Chapter 548

Twenty minutes later, when we're fully ensconced in the dreamscape and sitting quietly on the side of the cliff, Jackson looks at me with raised eyebrows. "Well?"

I sigh, letting my exhaustion take me as I look up into Jackson's sapphire eyes. "Rafe got dumped. At least, I think he did. I mean, I'm pretty sure." Jackson just stares at me, his lips parting in his disbelief.

I bite my lip, waiting for him to process it. But he just stays...completely still. "Jacks?" I ask, my face screwing up in confusion. "Are you...okay?"

He starts a little, coming back to himself, blinking rapidly for the first time in like, an entire minute. "I mean...what? Daphne - she broke up with him? Why? Are you sure?"

I shrug. "She kind of...implied that that's what was going to happen, and considering how Rafe looked when he just came back to the room...yeah, Jacks. I'm sure."

He exhales like the air has gone completely out of him, deflated. “Wow, I...I can't believe she did that. What is she even thinking? Rafe is...Rafe is so great."

I smile a little, slipping my hand into his. "Yeah, but she...didn't love him, Jacks. She didn't feel that way about him."

He turns to me with a frown. "Well, why not?"

I grin. "Because she didn't," I say, leaning forward and shaking my head at him. "You can't control your heart, Jacks - no matter how great a person is, like Rafe."

He frowns like he doesn't believe me, or just doesn't get it.

"What," I say, giving him a little nudge down the bond. "What are you thinking? What about that doesn't make sense?"

"I just..." he sighs and looks evenly at me. "I don't get it. Rafe is a great person. I don't see what Daphne thinks is lacking."

"It's not about lacking," I say quietly. "It's just...about who is a match for her. Like with me and you - we each know the other has faults, but," I shrug, "we click. Obviously."

Jackson frowns at me like I'm a little crazy. "Wait, you see faults in me?”

I burst out laughing, totally confused about how he got there from what I just said.

He grins too suddenly, I think realizing the idiculousness of the conversation, and then he quickly gathers me up in his arms, shaking his head as he looks down at me: "Ariel you're an absolutely perfect person - even if you weren't my mate, I'd fall in love with you the second I saw you -"

"The second you realized I was a girl, you mean," I say, narrowing my eyes a little, even as I smile.

"Sure, the moment your elaborate

subterfuge ended, I would just

be...gone," he says, rocking me back a little in his arms, making my heart sing with joy as I fist my hands in his shirt needing something to hold onte as I completely allow myself to be swept away.

“What does that have to do with Daphne?" I ask, letting my eyes flutter shut.

“It means that...” he sighs, "I know that I'm wrong, but I can't help thinking she's a little foolish. Rafe - he's nearly as good as you, as far as great people go -"

I laugh, opening my eyes and looking up at him again.

"And I just...don't get it."

"He wasn't meant for her, Jacks," I murmur, reaching up to cup his cheek in my palm, loving the new stubble that's growing there. "It's different." "Even if you weren't meant for me," he says, quiet seriously, bringing his face close to mine. "Even if I had another mate I would...dump her. When I met you. Because after you, how could another girl ever meet that new standard?"

I burst out laughing again, tugging him closer, loving him even if he's being ridiculous.

"This is nonsense, Jacks -"

"It is not," he insists.noveldrama

I sigh, looking seriously up at him. "Okay, I give in," I murmur, raising my chin, wanting a kiss and the end to all this talking. "But even if you don't get it. be nice to Daphne, okay? She needed to do this. It felt right to her heart."

“Okay,” Jackson says, nodding and dipping his head to run his cheek along mine. Shivers run through me at the way his stubble rushes against my skin. "I'll be nice. But...." he pulls away a little bit, studying me.

"What?" I ask.

But he just shakes his head, frowning for a moment. "Nothing."