The Alphas' Legacy (Alpha Eyes: Book 3)

Chapter 44

"Zoey? What's wrong?"

I scrunched my eyes closed and focused on getting a deep breath in before answering. "I don't know. All of the sudden, it's like someone punched me in the lungs."

She sprang out of her chair and rushed to stand next to me. "Has this ever happened before?"

"No," I wheezed. "Any pain I've ever felt was physically inflicted on me. This is something else."

She grabbed my hand and pressed to fingers to the inside of my wrist. "Your pulse is normal, but you're obviously feeling something. Is it possible your mate is being attacked?"

"I've seen him be attacked before, and I felt nothing then," I explained. "It can't be him."

"Well, it definitely appears that you're experiencing sympathy pain. The only other person who you're possibly linked to and who might be under attack right now is Van."

I twisted sideways to look up at her, eyes wide. "But... we're not connected! How could I be feeling his pain?"

She sank into the chair next to me and squeezed my hand. "I don't know, Zoey. If it's not Van's pain, I don't know what else is happening to you. I've never heard of anything like this before."

If we are feeling Van's pain, my wolf jumped in, that means he's possibly hurt. What if he's too injured to come back? Then what do we do?

His team would never leave him there, I answered her. They will come back.

Can you find out what's going on? Alpha must have some way to contact them to know the situation, right?

"Is there any way for us to know what's happening with the guys?" I asked Luna.

"That's a good thought. Let me go ask Lucas. He's probably got a way to contact them."

I laid my head on the table and took some more deep breaths as she rushed from the room. I'd endured a lot of pain from Jax over the years in Midnight pack, but somehow this was far worse. When I knew the cause of my pain, I could figure out how to handle it. But I had no idea what was causing this, so I didn't know how to deal with it. If it continued for any considerable length of time, it would quickly drain my energy.

I don't know how long she was gone, but Luna returned at the same speed she left.

"I'm sorry, Zoey. Lucas said that the team went on this mission blind... He has no way of contacting them, and they haven't reached out or reported. We just have to wait to see what happens."

A blind mission. That sounded just like Van's team. They were faster and more efficient if they didn't have to take the time to set up comms with people back here. There was no way of knowing what was going on or if they were okay. We'd have to wait, and I would hope that they'd come back safely soon.

Eight hours later...

"They should have been back by now."

I paced the length of Van's room for the hundredth time, one hand pressed against my throbbing shoulder and the other wound into my hair behind my head. The pain hadn't gone away, and we still had no word from the team. It had been twelve hours, the maximum time Van said they'd be gone. Hopefully they were on their way back and weren't thinking about trying to contact anyone. That had to be it.

"They'll be back soon," I whispered to my wolf. "They're all fine. He's fine."

I repeated those three sentences over and over as I continued to pace the room. No matter how many times I said it, I couldn't convince my wolf that they were true. She let out a little huff with each pass of the room. Truthfully, I agreed with her.