother back as he spins me around, and then I’m passed from arms to arms as everyone hugs me, and kisses my cheeks, and tells me how wonderful I am and how they’re not at all surprised. I laugh the whole time, barely able to process it, almost knocked out in my wonder and surprise and joy.

I’m still laughing, dazed by the joy of it, when someone clears their throat at the door.

I turn, a huge smile on my face, to see Jackson standing there, frowning around at us. “What’s going on here?”

“Just got the news,” Jesse calls over to him, and I can hear in his voice that he’s pleased and proud. “Ariel passed! Top marks in Chemistry – top student in the Espionage unit.”

A wide smile spreads over Jackson’s face. “What,” he says, slowly, looking around at everyone. “And you guys are like, surprised?”

I burst into a smile, pleased as hell that Jackson’s completely unperturbed by the news – that he never, ever thought for a single second that I wouldn’t pass.

Finally, his eyes land back on me. “Get your ass over her, Clark,” he growls, beckoning me with a wave of his hand. I laugh and suddenly my feet are flying across the room. I throw myself into Jackson’s arms, where he wraps me up and lifts me off the floor, turning me once in a circle as he holds me tight.

“So proud of you,” he murmurs into my ear, which makes me squeal a very tiny happy noise. “My clever little spy.”

I laugh, grinning down at him, running my fingers through his hair and losing myself a little in his blue eyes.

My smile fades, though, when I hear Luca’s rough snarl across the room.

“For the second time in as many days,” Luca snaps, “get your fucking hands off my girlfriend.” I turn my head, knocked out of my mental bubble where only Jackson exists, to see Luca taking a menacing step towards us.

To my surprise, Jackson makes absolutely no move to put me down. Instead, he just looks at Luca evenly for a second. “Your girlfriend?” he asks, the words low and light with disbelief. He hums consideringly and then turns his face back up to mine. “What do you think, Clark?” he murmurs, nodding over to where Luca stands, not bothering to look his way. “That your boyfriend over there?”

I can’t help it then, loving the assurance in his voice, the calm way he dismisses Luca’s jealousy. A slow, happy smile spreads over my lips as I stare down at him, not saying a single word regarding whether Luca’s my boyfriend or not.

Because honestly, I don’t know.

But Jackson’s right – Luca doesn’t get to boss him around on this, does he?

“Didn’t think so,” Jackson murmurs, low enough that maybe only I hear him. But then he grins at me and lowers me to the floor as Luca strides to my side, grabbing my hand.

“Okay, okay,” Rafe says, stepping forward with a sigh. “Clearly, clearly we need some ground rules here.”

And I sigh, glancing up at both of my mates, before crossing the room to Rafe’s side.

Because my brother is right – it’s time we got some things straight and I might need some physical distance from them to do that.

“What are you even doing here?” Luca growls at Jackson, his arms crossed as they stand about a foot apart.

“Came for breakfast,” Jackson says, giving a calm shrug. “I was invited.” He glances at Jesse now, who grins at him.

“Coffee?” Ben asks, starting to pour Jackson a cup.

“Sure,” Jacks says, crossing the room to take it from him.

“Look, can we cut this bullshit,” Luca snaps, clearly worked up. “What is all this happy family nonsense!? Are we all just going to pretend that McClintock and I didn’t try to kill each other last night? That we’re not going to do it again if we don’t get this two-mate nonsense figured out!?”

“I’m not going to kill you,” Jackson says evenly, taking a calm sip of his coffee. I blink at him, a little surprised, wondering where all this confidence came from. This is, in some ways, a very different Jackson than the grief-stricken wolf who stormed out of here last night. “Are you going to kill me? Or…try?”

Luca sputters, not wanting to seem like the aggressor now that Jackson has proclaimed himself neutral. Then Luca grits his teeth, storming over to Jackson. Rafe grabs the back of my shirt, not letting me go to them, knowing that my first instinct is to stand between them, to negotiate.

“Let them figure it out,” Rafe murmurs when I look back at him. “This, weirdly, is not actually your problem.”

“Yes it is,” I mutter, crossing my arms. “I’m going to go from two mates to none if they tear each other to pieces.”

Rafe laughs lightly, but we both just watch as the argument unfolds.

“You think I can’t see what you’re doing?” Luca snaps, glaring into Jackson’s face. “You get to come in here all calm, pretending you’re fine with this, looking like the good guy – making me look like the bad guy. But I’m the only one being honest here – you don’t want her with me just as much as I don’t want her with you.”

“True,” Jacks murmurs, shrugging and looking down at his coffee before taking a sip. “But, getting into a fist fight isn’t going to fix it.”

“Sure would be fucking nice though,” Luca growls, his hands balling to fists, “to knock you into next week –“

“Enough –“ Rafe says, stepping forward now with a frown. I gape at him a little, pissed. What happened to letting them figure it out!?

He glances at me with a tiny shrug before turning back to Jackson and Luca.

“So,” Rafe says, his voice calm and considering, “despite your insistence on fighting, I want to point out that you two actually…agree.”

“What?” Luca asks, his face screwed up in a confused frown as he turns towards Rafe and me. I look up at Rafe, my face mimicking my mate’s.