"And she wants this?" I couldn't wrap my mind around the news that my mate wanted to keep the human around. He was her best friend from what she's mentioned but seeing him so comfortable around her and touching her just drove me mad.

The thing is, is that the pesky human so close to her wasn't what left me crazy it was the why Desmond just sat there in front of everyone unbothered. He wasn't playing the part well enough.

No mate ever would sit there and allow another male to be that close to her let alone touch her without snapping or saying something. I nearly lost my wits when he put his hand on her.

"That's what she told me." Ivy confirmed the reassurance not what I sought out.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I shut my eyes.

Phina was trying to make herself at home, I told my wolf who wanted to dig his teeth in the boys skin. She wanted to feel at home and I hated myself for being unable to give her that right now.

If Philip and his allies weren't so he'll bent on tearing my pack apart and burying me six feet under I'd have had her under my weeks ago. She'd show off my mark on her delicate little neck for everyone to see if it weren't for the fear I had of someone taking her away or worse killing her.

Hearing her shout at her father earlier was enough for me to just about snap. If it weren't for Ivy yelling after me not to do anything stupid and seeing Phina perfect intact I think I might have torn her father in half.

Zero fucks would have been given.

Welcome to the family.

I heard her shuffle around. Lifting my head up I watched as she maneuvered around the chair to sit in front of my desk. She waited patiently for me to make some sort of reply but all that I could muster at the moment was where Phina was and what she was doing.

Was she alright? What did she think about me? Did she think that me grabbing her was out of line?

The thought of my mate not wanting me to touch them and protect them wounded my wolf and myself. It didn't matter how much I tried to see the positives of my mate not wanting to be around me, it still stung. Sure, it helped portray the image to Philip that she wasn't mine but this facade was only going to last so long.

"You want me to let the human stay." I grumble. Ivy never sat in my office unless she wanted something and the only thing that I could figure out that she'd want my approval on would be to keep the human around.

I didn't like the idea, however. He was human but that didn't mean that I wanted him snooping around my pack, plus I didn't know how my pack would react to a mateless human living among them now.

We only had two other humans that lived within our pack and they were all mated to a werewolf. I didn't like the idea of humans living within my pack without having a reason to. Other alpha might be okay revealing themselves to humans but I knew too many humans that changed their minds about werewolves and ended up killing them.

"I don't see a reason as to why not." She contended. She played with the waves over her short red hair and it reminded me of the day that Aspen, Desmond and I stumbled across her.

I can remember that memory vividly as if it were yesterday. The terror in her eyes when we found her will forever be engrained in my head. Her round green eyes screamed fear and hidden agony while she head her little brother.

We just so happened to be nearby at the moment and the second that Aspen picked up on her scent she took off. It took Desmond and I a few moments to realize that she had taken off without us.

When we did eventually find Ivy the smell of death invaded me nose. Her bother was dead; lifelessly lying on the ground all the while Ivy tried desperately to fight off two rogues.

From the scent I could tell that her brother had just recently been killed. Blood still dripped from the snouts of both the rogues. Aspen and Desmond had made quick of the rogues while I checked up on the boy.

His throat had been torn out and his face nearly unrecognizable. I couldn't imagine the sheer fear and pain the young boy went through and from the size of him he didn't look to be any older than twelve.

Having a little brother of my own, I remember looking at the boy feeling guilty for the fact that I was at least successful as the older sibling to protect and raise him. I don't know where I would be if my brother was killed. I probably never would have thought about being an alpha if it weren't for him.

"I don't know how the rest of the pack will feel having a random human walking amongst them." I pointed out slouching in my chair.

Ivy laughed crossing her arms. "Are you concerned about the pack or about the fact that Phinny is getting closer to figuring out if she had a wolf hidden somewhere inside of her?" My attention was captured by her question. "I know you allowed Jensen to resume his research. Aspen came earlier to grab Phinny to take her to him cabin."

It was true, I gave him the okay to resume his studies. I felt guilty after telling her no. She was so hopefully and I had just pulled that away from her. I just wished that Desmond would have talked to me first, a small part of me wanted to be the one to walk her to Jensen's and here the progress of his research with her.

I hated myself more everyday that I had to continue to lie to her. Why couldn't things be more simpler. I hated that even though we were damn near unreachable that Philip still implied slight threats toward my pack and I.

The man was a nuisance; a nuisance I would be more than happy to kill just to get him out of my hair. If killing him meant that I could openly have my mate than so be it.

Unfortunately, my scoots have come back over the weeks gathering less than good news. There was word that they were finding scents of another pack's scoots coming near our pack. They stayed far enough away from our boarder that they weren't much of a threat but it was unnerving. There was nothing up this far in the mountains except us.

"If Jensen is successful in drawing out her wolf she'll realize I'm her mate."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

I huffed. "It's not exactly a good thing."

"And why not? Tell me why you, Osiris Wraith, don't see your mate recognizing you as her mate a good thing?" She gave me a inquisitive look.

"Because I've been lying to her all this time."

"So tell her first. Easy, Peasy."

"That's not easy when she already believes that Desmond is her mate."

"So what? Just tell her. Once you explain everything she'll-"

"She kissed him, Ivy." I blurted out watching as Ivy's once enthusiastic demeanor dissipated. Her once optimistic smile vanished as a her lips flatlined into gloom. "Desmond and Seraphina kissed one another after she got excited I changed my mind and talked to Philip."

I threw my head back against the chair propping my head up to face the ceiling. I followed one of the swirls of the wood logs until it faded to nothingness. I closed my eyes finding the blank dark void more calming then the patterns of the wood.

"Aspen told you, you were playing with fire. Now look at you." She scolded.

"I know Ivy trust me, I know how bad this is getting."

She blew air out of her nose in exasperation. "Bad? This isn't bad this is pure chaos. Bad is lying on her tax returns, this isn't bad Osiris. This is going to end in a catastrophe."

"I'm going to fix it once I get rid of Philip. I just have to buy myself some time."

"Time isn't something that you have a lot of Osiris. This is your mate and brother for crying out loud. Seraphina could fall in love with your brother, with the fucking lie you have her believing." Ivy turned away covering her mouth. "The poor girl." She whispered.

I sat up to look at her. "Why do you think I'm stressing over here? You think that I want to watch my brother playing house with my mate?"

"Of course not, but this... this is beginning to get out of hand."

"Tell me about it, Lucky just shared with me that he talked to her about Desmond not marking her. I didn't share with him yet that she's my mate and not my brother's. Now she's undoubtably wondering why Desmond hasn't claimed her." I shared tugging at the strands of my hair.

Lucky sharing his thoughts on my brothers lack of mark has sparked some kind of curiosity in my mate that has made thing's more complicated. I had to add this now to the pile of disasters thus far.

"I can distract her from Desmond I think. Having her friend here will make it easier." She offered.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I dropped my head to my desk. A loud thud rang out in the room followed by my thank you.

"No more graveyard boarder shifts for the rest of the year."

I propped my chin on my desk to face her. She raised a brow waiting for my reply. Too bad I couldn't give her one completely confused.

"Huh?"

She crossed her arms with a groan. "For my contribution to this shit show."

Ivy couldn't be serious right now. I had snoopy wolves of another pack wandering around and she wanted to cut her boarder patrol rounds. I grounded my teeth together when I realized she was completely serious.

"Ivy."

"The rest of the year Osiris or you can kiss the deceptive world you created for her goodbye."

The skin around my eyes tightened as I contemplated meeting half way. "Half the year."

She stood up taking out her phone. With a sigh she slipped the phone back away. Was she agreeing to this? "I'm telling Phinny." Nope. "I think I'll tell Phinny the truth when I meet up with Aspen. We're cooking pasta tonight."

"Three months." I considered.

She started for the door refusing to agree to the new terms. Asshole.

I gritted my teeth as she began to twist the handle of the door. "Fine. The rest of the year."

She stopped at me reply. Looking over her shoulder she offered me a smug grin. "How very kind of you Alpha."

"Get the fuck out of my office."