This had been a mistake, coming here after all this time had passed as if nothing had changed. What had I been thinking? But I was here now, and I needed to get answers. Phillips made it clear, he still held me responsible for his son's death, and that meant my pack was still in danger.

"Look, I screwed up, okay. No one is denying that, but I am here now. And --" Aiden cut me off with an unimpressed scoff and a roll of his eyes.

"So what? Yeah, you're here now when you should be there helping your pack. To me, it just seems like you're running away. I mean do you even want to be alpha anymore?" The harsh tone of his words surprised me. Of course, I wanted to be alpha. How could he even question that?

"I am not running away. I am trying to make things right," I tried to explain. Couldn't he see that? How could someone that used to call himself my friend think so little of me? Yes, my pack needed me, but that's why I was here. Wasn't it? To help them, to prevent any more loss. Again Grey scoffed.

"Maybe you should step down then," he said getting up from his chair. "Maybe you should let a real Alpha take over. I mean seriously even your beta did a better job than your doing now," Grey continued as he approached.

"Silent River is my pack," I bit out trying unsuccessfully not to let his words get the better of me.

"By birth maybe, but do you really deserve them, or perhaps a better question is do they deserve a pathetic excuse for an alpha like you?" he said give me a shove. With each word he spoke, I could feel my anger rise, my wolf begging for me to show him just how wrong he was.

"Stop" I ground out, my fits tightly clenched at my sides. Grey looked down at my now white knuckles as my claws began to dig into the flesh of my palms.

"Stop what? Stop say what everyone is thinking? Or stop doing this?" he asked shoving me a little harder this time.

"Aiden, I am warning you," I urged him to stop as I took a step back.

"You hurt me? Look at you," he said gesturing with his hand. Grey took another step towards me. His eyes were watching me like he was waiting for something. "You know, maybe it's a good thing Olivia's died. So she didn't have to see what a so--"

"Don't ever talk about my mate like that again!" I barked out. It was taking every ounce of my self-control not to shift, but Aiden didn't appear worried in the least.

"Because you'll what, run home with your tail between your legs like you did the last time? Seriously, why keep fighting the inevitable? Just let Phillips have Silent River." Before I even registered what I was doing my fist collided with Aiden's jaw. A satisfying crunch resounded as my knuckles made contact with his cheekbone.

Grey stood just a few feet from me, hunched over, his back to me as his hand went to his injured face. I stood there waiting for him retaliate or kick me off his land, but he didn't.

When he finally turned around, the scowl that seemed permanently set on his face suddenly lifted, and he smiled.

"Took you long enough," he said. "I forgot how good of a right hook you had." His hand was absently rubbing his jaw. "And for the record, I didn't mean what I said about Olivia. That girl would have loved you no matter how much of a dribbling mess you were." I could only stand there staring at him. What in the hell just happened?

"You wanted me to hit you?" I asked in disbelief earning me another laugh.

"No, not exactly. I just wanted you to react, to show that the old Logan was still in there somewhere. Not for you to rearrange my face," he said still rubbing his jaw. "Seriously, that hurt like hell. Did you have to hit me so damn hard?" I don't know if it was the exhaustion, or maybe I had a severe brain injury, but I could not stop the fit of laughter that suddenly took over.

"You deserved it," I retorted when I finally regained control of myself.

Grey merely nodded before adding, "Yeah, I probably deserved worse. But look, in all honesty, I am sorry for what I said about Olivia. It was way out of line, and you know I would never mean that. She was a great woman who would have loved you no matter how much you mucked up, and boy did you muck things up." That was one of the things I appreciated about Aiden Grey. No matter what you could always count on him to call it as he saw it. He was never one to sugar coat things.

"Thanks, man," I said honestly. He was right. I hadn't been handling things like I would have before. Without even realizing it I had been doing my best not to handle things.

"That's what I am here for. Feel free to call me anytime you need some sense beaten into you," he joked smirking. I knew immediately he was making a reference to the first time we had met, which consequently had been the same day I met Olivia.

I had almost forgotten that Aiden's mate, Abigail, had come from the same pack as Olivia. In fact, the two had been close friends as children, and it was thanks to that friendship that I had the chance to find my mate.

Abby had been newly mated to Aiden and invited Olivia to see her new pack. I had ended up trespassing on Midnight Creeks territory that day during a race with Griffin. Being the young alpha to be that I was, I had refused to apologize. Grey, being older newly appointed Alpha, decided I needed to be taught some humility and kindly beat the living daylights out of me. Just as I was leaving with my tail between my legs, I spotted her picking wildflowers near the pack border.

"Which of your pack members did you need to speak with?" he asked finally his eyebrow raised. That was the thing about Grey. He was very much like Asher. Both men were always analyzing every word, every movement. It was hard not to second guess everything I did or said in their presence. And if on the rare occasion, I was with both men at the same, time the scrutiny was near unbearable.

"Lucy Jacobs." This seemed to peak his interest. I swear had he been in wolf form his ears would have perked up.

"Please, tell me you're not here to tell that poor girl she has lost another of her family members," he said genuinely concerned. I hadn't even thought to find out about her parents or Ryan before I left.

'Asher, do you know where Ryan is?' I asked through the link out of habit. Crap. No link.

"No, I am not. How did you know that she had already lost someone?" I asked a little shocked that he had bothered to find that sort of information out.

"I make it a habit to get to know my pack members, and since I wasn't sure if these young wolves would be staying or not, I decided to spend a bit of time speaking to each of them." It didn't take long for a quiet knock to sound from the other side of the office door.

"Come in." The door slowly opened. Lucy was peeking from around the side of it. The moment her eyes met mine a smile spread across her face before quickly morphing into a look of terror.

"Oh God, no please..." she trailed off shaking her head emphatically.

"No, no I am not here about your family or even Ryan. I'm here--"

"So they're okay? My family and Ryan, they're alive?" she questioned, her words coming out rushed. I was a little shocked at her outburst.

Usually, the young girl wouldn't say more than two words in my presence and only if I asked her something directly. Her father had come to my pack from another, one with a stricter more controlling alpha, and he raised his girls to fear and respect alphas. For her to be talking so freely and even interrupt me was beyond surprising, but then, strong emotions, such as worry, can often overrule one's better judgment. I knew this better than anyone.

"Yeah, they're all fine," I lied not wanting to worry her anymore and praying I was right. "I came to speak to you about Eric, Alpha Phillips' son." Instantly her brows knitted together.

"What about him?" she asked obviously confused.

"I didn't get around to asking you, how he end up with you and the rogues." As if seemingly remembering her dad's teaching, Lucy looked down, no longer making eye contact with me.

"I don't really know what happened. I mean, I'm pretty sure they set out to capture him. It was more like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were moving, always moving. I could hear the men constantly talking about the trackers being too close. Then, the night before you found us, Eric ran into one of the men. He thought we were just a group of rogues passing through. The rogue that was in charge was paranoid and sure that Eric would run off and tell you our location. He was heading in the direction of our pack, after all," she explained a distant look in her eyes. So they hadn't targeted the boy.

"Did he say why he was heading toward Silent River?" She nodded.

"He said he had been following a scent, his sister's I think. I don't know. Maybe I heard wrong." I had no doubt she had heard right. It all made sense. Eric disappearing without anyone seeing, because there was no kidnapping. Well, at least not originally. As for the rogues grabbing him, well from Lucy's description of the leader that would make sense too, but what had been

bugging me was I had no idea whose orders were they follow.

At first, I was sure it was Phillips, and honestly, part of me still believed it had to be him, but them capturing and killing his son? He wouldn't have allowed that. At least I didn't think he would, but then who was working with these rogues?

"I need to get back," I blurted out. If Phillips wasn't behind the rogues, then my pack was still in danger and even more vulnerable to attack. "Lucy, I will send someone to collect you and the rest of our pack members when we have had a chance to deal with the injured, and things are more settled," I told her as I got up ready to take my leave. "Alpha Grey, thank you for all your help, and I apologize for dropping in unannounced." Aiden gave me a reassuring nod before I made my way out of his office.

The run back to Silent River didn't seem as taxing, but the definite ache in my front leg, from the bone setting oddly, was still very prominent. I needed to speak with Asher and see if he could figure out the missing piece of the rogue puzzle that I could not. Had I possibly underestimated Phillips cruelty or could his son's death have been an unfortunate mishap in a much grander scheme?

~~~~~~~~~~~Author's Note~~~~~~~~~~~~

First let me start of be apologizing emphatically. I am sooo sorry!!! I know it has been forever and a day since I updated, and incase you are worrying I am not going to leave this story unfinished or gotten bored with it in anyway. But I did hit a serious wall with this chapter. Again I am so sorry for the month long wait. I promise it shall not happen again.