Page 21 of Alpha Jax

Shay, Kyla, and Vienna all give Fallon their drink orders while Brooke sidles up beside me, setting a hand on my arm. “Wanna come say hi to Theo?” she asks, and right now, she’s my hero- I’ll take any excuse to get away from Tony and Kyla while I’m still sorting out this mess in my head.

“Sure, where’s he at?” I look around, but the place is packed to the gills- I don’t see my brother anywhere.

Brooke gives a little flick of her head, glancing toward the back corner of the bar. “The alpha table. At least that’s how I think of it, it’s where those guys always sit.”

I follow her gaze, peering through the crowd to see a high-top table on the other side of the dance floor with five very large men sitting around it. My eyes immediately go to Jax, seated right beside my brother. Even from over here, the man looksgood.

I guess I’m staring for a second too long, because his eyes suddenly flicker to meet mine, our gazes locking. I don’t know if it’s the bar setting or the tequila buzz, but it’s like that first night all over again- so intense that I forget to breathe for a second.

He looks away and I turn back to Brooke, my cheeks heating in a flush. How is it that this guy can affect me so much from across a room? I smooth my hair over a shoulder, trying to act naturally. Brooke’s perceptive- the last thing I need is her picking up on something between Jax and I. Or the lack of something, it would seem.

It’s too late though, because she’s side-eyeing me curiously. “Everything alright?’

I nod quickly. “Yeah. Just a little bit of drama earlier. I’ll explain later.”

It’s not technically a lie- the Tony and Kyla thing is weighing heavily on my mind. It probably wouldn’t hurt to confide in Brooke and ask her for some advice.

She lets me leave it at that, plucking the empty shot glasses from my hand and stepping over to set them on the bar. “C’mon,” she urges, taking me by the hand and giving it a little tug.

The buzz from the tequila hits me as I follow Brooke’s lead across the bar, toward the table where my brother’s sitting beside my sexy stranger hookup. Guess I’m moving from one fucked up situation to another tonight.

I’ve just gotta play it cool when I go over there, pretend that I’m not totally into my brother’s friend. Should be easy enough, right? What could possibly go wrong?

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jax

“I’m just sayin’, if you two didn’t already have mates, you’d be all for it,” I say, pointing my beer bottle between Gray and Theo.

“I never said I wasn’t for it,” Gray clarifies. “I just think that full moon runs are primarily for pack bonding. And besides, one of the cornerstones of the alliance is that the packs remain separate and autonomous, so wouldn’t doing a run with all of the packs would blur those lines?”

“Or would it make the six-pack alliance stronger?” I challenge.

“It’s a nice idea Jax,” Reid sighs, leaning back on his barstool and raising his beer to his lips. “But I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”

“Especially not if we’d have to get Anders, Damian, and Vaughn on board,” Brock adds.

Reid grunts in agreement. Now that Brock has stepped into his role as Alpha of the Riverton pack, there are three older alphas left- Theo’s dad, Alpha Vaughn, and my own father. Those guys have an old-school leadership philosophy and never seem to see eye to eye with the younger alphas, Gray and Reid- and now, Brock.

“I probably wouldn’t have been for it, before Brooke,” Theo says, taking a swig of his beer. “I wasn’t looking for a mate, remember? I just got real fucking lucky.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to help Reid out,” I say, holding up my hands. “I’m not looking for a mate either, but Reid’s getting the heat put on him from his pack.”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Reid shrugs. “I think a six-pack moon run would promote solidarity for the alliance.”

I grin. “And you’d be in the proximity of every female in the territory. You’d be bound to find your mate, bro!”

“Unless she’s not even in the territory,” Reid grumbles.

Brock looks over at his friend, sighing. “Maybe we can do it once the old dudes are out.”

Gray nudges Theo beside him. “We’re getting closer, your dad said spring, right?”

Theo takes a long swig of his beer, nodding.

All of us thought Alpha Anders would be the last holdout when it came to the transition of power to his son, but he surprised everyone at his pack’s full moon run last weekend and announced that he’d begin handing the reins over to Theo, fully transitioning the title to him in the spring. Theo has been itching to take over his pack as Alpha, so needless to say, the guy’s stoked.

Gray looks over at me. “What about you, Jax?”

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