Chapter 291

Jackson just stares at me, shocked and unblinking – and for a split second I realize how rare it actually is for people to look him in the eye and defy him.

But his surprise is not long lived, replaced immediately by anger.

“Ariel, you will fall in line –“

“No way!” I throw back, baring my teeth at him. “Jackson, you’re being overprotective! I’ve got a big gun, I’m up here all alone, I’ve got radio to contact you and binoculars so I’ll know miles away if anyone is coming –“

“I am not leaving you alone in a battle trail again, Ariel,” Jackson snarls, leaning even closer and wrapping his hand around my arm. “Never again.”

My mouth goes a bit dry as I stare at Jackson, realizing what all of this is about.

“Jacks,” I whisper, reaching up and pressing his cheeks between my hands, staring into his gorgeous blue eyes. “That’s – that’s not going to happen again –“

“The psychopath that hurt you the first time is out there right now coming for us with weapons!”

“Paintball guns! Dulled knives!”

“And if you think he can’t rip you apart with just his bare hands, Ariel,” Jackson’s hand tightens on my arm as he stares at me, quite panicked, “then you don’t realize how…how delicate you actually are!”

“I am not delicate,” I snap, offended, dropping my hands from his face and glaring up at him again. “I’ve been working really hard –“

“I know,” he interrupts, his mouth a tight line. “I know, Ariel – I’m…I’m…” he exhales a long, slow breath, closing his eyes and working hard to find his words. “Wright is nearly as good as Rafe and me – he has been since we were Candidates. And I know you have come so far in your training – but it is still so dangerous for you to go up against him.”

“He’s not here,” I say, climbing to my knees and moving closer to Jackson, wrapping my hands in his shirt and tugging him closer, making him open his eyes and look into mine. “Jacks, I get that you want to protect me but it’s important that we win this, yes?”

He exhales slowly, frustrated, I think not even wanting to give me a platform to object. But then he nods once, terse.

“And you – probably the most powerful Alpha on this battlefield – are wasted just sitting up here next to me like a mother hen, keeping me safe!”

“It is not a waste,” he snaps. “Keeping you safe is never a waste.”

“And were you actually keeping me safe,” I whisper, “I would agree. But you’re just sitting with me.”

Jackson just shakes his head once, letting me know that the argument doesn’t work. That he’s not going anywhere.

I sit back hard on my ass, shifting my focus out over the valley, trying to figure things out. We sit in silence for a long few minutes, my mind turning, before I speak again. “So, you’re up here and Rafe’s down there, in the command center ordering the troops.”

“Yes,” Jackson snaps, still terse, not happy that I haven’t just given in to his plan to hang out with me all day.

“And were you to go back down the cliff –“

“I’m not going –“

“Were you,” I repeat, turning to glare at him, not letting him interrupt me. He takes a deep breath, letting me talk, “then Rafe could go out with the troops and Jesse could go on his individual mission. And be a serious asset there. Is that not correct?”

Jackson clenches his teeth but doesn’t say that I’m wrong. And if I were, he’d have said it.

“Here’s the deal, McClintock,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “You’re going to go down to command and run it from there, and Rafe’s going to go into the field, as is better for the team –“

“Ariel,” he growls –

“And!” I say, ignoring his protest and continuing on. “I’m going to be up here, doing exactly what you told me to do. And the moment people get too close, I’ll contact you with my little earpiece,” I tap it for emphasis, “and you can come back up and protect me. But until then, you are not wasting all of your potential and everything that you can do to sit by my side and protect me!”

“Well, I don’t agree to that,” Jackson says, shrugging like my plan doesn’t matter.

“Fine,” I say, shrugging back. “Then I’m not shooting anyone. Or looking in any binoculars. I’ll just sit here and stare at the sky and enjoy this beautiful day.”

Jackson glares hard into my eyes, I think hating me a little bit right now for not being easy and simple and falling in line with his plans to be overprotective.

“You know I’m right, Jackson. That we have a better chance of winning with you down there instead of up here.”

He sighs sharply through his nose, looking down at the ground, confirming that I’m right even if he doesn’t say it.

“I want to win,” I say, reaching for him again and placing a soft hand on his forearm. “And this is cutting into time I could be practicing with the gun. You can come up the moment anyone gets close but Jacks…” he looks up at me now, “no one’s close. You know that, right? You know where the helicopters dropped people off.”

Jackson sighs, dropping his gaze again and glaring hard at the ground. “Why are you so damn stubborn, Ariel?”

“I didn’t enroll here to be sheltered and protected, Jacks,” I say, my voice hard. “I came to learn how to do this – how to help my country, which means putting myself at least at a tiny bit of risk.”

He whips his head up. “I’m never going to allow that.”

“Yes, sweetheart,” I say, my eyes softening as I raise myself again to my knees, moving close to him and taking his face in my hands. “You are. Because I’m going to ask you to. Because I’m not going to let you put your love for me in front of the wellbeing of my people. That’s not what’s at stake today but…that’s what will be in the future. If I can make a difference, you have to let me go into dangerous situations. And if not then…what is all of this for?” I shrug. “If my safety actually is the top priority – the only priority - then we should have probably locked me up in a nunnery to start with.”

“Very tempting right now,” Jackson murmurs, looking stubbornly away from me and over the valley below.

I press my fingers hard to his cheek, making him turn back. “Hey,” I say leaning close enough for us to share breath. “I love you, and I love how much you want to protect me.”

Something goes out of him at that and Jackson raises a hand, curling it around the back of my neck.

“I know this is hard,” I continue, “but you’ve got to let me fight, Jacks. Especially when the stakes are low – you can’t…you can’t spend your entire life exclusively protecting me. You’re too useful to just play bodyguard – and there’s so much at stake.”

Jackson tugs me closer to him, knocking me off balance but catching me in his arms, pressing me tight to his chest. “I love you so much, Ariel,” he whispers back. “This is…incredibly difficult for me. I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

“I know,” I whisper, pressing my cheek against his warmth, letting my eyes close. “But you know it’s right.”

“As soon as they get even remotely close,” Jackson growls. “I’m coming up here. Or, if I order you down the cliffside, you come skittering down to the base without a single damn question, all right?”

“Okay, baby,” I whisper, smiling into his chest.

“And don’t call me baby on the battlefield,” Jackson growls, releasing me and helping me back to my knees. “And get started learning that weapon – we’ve…already lost enough time with this chat.”

“Okay, sweetie,” I say, giving him a big smile and unstrapping the weapon from my back as he stands up.

“Ariel,” Jackson says and I look up at him, ready to listen. But he just stares at me, I think a bit at a loss for words.

I smile, encouraging, just…waiting.

He frowns a little, I think puzzling it out. “I am…incredibly proud to be your mate,” he says quietly, his voice tight as he stares down at me, his hands tightened into fists and his mouth drawn into a serious line.

My smile fades away and I clench my jaw against the raw emotion that wells in me at the realization that Jackson is baring his heart.

“And…I like you, and you make me want to be a braver man. I want to…care about the world, and everyone in it, as much as you do. I love you but I also…admire you a great deal. I think you’re the best person I’ve ever met.”

I take a deep breath, fighting hard against the tears that line my lower lashes, so incredibly overwhelmed and swept away by the earnestness of my mate that I’m not sure I can bear it.