Alpha Eyes (Alpha Eyes: Book 1)

Chapter 31

The clock read 2:10a.m. when my wolf nudged me awake. I wanted to growl at her but knew that would probably wake Adrian. We were snuggled so close that he'd wake up if I sighed or hiccupped. I would have to silently be mad at her for waking me up. Why was I awake anyway?

They're here, she whispered.

Who's here? I mentally groaned. Why did you wake me up?

The rogues that Jaxon mentioned earlier? The ones that he thought were from Zeke's group? I can sense them along the edge of the woods.

I drew a slow breath and snuggled closer to Adrian. His natural body heat radiated into my skin and soothed my irritation just a little.

We should go find them. I think they want to talk to us.

The rogues who possibly used to follow my brother wanted to talk to me? The likelihood of that being true was very slim. Yet my alpha didn't seem to think they were dangerous. Maybe it was worth looking into.

I squirmed towards the edge of the bed, taking extra care not to intentionally wake Adrian. Explaining my departure probably wouldn't end well. I just needed to slip out and find my way to the woods. My wolf would do most of the navigating as long as she didn't take full control.

Adrian rolled onto his side as I squirmed away, reaching out to pull me back. Thankfully, I escaped his iron-strong grip before he could trap me. If he snagged me, there'd be no escape for quite a long time.

With my alpha vision, I crept to the closet and shut myself inside. I threw on a pair of dark running leggings and a dark blue sweatshirt in record time and made my way out of the bedroom. Only a few pinpoint lights here and there illuminated the hall, but I knew my way to the foyer anyway. My trouble would be getting outside without the guards catching me.

Take the tunnel, my wolf urged. We'll get to the rogues faster.

Seriously, what was with her obsession with these rogues? What if they were dangerous? What if this was some elaborate plan Zeke had cooked up in case he died, and the rogues had their kill order? Why was I following some early morning whim? I trusted my alpha wolf to protect me, therefore not leading me into anything dangerous or stupid. She didn't always explain herself or give the details, but she always had a reason.

Just go, she pushed. I'll get us there.

Rolling my eyes, I crept through the north wing to the tunnel entrance. I barely made it through the door before my wolf began clawing for control. We shared control to the point that she guided my feet, but I determined the pace. She'd run us headlong into something completely unknown and block me out whenever we got to wherever we were going. That was something I absolutely could not allow.

The end of the tunnel came far sooner that I wanted, and my wolf rushed us into the moonlit woods without pausing to scan my surroundings. Everything blurred together, but I maintained some concept of my surroundings. The soft glow of the moon illuminated the smallest path in front of me, but it seemed liked I was moving without needing to know where I was going. My wolf was driving forward on pure instinct.

We're here.

I pulled myself to a hard halt, staring at the black entrance to a cave. No matter what my wolf wanted, there was no way I was going into that cave. If I was going to talk to rogues, they were going to have to come to me.

"You came."

I flinched as a burly man with wiry gray hair stepped out of the deepest shadows on my right. His thin white T-shirt hugged his torso much tighter than what I usually saw. A layer of dirt coated his hands and face, almost like he'd tried to wash his face with mud. His eyes lacked the usual snap and fire rogues usually showed. He planted himself a few yards away and met my gaze.

"My wolf sensed that you were here," I clarified. "I came because I wanted to make sure my pack is safe. With that being said, what do you want?"

Two more guys emerged from the cave, both much younger than the one in front of me. They wore dirty, slightly torn shirts and sweatpants. Neither one of them dared to look at me, keeping their heads down as they joined their apparent leader. My wolf wasn't prickling on high alert, so I took that as a sign that we weren't in immediate danger.

"My name is Wesley; this is Reed and Sam. We used to follow your brother," the burly one stated.

I swallowed hard. "And now that he's dead...?"

Wesley shifted his weight back and forth. "We followed Zeke because he said that he could take you down, that he was the rightful alpha. I saw how he trained himself and his followers, so I believed him."

There was a lot of past tense verbs in that explanation, my wolf mused.

"What do you believe now?" I demanded, holding back my alpha tone. "He didn't take me down. What do you want?"

"As soon as we entered your pack land, I sensed that something wasn't right. The alpha power here was too strong. The only time I'd felt power that strong was when we—I'm sorry—took down your father and the other alphas at the border meeting," Wesley choked out.

I sucked in a slow, deep breath to dampen the wave of heat that flooded my body. My alpha instincts flared to life and demanded justice. However, since none of these rogues had showed any kind of aggression, I could hear them out. They'd earned that much.

"As soon as I saw you shift," Wesley continued, "I knew that Zeke hadn't told me everything. You were far more powerful than any alpha I'd ever seen, and you barely seemed to be putting in any effort. I left the fight and spent some time deciding what I wanted to do. When I heard that the alpha had killed Zeke, I thought it was you until I saw your mate leaving the compound."

The young guy on Wesley's right finally lifted his blonde hair-covered head to look at me. Blue-gray eyes with absolutely no sparkle stared back at me. "We've never heard of two alphas before. How is that even possible?"

They're lost, my wolf crooned. They don't know what to do.

"I don't fully understand it myself," I confessed. "My ancestral alpha power didn't exactly come with an instruction book or historical account."

"Actually..." Wesley stuffed his hands into his pockets. "It did."

My wolf sprang into three-quarters control, forcing my body into action. In three huge steps, I approached Wesley and pinned him against the nearest tree with one arm. He didn't even flinch as I reached for his throat.

"You need to explain," my wolf and I growled together. "...right now."

"Zeke had a journal," he sputtered before I could cut off his airway. "He said his mother had left it when she gave him away."

The mention of Mom gave me the ounce of power to take full control back. "Our mom had a journal about our alpha power? How... The alpha power came from my dad."

Wesley shook his head. "That's only half of the story. According the Zeke, who read that journal cover to cover more times than was probably healthy, both of his parents descended from alpha bloodlines. That's why you're so powerful."

"If my mom was an alpha, then why did only my dad have green eyes?" My head began to throb as my heart beat faster. This couldn't be happening, not again.

"I don't know," Wesley croaked. "All that Zeke told me was that he was the heir of two major alpha bloodlines and that he'd be the most powerful alpha ever to live."

"Why should I believe anything you say?" I hissed.

"You don't have to believe me," he answered. "You can see for yourself."

Keeping my arm tight against Wesley's chest, I whipped my head to the side as the blonde kid took a step closer. He slowly raised his arm and held something rectangular towards me. The moonlight glinted off the leather journal, illuminating the crescent mark in the center of the cover.

My wolf and I froze as everything we thought we knew hung in the balance.