The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

"Mids," Jesse sighs, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head at Midnight, exhausted and frustrated. He peeks over the top of the separating screen that Juniper gave them, well aware that the tent full of ambassadors and Atalaxian royals is listening to their heated conversation and casually pretending that they're not.

"I don't want to go," Midnight growls, curled in a ball at his feet, her face tucked tight against her knees and her hands sunk deep in her hair. "You can't make me!"

"I can't make you," Jesse agrees through his teeth, crouching down next to her. "But if we stay here, we're all going to get killed."

"We won't get killed," she hisses, whipping her face up to glare at him. "I will negotiate with Darkness when he breaks out of that stupid egg! I will assure him that we are still his humble servants! He'll just kill all of them!" She jerks her head towards everyone else in the tent.

One of the eavesdropping ambassadors groans in fear. Another hisses at him to shut up.

"Oh, Midnight," Jesse sighs, falling back on his ass and reaching out to stroke Midnight's back. This conversation has been going on for...far too long. And every moment that passes gets a lot closer to that reality - to Darkness getting free, and coming here, and destroying them all.

Except, unlike Midnight, Jesse has no intention of declaring his fealty to evil or watching his countrymen die.

"What are you really scared of, Mids?" he asks, continuing to softly stroke her back. "What's stopping you from letting me take you home and give you a wonderful life?"

She just shakes her head and tucks her face back against her knees, as she's been doing this entire time.

"I mean, everyone's going to be really nice to you," Jesse says softly. "I'm sure they can't wait to meet you. You're going to have a fantastic life in Moon Valley."

"They'll make me be a whore," she moans.

Jesse can't help laughing, just a little. "M ight, I promise, no one will make you be a whore."

She goes silent and Jesse lets her have a moment to think.

When she speaks again, Midnight's voice is softer than before, and laced with fear. "She's going to take my magic from me," she whispers.

"Who is?" Jesse asks, his shoulders straightening in surprise.

"The blonde rat!" Midnight moans, devastated at the idea.

Jesse frowns at his mate for a second, confused, and then bursts into a smile. "You mean Ariel?"

Midnight lifts her head and nods vehemently. But when she realizes that Jesse is laughing, she smacks at him, hard, with her tiny hand.

"It's not funny!"

"I mean, calling Ariel a blonde rat is very funny," Jesse says, scooting closer to Midnight and tugging her close. "But why would you think she would take your magic away?"

"Because she took that Prince's magic away," Midnight murmurs, leaning against him. "And now he's all weak and useless."

"And healthy," Jesse adds. "And not corrupted. That darkness was making him horrible, Mids. He punched Ariel and...probably did all sorts of other awful stuff that the corruption made him do."

Midnight turns her face up to Jesse's, her eyes wide and sad and shining. "If you think the corruption makes people horrible," she whispers. "Do you think I'm horrible?"

"I think you're magnificent," Jesse

replies, stroking a hand over her hair, speaking his honest truth. "I think that whatever that darkness does to people you've somehow managed

to resist it for years. I think you're a miracle."

Her little mouth begins to tremble and Jesse's whole heart aches.

"I have to admit, though," he adds, soft. "It breaks my heart to see your little wolf sunk in the Darkness like that. I want to see her running free. And you too."noveldrama

Jesse's wolf howls in his soul, standing at the edge and peering over at Midnight's long-suffering wolf, sunk deep in the dark oil, panting hard, her eyes lit with a maniacal glow.

Midnight just slowly shakes her head. "Jesse, I don't know who I am without the Darkness," she says quietly. "I...I don't remember agreeing to the bargain. I don't remember...who I am."

"You'll still be you," he whispers.

"What if I'm not?" she asks, tears slipping down her cheeks. "What if darkness is too much of who I am? What if I'm...gone?"

Jesse sighs, completely without an answer for that concern. Because Midnight is right. Gabriel - his whole personality shifted when the darkness left him. Midnight - would

—

she fose herself completelow

Become someone else?

His wolf snarls at the idea, hating it. Because as strange as this little person is, she's already become so incredibly important to him.

"I promise you, Midnight,” Jesse says, pressing his hand to his heart. "No one will force you to give up your magic or your darkness unless you ask it. I promise."

She looks away, clearly considering it.

"But Midnight, we've got to go," he

says. "Darkness - he doesn't love

you in the way you think he does. He doesn't care. He'll kill you along with the rest of us - I seriously think that's true. He thinks that you

—

betrayed him - he'll take you out as a threat"

Midnight considers for a moment longer, beginning to rock back and forth, clearly

torn and not handling this big decision well.