Page 9 of Alpha Jax

Well that’s news to me. You’d think as the daughter of an alpha and the sister of one of the squad leaders, I’d be more in the loop.

I give a little shake of my head. “I hadn’t heard. Wait, are youactuallyconsidering it? Because that would be a game changer…” I start talking faster, my excitement building. “If you did it, I’d totally go, Ky… say you’ll do it?”

The idea of leaving behind everything I know and moving up to the complex is daunting- but having Kyla with me would make it so much better. She has been my rock this summer, especially after everything went down with Clay. She never judged, just listened.

Kyla chuckles, rolling her eyes. “I said I was thinking about it, didn’t I? Tony has been talking about joining up and there’s no way I’m letting him go away for a month without me.”

And speaking of toxic relationships…

“If you go, I’ll go,” I say, waggling my eyebrows.

To my surprise, I’m actually feeling kind of excited about this now. My dad should be fine- he’s got a brand new beta that’s considering moving into the packhouse, so he may not be alone there after all. And if I go live at the squad complex, I’ll be able to spend more time with my brother and maybe even develop the strong sibling bond with him that I’ve always wanted. And I’ve already got a few friends up there; Kyla coming would be the icing on the cake.

“I’m still deciding, butyou’redefinitely going,” Kyla says, stepping closer to me. She sets her hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes. “You need this, Quinn. You know this is the right move.”

I press my lips together in a tight line, giving a little nod of my head. “You’re right. I’m gonna do it.”

Kyla squeals, jumping up and down excitedly like a little kid. “Yay! I’m so glad!”

I can’t help but grin at her enthusiasm. It’s nice to have a supportive friend like her.

I glance out at my tables in the brewery, suddenly remembering that I probably need to go check in on them. “We’d better get back to it,” I mumble.

Kyla composes herself, taking a breath and tucking her shoulder-length blonde hair behind her ears. “You’re right. If these are our last few days working here together, we need to make them count.” She tosses me a wink, turning to walk away. “Oh, and Quinn?” she calls over her shoulder.

“Hm?”

A devilish grin flits across her face. “I’ll take the table with your sexy stranger lookalike.”

My cheeks heat.So she knew the source of my distraction all along!

“Whatever,” I laugh, rolling my eyes exaggeratedly.

Busted.

CHAPTER SIX

Jax

Two weeks. It has been almost two weeks exactly since I hooked up with that girl in Stillwater, and I still can’t get her out of my head.

This hasn’t ever happened to me before. Sure, I’ve had one-night stands with women, and some of them were pretty great- but my thoughts about this one are bordering on obsession.

At first, I thought it was because the anonymity of the whole encounter made it feel more exciting, almost dangerous. But it wasn’t just that. It washer- everything about her. For starters, she was a total knockout; quite possibly the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing up close. Then she had this air of confidence about her- she radiated energy and strength, seemed like the kind of girl who knows what she wants and doesn’t take any shit from anyone. And when the two of us were together… the sexual chemistry was combustible. You can’t fake chemistry like that.

Which is why I have to find her. She said she only wanted one night, but one night with her isn’t nearly enough. I’ve gotta have her. I’ve been bugging Reid about her incessantly, but he swears up and down that he can’t think of anyone in his pack that matches my description. I went back to the Stillwater Tap the following Wednesday hoping I’d run into her again, but she wasn’t there. It’s starting to drive me a little fucking crazy, like I’m chasing a ghost.

The guys can tell I’m distracted. We’re having a meeting to discuss details of forming the reserve squad, and my buddy Theo keeps elbowing me every time my eyes glaze over. I catch an elbow to the ribs for the fifth time, shooting him a sideways glare.

“If you’re up for it, Jax, I think it’d make the most sense,” Gray says, looking over at me from his seat at the head of the conference table.

Shit. I totally missed what he said. I lean forward, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger and squeezing my eyes shut. “Uhhh… up for what, exactly?”

Gray sighs, folding his hands in front of him. “For taking the lead on training the reserve squad recruits. We’ve got about eighty of them signed up and they’re starting next week.”

I open my eyes, nodding slowly. I guess it does make sense for me to take the lead- Gray, Reid, and Brock are Alphas of their own packs, which eats up a lot of their time, and Theo has already taken on more responsibility around here by working with the IT unit and getting the new border security system up and running. Compared to what the other guys have on their plates, I’ve basically been sitting on my ass.

After the close call in Denver a couple weeks ago, we’ve been working to formulate plans to shore up our defenses for a shadow pack attack. Our first actions are adding more staff to our IT unit, since the shadow pack’s attack on Denver involved cyber security, and building a reserve squad to protect the six-pack in the event that most of our trained squad has to go to Denver to aid their pack in fending off a physical attack. The reserve squad won’t live at the complex year-round like the other squad members; they’ll just come back one weekend a month to brush up on combat training. Their initial training will be a little more intense, though.

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