Surprise? Please don't hate me for including this twist. I promise it isn't as much a detour as you may think. It will all make sense eventually.
(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
(Alpha Aiden POV)If I had a genie at my disposal and could only get one wish —or even better, if time machines were real— there is absolutely no question that I would have erased the past 72 hours. What a f&&king sh&t show.First, I fought with Addie about my late father’s character.Second, thanks to our fight, I went a couple of days without sex. (That in and of itself would not have been that big a deal, but I am an alpha; Addie and the powerful, new mate bond had gotten my body used to, and craving, sex every few hours; and —despite my anger with her— Addie remained as sexy and as tempting as ever.)Third, the human airlines totally f&&ked with us on the way back home, cancelling and delaying flights. It was my own fault for choosing to fly commercial instead of waiting for a private plane or a werewolf-run airline. However, even so, it lead to me being exhausted and worn out, which in turn lead to my short fuse being even shorter than normal. (The short fuse being, of cours
(Addie POV)“I, Alpha Aiden of the Moon Shadow Pack, reject you, Addie, as my mate and luna.”Pain shot through me as Aiden spoke the words. The only thing that prevented me from falling to the ground was the shock and disbelief that he had said the words at all.He rejected me. He really just rejected me.How could he reject me? I thought that we were falling in love. I thought we really “clicked.” Jonas and others told me that Aiden seemed to be the happiest that he had ever been.Yes, I made a mistake. Ok, a big mistake. I should have talked to him before I called Leo. But I was upset about my aunt and uncle, and I really was just trying to help. How could he not see that?“Take it back,” I whispered, almost desperately.I saw a brief flash of regret in his beautiful, big eyes, but it was quickly replaced by angry determination.“No.”“A mate bond is not something to toy with Aiden. Take the words back,” I demanded.“No. Piper is my sister.”“And I am your mate.”“No, Add
(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
(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
(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
(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