Chapter 269

My mouth pops open in mock indignation as my sister fights her urge to smirk. “I have always been badass and cool, Juniper!” I protest, laughing.

“Ariel, believe me,” Juniper sighs, rolling her eyes but letting her smile run free. “You have been the opposite of badass and cool. You were like, a pink bubblegum fairy glitter princess –“

“And I still am,” I return, laughing. “Except now I can shoot a tin can off of a tree stump from half a mile away.”

“Ugh,” she groans. “Nevermind. Still not cool. Plus, now you’ve brought your mates home,” she murmurs, looking at Luca and then around to where Jackson is standing with our mom, clearly intuiting that he’s the other one. “Like this family needed more Alpha men around, all gigantic and eating everything in sight –“

“Not my Alphas,” I counter, grinning at her, my arm still around her shoulders. “I got them trained up real good.”

“So that’s the other one?” she says, raising her chin towards Jackson, her voice dubious.

“Yup,” I say, unable to keep the pride from my voice. That’s my man over there, standing awkwardly at my mom’s side with her arm around his waist as she happily laughs with Aunt Cora and Uncle Roger, introducing them to Daphne and Ben.

Juniper is quiet for a moment, her eyes flicking between Jackson and my mom. As we stand observing them, Jackson’s eyes move over to us like he can hear us thinking about him.

“Are you sure he’s your second mate?” Juniper asks, her voice low with doubt as her eyes focus on mom’s arm around Jackson’s waist. “Because right now, it kind of looks like he’s mom’s.”

I go absolutely still with shock, staring at my sister, before I burst into laughter.

“June!” I gasp through my laughter, and then I look back at where mom is leaning into Jackson’s side – being so nice to him, wanting him to feel comfortable in this big room full of people – but… yeah. Maybe looking a little too close to my mate to the eye of one who doesn’t understand how empathetic mom is as well as how incredibly awkward Jacks feels. I can’t help but laugh harder now that I’ve seen it.

“I mean, she’s all over him!” Juniper says, laughing with me, throwing out a hand towards them. Jackson frowns a little, not knowing what’s going on and clearly wanting to know. noveldrama

“You’re so gross,” I groan, shoving my little sister playfully away from me before grabbing her hand and tugging her towards Jackson and mom. “She’s just being nice to him.”

“A little too nice, if you ask me,” June murmurs, letting herself be dragged along, moodily pretending she isn’t having as much fun as she is. “Don’t let dad see this – he’ll get all jealous, and then we’ll have a body to clean up. Which will be interesting, but messy.” I grin, ignoring her words. Because as much as she likes to pretend she’s a black sheep, Juniper is very much a part of this family, and she likes joking and teasing as much as the rest of us.

“Ugh, my two little girls!” mom says, dropping her hand from Jackson’s waist so that she can reach for Juniper and me when we come near. “I love seeing you two get along! It’s so rare, to have you not tearing each other to pieces!”

“Yeah, well, you’ve got about five more minutes of us being nice,” Junie sighs, letting mom fold her into a hug on one side. “So, enjoy it.”

“Welcome home, infant danger,” my uncle Roger says as Ben and Daphne step away, heading to the little bar in the corner for drinks. Roger lets out a booming laugh at his own joke as he wraps me into a hug. I squeak a little, laughing and leaning into him.

“Hey, uncle Rog,” I say, beaming up into his face.

“You’re in trouble, young lady,” he says, his face falling into mock-serious lines. I cock my head, curious. “You cost me a great deal of money.”

I burst out laughing, remembering suddenly the bet that the Captain placed on me at the beginning of the semester to come out tops in marksmanship – a bet he placed against Uncle Roger’s bet on someone else.

“What?” Cora asks, stepping closer and glaring between us. “What’s he talking about?”

“That’s what he gets,” I say, stepping away from my uncle and giving my aunt a kiss before moving subtly to Jackson’s side, intuiting that he’ll be more comfortable if I’m there. “For betting on Cadets.”

“Roger!” Cora gasps, swatting Roger on the chest. “You bet against your niece!?”

“Well, I didn’t know it was my niece!” he says, grinning and throwing his hands out. “I put my money on the one with the widest wingspan - I wasn’t going to bet on the one they called the Shrimp!”

“How much did you lose?” Cora gasps, ignoring his excuses.