Page 25 of Alpha Jax

The video chat ends, and my mind is totally spinning. Brooke must be able to tell, because she waves me over and breaks it down for me. She tells me about how we’ve formed an alliance of sorts with the Denver pack and we’ve been sharing information, especially intelligence about the shadow pack’s movements. She fills me in about Alpha Cole, the leader of the Denver pack, and his sister, Astrid, who basically helps him run things since it’s a huge pack and Cole doesn’t have a Luna. Once I’m all caught up with that, she brings me up to speed about what they were just talking about- apparently they can tell from Brooke’s tracing program that some of the prominent members of the shadow pack have moved on from where they’ve been posted for the past few months and appear to be heading east.

It’s a hell of a first day in the IT unit, that’s for sure. The rest of the afternoon is spent formulating a plan and delegating tasks to us newbies for follow-up on the shadow pack’s movements. It’s all hands on deck, and even Alpha Gray is called in at one point and brought up to speed. For some reason, it isn’t until I see how worried he looks that the gravity of the situation truly sinks in.

And yeah, I start to get a little freaked out. Or a lot freaked out. A week ago, I was pouring beers for tourists at the brewery, blissfully unaware of pack security. Now I’m in the trenches and shit just got real. By the time the IT squad calls it for the evening, I’m so mentally exhausted that I feel like I could sleep for days.

“What a crazy first day, huh?” Brooke asks on our way out.

“I was thinking the same thing,” I laugh wryly.

She adjusts her backpack on her shoulders, offering an encouraging smile. “Trust me, it’s not always that exciting. Not even close.”

“Well, I guess that’s a relief.”

Theo comes up behind us, wedging his way in between Brooke and I and sliding his arms around our shoulders. “It’s pretty late, you ladies wanna go straight to the dining hall?”

I hadn’t even realized how hungry I was, but Theo’s mention of dinner makes my stomach growl.

“Sure thing, bro,” I say, looking over at him with a smile. For all the years that I resented Theo for leaving me alone with Dad in Summervale, I’ve gotta admit, it’s nice having him around again.

“Great,sis,” he says teasingly, picking his hand up off of my shoulder and ruffling the top of my hair.

Ugh- I fucking hate when he does that. I groan, elbowing him away and smoothing my hair.

Did I say it was nice to have him around? Maybe I need to amend that statement.

The three of us walk together to the dining hall, and as soon as we get there, I look over to the table where the alphas usually sit and see Jax. Working in the IT hub today was supposed to be my distraction from thinking of him, but now I need a distraction from my distraction, and the way he looks in his cut-off tee is doing the trick. Nothing wrong with looking at him, right?

A small group passes by us on their way out of the dining hall as we’re entering, including Kyla and Tony- the people I’ve been sitting with for dinner since I got here. I give them a little wave, then look around to see if any of my recruit friends are still eating, or if Logan’s anywhere to be found.

“Why don’t you sit with us tonight?” Brooke asks. The girl seems to pick up on everything- which should make me nervous, considering the whole Jax situation. Because by sitting with ‘us’, she means her and Theo, meaning the table where Jax and the other alphas sit, too.

It's not like I’ve got a whole lot of options right now, though.

“Sure,” I say, peering over at Jax out of the corner of my eye. Our gazes lock, almost automatically. He looks away quickly, and a smile spreads across my face as I turn back to Brooke. “I’d love to.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jax

Those eyes get me every time. They always seem to be seeking mine, and mine, them. I quickly catch myself and look away, back to Brock seated across from me, but I don’t hear much of what he’s saying now that Quinn’s in my proximity. I get all mixed up when she’s around- I don’t know if it’s because I suck at keeping secrets and the two of us are harboring a big fucking secret, or if it’s something about just being in her presence that throws me off kilter.

Today has been all sorts of fucked up- Gray came and pulled me out of training this afternoon, called in Brock and Reid, and he and Theo held a meeting to catch us up on what IT discovered through Brooke’s program. Though everything is up in the air at this point as far as whether an attack is actually imminent or not, we spent a couple of hours discussing options and strategy for handling the shadow pack threat. Afterwards, Theo went back to IT for his girl while the rest of us came to the dining hall to grab dinner.

The mood at the table has been somber in light of the conversations we’ve had today- at least it is until Fallon joins us and starts regaling us with stories about the reserve squad recruits’ blunders during training today. By the time Theo and Brooke approach our table, we’re all laughing like we didn’t just spend the afternoon strategizing about how to defend against our biggest threat, and fuck it feels good.

All of us are scooching and shuffling on the benches to make space for Brooke and Theo to join us when Quinn appears behind Brooke with a plate in her hands.

“Room for one more?” she asks, and my pulse quickens.

Brock slides over to make space between himself and Fallon for Quinn to sit- directly across from me. I couldn’t avoid looking at her if I tried. I guess that’s good, though, because then it won’t be obvious that I can’t take my eyes off of Theo’s sister. Even dressed down in cutoff jean shorts and a tank top, without a stitch of makeup on, the girl’s a damn vision. My friends are still engaged in conversation, but I can’t keep up- I’m finding it impossible to concentrate with Quinn sitting there looking like that.

I can’t remember the last time our table was this full for dinner- probably when summer training camp was going on and Gray and Reid spent most of their time up here at the complex rather than in their own pack’s territory. Outside of training camp, those guys are usually home at their packhouses for dinner, and now that Brock has become Alpha of his pack, it’s the same for him. Only Theo and I live at the complex full time these days, and come spring, I’ll be the lone ranger up here as far as squad leadership goes. Not looking forward to that.

“Jax, are you gonna be back for training tomorrow?” Fallon asks, her face spreading into a grin. It’s evident that she’s been loving her role in training so far; she’s a natural born leader. I have a feeling she likes when I’m not around to lead up training so that she can take charge.

I give Fallon a curt nod, chewing and swallowing the bite of chicken that I just put in my mouth. “Yeah, but I think Theo’s running morning session, right?” I glance over at him. “Wolf training?”

“Oh yeah,” Fallon breathes. “Forgot about that. You ready to jump in the trenches, Theo?”

---