Page 26 of Alpha Jax

He nods, swallowing a bite of food. “For sure. Hopefully these recruits will be better in wolf form than they are in human form, because from what I hear training hasn’t been pretty so far.”

“Hey!” Quinn objects, narrowing her eyes at her brother. “We’re only a few days in, give us a fucking break, man.”

“I don’t think he was referring to you, Quinn,” Fallon says, patting her arm. “But you’ve gotta admit, some of the others need some serious work.”

“Maybe,” Quinn shrugs, rolling her eyes. “Sheesh, you guys are harsh critics.” She stuffs a forkful of rice into her mouth.

“We have to be,” Gray interjects, swallowing his bite of food. “If it comes down to it, the training and preparation of the squad could be the difference between life and death.”

Leave it to Gray to take things to extremes.

“So morbid,” Quinn mumbles.

Theo turns to Brooke, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “You ready for wolf training, babe?”

Brooke pales, lowering her fork from her mouth. “Honestly?” she looks up at Theo. “I’m a little nervous,” she says quietly.

“You’ll be fine, sis,” Fallon pipes up, offering Brooke a reassuring smile.

Theo mentioned last week that Brooke would be joining in on his training sessions with the reserve squad recruits to get a better handle on her wolf. It’s an issue that a lot of shifters have early in life- I mean, puberty’s rough enough without a wild animal suddenly surfacing inside of you. I think Theo’s got an ulterior motive with getting her to join in on his training sessions, though- this way, Brooke will get some sort of combat training, even if it’s just in wolf form. Can’t blame him for wanting to make sure his woman is protected.

“You’re quiet tonight,” Quinn comments, and I look up to meet her eyes, realizing that her words are directed at me. She’s got the hint of a smirk on her lips- that mischievous little smirk that I know by now means trouble, and I’m aiming to steer clear at all costs.

I shrug, shoving a forkful of chicken into my mouth to avoid responding, staring back at her as I chew.

Reid pipes up to answer for me, which irritates the hell out of me for some reason. “I think we’re all just a little wiped after today,” he says, smiling at Quinn.

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she groans, stabbing a piece of broccoli with her fork. “Thank god for tomorrow.”

I take the bait. “What’s tomorrow?” I ask, quirking a brow.

Quinn grins. “A new day, of course.”

I roll my eyes while the others chuckle.

As we all chat and eat our food, I’m finding myself wishing that Quinn never sat down to eat dinner with us, because the more I get to know her, the more I’m attracted to her. Not only is she hands down the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, she’s quick-witted, smart, funny- the total package, really. And let’s not forgetcompletely fucking off-limits.

I’ve just polished off the last of my dinner when I look up and Quinn locks eyes with me again, that devilish little smirk returning to her face. I’m bracing myself for her to make some comment that puts me in the hot seat, but instead, she stays quiet- and I feel her bare leg brush against mine under the table. At first, it seems accidental, but as she starts to drag her leg up mine, still not breaking eye contact, and I know it’s no accident. It’s like energy is searing between our skin, electricity crackling between us. And I’m powerless to stop it, because I fuckinglikeit- I like the feeling of her skin against mine.Too much.

She suddenly withdraws her touch, pressing her palms to the table and pushing off it to rise to her feet. “I’m gonna call it, guys,” she says, swinging a leg over the bench to climb out. “You guys might be used to days like today, but I’m exhausted.”

Tease.Now I’m over here sporting a semi in my gym shorts.

Quinn grabs her plate, everyone mumbles their goodbyes, and she starts across the dining hall. I’m watching her ass in those little cutoff shorts for all of two seconds before I’m rising to stand, mumbling something about being tired, too.

Plate in hand, I cross the dining hall to where Quinn’s standing by a trash can, scraping the leftover rice on her plate into it.

“Mystery girl, huh?” Quinn asks as I prowl up behind her. She doesn’t even turn around to see that it’s me, it’s like she just knows.

I heave a sigh, scrubbing a hand over my face. “I’m never gonna live that down, am I?”

Quinn glances at me over her shoulder, her lips tipping up into an amused smile. “Of course not. I mean, now that I know you’ve been pining after me…”

“Whatever,” I scoff, cutting her off. I push in beside her to drop my plate and silverware into the wash bin. “Guys exaggerate.”

“Suuuure they do,” Quinn teases, dropping her plate in after mine and spinning to face me. “Tell me, Jaxon, what was so special about your mystery girl?” she puts air quotes around ‘mystery girl’, taunting me.

There’s hardly any space between our bodies- it feels like there’s no air between us. Just thick tension.

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