Chapter 682

Blythe stares down at his chest for a moment, appalled, before he whips his handsome face back up to mine. "What the fuck, Ari!?" he shouts, his teeth lengthening to dangerous points. I take a step back, leveling the gun at his face, knowing a paintball placed there will cause enough pain to give me a head start if I need to run.

"I told you I didn't want to work with you," I say, my voice cold. "You should listen to soldiers who tell you, several times, that they're not on your side.”noveldrama

"You've completely fucked me over here!" he shouts, advancing a step and forcing me back another. "This affects my command record! This is going to -"

"Yeah, well, you fucked me over too," I snarl, showing my own teeth and tensing my hand on the gun, letting him see me do it - that I am ready to shoot and I'm close enough to snap his long, pretty nose or give him a black eye. "But you're in good company - so don't take it too personally. And now if you don't mind, I have to go fuck over everyone else who's pissing me off today."

Blythe growls, his teeth still bared, but he stands straighter, clearly not continuing his advance. I drop the gun, just an inch.

"I wasn't trying to piss you off," he says, looking me dead in the eyes. "I wanted...I wanted to fucking get to know you, Clark."

"You could have just come to our breakfast table, Blythe," I say quietly, cold. "We're there every day."

He scoffs. "Yeah, just waltz up to Rafe and Jesse Sinclair's table and ask to sit down?"

“Luca Grant did it,” I say, perfectly quiet. “So did McClintock.” I don't bother to mention that I invited him that first time. “Didn't have to pull a power move and yank me away from my team just to get my attention."

I sigh and drop my gun completely, starting to turn to survey the landscape, knowing I have to get started.

"It's not that simple," Blythe snaps. "Rafe and Jesse have already written me off - McClintock is a closed book - Juniper said that -"

“Juniper," I snap, turning back to him with a frown. "What the fuck does Juniper have to do with this?"

He goes a bit still, staring at me, and I realize that he didn't say her name on purpose. His mouth falls open as he struggles for an explanation that doesn't come.

"Stay the fuck away from Juniper Sinclair," I snarl, storming back to him and shoving the gun right in his face. "Do you hear me!?"

“Ari!” he gasps, shoving the gun away. But I've already got the another one in my left hand snapping that up into his face next, my finger on the trigger.

"Away. From. Her." I snarl. But then I

drop my gun seeing his face go pale, that he realized he fucked up. “And don't think that I'm not telling Rafe that you had her name in your mouth. This is not the end of this. Now get the fuck out of here - you're dead, the game's over, these are my supplies now."

Blythe groans but turns away from me, storming back beyond our base to the check point there where he can receive further instructions for how to reach a helicopter and return to school. But as he walks away I quietly add him to my mentalshit list and then move on from it, knowing that I have much, much more to do.

And that there are people probably moving for me right now.

HEY JACKS! I shout in my head, as loud and hard as I can, even as I start gathering up the fancy equipment Blythe left behind - a

heat senser, an assault rifle, andet

even a little hand-held drone that could be used to scope out the landscape ahead. I attach the sensor and the drone to my belt and then spread the map out on the

ground before me. Content belongs

Jackson's response takes a moment but when it comes into my mind, faint and echoing, I can tell he's freaked. Ari! Where are you!? I'm coming now -what's wrong -

No, no, I respond, easier now. Sorry - I only shouted because I wanted you to hear me.

The response is at first only a frustrated snarl. You're all right?

Yup! I respond, cheerful but clipped. Hey, which of these little X's on the map is you?

I can almost feel him sigh as he replies. I'm not supposed to tell you that. You're the enemy.

Oh shut up and spill, I say, grinning, adoring him even from afar and letting him feel every bit of it.

Jackson sighs again and then tells me where he is. I grin when I see that it's not the furthest X from me; indeed, that it's only a mile or two away. Thanks, puppy, you're the best, I say mentally to my mate, sending the impression of a quick kiss down the bond too.

And then I get to my feet, heft the big assault gun into my hands, and start jogging into the woods.

About thirty minutes later, panting slightly and begrudgingly grateful for Rafe and Jesse dragging me out for a run every morning for the past few months, I come within sight of Jackson's camp.