The creek that Logan usually visited to clear his head was running again. The alpha sat by it on the tree stump, with his pants legs rolled up and his feet in the running water. He let the coolness of the creek wash over his anxieties and worries of the last few days. Soon he started to feel better, and he gave a huge sigh of contentment.

The grove of trees around the creek was deathly quiet save for the chirping of birds and the whispering of the trees. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander, thinking about anything but the pack or Aella or the rogue killings. 

It was clear that Logan was a great lover of nature as he soon got himself lost in its tranquillity. This particular creek held much sentimental value for him as he had discovered it when he was a young boy. The stream of water seemed to have some kind of pull or control over him as he had found himself coming here again and again when he needed to clear his head. And he found out he needed to clear his head more and more as he grew older.

A noise behind him made him snap up his head in alarm. He looked around in shock, trying to decipher where the noise had come from. His heightened wolf senses told him that the noise was coming from his right.

"Hello? Who's there?" He called out. He thought of changing to his wolf form if that would scare the intruder, then decided against it.

"Calm your ass down, nutcracker. It's just me." A voice replied and Louve's grinning face appeared among the trees. 

Logan breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to the creek. "One of these days you'll give me a heart attack with your jump scares."

Louve chuckled. "I'm sure. But before then I'll continue to be that very-loved pest of yours. Maybe when we die, my spirit will continue to haunt yours."

Logan groaned. "Louve..."

"That's why you. love me, Nut." She said and joined him by the creek. She peeled off her shoes and socks and folded the legs of her trousers, coming to put her feet in the cool water. She sighed as she sank into it.

"I've forgotten how calming this water can be." She said, her eyes closed. "Remember we used to come here a lot as kids? You dragged me here the day you discovered it."

"Yeah," Logan replied with a smile. "You claimed you caught a turtle here too. You liar."

Louve rolled her eyes. "I was totally not lying that day! I caught the turtle, but before I could fetch you it had escaped."

"Oh, shut up," Logan said playfully. "Turtles don't live in creeks."

Louve laughed. "But I remember we found some conch shells by the riverbank."

"Which I'm sure someone forgot theirs or something. Shells don't stay in creeks either." Logan replied, grinning.

"Yes, but we took them to your mom, remember? And she made a necklace from the shells for us."

"Yeah!" Logan replied, remembering the event. He sighed and the happy smile on his face turned to a smile of sadness. "She made a lot of things for me. Things I really miss these now, even though I didn't appreciate it then. She used to bake me a lot of cookies that I used to throw away because I didn't like them. Now here's me wishing I could eat one of her cookies.

"I really do miss her, especially on days when I really need some love." He continued. "She had this way of diffusing tension, this special way of making people feel at home around her."

Louve placed a hand on her cousin's shoulder and rubbed sympathetically. "I really miss her too, Nut."

Logan went silent for a minute, then he spoke up again. "I'll never forgive her for dying. For leaving me in this world alone, for making my father miserable and invalid."

"Stop it, Logan." Louve cautioned. "It's wrong to speak of the dead like that. It wasn't her intention to die. At least she did not commit suicide. You have good memories of her, and to me, that's all you need. And besides, if she hadn't passed away, you wouldn't have become the great alpha that you are today."

Logan snorted. "Oh, stop it. 'Great alpha' who cried when his crush left the pack."

Louve laughed. "Well, there was nothing you could do about that. She wouldn't have looked twice at a scrawny twelve-year old anyway. Besides, she imprinted on someone else."

"Yeah." Logan smiled. "Tough luck for me."

"Speaking of women, is there anyone in your life right now? Have you perhaps imprinted on someone that I need to know about?"

Logan suddenly looked nervous. Suddenly he wasn't meeting her eyes and his frown deepened. Louve noticed this and pressed on. "Have you found someone?"

"Louve, can we not talk about this please?"

"Yes or no, Logan. If you don't have a mate, you would have said so by now." She stood up from the creek and faced him with her hands akimbo.

Logan rolled his eyes to the heaven as though the answer to his problems was there. "Oh God. Why did you bless me with such a pesky cousin?"

Louve slapped his forearm with a severe look on her face. "I'm serious here!"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes. Yes, Louve I have a mate. Are you satisfied now?"

She opened her mouth wide and laughed. "Logan, the absolute hater of mating finally imprinted on someone. Well, that's news. A good one, to be exact."

"It is not." Logan snapped. The smile faded from Louve's face as he also stood up from the creek. "I didn't want this, Louve. I did not. But the Goddess or whichever supreme being is in charge of mating made my life even more miserable than it is by giving me one. If I could I'd have rejected her and gotten over this."

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. "Then why haven't you rejected her already?"

"It's just..." Logan groaned and started to walk away. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand." What he wasn't saying was that he had refrained from rejecting her because he had suspected that she was somehow connected to the killing of his pack members. If he rejected her as his mate, she would have to leave the pack. And if she left his pack, she would go with the only lead he had to solve the case of the brutal murders. Keep your enemies close, they said.

Louve followed him as he walked into the woods. "Who's she anyway? Kylie?"

Logan stopped and looked back in shock. "What? Hell no!"

"Who then?"

"I'm not saying!" He yelled and walked away towards the direction of the pack house.

Louve smiled as she already had all the information she needed. She had a hint of who Logan's mate was, even if he would not affirm her suspicions with his mouth. She already got the confirmation that she needed and decided to get her plans rolling.