The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

"Yes!" mom says, happily walking over to him and holding out the tray. Jackson lifts off the lid and groans when he sees the stacks of pancakes and eggs and sausage and bacon.

"You're my favorite, Ella," Jackson murmurs, eagerly taking the tray and sitting down on the bed, settling it onto his lap and digging into the bacon with his hands.

"Jackson, there are utensils!" I call, scolding, as I wheel in the first trolly from the hall. His eyes go wide when he sees it.

"All of that?" he gasps.

"You said you were hungry," Ella says with a happy sigh. I just laugh and shake my head, settling the trolly against the wall and going out for the next one.

"Some of this is for me," I say, eyeing the big pot of coffee with particular interest.

"Fight me for it," Jackson murmurs, a little growl in his voice, making us both laugh.

But Jackson shares much more willingly than he pretends, which is easy considering that my mother has brought a ridiculous amount of food. Jackson does fairly impressive damage to the supply and mom and I mostly just watch in fascination as he eats way more than we thought he could.

"Damn," I murmur, when Jackson goes back for fourths. The three of us sit comfortably on my bed and I sip at my coffee, my own finished plate of waffles set in the blankets before me.

"He's so cute,” mom says on a sigh, sipping at her own coffee, watching him. I laugh at her, because only mom would think a voracious Alpha restoring his magical body weight is adorable. Well, her and me. Jacks ignores us, reloading his plate with another stack of pancakes.

A creaking sound brings my attention to the door and I burst into a smile when I see Rafe shuffling forward, his eyes half closed, his nose lifted in the air sniffing.

"Help," my brother mutters, leaning hard against my doorframe. "I need sustenance."

Jackson snarls from his place at the tolly, possessive, but we just laugh and ignore him.

"Poor baby, did you let your wicked cousin get you all drunk?" mom says, reaching for Rafe, who shuffles into the room and collapses onto the bed, his head landing in her lap. Miraculously, mom and I manage not to spill our coffee everywhere.

"No this is all my fault," Rafe murmurs. "I can't blame Jesse, unfortunately. The only way to get my wolf to shut the hell up last night was to drown him in whiskey."noveldrama

Mom coos consideringly, softly

stroking Rafe's hair as Jackson comes over with two plates and generously lays one before Rafe's prone body. I send a swell of gratitude down the bond to Jacks, realizing perhaps more than the others that it is a mark of great esteem to share the food he needs to refill his body weight and magical storehouse after basically starving for a week.

Jackson brushes off my gratitude and comes around the bed to sit next to me, leaning close and offering me a strawberry which I happily take, popping it into my mouth.

"You've certainly got a challenge in front of you, meatball, when it comes to our spicy little Maryam," mom says, her voice sorry but not truly full of pity. "How are you feeling about it?"

"I don't know," Rafe sighs, opening his eyes a little to peer at the food and then seeming to turn slightly green at the sight of it, perhaps changing his mind about what he needs. "I need to talk to her. But I have a feeling she's not going to let me get close."

“She will, Rafe,” mom says quietly, continuing to stroke her favorite's hair, smiling softly at him. “You just have to be patient with her. Let her get to know you. She'll come around."

"Just let her see you with your shirt off," a voice says from the door, and all of our heads turn to see Jesse standing there, looking utterly exhausted, rubbing his eyes with one hand. "That was your tactic with all of your other conquests, wasn't it?