The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy novel Chapter 978

Marigold gives a little cry of distress, reaching for her dad, but Jesse holds her tight, whispering to her that dad’s fine, he’s just very, very surprised.

I let Jesse handle our daughter for a moment, going to my knees before Jackson and taking his face in my hands. “Jacks,” I whisper, turning his glazed eyes to mine. “Baby, are you all right?”

Something about this brings Jackson snapping back to me. “Ariel,” he says on a gasped intake of breath. “Are – are you fucking all right!?”

“I’m fine,” I say, all in a rush, crawling into Jackson’s lap and opening the bond between us, letting him see and feel that I really am okay – that everything with me is fine. I mean, beyond the fact that our entire reality just came shattering down around us again…I really am okay.

He groans, resting his head against me, his whole body shaking a little bit as he takes a deep sniff of my new scent. “Pregnant…” he whispers, barely audible. “You’re…you’re fucking…pregnant.”

“Yeah,” I say, my voice a tremulous little sound as well. “Yeah, Jacks. I…sure am.”

“Oh my god,” he groans. “How…how do I have two kids…”

I go a bit still in his arms.

He whips his face up to me.

I bite my lip, grimacing a little. “Do you want to…count again, Jacks?”

He whips his head back down to stare at my stomach, clearly turning inwards to his own wolf, checking on the bonds that have made themselves apparent in his own soul as well. And then he groans, collapsing against me again as he realizes a very important bit of information.

“Three,” he groans. “Oh my god, Ariel, there’s going to be three of them – they outnumber us –“

“I know,” I murmur, smiling a little as I cradle his head to me. “Luckily, none of them are literate yet, so…we have advantage for a few more years.”

He just shakes his head and groans again, pulling me close, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

“Oooookay,” Jesse says on a happy little sigh, pleased with the increased chaos of our lives, as he always is. I peer up to see him grinning at Marigold. “You want to help me get champagne, Goldie?”

She stares at him for a second, and then glances down at us, and then apparently decides that her father’s emotional meltdown is very boring. “Yes,” she says, giving Jesse a steady nod.

He groans, ducking his head against my shoulder. “I need…books. I need knowledge. I don’t know anything about pregnancy – I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t even know how long it takes!”

“About six months,” I murmur, resting my cheek on his hair.

But the feel of his soft hair against my cheek only lasts a moment as he whips his head up to stare at me, his panic renewed. “Just six months!?” he gasps.

“Rafe came in five,” I whisper with a little grimace.

Jackson just stares at me in horror.

“Jacks!” I say, laughing a little, putting my hands again on his cheeks. “It’s plenty of time. Millions of people have done this before, okay? And we’ve got an OBGYN in the family, and a magical healer. Everything is going to be totally fine!”

He just stares at me like those seven words are a lifeline. “Everything is going to be totally fine.”