Chapter 224
Jackson blinks, clearly still working to clear the sleep away as Jesse and I peer at him from either side. “McClintock isn’t a real name,” he murmurs, looking between us. “We don’t…have last names in the Community – they just assigned McClintock to me when they gave me my identity paperwork, which was surely forged. The name doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Wait, so,” Jesse says, a devious smile curling his lips. “You’re like…just Jackson? Like a pop star?”
“What?” Jackson asks, turning to him with a frown.
“Jacks,” I say, a little breathless, completely captivated by the other part of his story. “Are you…do you seriously want to be a Sinclair?”
He turns his head back to me and takes a deep breath, blinking and still trying to wake up. “If you’re a Sinclair then I’ll be one too,” he says, quite simply, holding out a hand to me. “If…that’s how last names work. But I don’t know how it works.”
I just squeak with delight, touched to the depths of me, and I completely ignore his hand as I hurl myself back onto the bed and into his arms. Jackson laughs and catches me even if he doesn’t get it – doesn’t understand my reaction or indeed how incredibly sweet he is by offering to give up his last name for mine – for ours, my family. Because, of course, it’s usually the opposite – if he marked me and we had a mating ceremony, most people would assume that I’d become Ariel McClintock. Jackson, oblivious to all of this, just wraps me up in a hug and holds me close.
Jesse beams at Jackson too, looking between the two of us, I think as touched as I am. “Sure, buddy,” Jesse says, reaching out a hand to clap Jackson warmly on the shoulder. “You can be a Sinclair if you want to. We’ll be glad to have you. Honored.”
“Oh god, what is this?” Rafe asks, striding over to us already dressed in his Cadet uniform. “Are you three seriously still in bed? We have a workout to run!”
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” I sigh, untangling myself from Jacks and pressing a kiss to his gorgeous cheek as I hop out of bed. “You don’t have to be all big brother about it – it will take six seconds to get ready.”
“Clearly, I do have to be all big brother about it!” Rafe protests, opening his arms to the side in his frustration. “Let’s go!”
Jackson just smiles as he gets out of the bed next, looking around at the three of us as I scoot off to the bathroom. “Actually,” he sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure I mind it so much. The chaos…it’s not so bad.”
“A true Sinclair,” Jesse says, getting out of the bed last and wrapping an arm around his shoulder, beaming at Jacks.
“Wait, what?” Rafe asks, frowning between the two of them.
I just laugh and disappear into the bathroom, letting Jesse handle it.
About an hour later, I’m groaning my misery, absolutely drenched with sweat as I trail after my three gigantic Alpha trainers back into the castle.
“Would you hurry up?” Jackson asks, laughing a little as he turns to me. “Breakfast soon, and if we’re late there won’t be any coffee left.”
“I can’t,” I groan, my feet literally dragging as Jesse and Rafe likewise glance over their shoulders at me, grinning at my pain. “I’m so tired – I am weak after the luxuries of Midwinter - why did you all make me run so fast so soon –“
“You have to be able to keep up, Shrimp!” Jesse calls over his shoulder as Jackson pauses for a second so that I walk at his side. When I still linger behind he wraps an arm around my shoulder, obliging me to pick up the pace, which is terrible.
“He’s not wrong,” Jackson says, glancing down at me, clearly amused. “Having shorter legs isn’t an excuse, Ari.”
“Yes it is!” I protest, throwing my arms in the air. “Why am I held to a different standard!? Why do I have to move my body faster just because all of you gigantic freaks just happened to grow longer legs!?”
“Explain that on the battlefield,” Jackson murmurs, ignoring my complaints and giving me absolutely no pity. “You can’t fall behind just because you’re pint sized.”
I scowl at my mate, and then glance down at myself as we move further into the cool darkness of the castle, making our way to the elevators that will take us back up to our rooms. “I hate that you work out with us now,” I mutter. “Before, I was able to be mysterious, to keep my weaknesses hidden –“
“No, you weren’t,” he murmurs calmly as the four of us step into an elevator.
My scowl deepens. “Well, at least you didn’t see me all red-faced and sweaty and smelly, as well as slow and weak.”
Jackson laughs, shaking his head as the elevator starts to move upward. “You’re perfect, Ari,” he sighs, bending his arm in half and shocking me by resting his elbow on top of my head, leaning his weight on me like an arm rest. “Perfectly scented, perfectly sized. At least for me, when I need a good leaning post.”
My mouth falls open with a squeak of enraged protest as Rafe and Jesse burst into laughter. I shove Jackson away, but we’re both laughing too as he stumbles a step to the side, grinning at me as he grabs me into a hug, pulling me to his side. As the door opens on Jackson’s floor so he can shower and get changed in his own room, he dips his head lower to give me a kiss. Absently, naturally, I tilt my chin up –
“Whoa, whoa,” Rafe says, reaching out and smacking a hand hard against Jackson’s chest. “We’re back at school, kids. Let’s…behave ourselves.”
Jackson stands straight, going a little pale as he glances into the hallway that is luckily empty. “God, I can’t believe I did that,” he murmurs, running a hand through his hair as he steps into the dorm hall where his room is located. “Sorry. See you all in a few.”
The three of us wave to him as the doors close and the elevator moves up one more floor. “You’ve got to be more careful, Ari,” Rafe says, giving me a stern look.
“Yeah, don’t get sloppy now,” Jesse says as we step out and move for the twining set of stairs that will lead us up one more floor to our room. “That’s my job.”
“I know, I know,” I sigh, inwardly resolving to be better. “You’re right – I’ll remember.”
My brother and cousin murmur their approval as we arrive on our floor, but we all pause with interest when we see Luca standing by our door, perfectly dressed in a Cadet uniform. Absolutely not sweaty and red-faced like me. I scowl, hating that both of my mates are getting a very non-polished view of their Princess today.
“Oh, thank god,” Luca says, turning towards us with worry. “Ari, we’ve got to go – we’ve been summoned –“
“What?” I ask, moving immediately for him, Jesse and Rafe following close behind.
Luca holds out a note to me, looking anxiously towards the stairs. “Please,” he says, “we’re going to be late –“
Frowning, I take the note out of his hand and am surprised to see my dad’s handwriting, asking Luca to collect me and come to a pre-breakfast meeting. I flip the note over, seeking more information, but it’s blank.
“What’s it for?” Rafe asks, looking between the two of us.
“Look, I don’t know,” Luca says, clearly anxious, “but can we just go? Your dad hates me enough as it is – I don’t want to add tardiness to his list of dislikes –“
“He doesn’t hate you, Luca,” Rafe protests.
“A discussion for another time!” Luca says swiftly, taking me by the hand, “come on, Ari, let’s go!”
“But I have to get changed! And a shower!”
“No time!” Luca pulls me towards the stairs.
“Bring Ari to breakfast!” Rafe calls after Luca and I groan when I realize that I’m not going to get any chance to get cleaned up today. “You’re on bodyguard duty!”
“Got it!” Luca calls, and then – hand in hand – we start to fly down the stairs to this mysterious meeting, apparently with my parents.
But what on earth could they want with the two of us?
