Chapter 264

“Ariel!” The word bursts from Jackson even as he grins, I think swept away by my laughter even as he’s confused by the direction of my thoughts. “Seriously, what are you talking about? What on earth makes you want to do that?”

“I was jealous!” I say, throwing my hands out, my laughter subsiding. “When you were teaching Luca – it was so interesting! And I – I don’t know any of it! And it’s very clear that you all have this like, cool, super useful knowledge of battle strategy that I don’t have - and I want to know it, and I feel left out!”

“Ariel,” Jackson says with a sigh, taking a second to run his fingers through my messy hair – which he had a great deal of involvement in messing, I mentally note - sorting it out and tucking it back behind my ears. “You don’t need to know that stuff –“

“I do too!”

“And when would you even study it?” he asks, frowning at me. “I mean, I’m happy to teach you how to read the maps and about the old battles – I would love to do that. I just…you’re already so busy with studies. When would we fit it in?”

“Welllll,” I say, grinning a little wickedly as I look around at our surroundings. “What about here?”

Jackson just stares at me for a second. “Seriously, Ari?” he asks. “You have a magical dream state where you can take your mate and do literally whatever you can imagine…and you want to use it to…study?”

“Well, considering you won’t have sex with me,” I say, sitting up very primly and giving him a neat little glare. There’s a beat and then Jackson roars with laughter when he realizes that I’m right.

“Yes, Jacks!” I say, laughing too and giving him a shove on the shoulder that brings his attention back to me. “You can just teach me a little bit every night – and we can cuddle while you teach me and then make out after.”

A slow smile takes his lips. “And…how do you propose that we do the actual studying? We don’t have the maps.”

I twist my mouth to the side and then look up into the sky, holding my hands out.

Suddenly – much faster than I expected – a heavy weight hits my hands and Jackson flinches back a bit, staring at the textbook that just materialized there.

“What…what the hell,” he says, staring at it with wide eyes.

“I mean, it’s empty,” I murmur, opening the book and letting him see the fresh white pages. “But I figure…maybe you can fill it in? You know it all by memory, don’t you?”

Jackson stares at the book for a second and then reaches out a hesitant finger, touching it. The page ripples almost like the surface of water and I squeak in surprise as, suddenly, a map materializes on the page.

“This is insane,” he whispers, baffled and – I can tell – just a little bit thrilled that this is even possible.

“It’s so cool!” I squeak, holding the book closer to him with one hand and staring at the map. “Okay, so like, what do these marks mean? And these numbers?” I trace my fingers over the map, trying to follow the action and decode the meanings.

“Ariel,” Jackson murmurs, gently taking the book from my hands and setting it aside. Then he loops his arms around me, folding his hands together behind my lower back so that I can lean against them and still look into his face. “Do you think that you’re…pushing it, a little bit? With everything that you’ve got on your plate already?”

“Jackson McClintock,” I snap, whipping a finger into his face, “if you even try to tell me what I’m capable of handling –“

But my words stop mid-sentence when I feel Jackson’s wolf give a little warning rumble. Jackson raises one eyebrow, and tilts his head at me, silently asking me to listen.

I just stare at him, my mouth open a little.

“I am not telling you anything,” he says quietly, even. “I’m just asking you to consider your limits. If you tell me you’re not passing them, I’ll believe you.”

I blush a little to have jumped to conclusions and I let my finger drop, biting my lip as I consider his question.

“You fall asleep in like half a second tonight, Ari,” Jackson says quietly, looking over my face, considering me. “And you basically fall asleep with a pen in your hands, because you study up until the moment you go to bed. Then you wake up early for sniping practice…is it worth it, to add more when it’s not necessary? Should you save this for another time and use the dream state just to rest?”

I tilt my head to the side, considering his words. “Well, it’s not like I get a ton of rest in the dream state,” I murmur, scootching a little closer to him and wiggling my butt a little in his lap to make my point.

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 –“

“Jackson!” I gasp, giving him a little smack and then a growl. “You had me feeling all selfish –“

“It 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 at risk –“

“Oh, you poor thing,” I say, deeply 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 Jackson needs a double helping of delicious potatoes and eggs at breakfast! Oh, what a martyr!”

He laughs and then snarls playfully, pulling my back tight against his chest as I grab for the book and open it again in my lap.

“Quit feeling sorry for yourself, big puppy,” I say. “If the worst sacrifice you’re going to have to make for my continued education is double cinnamon rolls? You can deal with it. Now.” I sigh happily, looking down at the book as I feel his laughter resonating in his chest. “Where do we start?”

“Here,” Jackson murmurs, pressing a kiss to my neck and pointing to the page, where a river – marked in blue – runs.

I pay rapt attention as my brilliant, super-hot command-specialized mate begins to teach me everything he knows about battle strategy.

Our lesson goes for a long time, mostly because both of us get really engrossed in 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 choices that the commanders made along the course of the battle.

“So, what happens next?” Jackson murmurs, taking on the role of teacher and quizzing me as he points to the arrow labeled “9,” very close to the end of the battle.

I exhale, leaning forward, studying the symbols around the number as well as the terrain, trying to determine…

But I sit up stark straight in the same moment that Jackson does, both of us going rigid as we hear a panicked yell echoing all around us.

“What the hell is that?” I breathe, panicked in turn, my head turning everywhere looking for the source of it – but –

I mean, nothing in the dreamscape has changed –

Jackson’s arms tighten around my waist as I drop the book. “I don’t think it’s here, Ariel,” Jackson says, his voice tight. “Quick, wake up, I think it’s –“

But he’s interrupted when the shout comes again – louder now, unending – terror and panic and a cry for help –

And I shout too, because I recognize it this time – the sound of my cousin shouting –

I grit my teeth and press my eyes shut, willing myself awake.