The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy
Chapter 0590

I don't have any words in response, completely overwhelmed as I am at the incredible compliment Jackson just gave me, at the impossible way that he sees me and how incredibly much he loves me. So I just stare at Jackson, and open my side of our bond completely, letting him feel all the love and pride and joy and fear that his words have raised - fear that he loves me too much, that I'll never live up to his standards.

I can see the moment when my emotions hit him, the way his face bursts into a bashful smile, how he reaches for me. And I'm instantly on my feet, hurling myself up into his arms, him wrapping me up with a vicious snarl as he lifts me up off the ground. "You already do, Ariel."

"I love you too, Jacks," I say, sniffing hard against my tears.

"We're not supposed to cry in battle," he murmurs, tucking his head down next to mine.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't supposed to do a lot of things." I sigh as he sets me back down on my feet. I sniff again, wiping hard at my cheeks as he holds me stead for a moment, softly stroking a hand over my cap and down my neck.

I take a deep breath and straighten my shoulders, giving his shoulder a little shove. "Now go away - we have work to do."

Jackson just laughs, taking a step away from me even though I can tell that he hates it. "Shoot straight, Clark."

"Yeah yeah," I say, forcing myself to turn away and unstrapping the gun from my back. "Go...be bossy. Or whatever your job is. Punch hard."

"Earpiece on!" Jackson calls, starting down the little trail as I unstrap one of the magazines of paintballs and begin to load it into my rifle. I take a second to flick the switch next to my ear.

"You got it, Commander," I say into the piece, knowing he can hear me now.

"Finally, some respect," he says, sarcastic, making me laugh.

"You in place, Clark?" Rafe's voice says, coming down along the line, sounding stern and a bit angry. "Bout time. The other teams are already on the move - we need your eyes on them."

"You got it, Sinclair," I murmur, laying myself down next to my rifle and sighting down the scope before taking a few shots, each at longer distances along the side of our own cliff, wanting to test my accuracy but not wanting to let the other teams know where I am just yet. "Two minutes and I'll get you the first report."

"Make it one," my brother says, dry, making me smirk.

And then, as a team, we finally get to work.

Rafe protests surprisingly little at the news that Jackson changed the plan and is now coming down from my vantage point to more fully join the battle. Imarvel at Rafe's flexibility on this point for a moment while get used to my gun, taking further and further shots and adjusting my movements in tiny increments until I get it right.

But then suddenly I grin and look away from my scope when I realize that maybe Rafe was...counting on this. He knew Jackson wouldn't listen to him when he said that. Jacks shouldn't babysit me the whole time, but Rafe certainly knew that I'd be bossy enough to send Jackson back down the cliffside instead of wasting his time sitting

around by my side.

I laugh quietly to myself, shaking my head at my brother and taking one last shot with the gun. When I hit a very particular leaf at a thousand yards I nod, satisfied that I'm comfortable enough with the gun to land my shots.

Then I put my gun aside, turning to the ravine and lifting my binoculars, beginning to survey the landscape and using the impressive zoom feature to attempt to survey the surroundings.

"You ready to report, Clark?" Jackson asks into my earpiece.

"What do you want a report on?" I ask a little passively, looking around the valley and getting used to the landscape, noting its features. "Like, where should I look?"

Jackson laughs a little. "I left you the map, Ari," he says, and I can almost hear him shaking his head. "Look to the red x's where the other camps landed - see if you can see any movement."

"Oh!" I say, realizing that this is –

-

obviously a great idea. I drop the binoculars so that they hang around my neck while I pick up the map, glancing up at the ravine and noting the different places that the teams have landed according to the natural landmarks that I see before me. We're in a relative triangle; our team is on the other side of the ravine from the other two, but we're equidistant between our enemies, in the middle. "Any indication," I murmur to my brother and my mate, "of which of these two teams is more dangerous?"