All I heard him say was, “Okay.”
Fuck. How could I even have changed the past? I couldn’t and I needed to let that go. She’d been an alpha’s daughter albeit a shitty fucking alpha. That male couldn’t keep his own daughter safe no wonder his pack was dwindling in size. This couldn’t be her. They’d said she’d died. I’d gone to look for her. She was gone.
I’d mourned her death.
“Devon? What the fuck is wrong?”
I shook myself out of the stupor. Or I tried.
“Where do we start? You pick. The females that keep going missing? The rogues on pack land? The organizing of rogues? The list goes on and on. I don’t need a war to taint my reign. I’ve got plenty of other issues to deal with.”
He walked over to where I’d stopped pacing. His hand rested on my shoulder.
“That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it. What is wrong with you? The moment you came back from the infirmary, where that female is, you’ve been acting like your ass is on fire. Sit down before you spike my damn anxiety,” he said.
I chuckled.
“No one needs you spiraling when I’m struggling. But, you’re right. I can’t get her out of my mind.”
He took a step back and went over to the desk.
“I want to go over what was reported from the Triad and the other packs, but I don’t think you’ve heard a word I’ve said. So share with your old pal Colt and tell me what’s going on with my future alpha.”
Colton paused and his brow furrowed, his hands were braced on the desk.
“But seriously Dev, what’s going on in that ugly head of yours.”
I glanced outside in the direction of our infirmary. She was there. My wolf could feel her even from here. I sighed.
“That female. My wolf, he’s. Fuck. I don’t know.”
Colton stood, but I backed away. I didn’t need him following me around like I needed the damn help. I was going to be alpha. I would fix myself.
“You’ve been acting a little crazy since we brought her back here. You weren’t at the border to meet the tracking teams. Is she a second chance do you think? It wouldn’t be great timing.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t think so. That’s the problem.”
Colton didn’t move.
“I can’t figure out what is going on. I just verbally agreed to a mating with another pack for stability. And then she shows up and?”
And what? The moon goddess sure had a rotten sense of humor for a deity that supposedly loved her children.
“Just give me the reports. What did I miss?” I asked. I needed to move on.
I didn’t bother looking at the judgment that I was sure was on his face. He hadn’t liked this arrangement from the start. He told me to wait for my second chance mate. He swore up and down an alpha wouldn’t be forsaken but how the hell did any of us know that.
But, also. How could an alpha not do what was right for the pack? I did what was right. I always did what was right. Even if I hated the pack that I would soon tie us to, and damn did I hate them. The larger of the small packs from the middle of nowhere with the fucked up manners or the uneducated archaic ways of our misguided ancestors. I was reminded that this was an in with the smaller packs that were certainly part of the problem in the south.
“Fine. I’ll drop it. If that’s what you want,” he said.
I scowled. It was a loaded question to ask what I wanted.
“It’s what I need.”
Colton let it be and with only a second glance at me and then down to his phone. He scrolled through his phone and blew out a breath before he put the thing down.