Chapter 606

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,

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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 can't betieve 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."noveldrama

“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 kis 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

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want to be a braver man. I want to...care about the world, and everyone in it, as much as you do 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.