The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

"Daphne, I am not asking you to be my mistress!" Jesse bites out, his teeth clenching.

"Did you come here with romantic intent?" she asks, prim and formal. "Desiring to continue, in some way, our relationship?"

"Yes," he says, working hard to reel his temper back in, ashamed at himself for losing it even for a moment. "I came to tell you that I love -"

"And do you still have a mate? With whom you have a relationship?"

He pauses, seeing the trap but knowing that she's got the truth on her side. "Yes," he says, short and cold.

"And you have no intention of rejecting that mate? Or she of you?"

Jesse takes a deep, long breath. "No, I have no intention of rejecting her."

"Then what else am I to conclude, Jesse,” she says, low and angry, leaning forward towards him. "But that you're asking me to be your mistress. So that you keep your mate as the priority in your life, but have me too? A bit on the side?"

He stares at her for a long moment in shock and then groans, trying to lay back on the bed but miscalculating the distance and banging his head against the wall, covering his face with his hands. Because she's right.

She's right.

He hadn't thought of it in those terms - of course he didn't. But she's right. What he came here hoping for - for some way of having Daphne in his life while he maintains his relationship with Midnight...

Essentially, she'd be his mistress, wouldn't she? Even if he loved Daphne dearly, while he still had his mate fully in his life, a part of the family? There's no way in which, to the rest of the world, Daphne wouldn't be his girl on the side.

“So yeah, Jesse,” Daphne says, cold and working hard to keep the tremble out of her voice. "I think you should go. And never speak to me again. I can't...I can't believe you came here tonight, after everything, and...asked me for that."

Jesse sighs but makes no move to get up, slipping his hands down from his face and taking a few long, deep breaths, trying to get his mind in order. When he opens his eyes he looks over and up to see Daphne staring at him, furious.

"Can you...can you please give me like, one inch of space on this?" he asks, shaking his head, feeling utterly pathetic and at the end of a very dark road.

"No," she says, cold, narrowing her eyes.

“Daphne,” he groans, sitting up and turning towards her on the bed, holding his hands out towards her, pleading. I understand. And if were any other jackass Alpha in any other situation, I would let you call me a jackass, and a pig, anda horrible, terrible misogynist. But could you please, please open your heart and remember that I am not a terrible person?"

He presses a hand to his heart, shaking his head at her, begging.

"I'm still me, and I'm in a really hard, terrible situation — and all I'm trying to do is see the girl I'm in love with after a long time apart, and tell her that I love her, and just...try to find a way through."

Daphne stares at him for a moment, her mouth trembling, her chin held high. But then she breaks, and exhales all her breath at once in a gushing sob, and hangs her head, her shoulders shaking.

"Don't ask too much of me, Jess," she whispers "Because...I'll give it. I just...need to protect myself in all of this, protect my heart, as much as can. And if you have a mate? There is...no room for me in your life. It's not fair to her and it's not fair to me."

"Okay," Jesse whispers, steeling himself to the promise. "I won't ask too much.

But is it...can I tell you what happened? How I feel?"

Daphne takes a deep breath and raises her head and then nods once.

And Jesse begins.

The story takes a long time to get through, and Jesse is very, very careful with his words - which is difficult, considering that he hasn't slept in nearly a day at this point. But he tells her everything, leaving nothing out. About Midnight and

how strange she is, and how funny

too, and their time in Darkness and the Underworld. Their journey to find Ariel, and then the trip home.

By the time Jesse is finished he's stretched out over Daphne's bed, his booted

feet hanging over the edge, and she's curled up amongst her pillows with the kitten in her lap. They're not touching, not even a hint of it - but the air in the room is...calmer. Easier.

"So, what do you think?" Jesse asks, sighing and looking over at his girl, lettingnoveldrama

his eyes soak in as much of the sight of her as they can.

"I think she sounds really cool," Daphne murmurs, dry and bitter.

Jesse laughs a little. "She is. She...does not think the same of you."

Daphne whips her head up, smirking at Jesse. "What does she think of me?"

"She thinks you're a whore," he answers, equally dry.