Chapter 0208

Rafe just smirks, his smile a little unsteady, but he takes a deep breath and shakes his head,

probably forcing himself to calm down too. “Thank you,” Rafe says, crossing his arms and looking

back towards his sister, laying so pale on the bed. “For taking care of her. It…it kills me that I wasn’t

there.”

“Of course,” Jackson says, instant, still staring at the Prince like he’s crazy for thinking that he

wouldn’t take care of her.

Rafe looks back at Jackson and flinches a little at the intensity on the other man’s face. And then he

laughs, just lightly. “I guess you two…figured some things out in the woods?”

Jackson blinks for a second and then realizes that…well, that Rafe Sinclair knows, doesn’t he? But

of course he does – he just told the Queen that Jackson’s Ariel’s mate. “Yeah,” Jackson says after a

minute, running a hand through his hair and looking over at Ariel again, not wanting to take his eyes

away for a single second. To his shock, color has already started to come back to her cheeks.

Is it…is it seriously possible? That…

“Jacks,” Rafe murmurs, and Jackson almost jumps out of his skin when the Prince puts a hand on

his shoulder. But Rafe, to his credit, doesn’t pull it away. Jackson turns to him now, starting to

tremble all over like a frightened animal. “Look,” Rafe says, keeping his voice low and calm, “if mom

gets to them while they’re breathing…I mean, I’ve never not seen her bring someone back, okay?”

The two stare at each other for a long moment, Jackson…not knowing how to understand it, or how

to believe it.

“Ariel’s going to be fine,” Rafe insists, his voice still soft, his brows knitting together in concern. But

Jackson flinches when he realizes suddenly that Rafe’s concern is…is not for Ariel anymore. It’s for

him. “You got her here in time, Jacks. You did it. She’s going to be okay.”

Jackson continues to stare at Rafe for a long, long moment before he gasps in a long breath,

suddenly flooded with hope he hadn’t realized he’d lost.

Because he’d repeated to himself over and over again that she was going to make it –

That she’d survive, that he’d make her survive, damn it, if he had to pour his own blood into her

veins –

But deep down, after she’d stopped moving? After he could feel her pulse slowing, after she started

taking the magic in lesser and lesser quantities?

God, he’d really thought he’d lost her –

And then Jackson, even though he hasn’t done it since he was a very small child, didn’t know he

even could anymore – he bursts into tears. Big, wracking sobs, the kind that shake his shoulders

and make him gasp for air. Half mortified, half lost in grief and worry, he tucks his face against his

palms.

Rafe’s face falls, but suddenly he’s there, wrapping an arm around Jackson’s shoulders before

tugging him close. Jackson, not knowing what impulse tells him to do it because he’s never hugged

another man in his life, wraps his own arms around Rafe’s back and clings to him, burying his face

against Rafe’s shoulder, emptying his tears.

“It’s all right,” Rafe murmurs softly, patting Jackson’s muscled back with his own broad hand. “It’s

okay, let it out. She’s going to be fine. She’s going to be fine.”

Rafe murmurs it over and over until Jackson cries himself out, until the big Alpha raises his head

and wipes an exhausted hand over his bloody cheek.

Rafe helps Jackson steady himself, find his feet, and then looks him up and down. “You need a

shower,” he murmurs, and Jackson pauses before he laughs, just a little, glancing again towards

the bed where Ariel…

God, she looks like she’s sleeping now, even though the Queen still holds her hands, still has her

eyes closed, a faint lavender light shining around both of them.

“Yeah,” Jackson murmurs, even though a shower is the furthest thing from his mind in this moment.

“I guess…I guess I do.”

“Welcome to the family, man,” Rafe murmurs, clapping a hand on Jackson’s shoulder and leaning

against him just a little bit. “Welcome to non-stop drama, probably for the rest of your life.”

Jackson just groans lightly at the thought, and crosses his arms, and stands steadily – even if he

needs to sniff a few times and wipe again at the final tears on his cheeks.

Then, quite patiently, he stands still and waits for his mate to wake up.