The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy
Chapter 0418

"I don't know yet," Juniper murmurs, her eyes going distant as she stares off into space. "But...something big. I want to do all of it. I want...I want to do everything, feel everything. See...the whole world."

Cora lets her hand drift away from Juniper and both she and my mom look at my little sister with a great deal of soft love in their eyes. But they let Junie have her space, turning away with each other to open another bottle of wine.

When they're gone, I step closer to Junie, slipping an arm around her waist and pouring more of my wine in her cup. "Don't write off mates so fast, June," I murmur. She turns to me with a frown, combative. But as usual, it just makes me grin. "You know, the goddess wouldn't give you a mate that wasn't suited to your hopes and your dreams, your fate. If you want a big life, your mate will too."

Junie just leans her weight on me and sighs, shaking her head as she takes a sip of the wine and turning back to the boys. "These Alphas," she murmurs. "They just seem to...steamroll their mates into whatever life it is they want. Like, mom was never going to be a Queen until she met dad. And Cora's not a doctor anymore - not really. She's just a mom."

"Cora and mom do a lot of work healing people in the community, and they're both very happy with the work they do," I murmur, needing to point that out and trying to strike a balance between the truth and letting my sister make her point. "But...I mean, Jackson doesn't steamroll me. Not yet."

"He's known he's your mate for like, a week," Juniper points out, dry, glancing at me. "Give him a minute."

I burst out laughing, tightening my arm around her. "Well, if he does, then I'll have my little Junepiper come and beat him up."

Juniper smirks at the old nickname - what Mark used to call her when he stumbled over his words a lot as a kid. But she still sighs, and shakes her head, looking at me out of the corner of her eye. "And what about the other one?" she asks. "Luca?" I ask, a little surprised.

Juniper nods, looking at me fully now.

I sigh, and shrug. "I'm figuring it out, Junie," I say softly. "Day by day. But, I will say that I wouldn't give either of them up if it meant the opportunity of a different life. Besides..." I frown at my sister for a second, looking her up and down. "Do you even...have a mate?" She sighs like it is a deep and real tragedy, tilting her head back to look at the darkening sky. "Yeah. I made Cora tell me like, a year ago. I have one - she saw it in my baptism prophecy."

"Oh, really?" I ask, bursting into a smile, so incredibly excited for my little sister but also trying to hold my enthusiasm back if it's something she's worried about. "Are you sure?"

Junie frowns at me. "Yes, I'm sure," she replies. "Cora told me, she wouldn't lie."

"Yeah," I say, a little wicked now as I wrinkle my nose at her. "She told you that you have a mate but...did she tell you if it was just one?"

Juniper's face suddenly drops in horror and she looks, frantic, between me and our aunt. "CORA!" She shouts, her voice lit with panic as she scurries over to where Cora is standing with my mom, both of them looking shocked at Juniper's outburst. "I need some clarifications! NOW!"

The football game ends right about the time, about half an hour later, Cora finishes assuring Juniper for the eighteenth time that she only has one mate. Or, at least, as far as Cora could see. Juniper groaned and dashed off to Roger, the only other person to see her prophecy, intent on a second opinion the moment the game broke up.

"We won," Jackson says, coming over and slinging an arm around my shoulders, looking quite smug about it.

"Of course you did," I say with pride and utter assurance as I run a hand over his sweaty hair and hand him my glass of wine so he can take a sip. "How could they lose with you on the team?"

"It's unfair," Rafe complains, stalking over to us with a frown, Jesse scowling at his side. "We didn't pick Jackson because he didn't know how to play - we didn't think he would be good -"