Chapter 323

“He’s such a cutie,” mom says, sighing as Jackson steps out of the classroom and pulls the door shut behind him, her hands clasped together.

“He’s well over two hundred pounds of lethal Alpha, Ella,” Cora says, casting out a hand after my mate. “He’s capable of killing a man in less than ten seconds and if he shifted into his wolf it’d be even faster than that. I’m not sure ‘cutie’ is the word you’re looking for here.”

Mom hums consideringly and then shrugs. “Nope, I’m right. Stone-cold cutie.” She beams at her sister, who just laughs.

“You always did have a type, Ella,” Cora sighs, looking back at me.

“One, ew,” I say, pointing a finger at Cora, who laughs even harder now. “Don’t even imply that my mate is mom’s type –“

Mom just grimaces, guilty, but I ignore her.

“And two, we are getting off topic.”

My mom and my aunt do their best to school their faces into more serious lines, but they fail instantly, and I just roll my eyes at them.

“We’re still so proud of you, sweetie!” Mom says, leaning forward to beam at me. “I can’t wait to tell your dad about it – he’s going to cry – he’s so cute when he cries.”

“You’re a villain,” Cora murmurs, looking over at mom, “I don’t know why people think you’re so sweet.”

“And!” Mom continues, ignoring her, “I think he’s going to have a lot of ideas about how this can be used to benefit the military! I think it’s a big deal, baby,” she says, nodding eagerly now. “How are you feeling about it?”

“Excited,” I say, nodding too and sitting up straighter, “I want to talk to dad about military applications – I mean, I’ve been having ideas too. And I want to see what else I can do with it. I think –“ my wolf nips me, though, and I sit back a little, sighing, realizing that I’m getting off track. “I mean, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about, though.”

“What it it, sugar?” Cora says, leaning forward, her face more serious now.

I begin, then, to spill it all out as fast as I can – wanting to tell them everything but aware that they’re heading back to the Capital tonight. Mom and Cora’s faces go paler and paler the more I spill about falling through space in the first Games, about traveling to that dark world and seeing that strange woman there before I traveled mysteriously back. They seem better assured when I tell them about Jackson’s hypothesis – that this is my gift from the God of Darkness and that I control it, but as my mom and my aunt look at each other, I can tell they’re totally freaked.

“Um?” I say, drawing their eyes back to me. “I’m not finished?” They just stare at me wide-eyed as I tell more about Faiza’s assignment to go to Newtown to try out disguises, but then both of their faces fall in sadness when I tell them about Luca and the strange break through we had – about him suppressing his wolf for what I can only assume is most of his life.

“So that’s why he was acting strange,” Cora murmurs, looking over at the door.

“I don’t know,” I say on a sigh. “He was normal this morning. I think…him being strange about my magic might be something else.”

“Or something interrelated,” mom says, keeping her eyes on me.

“Yeah,” I say, my shoulders slumping a bit. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You fall into a realm of darkness at will,” Cora says, slowly raising a brow at me, “and you want to talk about why your boyfriend is acting weird?”

I laugh a little, straightening my shoulders. “Yup!”

“Your daughter, for sure,” Cora murmurs, smiling a little and glancing at mom, who glances back and gives her a little kick.

“Yeah, so,” I say, leaning forward on my desk. “I was wondering if you could send a therapist to the Academy? Or maybe like…a bunch of therapists?”

Both of their faces arch into smiles, but they let me continue.

“Luca…clearly needs someone to talk to,” I say with a sigh, leaning back in my chair, “and I love to be there for him but this is beyond my needs. And Jackson, with his childhood?” I pause a minute, letting them see where I’m going with this. “I mean…I think he’s doing well now that he’s out of the Community, but I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to have someone to talk to about it. And the stuff he’s doing with Hank I know is very stressful for him, so…”

I shrug, kind of finished with everything I wanted to say.

“You have a good heart, baby trouble,” Cora says, smiling at me. “I think it’s a great idea.”

“And something we should have been doing all along,” mom says, turning to frown at my aunt. “Honestly, why didn’t Dominic and Roger think of this twenty years ago?”

“You know the answer to this, Ells,” Cora says, utterly dry. “Because they are men. And Alphas. And their therapeutic solution is to just grit their teeth and go punch something.”

Mom laughs, shaking her head but not denying it. “I’ll talk to your dad about it tonight,” mom says, nodding to me eagerly. “And get something set up.”

“Do you think you could make Jackson and Luca like…initial appointments?” I ask, sitting up, a little excited. “And then they can decide whether or not they want to keep going – obviously, I don’t want to force them. And then…maybe not tell them that I suggested it?”

Both Cora and mom laugh at me but then assure me that it can be arranged.

Jackson walks me back to the room after my little conference, not pressing me for the details and instead talking with me excitedly about the magic we produced this afternoon and his own ideas for experimentation and military use – all of which spark a great deal of interest in me, giving me my own new ideas. We’re still talking eagerly about it when we climb the final staircase to our floor, though our conversation falls short when we see Rafe standing outside the door, leaning casually against the wall and reading a book.

When he sees us, he snaps the book shut and waves a hand. “Come on, Jacks.”

“Where are we going?” Jackson asks, escorting me forward with a hand on my back and looking at Rafe with interest.

“Another talk with the Captain,” Rafe says, shifting his eyes to me. “See what we can do about Blythe’s bullshit claim.”

“Cool,” Jacks says, giving me a little nudge towards the door, which he looks at with worry. “Will she be…”

“She’s got an assassin, a shadow mage, and an ambassador in there,” Rafe says with a smirk, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the door. “She’ll be fine.”

I laugh at my brother but then the absence of a certain speciality on that list suddenly hits me, and my face falls.

“See you in a bit,” Jacks murmurs, dipping down to give me a kiss on the cheek before starting to stride down the hall with my brother. “Don’t forget to eat!”

I grin at that that as I call my goodbyes to them and press open the door, pleased to see three of my favorites gathered around the coffee table, digging into the huge plate of tacos on the table.

“They sent churros, too!” Jesse calls, waving me over. “Churros and fire magic. It is a great day.”

I laugh, taking my seat next to Ben on the couch and bumping my shoulder against his as I murmur my hello’s to Tony as well, who has taken up residence in Rafe’s chair.

But nobody really fails to notice the way I glance over at the door as I reach for my dinner, wondering where he is.

“Um, Ari,” Jesse says, his voice gentle.

I turn towards him, moving some tacos to a plate and pulling it onto my lap.

Jesse’s mouth twists slightly to the side. “He sent a note.”

I frown a little as I reach out a hand. Jesse pulls a folded piece of paper from beneath his leg where he placed it for safe keeping and hands it over to me.

I take it with a sigh, unfold it, quickly reading through the words.

“What’s it say?” Jesse asks, voice gentler than usual.

I flick my eyes up to him. “Oh, like you didn’t read it.”

“Ben wouldn’t let me,” he sighs, looking sad about it.

I glance at Ben, who nods deeply to me, making me smile.

But then I sigh and tuck the note under my own leg. “It says he’s tired and won’t be coming up tonight,” I say, trying to keep the sadness and worry out of my voice. “That he didn’t sleep a lot last night – which is true – and that he wants to be rested for the Games tomorrow.” I shrug like it’s easy, like it all makes sense.

Even if my wolf howls in my heart, knowing that it’s so much more complicated than that.

I sigh, putting my plate of tacos back on the table, not hungry anymore.