Chapter 235
When I open my eyes, I am indeed still wrapped up in Jackson’s arms.
But we’re not in my little private nook at the academy – we’re sitting on a cliff’s edge, looking out over a moonlit sea. “It’s cool here,” Jackson murmurs, looking appreciatively out over the scenery. “We’ve only ever come here as our wolves before.”
“Oh noooo,” I groan, pounding my fists once against his chest. “We fell asleep! Jacks! I’m so sorry!”
“Why?” he asks, peering down at me and laughing. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal,” I say, frowning up at him, “is that we didn’t get any time together. It’s crap, Jacks – I want to see you, to…be around you. And not just when we’re unconscious or running or at breakfast.”
“Well, this is pretty good, isn’t it?” he asks, smiling at me, the cool breeze ruffling his hair.
I sigh, looking around. “Yeah, it’s pretty great,” I say with a sigh. “But I want you in person too.”
“Okay,” he says with a little sigh. “But how do we manage that?”
“Jacks,” I say, realizing the answer as soon as he asks the question. “I want you to come to study time. And to dinner. I…want you to be a part of the group. It sucked without you there,” I say, completely honest, letting him feel it. “I missed you the whole time.”
He raises his brows at me, hesitant. “But, Luca…”
“Luca doesn’t get the whole evening just because you get ‘nights,’” I say, shaking my head. “You’re part of the group. And you don’t have to come all the time if you feel like you can’t study there. But, Jacks…” I shake my head. “He can’t forbid you. I want you to come. This is…this is your family.”
Jackson grits his teeth against the sheer emotion that floods him when I say that, wanting to pay attention to the conversation at hand even though he’s a little swept away by the idea that he has a family now – and that we acknowledge him as such. And I know, instantly, that he gives in. “All right, Ariel. I’ll come.”
“Good,” I say, snuggling warm against him. “And I’ll deal with Luca this time. We’ll just have to…figure it out.”
“Okay,” Jackson says on a simple sigh, pressing a kiss to my hair, accepting it and – I think – deep down happy and relieved. Because he wanted to be at dinner too – I could feel his wolf wanting to be near mine, even if he wasn’t quite so vocal about it. And it means the world to him to have me insist that he belongs as well.
“So,” I say, cuddling up at my mate’s side, happy and content and peaceful as I look around at the beautiful dark cliffside around me, marveling in its beauty. “What do you want to do? Should we like…shift and go for a run?”
“Nah,” Jackson says, dead casual, the wind riffling through his hair as he likewise takes in the scenery. “Let’s just make out.”
I burst instantly into laughter, tucking myself closer against him, and Jackson grins and looks down at me.
“What?” he asks, and I beam at the sight of his beautiful smile. “What’s so funny about that?”
“Nothing!” I say, wrapping my fists into the fabric of his shirt and pulling him a bit closer. “I’m game! I just thought that you were Mr. Let’s-Take-it-Slow.”
“This is taking it slow,” he growls, turning slightly so that he bends me backwards towards the ground, angling his body above mine. “Trust me, Ariel, if we were doing the things that run through my mind most of the time, I would not be earning that title.”
As he speaks his voice deepens, hitting that low register that makes my eyes drift half shut, makes my blood race through my veins. “Things like what?” I murmur, wrapping one leg around the back of his, pulling him further on top of me.
“Indecent things,” he murmurs, dropping his head to trail his nose along the length of my neck, following it up with a line of serious, intent kisses – each slow and rich, like he’s tasting my skin, learning it. Shivers run through me and a little hitched noise escapes from my throat.
Jackson bares his teeth when he hears it, pressing them lightly against my skin.
I shudder, hard.
He lifts his head, looking into my face, and I whine pathetically. “Why did you stop?”
“Because,” he murmurs. “I want to look at you.”
I stare back at him, at my perfect, brutal mate. At the harsh lines of his face, the softness of his mouth, the stunning blue clarity of his eyes. And as I stare I realize that…I’m never going to get enough of the sight of him – of the strange mismatch of features that blend together to create someone so complex, so stunning. So…fucking perfect.
“You’re very beautiful,” I whisper, my hand drifting up to touch him almost reverently, tracing my fingers across his lips.
A soft smirk takes his mouth. “Yeah, well. Wait till you see me naked.”
I burst out laughing, my head tilting backwards even as it rests against the pillow of his arm. “Listen, I’ve been trying!” I say, my whole body shaking with laughter that’s echoed in his own. “You’re the one holding out on me!”
“Gotta save some things for later,” he murmurs as I lift my head to look at him again, but then he smiles and dips his mouth lower, pressing a kiss at the hollow of my throat. “I’ve only known you’re a girl for like, two? Three weeks? It would be cruel of me to show you all the goods so soon – give you nothing to look forward to.”
“How are you so sure I’ll like these goods?” I murmur, running my hands through his hair, liking this playful side of my serious mate.
“I have documented evidence of how good looking I am now,” he says, raising lazy eyes again to mine. “The magazine suggested that women will be sliding into my DM’s the moment they figure out how to find me. It would be an insult to my fan base,” his mouth twitches in humor here, “to assume that they are wrong and that I’m not stunning from head to toe.”
I squeak in protest at the idea of Jackson’s apparently rampant fan base, even if I can’t blame them. Because they are right – he is gorgeous, and would look stunning naked – but what they don’t know is that he’s mine, all mine. And I’m not going to let them place a single hand on him.
Inwardly, my little wolf growls at the thought, her lips pulling back to bare her sharp fangs.
Jackson smiles as he feels all of this come down the bond. “I like you jealous,” he murmurs, sliding his hand down my body and wrapping it tight around the back of my thigh, using his grip to wrap my leg up and over his hip so that leg curves around his back. “I’m going to have to get one of these DM’s to keep this going.”
I laugh a little, even as I tighten my fingers in his hair. “You don’t even know what that is.”
“Whatever,” he murmurs, confident, dropping his head so his lips brush against mine. “I’ll figure it out.”
I’m about to protest that he damn well won’t if I have anything to say about it, but he silences me with his mouth on mine – impatient and hungry. I moan as I pull him tighter against me, my mouth opening to him, his tongue pressing against mine as he kisses me in that way that makes my mind go blank.
Blissfully blank, without thoughts or worries about school or war. Just wrapped up in my Jacks – who at this moment feels like my entire world.
The next morning, I’m awoken by a little kiss on my cheek, just next to my ear.
And even though it’s perhaps the sweetest way I’ve ever been woken…
I still groan, and turn my face away, and wrinkle up my nose in distaste. “No,” I grumble, pressing my cheek more fully into Jackson’s chest, my body aching with all the work I made it do yesterday. “I’m too tired. I quit life. Let’s just go back to sleep and make out more on the cliff.”
Jackson laughs a little, wrapping his arms tight around me as he takes a deep, full breath. “We have to get up. We have lessons. Responsibilities.”
“I quit those too,” I snap sleepily, letting my head loll dramatically to the side. “I want to go back to being a bubblegum princess. I just want to sit in the palace and eat bonbons.”
“Your mother will send you bonbons here – whatever those are,” Jackson murmurs, slipping a hand behind my head and cradling it in his palm, lifting it slightly so that he can look into my face. “Besides, I don’t buy your whole lazy act. As soon as you shake this sleep off, you’re going to be excited about your day. Come on, Clark. School awaits. You like school.”
I sigh, fighting a smile, wanting to indulge in a little more petulance. But he grins at me, and I can’t help grinning back. I laugh a little, smacking him on the chest. “Stop knowing me so well and throwing it in my face when I want to indulge in a little healthy self-pity. Besides, I am not excited about the running part, where you three torture me. Can we skip that?”
“No,” Jackson murmurs, pulling me forward for a swift morning kiss before rolling me off his chest, onto the bed, and giving me a swift smack on the ass. “You need to get faster! Let’s go! Up and at ‘em, Princess Sinclair!”
And then, demonstrating more alacrity than is proper in the morning, Jackson swings himself out of bed in a single movement and pulls the curtain open, calling morning greetings to Rafe and Jesse as I shriek and hide myself from the sudden influx of morning light.
“You up, Shrimpy?” Jesse asks, coming over to grin at me as Jackson strides away to the bathroom.
“I changed my mind,” I murmur into the pillows, casting out a hand and pointing in the direction where I think Jackson has gone. “He can’t sleep here anymore. He’s too optimistic in the morning – it’s forbidden.”
“Too late, cousin!” Jesse says, yanking my blanket away and making me shriek again. “I think he fits in just fine!”
