The Alphas' Legacy (Alpha Eyes: Book 3)

Chapter 32

Zoey

My wolf hummed in happiness as I followed Van out of the kitchen. It was actually a relief to feel that we were moving away from the tense terms and towards something at least mutual. I noticed every time he tightened his grip or pulled me a little closer. If we hadn't just recovered from an almost tragic blowout, I would have wondered if there was something more to it than just making peace. But we had, so I didn't.

He led me to the library and stopped outside the door for a moment. I still didn't know what to expect, so I waited for him to give some kind of direction or indication of what was happening. He glanced over his shoulder before opening the door and pulling me inside.

The crisp scent of paper and a tiny hint of dust flooded my nose. Golden afternoon light poured through the two-story window at the far end of the room, illuminating the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and revealing hundreds of books of all sizes and colors. A couple over-stuffed armchairs sat against one wall, inviting anyone who needed it to sit and lose themselves in a book. A large, dark-colored desk faced the window, offering someone a fabulous view of the backyard. The whole room welcomed imaginative travelers and searching scholars.

Van led me to one of the armchairs and motioned for me to sit. He let go of my hand as I settled into the seat and walked to the desk. He rummaged through a couple drawers before fetching a key from the underside of the desk and unlocking the top drawer. I leaned forward to see what he might be looking for.

He turned around and slowly walked back to where I was sitting. He held a leather-bound book... a journal? From the way he held it—so carefully, almost like it was delicate—I could tell that the information it contained was very precious or important to him.

He sat on the armrest of my chair and held out the book to me. "I don't know how much you know about my family—my parents, specifically—but there are reasons behind who we are and what we do."

I glanced up at him as I took the book. Reasons behind who they were and what they did... That sounded rather formal, a bit ominous. On a certain level, it made sense. Circumstances and events of the past certainly shaped people and impacted their future actions. The way he'd said "reasons" made me wonder what had happened to Luna Karina and Alpha Lucas.

"Did your parents ever tell you about the guardians?"

I shook my head. "I read about them in history class. Didn't they go extinct or something? There haven't been any guardians in years, right?"

"There was one recently," Van explained, tapping the cover of the book. "She was my mom's guardian, the legacy of the emerald green alpha eyes."

"Was?" I echoed, looking up into his eyes. They weren't crystal emerald green, but they definitely had a green tint to them.

He nodded and leaned against the back of the chair. "She became too big of a threat, so my godmother Liesel extracted her and exiled her back to her dimension."

"What do you mean by 'extracted'?" I had to ask. "Isn't a guardian like another person?"

"From how I understand it," he said, "a guardian was much like our wolves, part of us but without a form of their own. Almost like a spirit... My godmother is—was—a witch, so she was able to separate the guardian from my mom."

I blinked at this new information. "Your godmother is a witch? I didn't think the witches existed anymore."

"They've all gone underground to avoid the werewolves," Van said. "My godmother was sent to assess the situation with the guardian, but everyone else is still in hiding."

"She's still here?" A witch in a world of wolves? One brave lady.

"She lost her magic after the extraction," Van said. "Her coven rejected her, and she was too weak to live on her own. My mom offered her a place in our pack, so she now teaches at the school."