Chapter 375 Chapter 375
Closing the door, he walked to the window in the hall and stared out at the lake. He couldn’t do this again. Get attached to another female, only to watch her walk away because she was mated to someone else. Grinding his teeth, he crossed his arms over his chest. It had been like that with Olanna. She had been living on her own for so long it took him time to gain her trust to bring her back to the Sanctuary. Of course, at that time, he got a little too close to her and they had both enjoyed their time together. Somewhere deep inside he’d known she could be mated to one of the males at home, but the years of loneliness had superseded any reasonable thinking.
It had been bittersweet when they found out one of the men he’d known his whole life was her mate. Auburn was a good man, and Konner couldn’t begrudge him his happiness for a summer romance. It had taken a few years for him to look at her and not see her in that way.
“Everything all right?”
Konner looked over his shoulder to see Calum standing there. “Yeah, just lost in thought.” he turned away from the window.
“Looked like some deep thoughts.”
Konner sighed, “yeah,” he waved his hand around, “lack of sleep probably.”
Calum pointed to the office door, “do you want to do this tomorrow then?”
Shaking his head, Konner started walking, “no, we’ll sketch out some ideas tonight then sleep on them.”
“Sounds good to me.” Calum smirked, “I decided to let Deacon get a good night’s sleep before I tell him his clan is expanding.” Calum turned toward the office, glancing back at him, “I think he only agreed to the Alpha position because he didn’t think any more like him were out there.”
Konner followed as he went into the room, “there’s always a chance of more of ours out there.”
Calum set his cup on the table and looked over at the map behind the desk. “I was part of the Alliance before I knew what it was all about.” He shrugged, “as one of the prince’s seconds, I didn’t have a choice.”
“That explains how it was you that set up the evacuation plan.”
He nodded his head crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the floor. “Devin and I grew up together, along with Gage, his other choice for a second,” he shook his head, “a wolf, a tiger, and a jaguar,” he grinned, “it was quite eventful, but our clans were all working together to get the Alliance heading in a different direction,” he looked over at him and Konner watched something change in his eyes, “then the Tomas organization happened, or became apparent that they were out there.” He ran his hand down over his jaw, “every one of our clans has lost members because of them, yours probably the most.”
“Is that why you do it?” Konner leaned back against the desk, “because you’ve lost too?”
Calum looked at him without seeing him for a moment, “my mother.” His expression lightened for a moment, “I don’t hold any fantasies that she’s still out there,” he smirked, “she was a fighter, so I doubt they kept her alive this long.” He sucked in a breath, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t do everything in my power to find as many as I can and make Tomas’ vast empire crumble.”
Konner put his hand over his mouth and stood that way looking at him for a moment. Dropping his hand, he gave him a quick shrug, “regardless of reasons, I’m glad you’re with us and not against us.”
Calum smirked. “So, where do you want to begin this long night of plans, backup plans, and contingency plans?”
Konner chuckled, “I thought we’d start by opening my email from Fallan and seeing where the locations are.”
“Think we’ll be lucky enough they’re four states all lined up in a row?”
Konner leaned over his desk and opened the email, he scanned it quickly, just looking for names, and then lifted his gaze to look at him. “No such luck.”
“Good side to that is a delay in sharing information. If they were neighboring, news travels fast.” Calum went over to the map crossed his arms and looked at it. “Personally, I don’t care where they are, we’ll find them all eventually.”
Konner turned to the map and nodded, “I still have six thousand, four hundred and six lakes, small bodies of water, and deep rivers to check in North America, so the more I travel the better.”
“That many?”
Konner didn’t look at him, just nodded, “which considering there are over thirty thousand,” he lifted one shoulder and let it drop, “I’d say I’m doing good.”
“You said North America, did your clans split worldwide?”
Konner put his hands on top of his head and held them there while he blew out a breath. “I don’t know. Nothing for sure at least.”
“Okay, well, that puts our current task into perspective and now it doesn’t seem so daunting.”
Konner dropped his hand and looked at him, “glad I could be of help.”
“I feel like I should be out there helping you by swimming in lakes.” Calum went around and picked up the cup.
“Unfortunately, unless you use high-tech sonar, you can’t just jump in a lake and find one of my kind.”
“I didn’t think it was that easy.” He paused before taking a sip, “but I’m still willing to help.”
“I might take you up on that sometime, just the traveling constantly wears on me.” He turned the laptop around so Calum could read the locations, “having someone to talk to while I do it would be great.”
Calum, grinned, “I travel all the time too, now I have Shae, so it’s not as bad.”
Konner nodded, turning his back to the desk so he could look at the distance between the locations. Even if he found a mate someday, he doubted he’d risk letting her ever leave the Sanctuary. The only two of his clan that had left it since the fence was complete were Auburn and himself. Auburn only if he had to go to a building site, otherwise he did most things remotely. Konner was the one that took all the risks so his clan could be safe, and he didn’t see that changing in the future.