(Piper POV)The packhouse alarms were blaring and we had been told to head to our panic rooms.Thankfully, Leo warned me about these security features on my first day here, so I knew what the alarms meant and what I was supposed to do. It was a blessing that I paid attention and remembered his warnings; I don’t think either of us actually expected that anything would happen. Especially not so soon. I mean, this was Bloodstone Pack. Who would attack them? This pack attacked other packs; not the other way around. Even rogues knew better than to attack here; doing so was a guaranteed death sentence.And yet, it was already clear that this was no ordinary attack.The alarms meant that enemies had breached the border and were infiltrating the pack. Meanwhile, the directive to head to the panic rooms meant that enemy forces were closing in on the packhouse itself.I did not know how much Axel knew about the security features —at his young age, I would hope he knew very little— but I c
(Piper POV) Ingrid stood up, took a few steps forward, and slapped me.Her slap was hard. So hard, in fact, that I knew that my face would likely bruise. “YOU SL&T!!!” she screamed. “What the f&&k are you doing with my pup?!?!?! It isn’t enough that you are trying to steal Leo from me, now you are trying to steal my son too?!?!?!?!?”I looked at her, feeling both confused and a little pissed off.“I don’t know what you are talking about.”“Like hell you don’t,” she growled.I narrowed my eyes at her. Thanks to being best friends with Xander growing up and having to deal with his …ways… with she-wolves, I had plenty of experience dealing with jealous females. I knew most of the games that they would sometimes play. Ingrid’s current game was an obvious and overused one. She was pretending to be upset about something, hoping to use her own bad behavior to trigger me to do or say something even worse back. Then, she would go back to Leo and play the victim.I refused to play he
(Piper POV)“Back off, Ingrid,” I warned as I stood up. “This is not about you.”“Oh, it is about me, Blondie. And I’m about to prove it to you.”I had no idea what she meant, and at that point, I didn’t want to know. I needed to de-escalate the situation and fast.“You need to stop being so boring. You are only 20 years old,” Penelope complained. “Let your hair down and let me kick some brunette a&&.”Honestly, I wanted to. Believe me, I did.But — again— I had been around she-wolves like Ingrid in the past. Playing their games had never worked out well for me. Xander and I rarely fought, but when we did, it was always because of one of his “girlfriends” (term used loosely). Even when Xander believed that I had not been the aggressor —which he didn’t always believe— he typically blamed me for things getting out of hand:“You should have been the bigger wolf.”“You knew she was just jealous. Why not just walk away?”“I am disappointed in you. You should have been more respo
(Xander POV)As I stood on the border of Bloodstone Pack, waiting to give the “go” signal to the second group of fighters, I felt ready, nervous, and introspective.I knew that our odds of success on this mission were low, and that many of our fighters would die. It was a harsh reality for me to accept. The gravity of the situation weighed heavily on me, knowing that many wolves that I had known and respected for years may not be coming home…. and knowing that I may not come home myself.The weight was so heavy that I had been unable to sleep the night before the attack. My heart, my stomach, and every part of my body burned and hurt painfully. On a positive note, experiencing the stress before the attack caused me to gain a new appreciation for my father. Despite challenging him for years on why he had become so reluctant to engage in war, I now understood.War was not easy. Only a fool would think it was.Even so, I was determined to see this through. The risks and the stress
(Xander POV)There are a lot of things to tell you, and a lot of things I am sure that you want to know, so I will just dive right on in.How long have I known that Leo and Piper were fated mates?Since shortly after my father agreed to the arranged marriage between Leo and Piper.How did I find out?After I failed to convince my father to back out of the arranged marriage bullsh&t, I visited a seer. I needed to know what Leo’s interest was in Piper, and why he was going to such great lengths to get her, and my trusted investigators were coming up empty.Did my father know?He knew that I was going to see a seer, but I never told him what the seer told me. He had been adamantly opposed to me going. He warned me that it was dangerous to know the future, especially without any context for it. He also warned me that the quality of the information yielded from a seer not only depended on the seer, but also on the quality of the questions themselves. It was not something a novice shoul
(Xander POV)It was now 11 am on Friday morning.The first two waves of the attack had been successful. In minutes, I would give the green light for the third and final phase.This was the phase that I was most looking forward to, because it was the phase in which I would personally go into the packhouse and rescue Piper. Goddess, how I missed her. It had only been two weeks, and yet it felt like a lifetime.According to my senior warriors —and according to my own observations— we currently had 164 seriously injured warriors on our side, whereas Bloodstone had 42. Neither side had suffered any casualties yet.Normally, a count of 164-42 would represent a devastating loss, even without any known casualties. However, these numbers were actually far better than we had expected going in.You see, we never intended to truly win the attack. We merely needed to create enough of a distraction so that we could get our special forces, including myself, into the packhouse.The general frame
(Xander POV)Spoiler alert: the final wave of the attack did not go as planned. Or at least not the way that I planned.Before I explain what happened, I need to back up a little bit and explain some more about how Ellis factored into all of this. Fully understanding Ellis’s motives and his role will become important later.Admittedly, looking back on it, it is a little tough for even me to understand what I was thinking back then. Was it my desperation that caused me to trust Ellis so much? Was it my immaturity? Was it my love for Piper?I don’t know. But I suppose the best place to start is this simple cliché:“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”I think this saying comes the closest to explaining why —despite knowing Ellis for such a short period of time— he and I became very close very quickly. Indeed, from our initial conversations, it became obvious that Ellis hated Leo Bloodstone even more than I did. And because of his hatred, rules did not matter to him. Nor did et
(Leo Bloodstone POV)I had been fighting in my wolf form for hours, alongside my father, Nick Brogan, and the rest of my team.I had barely broken a sweat, and we were doing a good job of dealing with the overall threat. However, enemy fighters kept coming at us, and I could not shake the feeling that something was off.Of course, I had felt that way from the moment that I was notified that we were under attack.Almost from the get-go, there were several clues confirming that this was no ordinary attack —some small; some much more obvious.Clue # 1 was that we were attacked at all. It had been at least ten years since the last direct attack on Bloodstone Pack. We took pride in our reputation for being ruthless, unforgiving, and undefeated; most packs and rogues in the country knew not to mess with us. That someone —or multiple someones— had decided to attack us meant that we were dealing with wolves who were either desperate or who had a death wish.Clue # 2 was the bizarre way th
I have NOT abandoned this story. 2024 just hates me.I am determined to finish this story, and do so as soon as possible.2024 willing, updates start again tomorrow.
(Piper POV)“Boss thinks it is time for you to go back to Bloodstone Pack.”I practically jumped off of the bench, almost throwing up right then and there. “What?!?!? You have to be joking.”Viper sighed. “No. I’m serious.”“No, you are insane,” I replied angrily. “How could you possibly suggest that I go back to him?!?!? After all that he has done?!?!?!”Even if a part of my heart still craves him, I added silently.“That is why I wanted us to talk. I need you to tell me what happened between you.”“You have been watching me for years. So you must already know.”“We are bikers not psychics.”I sighed and pointed to the darkening sky.“You really want to do this right now?”“Yes.”“Why?”“Again, boss’s orders.”“Which boss? Rooster?”“No. The one who hired us.”“And that was?”“Someone that loves you a lot. Someone who even you would have to agree has always had your best interests in mind.”I laughed bitterly. “And now I know for sure that you are lying. No one alive fit
(Piper POV)“How do you know about my connection to Leo Bloodstone?” I asked gingerly.Viper ignored my question. “Why did you run away from Bloodstone Pack?” he asked me instead.“Answer my question first.”“No.”“Viper ---”“Poison, this is important. Before I tell you anything, I need to know why you ran away from Bloodstone Pack. I’ve given you time and space the last few months to see if you would tell me on your own, and you haven’t. Now I need to know.”“Why now? In the middle of a run with everyone else?”“Boss’s orders.”Huh. That comment puzzled me. The boss/ alpha/ president of the club was Rooster. I had only met him a few times, and he only barely seemed to notice me.“Rooster knows about Leo too?”“Yes.”“Why does he care? Did Leo threaten the club?”“No.”“So why does Rooster care?” “Before I answer that, answer my question first. Why did you run away from Bloodstone Pack?”Just like that, the anger and frustration I was feeling towards Viper returned. I de
(Piper POV)As Viper and I continued to sit in silence on the bench overlooking the lake, the sky darkened, signaling a thunderstorm was on its way. At first, I tried to ignore the impending change in weather. However, after several raindrops hit my face and the first roar of thunder landed in the distance, I stood up and faced him. Regardless of whether I was ready to talk about my past, I knew that we needed to quickly do so and then get back on the road.“You said that you wanted to talk, so let’s talk,” I said softly.“We have been keeping secrets from each other,” Viper said in a serious tone of voice. “That needs to end today.”I gulped.“What do you mean?”“Don’t play stupid with me. We both know each other better than that.”“Well, I thought we did…”“Poison,” he said sternly.I sighed. “Okay, fine. Where do you want to start?”“First, I want you to tell me something. Do you trust me?” Viper responded.“That’s a weird place to start.”“Maybe. But answer the question
(Piper POV)I was silent for a long time after Viper told me that we needed to talk. I knew that he was right, but I was not sure who should start the conversation… him or me. Ten minutes earlier, I would have been sure that I was the one who needed to talk and confess some things. However, it was also ten minutes earlier that I had no idea that Viper knew anything about my past, much less about Leo Bloodstone’s connection to it. It was now clear to me that Viper had been keeping secrets of his own. Because, of course he was. All of the males around me kept secrets. URRRRGGGGGGHHHHH.I suppose I should back up before I confuse you any further. I forgot that I skipped ahead and left a few things out.As you already know, I had a car accident six months before this. Just before the accident, I stole a delivery van and ran away from Moon Shadow Pack. I thought that I had gotten away successfully, and I was planning to make my way to Dr. Hyder’s pack for treatment and help elimi
(Six Months Later)(Piper POV)I found myself lost in thought as I stared out over a large lake. It was still pretty early in the morning, so there were not a lot of people around. The only movement that I saw came from the water, the wind, and the birds.So much had happened in the past six months. In many ways, I was happier than I had been in a very long time. However, a big part of me still longed for my old home, my old friends, my (now deceased) family, and …as stupid as it sounds… for Leo. After all the time that had passed, and after all of Leo’s lies, tricks, and secrets, I was not sure why my heart still held on to Leo. After all, we had only been together for a couple of weeks. I tried to convince myself that it was just the lingering effects of the spells that he had placed on me. For her part, when I asked her about it, Penelope agreed with me that that was all it was. However, I think both of us knew deep down that it was more than that; we just did not want to
(Leo Bloodstone POV)“Where is she?” I asked.Addie did not answer right away. I could tell that she was beginning to fade. I began to worry that Addie would pass out or fall asleep any minute.“WHERE IS PIPER?” I repeated in a louder voice.“I don’t know,” she said in a sing-song voice.“How long has she been missing?”“I don’t know. A while.”“What happened?”“I don’t know.”Addie closed her eyes and leaned her head on one of her suitcases. No. I could not let her sleep. Not yet.I gently grabbed Addie by both of her arms. “Addie, this is important. Please concentrate. Where is Piper?”Addie shook my hands off of her. “I already told you, Leo. I don’t know!!! She was here, and then she wasn’t.”“What happened? Why did she leave?”Addie took in an annoyed breath. “I. DON’T. KNOW.”“I came all the way out here to get her, Addie. And I came because you called me. You’ve got to do better than that. You know how important this is. Give me something!”At that point, Add
(Leo Bloodstone POV)It was nearly 2 am by the time that my team and I finally made it to Moon Shadow Pack. It had taken me longer than I expected to leave, mainly because my father —despite doing better— was still not 100%. More on that later.I felt a mix of relief, guilt, and worry as we got close to the pack gates, and as I thought about Piper and all that had happened the past few weeks. But above everything else, I felt a sense of excitement. I genuinely missed her, and I could not wait to hold her in my arms again.I promised myself and my wolf that, once we found Piper, I would explain as much as I could to her. I would also never let anyone hurt her again. Nor would I ever let her go… even if I had to handcuff her to me this time.I was not surprised that Addie was waiting for me when we arrived. I was, however, surprised to see her sitting on the ground, waiting for me outside the border… by herself… while surrounded by suitcases and a few empty bottles of wolfsbane vo
(Piper POV)Luna Addie told Leo where I was. How could she do that? I really had thought that she had wanted to help me. Was I that bad a judge of character? I mean, yes, I had not completely trusted her …but I had trusted her a little bit… and I had never expected her to turn me over to Leo. Maybe she really did want to punish me for my relationship with Aiden, and her saying otherwise was just a lie.Goddess.No matter what, it was now clear that I could not trust anyone. Nor could I trust my own judgment.It was also clear that I needed to get out of Moon Shadow Pack. There was no way that I could stay now that Leo knew where I was.I raced as quickly as I could to my bedroom so that I could grab my duffle bag. Thankfully, I had not unpacked it at all and no one stopped me on the way to get it; everyone seemed busy with other tasks.Once I had my duffle bag, I went to Kade’s room on the next floor up to let him know that I was leaving. Despite being angry with me, I assum