The Hunter's Alpha

21 Soothed

Devon

There was a knock on my office door. I called permission to come in, and my brother pushed the door open.

"Hey Devon. Ray summed up all the info we've gathered on hunter activity and I offered to bring it by since I was coming this way."

I'd noticed that my brother came more often in place of my gamma and delta. They probably thought it was safer, or maybe the task fell on him as beta. Or as my brother. I didn't know, and I didn't call them out on it.

"Thanks."

"No prob. Hey, do you feel up to doing something, I don't know, anything besides work one of these days. It's been a long time since we've done anything, and I know you're the alpha, but you're also still my brother. Nothing changes that, right? And Silvia wouldn't want you to be isolated. If she were here..."

I sighed. I didn't have an interest in doing anything. Even if I did, I didn't want to be around anyone in case my wolf got agitated. "There's too much to do."

Oliver knew I was lying, but he didn't argue. We did a lot more pretending that we believed each other's lies in the past months. He was right, though. Silvia would have pestered me into being less antisocial. She was a lot like Oliver in temperament, but my wolf had a softer spot for her.

If we could just make a breakthrough in the case... I eyed the folder Oliver placed on my desk. If there was anything of real value in there, I wouldn't be getting a report. They'd have told me straight out and we'd be on our way to rescue Silvia and her mate.

Mate.

I hated the word. My wolf howled for ours in my head.

"You talk to Sarah sometimes, right?"

Oliver was hesitant in his response. "I do."

"How're they doing?" We both knew I was mostly concerned about one.

He chose his words carefully. "From what I hear, they're both doing just fine."

More meaningless platitudes. I growled, unable to help myself.

"She's doing well. She's got friends, a job, from what I hear. They have movie nights together."

It was the most I'd heard in all these months.

There was pity in Oliver's eyes. "She's safe, and it sounds like she's doing well."

"That's good." I meant it. But I still had the inclination to force my way into whatever she had built whether she wanted me there or not.

"Maybe..." Oliver trailed off, and I focused on him. His breathing was a bit fast, was he nervous?

"What is it?"

He swallowed audibly. "I'm not saying now, or any time soon, but maybe you should consider ending your connection with her."

My wolf reared to the surface, and it took all my concentration to hold him back from demonstrating to my brother just how much he hated the idea.

Oliver continued speaking quickly. "I know it's not what any of us would want for you, but this is eating you alive, Devon. You're not yourself anymore. Even now, your eyes are your wolf's gold, not your norm. You've lost weight, you're not sleeping, you're constantly drinking." He pointed to the half full glass on my desk to highlight his point.

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Then are you waiting for her to come back?"

I scoffed. "No. She never wanted me. She has what she wanted. Why would she return?"