Chapter 478

"The committee met," Ben says, casting a hand out towards Alan as he moves towards the door followed by the man in brown, apparently wanting to get to his first class earlier than the rest of us. “They decided that the case was too inconclusive to kick Wright out completely – that there was no real proof that he shot Ari with the intent to kill."

"Um, hello!" I say, pointing vehemently at myself. "I am the proof! Me! I told them that he did it on purpose!"

“I know,” Ben says, turning towards me with a little frown. "And for what it's worth, Ari, I think they believed you. But...technically, it was one cadet's word without another. And they did send us into the Examination with weapons in hand – people get hurt in there. The compromise was that Wright is on probation and must be guarded at all times."

"Shit," Rafe says, crossing his arms as his eyes follow Alan across the room and out the door. "Well. We'll just see how long he lasts."

"What does that mean?" I ask, leaning forward towards him, narrowing my eyes.

"It means he's a Warrior cadet, like the majority of us, Ari," Luca says, meeting my eyes with an intensity I'm not used to from him - which I've only really seen when he's boxing, if I'm being truthful. "If he's happy to use violence to take you out in Academy-approved ways, then we're going to return the favor."

"No," I snap, glaring around the table at my collection of gigantic Alpha. "None of you are risking your place here for the chance to beat the pulp out of Alan Wright."

“He's just going to hate you more now, Ari," Jackson says, looking down at me from his place at my side. "He's not going to be cowed by this - I know his type. He'll want to...complete what he started, to make his point by taking you out.”

I take a deep breath, setting my shoulders as I look down at my plate, considering this point. But still, I shake my head. "I won't be part of that - I won't stoop to his level. No one makes a move against Wright unless he makes a move against me." I raise my eyes and slowly look around the table. "Am I understood?"

To my surprise, everyone just looks evenly at me. Except for Rafe, who can't help himself.

"Wouldn't you say, Ari," he counters through gritted teeth, "that shooting you in the gut with a crossbow already was the move against you?" "The Academy made its decision to keep him," I snap, definitive. "We're not in charge, even if we are smug enough to sometimes think that we are. If he can be an asset to the war then he's staying."

Rafe looks down at his plate and clenches his teeth, but I can tell by the way he exhales slowly through his nose that he accepts my point. "Fine," he growls, unhappy. "But the moment he does, Ari..."noveldrama

"You'll have to beat me to it, Rafe," Jackson says, and the slow, soft vehemence with which he speaks reminds me that my sweetheart mate is still as brutally capable of violence as we all initially assumed he was. I look up into Jackson's stark face and can't help but smile, ridiculously pleased and proud to have him on our side.

Your side, he reminds me, turning his head to look into my eyes and using words down the bond for the first time.

I break into a wild smile at the development but Jackson just smirks a little and looks away, not wanting to make another scene at the table.

"Right, so, we're all calming down now?" Ben says, looking curiously around the table and reminding us all tacitly that we're at breakfast, not on a battlefield. "We're having coffee and croissant?"

"I'm afraid time for that is up," a woman's voice says, and we all spin a bit to see a willowy dark-haired woman sauntering over to our table. "Or, at least, for Cadet Clark it is."

Each of our mouths drops open simultaneously. Because who the hell is this?