The Alphas' Legacy (Alpha Eyes: Book 3)

Chapter 19

Van

Van bit back a smile as Zoey flew around the kitchen prepping a new batch of jam. The girl certainly knew her way around a jam recipe, he could give her that. Her eyes seemed to sparkle a little as she did something from her past. She kept shooting quick glances his way as she worked, and an odd warmth flooded his chest whenever their gazes met. He shook off the thoughts that came with that odd warmth. It didn't mean anything.

Now that Chef had gone back outside to do the canning, he had time to talk to Zoey again. He hadn't been able to finish his earlier question, and he wanted to know her answer.

"Being tradition-less sounds like an empty life," he repeated. "Don't you wish to have something that grounds you? Something that keeps you from just wandering through life?"

She paused her scrambling and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. The silence was on the verge of awkward when she turned to face him. Her eyes weren't sparkling anymore, and some of the color had faded from her face. His stomach twisted into a slightly uncomfortable knot.

"... something that grounds you?" she echoed. "That's ironic, coming from a man who flies around for a living. It seems that neither of us have had the luxury of being too grounded."

Yep; she hit that one right on the head. He couldn't deny that he wasn't the most 'grounded' person, and he'd only meant to encourage her to look for something deeper in life. Turns out, he was the last person to be giving that kind of encouragement... unless it was to himself.

"All right," he conceded. "So I shouldn't have asked something that I couldn't answer."

She nodded and went back to her preparations. "You're not entirely wrong, but I don't have any way to change my circumstances. Even if I wanted to build some traditions, I'm not in a place where I can do that."

Of course she wasn't. He was making a royal mess of trying to be considerate. He knew he wasn't the most elegant speaker—saying the right thing at the right time never came naturally to him—but he hadn't expected to fumble this badly. It would take some careful navigation to work his way forward through this situation.

"You said that you don't have any way to change your circumstances. If you had complete control over everything, what would your life look like?"

Again, she paused what she was doing to think through his question. A queer wrinkle creased the smooth skin of her forehead for just a moment, but it quickly vanished as she shook her head and glanced over her shoulder at him.

"You truly want to know?"

He nodded, seeing the glimmer of an honest conversation about to start.

She turned to lean back against the counter, the jam process temporarily set aside. "As odd as it sounds, my life would be 'normal.' I'd have a mate who wants me and a happy life together. We'd have our own little house somewhere, jobs that we both love, and the support of those around us. I would be at peace with my past, knowing that my mate accepted me as I am because of those circumstances. I would feel safe by his side. There'd be no reason to look over my shoulder for shadows because he would protect me from them. I know this may all sound ridiculous to you, but you've been the master of your fate all along. I haven't, so the only thing I can do is dream about it."

In a certain sense, her dream did sound a little ridiculous to him. It was so simple. It was a dream that anyone could have. He'd expected that her perfect life would be a little more adventurous or grand, all the things she hadn't been able to do up till now. But she didn't want the world at her feet; she just wanted to be normal. While it was not what he was expecting, he sensed that telling him had taken a lot of courage on her part.