Ch. 661..665: The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy Chapter 661-665

Chapter 0661

The boys let me have my space for much longer than I thought they would - for hours, really. I spend a long time in the bath, simmering and calming down before I begin to sort through my thoughts. Then, when I'm calm enough, I take each individual issue in turn, piece by piece. In time, each of the thoughts takes a new route, becomes a plan.

Eventually I get up and towel off, wrapping the towel warm around me. But even then I don't leave, pulling myself up onto the wide marble counter and putting my feet in the sink, resting my head against the mirror as I turn my plans over more and more, trying to see the flaws in them, trying to ensure that I pick the best route.

The only interruption is a harsh knock at the door at least an hour in - probably more - before the entrance cracks open and someone sends a cold plate of tacos skittering across the floor. The demand is clear in the action - eat, damn it.

I smirk, but do as I'm bid, getting up and gathering the dish. But I take it right back to my spot and eat quietly as I continue to plot and ponder.

It's quite late, really, when I come out of the bathroom and head into the nook. The room is already dark, the boys in bed.

"Finally," Jesse grumbles, immediately getting up and moving immediately for the bathroom. "Others need this space too, you know."

"Sorry," I call, my voice more even than it was before as I pick up the cadet handbook and carry it to my bed with me. But Jesse doesn't say anything in response.

He doesn't need to. I know he's not really mad.

I sigh and turn towards the nook, slipping in and quickly heading for my chest of drawers, pulling on a quick pair of underwear and pajamas before climbing into bed.

Jackson's awake, as I knew, and immediately opens his arms for me. I sigh and let him wrap me up, putting the book aside for a minute and resting my face against his blissfully-warm chest.

"I'm sorry," I whisper, thinking of Luca and how he, too, abandoned me when he was upset. I hope quite desperately that I didn't do the same to Jacks. "I hope that didn't upset you. I just...needed space to think."

"It's fine, Ariel," Jackson murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair. "I was always ten feet away. I could feel you just needed to think. You're allowed to do that."

“I know,” I murmur, pressing myself tighter to his side. "I just don't want you to feel abandoned."

He growls, rolling me a bit so that I

rest fully on top of his chest and

stomach now, where I always end up sleeping and where I think he

likes me best. "That's not what

happened," he whispers. Then he hesitates. "Do you want to tell me

What that was all about?

"I do," I say quietly, a little whine in my voice. "But...I'm also scared that if I start talking about it I'll go to pieces." I sigh and let my eyes drift shut. "It's just been such a big day, Jacks. I feel like there is...so much on my plate."

He hums, understanding - as he always is. And I smile, turning my face a little to press a kiss to his chest. "Sleep, then. We'll talk in the morning."

I smile a little, snuggling closer. "Can we go for a run? In the dream scape?"

“Sure, babes," he murmurs, petting a hand over my hair. "Whatever makes you feel good works for me."

I nod, and sigh, not fully better yet

et

but...certainly getting there, with Jacks at my side. I wait a little bit until Jackson drifts off and then quickly pick up the cadet handbook and the little book light I got for Midwinter, flipping through a few pages and doing some light reading before I, too fall asleep.

I wake in the morning newly determined to enact my plan.

Which, unfortunately, makes me snappier than I'd like to be. Because even if a night of running with Jacks in the dream scape did a great deal to heal my exhausted little heart, after a night of thinking and dwelling on everything that Luca and Blythe and the Captain did and said...

God, but I'm pissed as hell. And kind of ready to let the world know about it.

Chapter 0662

 

"Whoa," Jackson says, inhaling a deep breath as he wakes up next to me, immediately feeling my foul disposition. "You're in an...interesting mood today."

I huff a little laugh and sit up, straddling his hips and putting my hands on his chest, peering down into his face. "I'm not moody at you, though," I say, tilting my head and taking in his incredibly handsome face, his muscled and honed body.

God, crap, but he's good looking.

Jackson bursts into a smile as he senses the direction of my thoughts, his hands moving to my hips. "Good," he sighs. “I think I'd be afraid, honestly, if you were truly mad at me. I fear the wrath of Ariel."

"Clever boy," I whisper, grinning and leaning forward, pressing a kiss to his mouth. Jackson wraps me up, as he always does, returning my kiss with all the warmth and love that I give to right back to him.

I break it before I want to, before we have the chance to get all worked up and panting. "Time to get up."

He groans, tightening his arms around me. "No, let's quit school," he grumbles.

But I just laugh and kiss him again and press myself away, hopping out of bed and striding for the bathroom.

"I don't like it when you have plans!" he calls after me, wary.

Jesse sits up in his bed, rubbing an eye. "Ariel has plans?"

"Oh god," Rafe groans. "What the hell are we in for now?"

"Ari!" Rafe barks, grabbing my arm as I stride out of the castle, heading for the helicopters ahead of me. "Stop this right now!"

"Oh, let go of me, you big brat," I snarl, turning to glare at him. "We've already been over this! This is happening, and if you try to stop me, I'll set you on fire!"

Jesse and Jackson spill out of the castle after us, looking equally tense.

This is a fight we've been having all morning - each of the boys demanding that I tell them what I've got planned, or that I not participate in the Games, and me pleading and demanding that they trust me in turn. The fight continued until it was time to go, and then down the stairs.

And now it's time for us to get on different helicopters, and we've come to no sort of agreement, and everyone's pissed.

"You can't just keep threatening to light me on fire!" Rafe snarls, tightening his hand on my arm.

I narrow my eyes at him and then snap my gaze down to the little strip of grass that remains between us. It bursts into flames.

Rafe gasps and jumps back before starting to stop on it.

It's out in a second. It was just a tiny fire, after all.

"God damn it, Ari," he growls.

"You need to stop threatening me, Rafe!" I snap, glaring hard at hime "You're just pissed that you can't bully me anymore now that I have brute force equal to yours

"Enough!" Jesse shouts, coming to literally stand between us and

our

shoving a hand against each of chests, which has me stumbling a few steps back while Rafe just stands still. Jackson's behind me in an instant, catching me before I can trip over my own boots.

"Ari, just tell us," Jackson begs, anxious.

"You trust me or you don't," I snarl, looking between the three of them.

“That's not fair, Ari," Rafe says, shaking his head at me. “It's not that black and white."

"It is when you want it to be, Rafe," I say, raising my eyebrows at him. "What, because I'm not in the chain of command I can't make calls?"

He tightens his lips, glaring at me.

"I'm doing this," I say, straightening

up and setting my shoulders. "Om my

own, my move. Not ours

-

not Rafe

and Jackson and Jesse fighting for me. Me."

“But we all know you're up to something," Jackson growls, glaring down at me. “And we don't want you to get killed —“

“He promised I'd be safe!” I say, gesturing out to the field to where the Captain is somewhere.

"But Ari," Jesse says, stepping towards me, worried.

"Enough!" I shout, desperately resisting the urge to stop my foot. "You will let me be my own person! You will let me make my choices! This is done!"

All three go very silent and still for a moment before Rafe slowly steps forward.

 

Chapter 0663

 

To my shock, Rafe just wraps me up in his arms and pulls me into a tight hug. "If you get killed I'll never forgive you," he murmurs, his head ducked low against my own. "And dad will slaughter me. So. Avoid that, please. I would like to live long enough to meet my mate."

I go still but then laugh a little, hugging my brother back for a long moment before he lets me go, still looking down at me like he hates me a little bit but giving into it.

Jesse just sighs and wraps me in a hug next. "Give 'em hell, baby trouble," he murmurs. "And don't shoot me in the face when you come for me - I'm very pretty, it's my only saving grace. Don't take that away."

I laugh, shoving him away next and turning to Jackson - who is hardest of all.

He just sighs and nods towards the helicopters, to where all the troops are gathering - some of them his, waiting for him. The four of us walk together, me close to Jackson's side.

His wolf snarls and howls, scratching at the edge of our bond, desperately unhappy though Jackson holds him back and doesn't allow any of this on his face.

You know this is killing me, right? He asks, speaking directly into my mind.

I turn my face up to his, sad to put him through it. I know. But thank you for trusting me. I promise I'll be safe. What I have planned wont' take long. The minute you feel unsafe, you call for me, okay? He says, looking directly into my eyes, his pain and worry showing directly there. No matter where you are, I'll hear you and I'll come. I promise.

I step closer, biting my lip a bit as I look up at him with shining eyes and nod. I don't think we have to worry about it, I whisper, back, still grinning. But I will. I promise I will.

Jackson narrows his eyes at me, smirking a bit like he can't help it. What on earth do you have brewing, fire sprite?

I just grin up at him and shake my head, letting nothing out. But my wolf trots across the bond, pressing herself warm against his gigantic wolf's side. His wolf snarls a bit, dipping his head to press his teeth to her neck and pretending to give her ruff a little shake like a wayward pup who doesn't listen. But I laugh, taking it for the joke he means it, and my mate beams down at me.

Jackson stops outside his own set of helicopters, where his troops are massing. Jesse stops too, going to stand with Tony, who is also on Jackson's team as well. "Well go on," Jackson says to me, his words tight as he nods towards the small helicopter at the end of the row. "Quit spying on my strategy, enemy."

I just beam at him, standing on my toes, resisting the urge to jump into his arms. He just grins and forces himself to turn away.

"Shoot straight!" Rafe calls to me,

eto

waving me off, though I can tell it's killing him to let me go too. I wave my brother, beaming at him, and start towards where I can see Blythe kneeling by our supplies, checking through them as he waits for me.

"Ari!"

Someone catches at my arm and I turn in surprise to look up into Luca's eyes.

"Ari, where are you going?" he gasps, staring at me in shock before turning to look at Rafe and Jackson. "Didn't they - what are you -" "I'm playing the Games, Luca," I say, deftly pulling my arm from his hand. "Just like you."

"But you..." he frowns at me, confused.

"Is there something you need?" I ask, deliberately cold, staring blankly up into his eyes. "I have to go join my team."

Luca sighs, giving up the pretense and pursing his lips as he looks down at me. "Ari, look, I'm really sorry I didn't come up last night -"

"No time now, Luca," I say, turning away and starting for Blythe.

et

Luca grabs my arm again, pulling me back, and this time I snarl as stop, looking deliberately downzat his hand and then slowly lifting my eyes to his face.

Luca's eyes go wide and he drops my arm. "Ari..."

“Anything you wanted to say, Luca, you could have said to me last night,” I say, quiet and controlled. “Right now, I'm out of time.”

"I was really tired last night –“ he whispers, affronted.

"We're all tired, Luca," I say, my voice flat. "See you tonight for dinner, if you can muster up the energy."

I stride away to Blythe, not bothering to look back at my mate. Because I'm still livid with him, even if I've got

now.

bigger things on my plate ro

UMS

Chapter 0664

"Hey, Blythe," I say as I approach. He looks up at me with a bit of surprise.

“Hey, Clark,” he says, breaking into a smile. “Didn't think I'd get you here without a bit of kicking and screaming.”

"Well, I'm here,” I say, giving a little shrug. "Any chance you want to make a last minute trade?"

He just raises his eyebrows and stands.

"I have it on good authority," I say quietly, "that both Rafe and McClintock will work together to trade you their best guys if you just give me to one of them. You don't even have to give me my gun to go with me." I give a little kick to the familiar case that I now know holds my paintball sniper rifle. Blythe twists his mouth to the side and gives a shrug. "My plan is to still work with you, Clark. I'm...kind of sorry to hear that you hate it so much that you don't even want to try working with me. I didn't do all of this to be a dick. I was looking forward to getting to know you. Building a team.”

"I already have a team," I say quietly, looking off to the side. "So, is that a no on the trade?"

"It's a no, kid."

I clench my teeth a bit, but shrug, letting it pass. "Okay." I look around at the rest of the pile of supplies. "Is any of the rest of this for me?" "Sure," Blythe says, giving me a small smile. "A lot of it, actually. Since I only requisitioned one Cadet, we got a lot of really good supplies."

"Cool,” I say, crouching down and looking around at it all. "Should we get it on the chopper?"

"Yeah," he says, laughing a little, cheerful to see me cooperating instead of continuing to fight. "Let's get going."

In the helicopter, Blythe explains the majority of the supplies that he requisitioned and I listen carefully, noting it all. Then even before we land we start to strap on what we can, knowing that the game starts as soon as the helicopter takes off and that at least one of the other teams will be coming for us fast, wanting at least to take out me and my rifle.

I sling that onto my back and then begin to strap on the hip and thigh holster that Blythe ordered for me, which is small and precisely measured enough for me to guess that Daphne had a hand in making it. I smile, silently thanking her for it as I fasten the last buckle.

Then, to my distinct pleasure, Blythe starts to hand me guns.

"What are all these?" I ask, laughing a little.

"Compact revolves at your hips," he says, nodding to me as I start to strap them on too. "Larger pistols and extra magazine at your thighs."

I grin as I finish strapping it all to my body and then drape my bandolier of sniper bullets across my chest. "Cool. I like your style, Blythe."

He laughs, nodding to me. "See? I knew we'd get along, once we had the chance to try it."

I nod back to him but don't say

anything else, just peering out the window of the helicopter as he begins to lay out his strategy for me, which involves attacking Rafe first and going from there. I don't really pay attention, though.

I have other plans, after all.

The helicopter lands and Blythe and I climb out at our assigned base. The field today is very different than before gently rolling hills covered in trees, much less advantage for a sniper than the previous cliff faces. I wonder if the Captain thought about that when he chose it.

"Okay," Blythe says, waving off the helicopter and tooking down at the map as he lifts a canteen of water over his shoulder. We have very little to offload from the chopper since it's just the two of us and Blythe

plans to abandon the balcon

immediately. "We've just got to figure out which of these bases belongs to Sinclair -"

“Is it started?” I ask, peering up after the helicopter, curious.

"What?" Blythe asks, looking up at me.

"The Games," I say quietly. "Has it started?"

He looks up after the helicopter too, which pulls away.

“Um, yeah," he says, frowning after it. "Soon as the helicopter's gone, we're in."

“Okay,” I say with a sigh, taking a step away from Blythe and casually unholstering the pistol at my hip. "Sorry about this."

I aim the pistol directly at Blythe's chest and pull the trigger.

A satisfying burst of pink paint blooms on his vest.

 

Chapter 0665

Blythe stares down at his chest for a moment, appalled, before he whips his handsome face back up to mine. "What the fuck, Ari!?" he shouts, his teeth lengthening to dangerous points. I take a step back, leveling the gun at his face, knowing a paintball placed there will cause enough pain to give me a head start if I need to run.

"I told you I didn't want to work with you," I say, my voice cold. "You should listen to soldiers who tell you, several times, that they're not on your side.”

"You've completely fucked me over here!" he shouts, advancing a step and forcing me back another. "This affects my command record! This is going to -"

"Yeah, well, you fucked me over too," I snarl, showing my own teeth and tensing my hand on the gun, letting him see me do it - that I am ready to shoot and I'm close enough to snap his long, pretty nose or give him a black eye. "But you're in good company - so don't take it too personally. And now if you don't mind, I have to go fuck over everyone else who's pissing me off today."

Blythe growls, his teeth still bared, but he stands straighter, clearly not continuing his advance. I drop the gun, just an inch.

"I wasn't trying to piss you off," he says, looking me dead in the eyes. "I wanted...I wanted to fucking get to know you, Clark."

"You could have just come to our breakfast table, Blythe," I say quietly, cold. "We're there every day."

He scoffs. "Yeah, just waltz up to Rafe and Jesse Sinclair's table and ask to sit down?"

“Luca Grant did it,” I say, perfectly quiet. “So did McClintock.” I don't bother to mention that I invited him that first time. “Didn't have to pull a power move and yank me away from my team just to get my attention."

I sigh and drop my gun completely, starting to turn to survey the landscape, knowing I have to get started.

"It's not that simple," Blythe snaps. "Rafe and Jesse have already written me off - McClintock is a closed book - Juniper said that -"

“Juniper," I snap, turning back to him with a frown. "What the fuck does Juniper have to do with this?"

He goes a bit still, staring at me, and I realize that he didn't say her name on purpose. His mouth falls open as he struggles for an explanation that doesn't come.

"Stay the fuck away from Juniper Sinclair," I snarl, storming back to him and shoving the gun right in his face. "Do you hear me!?"

“Ari!” he gasps, shoving the gun away. But I've already got the another one in my left hand snapping that up into his face next, my finger on the trigger.

"Away. From. Her." I snarl. But then I

drop my gun seeing his face go pale, that he realized he fucked up. “And don't think that I'm not telling Rafe that you had her name in your mouth. This is not the end of this. Now get the fuck out of here - you're dead, the game's over, these are my supplies now."

Blythe groans but turns away from me, storming back beyond our base to the check point there where he can receive further instructions for how to reach a helicopter and return to school. But as he walks away I quietly add him to my mentalshit list and then move on from it, knowing that I have much, much more to do.

And that there are people probably moving for me right now.

HEY JACKS! I shout in my head, as loud and hard as I can, even as I start gathering up the fancy equipment Blythe left behind - a

heat senser, an assault rifle, andet

even a little hand-held drone that could be used to scope out the landscape ahead. I attach the sensor and the drone to my belt and then spread the map out on the

ground before me. Content belongs

Jackson's response takes a moment but when it comes into my mind, faint and echoing, I can tell he's freaked. Ari! Where are you!? I'm coming now -what's wrong -

No, no, I respond, easier now. Sorry - I only shouted because I wanted you to hear me.

The response is at first only a frustrated snarl. You're all right?

Yup! I respond, cheerful but clipped. Hey, which of these little X's on the map is you?

I can almost feel him sigh as he replies. I'm not supposed to tell you that. You're the enemy.

Oh shut up and spill, I say, grinning, adoring him even from afar and letting him feel every bit of it.

Jackson sighs again and then tells me where he is. I grin when I see that it's not the furthest X from me; indeed, that it's only a mile or two away. Thanks, puppy, you're the best, I say mentally to my mate, sending the impression of a quick kiss down the bond too.

And then I get to my feet, heft the big assault gun into my hands, and start jogging into the woods.

About thirty minutes later, panting slightly and begrudgingly grateful for Rafe and Jesse dragging me out for a run every morning for the past few months, I come within sight of Jackson's camp.