(Leo Bloodstone POV) An hour later, Beta Landon walked into the alpha office. I was seated behind the desk while my father was seated in a chair to the side. Beta Landon gave us both a slight bow and then sat down.I had mixed feelings about seeing him. On one hand, I knew he was Piper’s father. I also knew from my research and interviews that he had been good to Piper, and Piper loved him a lot. On the other hand, he had yet to produce his daughter for marriage like he had promised. More importantly, his secrets —and his pack’s secrets— made him my enemy.I decided to dispense with small talk and get immediately to the point.“Why are you here?” I asked bluntly. “Your pup… is he okay?”“That is why you are here?” I asked coldly.“No. But I have heard the pup had an accident. It would be rude not to inquire.”“What is rude is pulling me from his hospital room for nonsense. Tell me why you are here so that I can get back to him.”Beta Landon looked down at his hands. It was
(Beta Landon POV)You may wonder why I agreed to the arranged marriage between Leo Bloodstone and my daughter. Most wolves around here believe that I agreed because, after losing my wife, I became afraid of war. Certainly, that is what Alpha Henry, Luna Rachel, Xander, and the Bloodstones believe.They are all wrong.I did not agree to the arranged marriage because I am afraid of war. I agreed because I am afraid of Piper finding her fated mate. More specifically, I agreed to the marriage because I am afraid that Xander is Piper’s fated mate.Of course, there is no way for me to know for sure who Piper’s mate is. But the risk is there, and it worries me. A lot.Let me explain.Piper’s mother, Grace, and I were fated mates. We met when she was 20 years old and I was 24. The pull of the mate bond was strong, and we fell in love quickly and passionately. Within mere days of meeting, she made herself my entire world, and I made her my wife.Grace did not have an easy life growing
(Alpha Aiden POV)Jonas walked into my office and sat down in the chair across from me.“Well?” I asked.“She’s still not coming.”“Seriously?”Jonas nodded.What the f&&k. It has been four months since I punished Piper… and three months since I have been unsuccessfully trying to modify the punishment and apologize to her. “What is her excuse this time?”“You don’t want to know,” Jonas replied matter-of-factly.“It cannot be any worse than her last few excuses.”“Wanna bet?” Jonas asked with a smirk. “But you deserve it.”I glared at him angrily.Although Jonas is my beta, he is first and foremost my best friend. And as my best friend, he —like my wolf— was completely horrified when I told him what had happened during the meeting with Piper.The original plan had been to punish Piper by: 1) forbidding her from leaving pack grounds for any reason; 2) switching her to night shift; 3) eliminating her days off; and 4) forbidding her from having unsupervised contact with male wolves. T
(Piper POV)Was it smart for me to taunt and knowingly disrespect an arrogant, cocky beast of an alpha? No, of course not. Especially not one who had accepted me into his pack and allowed me a safe place to stay, few questions asked, while I was on the run.But you already know that I get triggered by sexist bullsh&t. I do things I probably should not do.And being triggered does explain some of my reaction to Alpha Aiden. However, I NEVER, EVER would have tried something like that at Blue Ridge. Even when I am triggered, I am a rule follower, and the rules are very clear that you are to always respect your alpha and obey their summons. That is just how it is.But this situation was different. I wasn’t taunting Alpha Aiden just because I was triggered. When he first announced my punishment, I was actually crushed. In fact, I cried every day for a week straight after our conversation. Part of that was the timing. I was already starting to mentally break because of the overwhe
(Piper POV)“You have really been doing this every night?” Alpha Aiden asked me for the third time.I rolled my eyes. “Yes.”“By yourself?”“Yes, which is exactly how you wanted it, remember? Fewer males around to randomly f&&k me,” I replied. There was some bitterness in my tone, but not as much as earlier. Now my voice held an equal amount of genuine humor.Alpha Aiden looked up at me and sighed.“How many do we have left?”“115.”“As in, one-hundred and fifteen?”“Yes.”Alpha Aiden wiped sweat off of his eyebrow with the back of his hand.“Is that total?”“No. That is the number left in this building.”“How many buildings?”“Well, we have the packhouse, which we are doing now; the hospital; the warrior dormitory; and the training facility. So… three more after this one.”“Oh, good Goddess.”I laughed. I could not help it. This was poetic justice, and I was enjoying every single minute of it.I had not intended to break down in tears in front of Alpha Aiden earlier. In fac
(Piper POV)Another two months passed, and life at Moon Shadow had mostly become tolerable again. After our last fight, Alpha Aiden had lifted most of my punishment, including the offensive, impractical rules about having no contact with unmated males. He also allowed me to go back to working days; the night shift would once again be rotated amongst the omegas just like it used to be.The only part about the punishment that Alpha Aiden kept in place was the requirement that I not leave the pack for any reason. His excuses for leaving that part in place were confusing, but given how close I now was to my 20th birthday, I was mostly okay with it.Alpha Aiden did continue to make the occasional, irritating comment about wanting me to avoid being around unmated male wolves, but he did not enforce any restrictions. He also never again called me a whore or a sl&t. And, importantly, he himself seemed to stop sleeping around. I think the combination of all of those things made it easier
(Piper POV)It started as a normal Thursday evening. I was sitting in the dining hall eating dinner with Maya, Asher, Becky, and a few of the other warriors and omegas. We were at a round table and all the seats were full, so when Daphne walked in, I had some naïve hope that she would be forced to sit elsewhere. Sadly, I had no such luck.Daphne grabbed a chair from another table and brought it over. She then started to push it into the gap between me and Asher, effectively forcing Asher and everyone else to move over a few inches to accommodate her.“Seriously, Daphne?” I said in an annoyed voice.“What?”“There are plenty of empty seats at other tables. Why do you have to sit at this one?”Daphne looked at me in confusion.“Why would I sit anywhere else? I always sit by you, Piper.”“Yes, you always TRY to sit by me, and I do not understand why. You don’t even like me.”I did not want to be rude, but Daphne’s weird behavior had been going on for weeks now and I was exhausted.
(Piper POV)"What is your end game, really? We all know that you have one."Daphne opened her mouth to protest, but then seemingly decided against it.“Ok, fine,” Daphne huffed. “I just don’t think it is fair that Piper will not be honest about her birthday while everyone else in the pack is running around making bets about when she will meet her mate and who her mate will be.”“I never asked you to bet on my personal life,” I snapped. “If you don’t think it is fair, don’t participate.”“You may not have asked me to participate, but you never told me not to. And I now have $5,000 riding on winning the bet.”Asher spit out his drink. “$5,000?!?!” he exclaimed. “Daphne, why would you bet $5,000 on anything, much less who Piper’s mate is?”Daphne gave a fake-innocent smile. “First of all, I did not bet on who Piper’s mate was. I bet on whether she would have a mate at all. Second of all, despite what Maya wants to believe, I am Piper’s best friend and I know her better than anyo