(48 hours earlier)(Addie POV)I am at the bar overlooking the pool, leisurely sipping on my spicy jalapeno margarita, when I hear the words that no she-wolf wants to hear on her mate-moon.“Baby, I have some bad news.”I look over my shoulder and up at my mate, who is quickly approaching me with his cell phone in his hand. He is wearing swim trunks, a t-shirt, and a frown.“You can tell me after we eat,” I tell him in an annoyed voice. “Our dinner reservation is in ten minutes. Go change and come back.”“No, Baby. It can’t wait.”“Aiden, we have been at this resort for five days. FIVE. I am tired of room service. I want to eat at least one meal —just one— at a restaurant. There are so many wonderful restaurants and views, so many wonderful people, and so many wonderful, spectacular shows and accommodations, and we have hardly experienced any of them. Whatever this bad news is, it can wait.”Aiden gives me a sexy smile as he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close to h
(Addie POV)“What do you mean, which sister?” Aiden repeats.Sh&t. I should not have asked that question.I take another sip of my margarita while I try to figure out what to say. We had a silent agreement to not talk about Piper, Leo, or our sexual histories. At least not yet. I’m sure some of you may be blaming us for not talking about these things sooner. And that’s fair. But we had been together for less than three weeks. THREE WEEKS. You try dating a hot-blooded alpha male for three weeks, and then you tell me at what point you feel right saying, “Hey I know your father raped a beta female and got her pregnant with your sister, and I know that sister is on the run and all, but it’s a good thing she’s alive because otherwise I may have married Leo myself.” Not exactly an easy sentiment to spit out, is it?Well, I guess it is too late now. The cat is out of the bag. Taking another long sip of my margarita, I turn back to my mate. Time to talk.“I know you have two siste
(Piper POV)“YOU TOLD MAYA TO STAY AWAY FROM ME?!?!?!” Kade roared, his hands hitting the table.I looked around the dining hall. It was completely full, and everyone was, of course, staring at us.“Kade, sit down,” I said, feeling annoyed and embarrassed.It was now Tuesday morning, and I had just been released from the hospital forty-five minutes ago. I should have been released much earlier, but I had four more pain attacks while there. I didn’t tell anyone about them, but I guess the doctors could see that something was off thanks to all the machines they had me hooked to. The doctors relayed their findings to Kade and Dr. Hyder, and Dr. Hyder ordered that I not leave the hospital until I had gone at least 12 hours without an attack.(Kade somehow convinced Dr. Hyder to give him a second chance in medical school, but he is officially on a “zero-tolerance” probation for the next six months.)Thankfully, I reached the 12-hour milestone at 8 am this morning. I was starving and de
(Addie POV)Beta Jonas was waiting for us at the packhouse when we arrived back at Moon Shadow Pack. Aiden and I were tired, grumpy, and desperately in need of (separate) showers, but it was still nice to see him. Jonas shook Aiden’s hand and then gave me a big hug.“Welcome back, Alpha and Luna. How was your trip?”“Fine,” Aiden and I replied at the same time. Jonas seemed a little taken aback by the gruffness of our response, but he let it go.“How is my sister?” Aiden asked.Jonas’s eyes darted to me and then back to Aiden. The unspoken question was obvious. Aiden waived his hand dismissively.“Addie already knows that Piper is my sister. You can talk freely.”So, it was Piper who was hurt and not Natalie? I wondered what had happened, and if Leo already knew. It really didn’t make sense that she would be here or that she would be hurt. The last that I heard, Leo had found her, and I knew that Leo would cut off his own arm before he let something happen to her.“Piper was
(Addie POV)Piper’s friend, Kade, was Aiden’s brother.Wow.I mean, I shouldn’t have been THAT surprised. A cheating, control-hungry rapist rarely only has only one victim or exploit. Still, I felt awful for Aiden. Finding out that he had yet another sibling that he didn’t know about wasn’t exactly the way that I wanted to say “I told you so.”After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I decided to give Aiden and Kade some space to talk. Choosing to let go of my earlier anger and figuring that we could work our issues out later, I gave Aiden a hug and a kiss; reassured him that I would be around when he needed me; and then excused myself from the office. Jonas followed right behind me.I had previously planned to call Leo at the earliest opportunity, but after finding out about Kade, I decided to first make sure there weren’t any other surprises waiting for us. To that end, I went to Aiden’s and my bedroom so that I could shower and change. I then went to find Piper.I ultim
(Alpha Aiden POV)As soon as Addie and Jonas left my office, I moved to my desk and sat down in my desk chair. Kade continued to watch me as I did so. It felt like hours passed before either of us said anything, although in reality I think it was just a few more minutes. A million thoughts were going through my mind, including how I was going to explain any of this to my mother and younger sister, and how much crow I was going to have to eat with Addie later. I just couldn’t believe it. Sitting before me was tangible proof that my father had not just cheated on my mother once, but twice. How had I never known? How had my mother been willing to forgive my father and play the part of his doting, loving wife and mate for so many years? How many other secret siblings did I have out there?As the questions flooded my mind, I stared at Kade. I could see in his body language that he had just as many questions as I did. At the same time, he seemed somewhat less surprised than me.“Yo
(Addie POV)Piper agreed to let me help her. Thank Goddess.You probably wonder why I was so interested in helping her. Honestly, I think it was a lot of things. She was my mate’s sister, so that was a pretty big thing. She was also a she-wolf who had managed to catch Leo Bloodstone’s attention, and that made her sort-of fascinating to me. As did the story of how she was conceived and what I had heard the Moon Goddess had planned for her.But more than any of those things, I really did feel like she-wolves needed to stick together. I was completely over females who back-stabbed one another…. especially because I had been one of the backstabbers once upon a time. In fact, I had stolen boyfriends —boyfriends, mind you, not mates— from more than one (former) friend.Surprised? Not surprised? Yeah, well. Go ahead and judge me. I’m a big girl; I deserve it. Just know that I am not that she-wolf anymore, and I haven’t been for a long time. And yes, helping Piper may have also
(Piper POV)I was nervous when Luna Addie asked me to speak to me alone. I wasn’t sure how much Aiden had told her about me. If he told her how close we were before I left —which he almost had to have done, to explain why they needed to return from their mate-moon early— I wouldn’t have been surprised if she hated me. After all, I knew that she-wolves tended to be jealous and territorial about their mates, especially when newly mated.Thankfully, she did not seem jealous of me at all. Instead, she explained why she wanted to talk and tried to make me feel comfortable. I didn’t fully trust her, especially given her connection to both Xander (who hated me) and Leo (who had spelled me). However, she seemed friendly enough during our conversation and she had a little edge to her, which I liked for Aiden. I could have easily pictured Aiden being mated to a stereotypical submissive she-wolf …and I’m sure that is what he expected too, given his prior choices in she-wolves… but I loved