"Wow, you finished faster than I thought you would," a smirking Griffin said. He was casually leaning against the wall, his arms crossed.

"Is Davidson waiting in my office?" I asked choosing to ignore his previous comment. His smile only widened, as he pushed off the wall walking alongside me.

"Just crossing our border," he replied. Of course, he wasn't even here yet, and Griffin made it sound like the man had been waiting for me.

"You can be a serious pain in my ass sometimes; you know that?" I said walking a little faster. Griffin picked up his pace trying to keep up with me.

"Careful, your little pup might get jealous if you keep flirting with me like this."

 I just rolled my eyes muttering a few unsavory words under my breath. As annoying as Griffin could be, it was nice to get back to our old banter though I wouldn't admit it to him.

"All joking aside, what's going on with the two of you?" he asked once we were in the privacy of my office.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we haven't talked about what happened between you guys the other day. I'm assuming since you're not a complete idiot, that she gave you an explanation as to why she was with Alpha Phillips," he said in an expectant tone.

"She did," I answered, a smile on my face. Sitting in my chair, I leaned back with my hand behind my head and my feet up on my desk. When it came to gossip Griffin was like a teenage girl. Something you wouldn't expect from a thirty-three-year-old beta.

"And?!?" he asked.

"I'm only telling you because it is relevant to our situation." 

His eyebrows rose, and he took a seat across from me.

"Relevant how?"

"Did I ever tell you Izzy's full name is Isabella?"

"No, so what?"

 I could tell Griffin was getting slightly agitated. Served him right for the stunt he pulled earlier.

"Isabella Phillips." 

The look on his face was priceless. His eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open.

"They're related?"

"Yeah, his eldest child," I confirmed with a nod.

"Well, that explains why she's so crazy," he said thoughtfully.

"She's not crazy."

"Really? Did you not see her launching half of your office furniture at my head the other day?" Griffin asked incredulously. 

Laughing at the memory, I nodded.

"Indeed, I did, but in her defense, you tend to have that effect on people." 

Griffin cocked one eyebrow at me, but then quickly dropped it with a smirk.

"Defending your girlfriend already?" 

My first thought was to protest and say she wasn't my girlfriend, but even in my head it sounded immature. Plus, it would open up a new line of questions I had no answers to. To be honest, I wasn't sure where Izzy and I stood.

"I'll take your silence as a yes. But wait, if Phillips is her father where exactly does that leave the two of you?" It was a valid question.

"I'm not sure entirely."

"Do you think you can trust her?" He prodded.

 Sitting up, I grab a pen off the desk twirling it in my hand.

"Yeah, I do. She's not exactly his biggest fan. I'm pretty sure it's why she ended up going rogue in the first place." I considered if I should tell him about her idea to mate. Having his input couldn't hurt I decided.

"She suggested we mate to try to prevent her father's attacks on Silent River." 

There was a moment of silence, while Griffin seemed to think over what I had just said.

"I don't think it would work," he said thoughtfully.

 I was a bit shocked that he hadn't cracked a joke or made some sly comment.

"I mean if their relationship is as rocky as you say, what would you two being mated change?" Sometimes Griffin's logic was actually, well logical. "But then again maybe, and this is just a maybe, if you two did mate it might just be enough to placate him. I mean it would make his daughter our Luna. I'm just not sure it would be enough to keep him happy." His train of thought was sound and very unGriffin like.

"Since when did you become the voice of reason?" 

He gave me his trademark smirk and a wink.

"Always, you just never had the sense to listen to me," Griffin replied. His response made me laugh so hard I clutched my stomach.

"This is coming from the guy who convinced me that as a future alpha, I should be able to jump off the roof of the pack house and land gracefully at the bottom unharmed," I said still trying to regain my composure.

"Yeah, I still can't believe you actually tried it," he said joining me in laughter. I shook my head finally sobering up a bit.

"I ended up with eight broken bones after that stunt, and you wonder why I have trouble going to you for advice?"

"That was like a million years ago, and how was I to know you would be stupid enough to go and try it?" He defended still laughing. We both sighed. It did seem like a million years ago.

A rapping at the door brought us out of our reverie and back to the issues at hand. Griffin quickly went to the door inviting Alpha Davidson and his beta in. The men were both substantially older than Griffin and me. I could see the exhaustion on Alpha Davison's face; he didn't look much better than the last time I had seen him. His beta, who's name I couldn't remember, seemed to be sizing Griffin up. Griffin must have noticed the man's actions also, because he stood a little taller and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Alpha," I greeted Davidson. "How are you?"

"As best as can be expected under the circumstances. You look well," he said giving me a firm handshake.

"Thank you. I appreciate you meeting me on such short notice."

"You said over the phone that you knew who was behind the rogue attacks," he said trying to get straight to the issue at hand. He seemed more tense than normal. The rogue issue must really be affecting him. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. I was sure these attacks on his pack were only because of it's close proximity to Silent River.

"Yes, I believe I do," I said feeling confident in my assumptions. "I think an alpha is behind this."

"An alpha? You think a pack alpha is working with rogues?" He said sounding a bit taken aback. His beta shifted a bit looking to his alpha in confusion. Davidson only raised his hand as if to tell his beta to hold on.

I couldn't understand how cold and formal they seemed towards each other. Griffin and I couldn't be more different from them, but maybe it was just the way they behaved in front of other packs. I kept my eyes trained on the older beta for a little while longer. Why couldn't I remember his name, I thought a little annoyed with myself.

"After you informed me about the missing she-wolves I arranged to have a sit down with a few of the other alphas from the surrounding packs." 

His eyebrows rose, and his face showed the slightest bit of interest.

I don't know if it was because Davidson was close to the age my father was when he passed or if it was that they shared the same mannerisms, but I always felt like a child trying to  prove something whenever I spoke with him.

"I only ended up going to one pack, in the end, Crescent Moon." I didn't miss the distaste on his beta's face. Davidson, on the other hand, remained indifferent. "I think their alpha is behind it."

"Phillips? You think Alpha Phillips is behind this?" He asked sounding astonished.

"Yes, since the death of my mate Phillips has shown a great deal of interest in acquiring my pack. After several attempts of trying to convince my beta to hand it over during my," I paused. "my time of mourning, he then asked me if I would consider naming his unborn son my successor." I could feel the anger boiling up inside of as I spoke.

"I am assuming you declined his offer?" 

I nodded in response. Davidson's eyebrows knit together as he appeared to be trying to work out something in his head. Before he could say another word, Izzy came barging through the door. Her chest heaving as she attempted to catch her breath.

"Logan, he's awake," She said smiling widely, but it quickly disappeared when she saw all eyes on her. "Oh sorry. I hadn't realized you still had company," she said slightly blushing.

"Who's awake?" Davidson asked as if she had been talking to him.

"Our third in command, Asher." Griffin answered calmly, but I could see from the look in his eyes he was just as excited as Izzy. It was one of the things I respected about him; he took his position as beta very seriously.

"Alpha Davidson this is Isa-."

"Izzy," She introduced herself cutting me off. She smiled kindly at him before giving me a pointed look as if to tell me to shut up. "I apologize again for interrupting your meeting." 

I was shocked at how polite and formal she was behaving.

"Izzy, what an interesting name," Davidson said. "It's nice to meet you. I don't believe I have seen you around here before are new to this pack?"

"No, I am just visiting," she answered quickly. Her eye darted to me for a moment then back to Davidson. It looked like he wanted to question her further but held back.

"Well, I really must be going anyway. The Mrs. does not like me gone for any length of time."

 I didn't want him to leave just yet since we hadn't discussed much, but I could tell he was just kindly excusing himself to allow me a chance to see Asher.

"It was nice seeing you again, Logan. You'll have to visit us when this mess is all over."

"Indeed, I will."

"It was nice to see you again Mr. Pearson," he said giving Griffin a nod. On his way out the door, he stopped in front of Izzy. " It was very nice to meet you Ms.--?" He paused waiting for Izzy to fill in the blank.

"Just call me Izzy," she said not giving him her last name. I was sure it was not something she wanted people to know, especially in the current situation.

"Well, just Izzy I hope to see you again soon." He grabbed her hand in his and kissed it. A low growl filled the silence, and it wasn't until I saw Griffin smirking at me did I realize it had come from me. If Davidson heard it, he didn't acknowledge it. With a last goodbye he and his beta were out the door. It didn't take long for Griffin to lose his composer and burst out laughing.

"Shut up," I barked embarrassed at the way I had behaved.

"That was priceless," He said between fits of laughter. I could feel my neck getting hot. "Doesn't he just look so cute when he blushes." That had Izzy laughing along with him. I would like to say I acted like the mature alpha that I was, but I can't. Instead, I mumbled a quiet whatever and left to check on Asher. I think, I liked it better when they fought I thought as I made my way out the pack house, Izzy and Griffin in tow still laughing.