Jax's Rebellion (Coalition Training Academy #1)

by Stephani Hecht

  It would just be better if he stayed at the Academy. He could bury himself in his books, hang out in the cafeteria, and just be a bum. He might even venture to the student lounge and watch TV. They had been so busy their first week, none of them even had a chance to check it out, yet. All they’d done is eat, study, eat, train, eat, and then sleep. They’d barely managed to shower and get their clothes together for the laundry.

  He decided he would get up then get ready for classes. He already knew he’d never get back to sleep, which more than kind of sucked since he’d stayed up late reading the previous evening. He would just have to rush to the cafeteria and grab a cup of coffee before their first lesson. If he rushed, he might actually get to sit down and eat something rather than having to race during their first break.

  He showered then got dressed. He then grabbed a couple of books and left the dorm. When he went to the cafeteria, some of the older students were there. Then Jax saw Logan was there, too. When Logan got up and started walking toward Jax, he felt jolt of fear going through him. While he hadn’t thought it would be wrong to get up early and venture out, they’d never been given permission to do so.

  “I just woke up early and thought I’d get something to eat before we started,” Jax hedged.

  His heart was hammering so hard in his chest he knew Logan could hear it. Logan was an adult and had all his enhanced shifter senses. Hearing just happened to be one of those, which was very unfortunate for Jax. He would never be able to get anything by Logan.

  Logan’s lips curled up into a smile. Jax almost fainted from shock. At the same time, his body’s reaction made him fully aware of the fact Logan looked very good when he wasn’t glowering. Then just as quickly he recalled Logan already had a mate, so that made him off limits, even mentally.

  “I was wondering how long it would be until one of you caught on and realized the only way to get a real breakfast was to get up early and get down here on your own,” Logan said.

  Jax paused. That would explain why the older students were there. They had at least a year more of Academy experience under their belts. Jax suddenly realized he should start paying attention to them more. They obviously knew the ropes. Instead, he’d been so involved in his own little world.

  “So, you’re not angry at me?” he still asked to be sure.

  “Not at all. Keegan told me that you were the brains of the class.” Logan gave Jax a pat on the head then left.

  Jax darted into the dining hall then put his books on a table since he couldn’t carry them and a tray at the same time. He didn’t have to worry about them being bothered. Even with the early birds, the place was pretty deserted.

  He grabbed some pancakes then slathered them with a gallon of syrup. He added some cereal and bacon to his tray. The breakfast of champions. Okay, it might not have been the healthiest of things, but shifters had a super-fast metabolism. He could eat almost the entire buffet then be hungry all over again by the time lunch rolled around. Once he added a large coffee and a cola he was all set.

  As he approached his table, he could feel almost every gaze on him. He lowered his head a bit then rushed to his seat. All the while, he was praying that he didn’t trip and make a fool of himself.

  Luck was finally with him. He managed to sit down. He immediately opened a book and tried to look as boring as possible. Soon, he got lost in the text and forgot about everything else except pausing to take great big bites of his breakfast.

  When somebody pulled out the chair opposite of him, he looked up half expecting to see Ava, which was really stupid of him since she was always the last of them to get up. Instead, he saw a tall, thin female. She wore the uniform, but it wasn’t baggy on her. The cut of the fabric somehow managed to accentuate her hips and breasts.

  Her hair was black with streaks of purple through it. It was long, but she had it pulled into a ponytail. She was Asian, her eyes a beautiful chestnut brown. She wore heavy eyeliner and purple lipstick. She sat down then leaned forward on the table.

  “You’re a cute little thing,” she said. “What’s your name?”

  Well, if they weren’t off to a bang. Just what Jax needed to be reminded of; that he was an itty, bitty wee thing. He wanted to ask her where she’d gotten her detective card.

  “I’m Jax,” he replied shortly, hoping she would get the hint and move on.

  “I’m Kira,” she replied.

  She just sat there, not getting the hint. So, Jax finally set down his book then gave her his full attention.

  “Is there something that you wanted?” he asked, careful to keep his tone friendly.

  After all, she was an upperclassman. If he played his cards right he might be able to learn a few things from her. That was if she hadn’t come over to mock or tease him. Frankly, he was prepared for the latter. After all, he was cute and little.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not here to give you a hard time,” she said.

  “I’m not worried,” Jax lied.

  “Yes, you are.” She pointed to her pert nose. “I can smell it on you.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “How is that possible? You would’ve had to have had your first shift in order to tell. That’s not supposed to happen until we’re around twenty. You’re not that old.”

  She shrugged. “We’ve been shifting sooner for years now. I don’t know why exactly. All I know is it’s something to do with the drinking water.”

  “Why didn’t I know about this sooner?” Jax shook his head.

  “They don’t talk about it in the regular school. I would have thought your parents would have told you about it, though. It’s no big secret.”

  “My dad isn’t the chatty type.” Jax picked up a book. “All the information about it is probably in here.”

  Kira reached over and pushed the book down. “You can look later. I want to know more about you?”

  “Why?” Jax asked.

  She laughed. “You act so shocked.”

  It was his turn to shrug. “Others usually aren’t too interested in me. Like you said, I’m small and not too important.”

  “I never said you weren’t important, and I’m sorry about the little remark. I didn’t mean it to come off that way. I just saw you were sitting alone and thought you might want some company. Plus, you’re the only one in your class to show up here during actual breakfast time.”

  “Can I confess something to you?”

  She leaned in even closer. “Of course.”

  “I came here because I couldn’t sleep, not because I figured out Logan’s test.”

  She laughed again, but not in a mocking manner. “That’s okay. We never tell him, but that’s how most of us figured it out. Why couldn’t you sleep?”

  Jax paused. They’d only recently met, so he didn’t know if he should be spilling his guts to her. He didn’t want her to use it against him later. Lord knew he already had enough going against him. The last thing he should be doing was handing out more mud balls to be thrown at him.

  Then again, he wouldn’t be telling her anything she couldn’t find out with a little snooping. His entire class saw his father’s temper tantrum. Plus, when everybody left and he was still standing, everybody would know he had nowhere to go on the weekend. So, as far as Jax saw it, he really had nothing to lose.

  “You’ll probably just think I’m whining,” he still hedged.

  “Not at all.” She reached over then snagged a piece of bacon from his plate.

  “I’m just worried about being lonely this weekend. Everybody is going home but me, and I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. It’s going be weird being the only one here.”

  “Is that all?” She waved a hand at him. “You won’t be alone. I’m an orphan, so I’ll be here. Plus, there are a handful of others. We might not be in your class, but it doesn’t mean we can’t hang with each other.”

  “Are you sure?” Jax asked, even as he felt a sliver of hope. “Your friends won’t mind?”

  “Why would they?�
��

  “Because I’m younger. Oh, and in case you haven’t picked up on it already, I’m a bit of a dork.”

  “Then we’ll get along great. I’m an oddball, too.” Kira beamed at him. “I’ll see you around. I have to get going or else I’m going to be late. If it happens one more time I have to run laps in the training facility.”

  “Is that the punishment we get?” he asked.

  She stood. “That or cleaning out the kitchen. The worst is when we have to help the Raccoon shifters in the laundry room.”

  “Wait? We have Raccoon shifters?” Jax tilted his head to the side.

  “Yeah, they do all the laundry for the Academy and the Coalition soldiers. They needed a place to live, so that’s the deal they struck with Mitchell.”

  She left before Jax could reply. He shook his head. Raccoon shifters? Just when he thought he couldn’t be surprised anymore another zinger was tossed his way, that and the fact there was something in the drinking water which was making them shift early. Jax was really intrigued by that last one. He hoped if he started binging on tap water then he’d shift sooner. Maybe…just maybe it would make his human side have a major growth spurt.

  Kira was right about the time. Jax needed to get a move on it. Otherwise he would risk the wrath of Logan. Since Jax really didn’t want to spend the weekend making some new Raccoon friends, he needed to be on time. It might be interesting to meet them, but he didn’t want to have to wash clothes for hours at a time.

  He took his tray to the trash then gathered up his books. When he walked into the hallway in front of their dorm, he found Ava there. She was glancing around, a frown on her face. When her gaze landed on Jax, she let out an irritated sound.

  “There you are! You had me worried,” she said.

  “What? Did you think that a gang of Ravens came in during the night and kidnapped me?” he drawled.

  She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Actually, if you stop to think about it, they would probably choose me. I’m small and they could easily overpower me.”

  “That’s not even funny.”

  Jax paused. Damn, he could be an idiot at times. He’d completely forgotten about Ava’s past. Jax felt like kicking himself.

  “Sorry, I shouldn’t joke about stuff like that,” he said.

  “Please. You don’t think I’m still hung up on that, do you? I got over it years ago. The first thing Daddy Shane did when I got here was demand I see his shrink.”

  Jax’s mouth parted in shock. He looked around him to make sure nobody was listening.

  “Are you saying that an Assassin is seeing a therapist?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Why are you whispering?” she asked in an aggravated tone.

  “Because, if this slips out to the gossip mill I don’t want it to be because of my big mouth,” he said. “I don’t want either of your fathers to ever get mad at me.”

  She smiled at him. “Don’t worry, they think you’re great. Daddy Shane never kills anybody he likes.”

  Ava patted him on the cheek then walked away.

  Chapter Seven

  After training, it didn’t take long for all the other kids to leave for the weekend. Jax grabbed his trusty books then made his way to the cafeteria. While Kira had said he could hang with her and her friends, Jax though it would be a good idea to still have a backup plan. That way he didn’t look like too much of a loser if things fell through. Nothing said sad quite like staring down at your plate, because you had nothing better to do with your time.

  He was pleasantly surprised to see they had roast and potatoes. He found an empty table, set down his books, then went to fill his tray. He tried looking around to see if Kira was there, but even without the normal amount of students, the place was packed. He didn’t know if it was because it was the start of the weekend or if there was some secret soldier party going on. He just knew that it was going to be impossible to find anybody in the mess.

  He tried to soothe his disappointment by telling himself that he could try to find some information on the whole water making them shift younger thing. He’d tried several times during the school day to find it, but they’d been especially busy. If they weren’t being loaded down with homework, then they were being rushed to another training session. It was as if the instructors were afraid they’d get listless over the weekend or something.

  He was just opening up his Shifter History text when all the chairs of his table were pulled out at once. He looked up to see that Kira had managed to find him. She wore the trademark sweats and tee. She had three other students with her. One was a blonde female who was a bit shorter that Kira. The other was a stocky male with auburn hair. The third was a guy with…oh, dear heavens!

  Jax suddenly forgot to breathe as he found himself gazing at the hottest, sexiest, good looking-est male that he’d ever seen in his entire life. No joke, the teen was like chocolate cake for the eyes with a scoop of ice cream thrown in on the side.

  Mr. Hot Stuff was a head taller than Kira. He wore sweats and a tee, but they had to be the largest size available. He was packing some serious muscles. He looked almost as big as Logan.

  The male had dark hair. Like most of the soldiers, he wore his in a short, shaved style. He had the deepest, bluest eyes and had long lashes. That wasn’t the best feature, though. No, it was his full lips and angular cheekbones. He was so good looking that, to borrow Ava’s favorite expression, it made Jax want to “smack his mamma, then kick his papa, too.”

  “Hey, Jax!” Kira said. “Thanks for saving us a spot. These are going to be your fellow weekend dwellers. This is my friend, Willow, the redhead is Brad and the grumpy guy is Erin.”

  Jax forced himself to tear his eyes away from Erin so he could look at the rest of the group. “Hi, everybody.”

  “So, is he going to try to get all the old exam answers from us, just like every new student does?” Willow asked.

  “No,” Kira drew the word out. “Jax is smart. You don’t see anybody else lugging their books around, do you?”

  Brad narrowed his eyes. “I don’t recall seeing him around at any of the Coalition functions.”

  “That’s because my dad doesn’t like other shifters,” Jax said.

  When he was met by four looks of horror, he wished he’d kept his trap shut. He took a nervous sip of his drink and wished more than anything he could have the previous ten seconds back.

  “But, why?” Willow asked. “We’re so cool.”

  “My mother is the same way,” Erin said. “She blames Mitchell for my dad’s death. Which is pretty stupid, since it was the Ravens who got him. What did she expect when she married a soldier, that he would be throwing picnics or something?”

  “That’s why Erin never goes home,” Kira cut in. “His mother was pretty pissed off when he joined the Academy. She’s worried she’s going to lose him, too.”

  “Which is why what she’s doing is dumb,” Willow said. “If she is so worried he’s going to kick it, then why doesn’t she spend every moment that she can with him?”

  “Stupid isn’t always too smart,” Brad said, his mouth full of food.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Kira said.

  “No, I get what he’s saying,” Jax cut in. “What he means is sometimes we are so angry about a situation, we refuse to see what’s really important.”

  There was a long pause as he was once again the center of attention. Great, it was just getting better and better for him. He might as well have stayed in the dorm. Sure, he might have starved, but at least he would have his dignity intact.

  Willow shrugged. “I guess Kira is right. He won’t be needing our help with tests after all.”

  Brad pointed his fork at Jax. “I’m going to like you. I can already tell.”

  Jax hid a smile. He had only been at the Academy for less than a week and he already had more friends than he ever had at the last school. He knew then he’d made the right decision. That is if he survived the
physical training. As for the academic stuff, while he might not have known too much about shifters before, he already was catching up. It was a good thing that he was such a book nerd.

  “So, what do you guys usually do during the weekend?” Jax asked.

  “We binge Netflix and eat a ton of junk food,” Brad replied.

  “That’s not all,” Willow rolled her eyes. “Sometimes we get a pass to go out. We hit the mall, go to the movies, and eat out. One time they even let us go to the 4-H fair. Although, the farm animals there didn’t like us. We may not have shifted yet, but they could still smell the feline in us and it scared them.”

  “What kind of feline are all of you?” Jax asked.

  “I’m a Lynx,” Willow said. “Brad is a Tiger, Kira is a Cougar, and Erin is a Cheetah.”

  “I’m a Lion,” Jax offered. “A lot of people say they never would have guessed since I’m so small. I even had one guy from my old class say I couldn’t be anything other than a house cat.”

  Jax immediately wished he could have had his last sentence back. He didn’t want his new friends to think he was weak. If they found out he was the butt of so many jokes, they probably would think less of him.

  “What a dick,” Brad said. “Is he in the Academy?”

  It felt so good to have somebody coming to his defense. Sure, Ava had always been there, but to know he might have some new allies made Jax feel six-feet tall.

  “No, he said he wanted to make his own way in life and not have to follow orders all the time,” Jax said.

  “Usually that means they are too chicken shit to become a soldier,” Erin scoffed. “They’re afraid of going up against Ravens.”

  “Do you honestly think that?” Jax asked.

  “I know it. They are all mouth until it comes time to actually be strong,” Erin replied. “It’s part of our duty to protect the Coalition, and they are just copping out.”

  Jax thought that over. Erin did have a point. Jax’s father had the biggest yap of all when it came to being critical of Mitchell and the Coalition. Yet, instead of trying to change things, he’d taken a job in the human world. Worse, he’d tried to make Jax do the same thing.