Alpha Eyes (Alpha Eyes: Book 1)

Chapter 8

Adrian clutched his mate to his chest and drew yet another very deep breath. After several hours of convulsing and thrashing, she finally settled and collapsed into sleep. He'd checked her upper body for wounds, bruising, cuts, any sign of injury. Besides her beautiful skin, there was nothing to raise alarm. Whatever pain she was feeling was not physically her own, much like how he'd felt the kicks when she was training with Ada. But the pain wasn't his, so the unspoken question sent his wolf into a jealous growl. Who else was she linked to?

Another hour passed before Sierra stirred. He adjusted his hold around her waist as she slowly opened her eyes. She ran a hand over his chest, which sparked several fireworks in his chest and lower region.

"What happened?" she croaked, looking around the room. "Why are we in the safe room?"

"You don't remember?" He rubbed little circles at the small of her back, taking a moment to let their wolves connect and settle.

She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes, cracking her back one joint at a time before she answered. "No, not really. I remember I was at training with Ada, but after that..." She turned to him and met his gaze.

Adrian sucked in a sharp breath, his body tensing. He swallowed hard and pushed himself up to sit beside her. She stared at him with wide eyes. Fear and insecurity danced in the colored pools, a color he'd only seen in one other wolf's eyes.

"Adrian?" she squeaked. "Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong with me?"

Her whimper snapped him out of his temporary trance. A glittering tear slid down her trembling cheek. He was ten kinds of fool, and she deserved far better. He cupped her face in his hands and crushed his lips to hers, hoping to dispel her fears. She clutched his shoulders and pressed her body against him, clinging to him until he eased away. She stared at him as he rose to his feet and pulled her up.

He led her to the large mirror hanging on the wall in the corner. Her hands trembled in his. She didn't let go as he positioned her in front of the mirror, never taking her gaze from his face.

He gave her a quick kiss before nodding towards the mirror. "There's nothing wrong with you, Sierra. You're still beautiful as ever, and I will always want you. However..."

She choked on a sob but didn't say anything.

He gently grasped her chin and turned her face toward the mirror. She jerked back against his chest as she caught sight of her reflection. After a few seconds, she crept towards the mirror to stare herself in the face.

#

I stared at my reflection, barely feeling Adrian's hands on my shoulders. Overall, the girl in the mirror hadn't changed. I must have been crying since my face was quite red. However, my eyes demanded all of the attention.

I'd always been proud of my chocolate brown eyes. They were so dark that it was difficult to see my pupils at times. Daddy always said I got them from his side of the family. We shared that trait until he became alpha and his eyes turned emerald green. All alphas had green eyes. I'll confess that I photoshopped pictures of myself with green eyes, just to see what it looked like on me.

That's why I stared at my reflection so hard. The mirror was not a magic photoshop program. It only reflected what was real. And what was real was that my eyes were emerald green!

"What the hell?" I leaned closer to the mirror, searching for any sign of a colored contact lens or leftover drop of eyedrop that might have done this.

Adrian pulled me away from the mirror and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaned my head back against his chest and gripped his arms. This didn't make any sense. I didn't have green eyes, and there was no way I could have green eyes. Unless...

"We need to see what's happening out there." Adrian's chest rumbled as he spoke.

I turned in his arms and buried my face in his chest, sucking in deep breaths of his scent. With this new development, I couldn't think about what might be happening outside of this safe room. Everyone might be dead. Everyone might be alive. Everything I knew could be turned on its head. We'd only know if we left the room.

"Sierra...I'm the beta. I need to take care of the pack."

My wolf jumped to attention. Yes, the pack. We must protect the pack!

I shoved aside her sudden interest in the welfare of the pack. My mate was the beta, which meant he was needed. I needed him too, but I would be okay at his side until later. So I nodded and silently followed him to the door. I watched Adrian struggle against the wheel for a minute before stepping forward to help.

Something sparked between my skin and the metal bar, and the wheel glided back to unlock the door. I shrugged in response to Adrian's quizzical stare. He stepped close to me and devoured my mouth in a kiss for a minute. Yeah, we were so goners for each other.

"Are you ready?" he whispered, rather breathless from our mini-makeout.

"Let's go." I stepped back to allow space for the door to open.

When the door opened, I sighed at the silence. If we'd been greeted with screams and war cries, I would have lost it. At least silence indicated that everyone was safe, outside, or somewhere else. I could handle silence.

Adrian wrapped his hand around mine and cautiously moved down the hallway. I clung to his arm and stayed just behind him, ears perked for any sign of anything. We reached the living room and stopped. The door onto the back patio stood open, letting a gentle breeze waft through the room. I couldn't smell blood or sweat, a good sign.

"Wait." Adrian's arm shot in front of me as I took a step forward. Poised to spring and shift, he stared through the door. A large brown wolf loped across the lawn and stopped just outside the house. Adrian relaxed as Jaxon shifted back into human form. I turned my head aside as he slipped into the basketball shorts that were left out for moments like this.

"Adrian," Jaxon panted as he came inside. "Thank the moon you're safe. We couldn't find or track you, so I feared the worst."

"I was in the safe room with Sierra," Adrian explained, still standing in front of me and hiding me from Jaxon's view. "What happened out there, Jaxon? Where's Alpha Orion?"

I held my breath, waiting for the answer. Jaxon wouldn't sugarcoat the truth or beat around the bush. He'd share everything and wait for instructions.

"We got there late," Jaxon murmured. "We don't know for sure, but we think that a group of rogues attack the diplomatic assembly. We found the alphas of the Lunar and Solar packs murdered just inside their territories."

"And our alpha?" Adrian's muscles tensed, bulking him into angry fighting form.

"I'm sorry, Adrian. Alpha Orion is dead."

In a tidal wave, everything came flooding back to me. I remembered the pain, the panic, the convulsions, the blinding lights, the dream... I choked on a sob and doubled forward, stumbling out from behind Adrian into Jaxon's view.

He bowed his head in respect for my loss and slowly lowered himself to one knee. Adrian placed a hand on my back as I gasped for a decent breath. My father, our alpha, was dead. This couldn't be happening. Not now...

Jaxon placed a hand over his heart. "The alpha is dead. Long live the alpha."

Adrian stood a bit taller, puffing out his chest in silent acceptance of the role. I froze as I realized that when he'd sworn loyalty to the new alpha, Jaxon hadn't been looking up at Adrian.

He'd been looking at me.