Chapter 0194

I find myself feeling quite touched, and a little overwhelmed, as I lean against his chest, tucking my

head for a second beneath his chin, cozy and warm despite the chill in the night air. Because…

maybe he should be mad. There is…there is more coming, after all, that he’s not going to be

pleased about – it’s actually not so simple as him having me now.

And if he just forgives me at every turn, even though none of it is my choice either, even if the

Goddess herself gave us this path…

Well, who is going to watch out for Jackson’s heart, in the trials to come?

We are, my wolf growls, fierce.

And I set myself to the task, immediately agreeing. Jackson – he’s big, and he’s powerful, but he’s

quite tender, beneath it all, isn’t he? And…

As sad as it sounds, Jackson is a bit more desperate for love and affection than I’d like him to be.

He’s willing to wipe away all the offenses against him, just to have me in his arms.

God, he’s too good, to pure and sweet. I press my eyes shut, begging the Goddess for strength so

that I can be as good to him as he deserves.

“What?” Jackson murmurs, nudging me with his nose, and I realize that I’ve gone quite still and rigid

in his arms.

“Nothing,” I murmur, lifting my face to look into his. “Just…thinking about a thousand things.”

“Well, don’t worry about them,” he says with a little frown, like it’s so easy to just not. I grin at him,

laughing a little. “We’ll figure it all out. It will all turn right.”

I smile at him, unable to stop myself as I reach up to stroke his hair, tucking it back behind his ear

over and over again. “Jacks,” I murmur, as he looks down at me with such tenderness in his face,

his expression. A tenderness that is…not totally unfamiliar, if I’m being honest – because he has

looked at me that way before, even if he thought I was a boy. “Did you really not know?”

His face bursts into a grin and I can feel him laughing all around me – in his chest, in the way his

arms shake. My smile widens and I find that I quite like being all wrapped up in him. “Ari, I definitely

did not know. It was the shock of my life when you pulled your shirt up and I saw you had a girl body

under your uniform.”

“Really, though?” I ask, laughing outright now, shaking my head a little in disbelief. “Like, no hints

before? No inklings – nothing about my face, or my mannerisms? I was just…all boy to you?”

“Ari,” Jackson sighs, shaking his head, growing a little more serious even as he smiles. “I have…

absolutely no context for any of that. I don’t know any girls – everyone I’ve met is a guy. So, if there

are social cues that I’m supposed to pick up on to be able to tell that you’re a girl? I just don’t know

them.”

I tilt my head, considering him, remembering what Ben said about me reminding him of his sisters.

“Ben says I laugh like a girl,” I blurt out, saying the words as I think them.

Jackson grins. “I like your laugh,” he murmurs. “So, if that’s how girls laugh, then…I guess I like

that.”

“Were you attracted to me?” I hear myself ask, curiosity getting the better of my mouth.

Jackson’s smile grows. “No,” he murmurs, shaking his head.

I squeak a little, sitting up straight, indignant.

“I mean, I am now!” he says, laughing as he works to correct himself.

“What, just because I show you my stomach and you realize I’m a girl suddenly you think I’m

pretty!?”