The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

Chapter 0534

He laughs, tightening his arms, pulling me a bit closer.

"But Jacks," I say on a sigh, looking up at him. "If you can pass me energy in the morning after our runs and that keeps me going all day...shouldn't I take advantage of it? I mean, not forever, but right now our time is limited and I want to learn everything fast. If I can learn something that is useful - that will help us in this war..." I pause, giving a shrug, letting him finish the sentence on his own.

Jacks huffs a small sigh and I can feel his internal wish I would rest for my own sake - but it's all very fleeting as he pulls me closer, giving me another one of those long and slow kisses that makes me wonder why the hell I want to study at all when I could just do this all day.

When he breaks it, though, Jacks is smiling. I loop my arms around his neck, smiling back. "My clever, determined girl," he murmurs, raising a hand to stroke my cheek. "I'm very proud of you and all your hard work, even if all your plans are predicated on stealing my energy in the morning."

I burst out laughing. "You have more than enough!"

"It doesn't come from nowhere," he says, grinning at me. "I worked hard to build up those stores of energy that keep me going for weeks."

I frown a bit because - well, isn't it magic? "You worked hard? Where does it come from? It doesn't...hurt you, does it, when you give it to me?"

"No, it doesn't hurt. It comes from food," he says, nodding to me. "I'll have to eat more if I'm giving you energy too."

"How much more?" I ask, my eyes a bit wide, worried.

He laughs a little. "Like, one more croissant in the morning, Ariel - you're very small -"

gasp, giving him a little smack and then a growl. "You had me feeling

is a burden, Ariel - you know Jesse takes all the croissants first thing when we sit down, I'm going to have to fight him for it. My friendships are

sarcastic as my guilt drops from me in the same moment that I drop my arms from my mate's neck, rolling my eyes and beginning to turn in his lap. "Poor

chest as I grab for the book and

cinnamon rolls? You can deal with it. Now sigh

Jackson murmurs, pressing a kiss to my neck and pointing to the page, where a river - marked in

as my brilliant, super-hot command-specialized mate begins to teach

goes for

of us

the content. As soon as I start to figure out the logic behind the battle history maps I get really excited, starting to see how they use visual symbols to encode not only what happened, but also the complicated

commanders made along the

course of the battle.

as he points to the arrow

forward, studying the symbols around the number as well as the terrain,

in the same moment that Jackson does, both of us going rigid as we hear a panicked yell echoing all

head turning everywhere looking for the source of it - but

in the dreamscape

arms tighten around