The Alphas' Legacy (Alpha Eyes: Book 3)

Chapter 46

Zoey

It was beautiful... the whole ballroom was a fairyland of twinkle lights, flowers, and everything else wonderful. Luna had truly outdone herself with the splendor of the event. I turned another slow circle to survey the room again. Couples waltzed around me in perfect unison like a music box. I couldn't have imagined anything more dazzling than this. This is what a lycan Formal was.

"May I?"

I turned around and immediately smiled. Van stood a few feet away, hand outstretched like the perfect gentleman he was. Decked in his most formal attire, he looked every bit the lycan prince. For a brief moment, I'd thought that he was going to wear something else. It didn't matter in the end. He was here, and so was I.

"People are starting to stare," Van whispered to me, his gaze darting to his outstretched hand for a second. "Are you going to dance with me, or leave me standing here?"

"Sorry..." I grabbed his hand with much less grace than I intended.

He pulled me closer and took up the waltz stance. "You're forever apologizing, my dear. What do I need to do to break you of that habit?"

"I honestly don't know," I answered. "It comes out of me so fast sometimes that I don't even realize that I've said it."

"We'll work on it."

We swayed in place to the music for a moment before he maneuvered us into the swirling flow of the dancers. We made several turns around the room before a bright red swatch of cloth in one of the corners caught my attention. I whipped my head around to find it again, but it was already gone. As we continued circling the room, that red patch appeared in several other places but always disappeared when I looked a second time.

"What are you looking for?" Van asked after I almost wrenched myself out of his arms.

My heart thudded against my ribs, my lungs heaving for a decent breath. How to explain it? That particular shade of red was unique to one pack, and especially one person. But it couldn't be what I thought it was. It wasn't possible.

"I... uhm..."

Van spun me under his arm, and the momentum carried me forward. I lost my grip on his hand, and I found myself spinning towards the edge of the crowd. Just before I collided with the unsuspecting guests, someone stepped forward to catch me.

"Easy there, love. You'll hurt yourself going that fast."

My pounding heart stopped all together, and the temperature of the room plummeted. All-too-familiar sparks erupted through my veins, initiating from the places on arms where the person's hands touched. I squeezed my eyes closed, refusing to believe what my body was telling me.

"Aren't you at least going to say thank you for saving you from an embarrassing fall?" The voice grated on my ears and sent my wolf into a snarling frenzy.

I threw my weight backwards, but Jax had a tight grip on my waist now. With one arm banded around me, he reached up to grab my chin and force me to look at him. The lights of the ballroom flickered in his eyes, the only brightness in those penetrating black orbs. I'd seen that look before, and I knew what he intended to do next.

"Jax..." I whimpered. "Please..."

"Please what?" he snarled quietly, bringing my face within inches of his. "Please don't make a scene before your friends? Please don't take you away from your lover over there? Please don't hurt you? Oh, I'll do every one of those things... after I kill that lovesick puppy."

He dragged me through the crowd into the center of the ballroom. I choked when I caught sight of Van on his knees, one of Jax's thugs holding a dagger across his neck. How had they even gotten in? Van's pack was supposed to be the most secure pack on the continent. How had Jax and his thugs made it onto the territory, let alone into the mansion?