The Alpha's Alpha

Seventeen

Koa's POV

"That went great! Better than great." I said with a small smile as we drove back home. Kona just hummed, her eyes focused on the passing trees. "Do you not agree?"

"I mean, it was great for me. You on the other hand..." Her voice trailed off and I looked at her confused. "Are you really that fucking dumb?" She scoffed. "You're stupid." I inwardly grimaced at the foul words. Kona was never one to cuss but a lot of things changed while we were away. Her getting a potty mouth was on of them.

"Kona, what are you talking about?"

"You basically all but told the poor guy you were thriving without him." 

I went back over our conversation trying to figure out when that could have happened but I was drawing a blank.

"He asked how it was over in Switzerland and I told him the truth. I was just answering his questions."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to seem so happy about the shit. That's the problem. You were talking like you didn't miss him. Like you were happy while you were away." 

The more she spoke the more I realized that see was right. I was going on about my travels I hadn't even thought to think how it must have sounded.

"I wasn't though." 

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that." She said in a 'duh' tone. "Tino is hurting...can you not see that? He isn't himself." 

I felt the change in him the moment I saw him. The look on his face was different. Though he was still incredibly handsome. Breathtaking even. There was something different. His eyes weren't full of the playfulness I remembered. He was more rigid. He didn't talk much anymore, and his face was cold, like mine. 

I had thought it was possibly my presence that made him act that way. But I was wrong. 

I knew my disappearance affected him, but I didn't think to this extent. That he would change so much because of my absence. 

But I should have known. Those once beautiful big round eyes were now half closed, dark, and barely met mine. 

"It's obvious you have a lot of work to do to win his trust back. Just smarten up. Please. I don't want to see you cry again." 

I rarely cried. Truly I found the activity useless. Crying doesn't do anything but make the pain you're feeling worse. But the night when I could feel Tino spending the night with another...that was pain. A pain I had never experienced before. A pain I don't want to experience again.

I shed many tears that night. 

My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as we rode in since. 

I was at an impasse with myself. I told him to give me three months. Frankly, I was surprised at the invite for dinner so soon after our conversation. But now I was in uncharted territory. I suggested it and I don't even know what to do. How to act. Was I to be more aggressive in my approach? Or do I need to let him come to me?

This would have all been so much easier if I had known him before I left. But the truth of the matter is I do not know him. I have not known him. I do not know my mate.

But from what I do know he is different. Changed. As am I. I am not the same man I was all those years ago. I'd like to think I am better than I was but I guess I was wrong. 

"Also, it's always a no-no to flirt with someone other than your mate. I swear you can be so clueless sometimes." Kona chuckled and I raised an eyebrow.