Ch. 611..615: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 611-615

Chapter 0611

 

"Thank you, sir,” I say, beaming up to him, proud and pleased myself.

"Don't thank me yet," he says, looking back towards the Castle. "I moved your target out to 1,800 meters. Good luck with that."

I gape at the Captain as he walks away, smirking, because...that is such crap! 1,800 meters is - it's going to be impossible!

"You can do it," Jackson murmurs, wrapping his arm around me and pulling me towards the ladder I use to climb up into my blind. "Just...going to take some practice."

“Great, more practice!" I snap, glaring down at him and shaking my head as I start to climb. "And when do you imagine I'm going to learn this sharp shooting too!? Are we going to start getting up at 3:00, instead of 4:00 in the morning!?"

“Just trust me, Clark," Jacks sighs, though I can feel and hear the pleasure that he's trying to hide. "I've got it all planned out.”

I take a deep breath, continuing to climb, kind of excited myself but not having any idea what to expect.

Both Rafe and Jesse wear twin expressions of shock when I come out of the Castle about an hour later with a fully-loaded paintball rifle in my hands.

"Ari, I was kidding on the banishment thing," Jesse says, holding out his hands towards me and looking at me like I'm a little crazy.

I laugh, shaking my head at him. "Look, I don't know what's going on either," I say with a shrug and nodding towards Jacks. "He sweet-talked the Captain into letting me do this."

"Do what?" Rafe asks, looking worriedly between me and the rifle. "Are we...not going for our run?"

"Oh, we're going for our run," Jacks says, grinning around at everyone. "Ariel's just going to do a little target practice at the same time.”

We all stare at him with our mouths open. And then, as Jackson explain his plan, each of our jaws slowly falls drops.

"Look, Ari's great in a blind," Jackson

says, looking down at me as he

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speaks. "But I have any say in it at I all, she's not going to be sitting in a blind in any battles - it's too dangerous. More experienced snipers are going to spy her and take her out. She's a kickass shot, but there's no reason why she can't shoot on the move with all of us," he gestures around at the whole group "to protect her as she does."

“Jacks, I don't like any plan that has Ariel on an active battlefield,” Rafe says, taking a step towards him with a plan.

"Yeah, well, then the alternative is all of us sitting up with her in a blind like sitting ducks. Like I told the Captain, I don't think any of us are going to consent to her going into battle without us by her side to protect her."

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"Shit, I didn't even think about that," Jesse says, scowling and running a hand through his hair. Rafe and Jackson just look at him like he's a little stupid for not thinking about it so far they, obviously, have been thinking about it for weeks.

"Okay, whatever," I say with a sigh, getting tired of everyone making decisions about where I'm going to be in a battle and with whom without asking my opinion on it

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heft the rifle a little higher. "What am

I doing with this?" Content belongs

"With that?" Jacks asks, giving me a devious little grin. "You're running. Let's go!"

My mouth falls open again as Jacks starts off at a run without explaining any further. Rafe, I think understanding more than I do, laughs and follows him while Jesse claps me on the back.

“Come on, baby trouble!" he laughs, urging me forward. "Let's see what you've got!"

“I hate this already," I growl, glancing down at the heavy gun in my hands, knowing that my muscles are going to kill me for this later.

But I take a deep breath and start out after them, not knowing what the hell is going on or what Jackson has planned.

 

Chapter 0612

"That was awesome!" Jesse pants, pumping his fists in the air when we arrive back at the Castle forty-five minutes later. Both Jackson and Rafe beam at each other as they, too, catch their breath, apparently agreeing with him.

But as I drag myself gasping up the last little hill towards the door, my arms screaming against the weight of the rifle, my legs aching and my heart pounding, all I can do is glare to demonstrate that I vehemently do not agree with them.

Jackson's plan was as devious as it was simple. All I had to do was run our regular route and then, at intervals that he planned out, stop and...shoot. You know, just attempt to aim and fire accurately at a moving target - usually Jesse - while my heart pounded, and my breath rasped, and my hands struggled to hold the gun steady.

And then, as I usually failed miserably to hit anything I aimed at, I had to run to catch up with the group! Just start sprinting, as soon as my heart rate lowered enough to fire, to catch up with these stupid Alphas and their big long legs.

"I hate," I pant, gasping in air as I glare at all three of them, finally getting to the group, "all of you."

"It'll get easier, Ari," Rafe says, grinning at me with his hands on his hips. "Though this was an amazing idea, Jackson - I love it - I want to do it too -" I glare at my brother, my fingers tightening possessively on the rifle, making him laugh.

"You did so good, Ari!" Jesse laughs, turning a little so I can see the splatters of purple paint that stretch down his back where I hit him twice. "You actually got me! I'm very impressed."

"Seriously, Ari, you're going to get better and better as we do this every day," Jackson says, grinning at me and putting an encouraging hand between my shoulder blades.

"Every. Day?" I gasp, staring up at him in shock.

My mate's grin deepens. "It's a useful way to combine fitness with a new skill. We'll run further and further apart – we'll have you basically sniping on the run in no time -"

"I've changed my mind!" I groan, my shoulders slumping as I take a stumbling step towards my mate, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "I don't want to be ambitious anymore! I don't want to learn new things! Or, if I do, I want to take up something quiet and peaceful, like illustrating manuscripts - I'll knit for the war effort -"

"Nah, it's a great idea," Jesse says, coming to my other side and adding his own hand to my back so that he and Jackson can sweep me forward between them into the Castle. "And when you get really good at it, you can run, and I'll shoot at you!"

"Never," I growl, whipping my head to glare up at him. My cousin just laughs at me, looking forward with interest as we enter the castle. And even if my lungs still ache, and my body feels absolutely wiped of any energy that Jackson gave me this morning - I do have to admit, I see how the skill is useful. If I can move and shoot as accurately as I do laying calmly in a blind?

Yeah. I get it.

“Hurry up, Clark!" Rafe says, clapping his hands behind me and making me skitter forward as he laughs. "No dragging your feet now! We've got breakfast to get to!"

I snarl as I glance over my shoulder at my brother, but I hurry my steps as told. Because breakfast - and all the coffee I can drink - sounds amazing right now.

Unfortunately, the moment we enter

the breakfast hall, our little group of four goes completely still. Because as we look around, it's perfectly clear that...something is very

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е

different here. That something quite

big has changed.

"Where...where is everyone?" I whisper, noting that half of the tables in the hall are empty - aren't even set for breakfast.

"Holy shit," Rafe whispers next to me, looking over at Jacks.

Jackson just looks grimly over at him.

"What's going on?" Jesse asks, as anxious as me. "What am I missing?"

“Come on," Rafe says, his voice grim, reaching out a hand and wrapping it around my arm protectively. "Let's talk about it as a group."

The four of us walk over to our little

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table where Luca and Ben are already sitting. As soon as we do, someone stands up from a table halfway across the room and begins

to walk towards ours as well.- Despite everything, my face brightens to see that it's Tony.

“Does this mean what I think it means?" Tony asks, arriving at the table as we do.

I sit down in my seat, craning my neck to look around at my friends my hand slipping instantly beneath the table cloth and into Luca's, who sits on my right. He gives it a squeeze.

“Look," Rafe sighs, looking first at Tony and then around at everyone else. "Jacks and I don't have more information than anyone else but.....”

"But yeah," Jacks cuts in when Rafe's words fail him. "Yeah, I think that the room is empty because they sent the second-year Cadets to the front."

I gasp, my eyes going wide, my free hand flying to my chest as I process this.

Chapter 0613

"What the fuck man," Ben murmurs, running a hand through his hair and looking anxiously towards the empty half of the room. "Cadets, at war? Has this...ever happened before?"

"It hasn't," Rafe answers, raising his head, the set of his mouth grim. "In the twenty years that the school has been open, Moon Valley has never called up its Cadets, its least-trained warriors."

"This is bad," Luca whispers, and I raise my eyes to look into his worried brown ones. "Really bad."

I squeeze his hand, agreeing with him, and then cast my eyes around at all of my friends. "Are...are they going to call us up to?"

"No way to know," Jackson says, staring down at the table, his mind clearly working as he sits down in his spot next to me. "If they do it means that it's.....dire. That the war is going very badly and that they're getting desperate."

"Shit," Tony whispers, crossing his arms and looking down at the floor.

Rafe and Jesse sit too, but silence reigns around our table, just as it does all of the others.

Because even if I did spend the morning chasing my brother and my cousin around with a paintball gun...it's never been more obvious than it is right now that we're not playing games. Not at all.

That this is very, very real.

"Whoa," Tony says, causing each of us to raise our heads and look at him. But he's looking over my shoulder at the door, one eyebrow raised in significant Alpha interest. "Who the hell is that?"

As one, we all turn in the direction of his gaze and I sigh when I see that the person who's caught his interest?

She's here for me.

Faiza's mouth quirks into a smirk as she strides confidently over to our table, dressed as usual in her form-hugging black leather-and-spandex outfit, her silky dark hair swinging moodily into her face. "Well," she says, her smirk deepening as she crosses her arms and looks each of the boys over in turn. "Good to know I still command attention when I enter a room."

"Hey, Faiza," I sigh, turning in my chair and staring worriedly up at her.

"Give me a minute," she murmurs, taking her turn running her eyes over each of the boys in turn. "I'm not done here."

“Faiza!” I scold, jumping to my feet. “You're a professor!"

"I'm your professor," she says, laughing, grinning and finally turning her eyes to me. "Not theirs. Who's your new boy?" She points her thumb over at Tony.

"Hi, I'm Anton Davis," Tony says, moving smoothly around our table and looking Faiza slowly over from head to foot. "And where have you been all my lif-"

"Oh, cut it, Tony," I growl, moving fast and stepping in front of Faiza - holding out a hand to block him. Tony stops in his tracks but otherwise ignores me, giving Faiza a vicious grin over my head.

"Hey, Tony," Faiza says, her voice low and sultry. I spin with a gasp to see her wrinkling her nose at him, clearly enjoying this. "You look like fun. Like someone I could toss around."

“Listen, you can toss me around any time you want –“

"Ew, ew!" I shout, slapping my hands over my ears and glaring between them. "This is done! Over! Faiza!" I turn to her now with a glare. "Did you need me for something!?"

"Sure did, cream puff," she says, turning her eyes cheerfully to me. "Class is starting early today. Let's go."

"Why?"

"Because I said so," she returns, giving me a too-sweet smile, violence lurking beneath it as she silently dares me to defy her.

“But –“ I gasp, risking life and limb as I turn desperately back to the table, my eyes flicking over the pastries in the basket. There are even donuts today -

"Oh, just take it with you," Faiza says, reaching out and grabbing a whole carafe of coffee off the table, which makes the majority of the boys gasp in protest. "Quiet, minions," she sighs, rolling her eyes at them.

"They'll bring you another."

"Here, let me carry that for you," Tony murmurs, moving closer to us, "it's very heavy -"

"Away," I snarl, giving Tony a sharp

push on the chest before reaching for the pastry basket that Jackson pulls closer to me, handing me a wide white napkin in which to wrap my choices. I send Jacks a warm pulse of thanks down the bond and his wolf responds with a snarly little growl of love that makes me beam down at him for a spare moment. It's very difficult to resist dropping a kiss to his cheek as well, but somehow I manage it.

"All right, let's go," Faiza says when I straighten up my pastries secured. "See you boys later," she says, glancing back at the table of Alphas, her voice dropping a sultry octave as she again lets her eyes slip over each of them in turn.

"Don't torture them," I sigh, shaking my head at my professor as we head for the door.

"Aw,” she says, giving me a sneaky wink, "don't take away my fun. I have so few pleasures in this dank little castle, Ari."

I just roll my eyes at my professor and follow her down the stairwell to her office, wondering what the hell she's got in store for me next.

 

Chapter 0614

"So!" Faiza says, flopping into her chair and cooly lifting the heels of her boots onto her desk as she grins wickedly at me. "I like the new addition to your harem. He's cute." She again wrinkles her nose.

My hands still in the process of unwrapping my breakfast as I lift my eyes to hers, shocked. "My...harem?"

"Sure," she says, grinning deeply, "your little harem of Alpha boys deeply dedicated to serving your every want and need. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous. If you're ever looking to loan them out -"

I groan, sinking into my chair and rolling my eyes at her as I snag a chocolate-covered donut. I take a big bite as I pour a cup of coffee into a mug waiting on the desk. "Take 'em," I say, my voice dry. "Give me some peace and quiet."

"Oh please," Faiza says, still grinning at me as she reaches for the carafe of coffee after I've filled my cup. "If I actually thought you'd loan out the hot one, I'd think about it. But I know you're more selfish than you're pretending to be."

"Damn right I am," I growl, making her laugh as I lean back in my chair and grin at my professor. As she continues to laugh I study Faiza, thinking - not for the first time - that I really admire her. Not only is she a badass, she just...moves through the world with such a sense of confidence. I wish I could be more like that.

"The new boy is cute, though a little scrawny for me," she says when her laughter fades, sitting back with her coffee pressed between her palms. She quirks a single brow. "But how's your brother doing? He's not scrawny at all, is he?"

“Ugh, Faiza," I sigh, letting my eyes drift shut and shaking my head slightly. "This cannot be part of my education."

"Oh, come on, a girl gets curious and lonely in this big cold stone house!"

"Hands off my harem," I say, letting my eyes slowly narrow to a glare. "There are two hundred-some boys in this Castle. Pick one of those to tear to emotional pieces."

Her vicious grin deepens. "No fun, cream puff, you got all the hot ones. Besides," she tilts her head to the side, studying me. "Not two hundred any more, are there?"

I sigh, my blood going cold as I realize that she's right. I take a long sip of my coffee, wanting both the warmth and the energy, before. looking up at her again. "Do yo know what happened? Were they

sent to the front?" Content belongs

"They were," she says quietly, holding my gaze, her face falling into more serious lines. "And to various other points, according to their specialties. It's...it's getting very serious, Ariel."

"Will we get called up too?" My hands tighten as I wait for her answer.

"I don't have any insight into what the higher-ups are thinking," she answers quietly. "But I think you will."

"Why do you think that?" My question is a hoarse whisper, full of dread.

She sighs long through her nose, looking away from me, not trying to keep anything from me but, instead, deciding how to answer. "Did you know that my dad has sent almost every Spy he has out to Atalaxia?" she asks, staring into space a bit. "Every one of them as trained as I am, up to a Neumann-level of stealth and skill?"

"No," I answer, my voice still soft. I had no idea that there was an espionage component to this war - most of what we hear about is fervent fighting on the front. But, of course, the secrecty makes sense.

“Well, he did,” Faiza says, turning her eyes back to me. “And do you know what the results have been? How much information we've gotten from them?"

I stare at her and shake my head no.

"We've got nothing, Ariel," Faiza says,

et

leaning towards me, her face grim. Quite suddenly I miss my playful, flirty, dangerous professor. This Faiza that has been brought down to the grim reality of this war - she's even more terrifying. "Not a single one of his spies has responded. And not a single one has come back."

 

Chapter 0615

All the blood leaves my face.

She twists her lips, regretting the news. "He's sending me today."

"What!?" I gasp, sloshing my coffee onto the floor as I lean forward towards her in shock. "Faiza, no!"

"We need the intel, Ari," she says, holding my eyes and shaking her head sadly at me. "If it were a time of peace we could spare me at the front, but with everyone gone and me the best..." she holds up a hand, asking me to see that this is the only path.

"Faiza," I say, my voice croaking on her name, suddenly desperately afraid for her and not wanting her to go. "Please..."

"Aw, kid," she says, shaking her head at me and leaning back in her chair, taking a casual sip of her coffee. "I know you're not going to ask me to stay. Ask me to do something you yourself absolutely would not do, if you were called to do the same."

I hang my head, knowing that she's right, my fingers clenched hard around my slippery mug of coffee. "We're just not...done here..." I growl, angry at the world for taking her away. "And I don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me," she says, too brash, too casual. I lift my eyes to meet hers again, taking in her confident smile. "I'll be back in a few weeks to kick your ass again."

I sigh, shaking my head, hating it. "Where are they sending you?"

"That info is above your paygrade, kid," she says, giving me a wink and pointing a finger-gun at me.

"Come on," I sigh, tilting my head to the side, begging her.

“Fine,” she says, laughing with a shrug. "It's not public knowledge, so please keep it under wraps but....they're sending me deep behind lines to see what I can learn about military plans. I'm actually taking a leaf from your book," she says, her smile deepening, “dressing like a boy."

This news sparks a grin as I let my eyes sweep over her feminine form, her deliberately tantalizing outfit. "You're going to hate it."

She bursts out laughing and nods. "I know," she sighs. "But...just for a short time. I'll get through it."

"And you'll be safe?" I ask, my eyes going wide.

"Oh, we're not doing the whole sentimental thing," Faiza says, waving a hand at me as she pulls

her feet from the desk and scootset

her chair forward. "I'll be fine, Ariel

I wouldn't be a Neumann if I couldn't do this. But what we have to talk about is what you're going to do in my absence."

I open my mouth to protest, to beg for more information, but the look she gives me - hard and pleading in its own way - begs me to let it go. To let her go and do her job without a big fuss or any declarations. Slowly I close my mouth, and clench my jaw, and nod to her.

She smiles and nods back. And in that quite simple gesture I know that I not only have a professor that I trust, but a friend for life. That what is between us runs much, much deeper than a job.

Even if we don't talk about it.

Slowly, a smile takes my lips.

net

"There's the nation's princess," Fazia says, giving me a smirk. "Now, lean in and eat some of these pastries with me, she says, picking up a muffin and tearing off a piece before handing it to me. "We've got future lesson plans to discuss, and I'm going to be pissed if I come back and you haven't been doing your homework."

"Yes ma'am, yes ma'am," I sigh, leaning forward and taking the proffered muffin. Then, as I take a bite, Faiza lays out her plans for what I'm to study in her absence.

And my eyes again go wide with surprise.