The Alphas' Legacy (Alpha Eyes: Book 3)

Chapter 36

Van

She was lying about being fine, but she didn't fight him on it. She seemed determined to put on a brave face no matter what. He admired the spark of spirit in her, even if it was triggered by her heat.

His shirt and her lotion must have been working because no one around the table was springing at her. He'd placed his team around her as a power tactic, and everyone seemed to get the memo: she was not available for approach or flirtation. Even the young punks who'd been eyeing her lately were staring at their plates.

His wolf growled a little when the chef brought the 'special coffee' for Zoey. The man hardly left his kitchen, yet he'd been quite social since Zoey's arrival.

I can feel your irritation from here, Stitch warned into his mind. You might want to cool it if you don't want to give people the wrong idea.

Van took a deep breath as Zoey sipped her coffee and gushed her praise to the chef. She'd only been here a month, and she was friends with the chef?

Van... Stitch pushed into his thoughts again. You're gripping your knife. Calm down. Chef is not close enough to her; he's just being friendly.

The chef retreated to the kitchen, and Zoey returned to her food. It was good that she was eating more. Stitch had expressed his concerns about how little she ate, so this was a good sign. She didn't seem to care who was watching. All in all, she was a completely different wolf from yesterday.

Without thinking, he grabbed her espresso cup. "Can I try this? Smells good."

She sputtered a little, eyes wide, as he took a sip of her coffee. He'd been half prepared not to like it. Much to his surprise, he quite liked the thick, foamy drink. There was a hint of something in the coffee, but he wasn't about to go into a discussion about it.

"It's better than the mud we get on base," he allowed, setting the cup back on its saucer.

She nodded politely and put another fork of waffle into her mouth. On her left, Stitch shot him a smirk that said 'good cover-up, buddy.' Even Goggles was biting back a smirk. No one else at the table noticed, as they seemed to be focused on not looking his way. Wise...

Our scent is nice on her, his wolf hummed. It's keeping everyone away from her. I like it.

Cool it, will you? Van snarled back. You're acting like some lovesick puppy.

Just because you don't like her much doesn't mean that I can't.

She's in heat, he reminded the purring animal. You're responding to that. Pull yourself together!

His wolf squirmed a little under the reprimand but still made puppy eyes at Zoey. Clearly he wasn't going to back down from his thoughts.

A few people finished their breakfast and left the table. Zoey finished her food and went back to the buffet for a second helping. Van watched one of the younger guys get up from the table and also head to the buffet. This would go one of two ways...

The youngling had filled his plate before he paused, nose twitching. Van caught Stitch's gaze and cocked his head toward Zoey They both watched out of the corner of one eye to see what the youngling would do. He'd already taken an obvious step closer to her.

"How long do you think you'll be here?" the kid asked Zoey.

"I'm not sure," she answered, turning away from the buffet.

"Hey, don't go." He reached out and lightly grabbed her wrist.

Van was on his feet so fast that his chair crashed to the floor. Zoey didn't have time to respond before he'd reached her and pried the kid's hand off her wrist. He stepped between her and the glass-eyed wolf and gave a warning growl. To his shock, the pup actually growled back at him!