My head pounded. It didn't matter how many herbal teas Lucky made or the none stop massaging I've done to the sides of my temples; the headache only grew.

I knew it was my wolf raging inside making me regret every decision I've made thus far. There wasn't anyway to reverse them or take back what I said and did and he was hell bent on making sure I knew the magnitude of my actions.

I winced as my wolf clawed deep into my mind digging an even deep hole into my mind. The agony it cause made me growl out in annoyance as I dug my fingernails into my scalp. I'm sure blood escaped through the shallow lacerations from the look Desmond gave me from across my desk.

His nose crunched up in disgust as he eyes my scape. "You can inflict as much pain as you want to yourself," Desmond shrugged. "-it's not going to change anything."

"Why the fuck are you here?"

"Because we're here to discuss what happened to Adam. You asked me to be here."

"Then let's stick to that, shall we."

He rolled his eyes as he slouched further into his seat.

I wiped the little blood that trickled down the back of my neck. The scratches had healed already but I had no doubt the scabs would remain visible.

"Did Aspen track down the murderer's scent?"

Desmond took a deep breath ignoring the urge to bicker with me, before replying. "She and Ivy tracked down the scent to the town nearby, but it vanished after that. They weren't able to pinpoint if the attacker was a pack wolf or a random rogue."

"I don't see this killing being the fault of some rabid rogue strolling by."

Desmond nodded in agreement. "I don't either but wolves can't just hide their scent. This means we have a bigger issue here. Whoever this is isn't working alone. They planned this out, I just can't put my finger on why."

"Have boarder patrol routes doubled up, no one goes near the boarder alone. I don't want another wolf killed because they want to be macho."

"This is going to invoke fear, Osiris." His voice remained leveled though his face gave away his true feelings.

He and I both knew word would spread like wild fire once we announced the changes. It would only be a matter of time before rumors spread that the pack may be under threat. If that occurred I would have tens of people at my office door demanding they know if they need to be on high alert or not. It was more explaining than I cared to undergo at the moment but it was something unfortunately only I could do and had to do.

Being alpha has it's highs and lows.

"Word has already spread that Adam was found dead. Announce these changes for everyone, if someone wants more explaining tell them to come to me, I'll handle it."

I sifted through papers that littered my desk trying to compile each form into a designated piles. Something to make this chaos that was my desk more manageable.

With everything going on my office had turned into a clutter of documents, files, broken pens and pencils and balled up forms. The stress of everything was beginning to get to me however much I tried to downplay its pull on me. It only took one look at my office to know what kind of internal struggle I was going through. I never had my office like this, it was always immaculate.

"And Sera?"

I stiffened dropping the form I had mindlessly picked up. My ears perked up at the sound of her name and I found myself, rather my wolf, yearning to catch just a second of her bare feet padding against the wood floor above.

She didn't even have to do anything for me to be a toned to her ever noise.

"What about her?" I pondered allowing myself to entertain his question just a little.

He shrugged. "You don't think you should, I don't know, fix things with her."

"I don't have time for that right now, besides she didn't want to listen to me. I'm not going to force her to do anything she doesn't want to do."

I scanned my eyes over the same form trying to force myself to look intrigued by what I was looking at. Desmond could see right through my act though as he tore the paper from me hands, crumbling it up and tossing it behind him.

"Are you a child?" I scolded with a growl crossing my arms.

"No, you are." He accused. "Do you hear yourself?"

I opened my mouth to object but was rudely cut off as Desmond resumed his speech.

"Osiris, you and Sera are mates. You two were meant for each other you can't just let her go like this."

"She doesn't want me Des."

"She says that but she doesn't mean it." He stood up leaning the palms of his hands against my desk. "You have to try harder, you have to fix this. If you can't fix this for you at least fix this for us, for the pack. We need a Luna."

I leaned back in my chair. We do need another person to lead and delegate tasks.

"I can't make her do something Des. You heard her, she doesn't want anything to do with me."

He swiftly ran around the desk until he stood beside my chair. Desmond pulled the chair until I faced him. He grabbed fist fulls of my shirt before tugging me closer to his face.

"I'm not telling you to force her into anything. I'm telling you to talk to her, sympathize with her for crying out loud." He shoved me away in frustration. "Damn it, Oz, you lied to her and subliminally rejected her for damn near two months. What other reaction did you expect?"

I didn't expect anything else. I didn't this for me and her, mostly for her though. Phina should be glad I concealed her this long, who knows what Philip would do knowing that she's my mate. He'd kill her parents in a heartbeat or, better yet, use her as leverage and torture her to get me to do anything he pleased.

"Des. I already told her I did this for her she didn't want to hear it."

"No, shit Sherlock. What the fuck have I been saying all this time! Tell her the truth."

Frustration rushed through my veins as he pushed Desmond down on my desk. My eyes where as black as hockey pucks.

"I told you I told her the truth."

He coughed before gathering the bearings to speak. "That's not good enough. She wants to hear you be chivalrous, she wants to know you felt awful about what you'd done."

I scoffed letting him go and storming to the middle of the room. "I don't."

"Y0u should." Desmond shot back flattening out his shirt. "This should have never been a thing. For Christ sake Oz, you had your brother play as your mate's other half. In the eyes of the werewolf community this is unheard of."

"I don't give a damn."

Desmond scowled huffing as he made his way to the door. "And that's why you'll lose her."

He barreled out of the office before I could say anything else, not that I had anything to say to begin with.

Everything fell to me. This was indeed my making and in the eyes of most this was my mess to clean up. I tried already though, Phina refused to listen to much of anything I said.

I didn't blame her though.

Desmond had slammed the front door with more force than he needed, causing Phina upstairs to startle. She had stopped pacing instead freezing at the loud sound.

Her heart rate picked up a moment, and though it was nearly faint enough that I couldn't hear, I listened until it settled down. I couldn't stand listening to her racing heart, it made me want to stop everything I was doing to run over to her and help her calm down.

Phina had a way of unleashing harm on herself when she was worked up. All the scars and tiny scabs on her lips showed that it was a reoccurring thing.

Sighing the office door was pulled open gently as a familiar head of white hair ducked inside the room. Lucky closed the door behind himself as he offered me a sympathetic smile.

The man had stumbled across us years ago and took it upon himself to look over us. It didn't matter how many times I had told him not to bother cleaning the cabin out or cooking for us, he remained persistent.

I can remember the day he smacked a wooden spoon against the back of my head when I told him he should be doing all this at his old age. Let's just say he doesn't see himself as old and anyone that dares to tell him that... well had to be prepared for a wood spoon flung at them.

"Alpha." He nodded extending the mug of coffee he poured.

I shook my head waving him off, after everything I just wanted to be left alone.

Lucky placed the mug on my desk as I slumped into my chair. "Trouble in paradise I see."

I grunted pinching the bridge. "Yea, you could say that."

"May I offer you some advice boy?"

"In all honesty Lucky, right now isn't the time. I have work to catch up on."

"Ahhh, yes bury yourself with work to distract yourself from the real issues in life, very alpha like."

"Excuse me?"

If it were anyone else insulting me at this very moment they'd be damn near six feet under. Lucky was... well lucky I had the up most respect for him. It was the only thing allowing him to still stand in the room.

"Boy, your so attuned to avoiding problems that you've forgotten how to face your fears." My mouth gapped open as I attempted to defend myself. Lucky's hand flew up incinerating my defense. "I can remember the time Dalia and I got into our first big disagreement. We almost went an entire week without talking to one another. Of course, she didn't want to talk to me no matter how much I wanted to make amends she couldn't stand the sight of me. Our bond ached but neither one of us made an effort to piece anything together."

He sigh recalling the memory like the film of a movie. "I was too prideful to repeatedly ask for her forgiveness I had completely given up. I didn't want to beg and I couldn't understand why she didn't want to listen to me and then it dawned on me. Dalia was avoiding me or shutting me out because she did want to forgive me, it was because she wanted me to own up to myself. She wanted me to admit to myself, to better yet, tell myself that I did wrong by her and to my own self. Dalia wanted to know that I understood myself and my actions and knew the level of pain I put her through. Because understanding that means I knew the weight of my own actions and what kind of damage I inflicted."

"I have begged Lucky. Over and over she didn't want to hear it so I left her be." I groaned burying my face into my palms. "Just like you said I don't want to convince her into anything she doesn't actually feel. She's so frustrating."

Whack!

"Fuck!" The side of my head stung as I pulled my hands away from my face. Confused I rubbed the side of my face as I blinked at Lucky. He heal a wooden ruler in his hand as he pointed at me.

I guess rulers work just as well as spoons.

"Did you listen to a word I said?"

"Yes."

"Clearly not." He scoffed dropping the ruler onto my desk.

"What do you want me to say?"

Lucky gave me a long hard stare that screamed get your shit together. It would be a lot easier if Phina would just hear me out. She was more stubborn than me.

"I can tell you what I don't want." He scolded. "I don't want you to loss your only mate."

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