(Leo Bloodstone POV)Piper continued to confuse me. And fascinate me. And make me want to throw her on the bed, tear her clothes off, and pound into her while she screamed my name. It was seriously painful.I needed to control myself. Maybe breakfast was a bad idea. Of course, it was too late to change course now. I needed to get through this.“I know that you have been taking scent blocking herbs,” I told her.Piper nodded. “I was.”“Was? When was the last time you took them?”“At the hotel.”“How long have you been taking them?”Piper swallowed.“Please tell me the truth, Little Pea.”“Since I ran away from Blue Ridge.”“Do you know if it is safe to take the herbs for that long?”“I assume so. I mean, Xa… the wolf who got them for me would not have given them to me if they weren’t safe.”Xander. Of course, she got the herbs from that a&&hole. Now I really was worried; Xander had given me no reason to trust him with my pet spider, much less Piper.“I am going to take you t
(Leo Bloodstone POV)Piper just kissed me. No drugs were involved. No force or threats. Just my sweet Little Pea voluntarily and enthusiastically kissing me.Best f&&king kiss of my life.I knew that forcing her hand in marriage was wrong. I also knew that my reasons for doing it were pretty sh&tty. And I knew that, if Piper knew the truth, she might have a hard time forgiving me. Worse, I knew that if Piper knew the truth, she might want something different than what I wanted.But a kiss that felt that d&mn good had to mean something.As soon as her lips touched mine, I put my hands on either side of her face and kissed her with everything I had. The moment she opened her mouth, allowing our tongues to intertwine, I lost the small shred of control that I had been holding onto. I picked her up by her thighs, forcing her to wrap her beautiful legs around my waist. I then carried her to her bed, ready to f&&king pounce.I felt her reach her hands under my hoodie, running her han
(Piper POV)The visit to the pack doctor was … interesting.The doctor examined me in both my human and wolf forms, took blood work, did a bunch of tests, and asked me a ton of questions. As intrusive as all of it was, I appreciated that the doctor was thorough. I did not tell Leo this, but I had lots of questions about the herbs myself… questions that Xander had never had time to answer. The only thing that annoyed me about the appointment was Leo. For example, he refused to leave my side for even a second; he refused to look away while I changed into an examination gown; and he asked the doctor almost as many questions as the doctor asked me.Ultimately, though, it was fine. Mostly. At least until the end.“How long have you been taking the herbs, Piper?”“A little more than two years.”“Is that safe?” Leo asked.“Probably, although it is rare for wolves to use scent blockers for such long periods of time. Do you mind if I ask why you have been taking them for so long?”I gl
(Leo Bloodstone POV)Our walk back to the packhouse took much less time than our walk to the hospital, primarily because my steps were hastened by anger. I could tell that Piper was also angry. However, to her credit, she left me alone to my own thoughts during the walk, choosing to avoid making a scene in front of the many pack members that we passed.I still could not believe that I had even briefly considered letting Piper continue to take herbs given to her by that moron a&&hole Xander. I had yet to figure out what his end game was, or even what his real motivations were, but he was consistently doing things that made me trust him less and less. This whole herb thing was a perfect example.Once we arrived at the packhouse, I took Piper through a back entrance —thus avoiding any of my family members who may have wanted to chat— and led Piper directly up to her room.“Give me the rest of the herbs,” I demanded the second that we walked in.Instead of getting them for me, she clo
(Piper POV)Maybe our fight about the herbs was a stupid one, but Leo was not backing down. And, once again, I found myself crying.At this point in my story, you are probably used to me crying. However, what you have to understand is that —prior to me running away from Blue Ridge— I never would have considered myself a crier. Yes, I cried… but not that often. It just wasn’t my thing.It was only after leaving Blue Ridge that I began to cry all the time. It was one of the few outlets that I had to deal with feeling guilty, overwhelmed, confused, and homesick.This silly fight with Leo was a good example of these emotions hitting me all at once.Yes, I was raging mad at Leo for ordering me around and making decisions without thinking about my input. I did not like being bossed around or treated like a toddler. And I HATED a male thinking that his wife was required to do whatever he told her to do.None of that is what brought me to tears, though. What brought me to tears was th
(Piper POV)When Leo told me that I was going to go shopping with his mom, grandmother, and aunts, I was anything but excited.Yes, I needed clothes. Desperately. The duffle bag of clothing that I had with me was meant to last for a few days, not for several weeks. However, I was still adjusting to all the changes that had been thrown at me. Spending an entire day shopping —not just for regular clothes but for a wedding dress, too— originally sounded like a wildly horrible idea.Thankfully, I was wrong. Shopping with Leo’s mom, grandmother, and aunts actually turned out to be really, really fun.As Leo predicted, they treated me a little bit like a living doll. They made me try on and model clothes in every single store, and they all had strong opinions about what I needed and what would look good on me. Thankfully, their strong opinions came with good taste and good fashion sense. But much more importantly, they continued to be incredibly kind and welcoming towards me. They
(Piper POV)“Oh, I work here now. Didn’t Leo tell you?”“Get out of here, Ingrid,” Grandma Rosie growled.“Did you not hear me, Grandma Luna? I SAID I WORK HERE NOW.”Ingrid spoke the last part slowly and loudly, as though Grandma Rosie was deaf.My jaw dropped at her condescending tone… especially because I could not believe that she was using it with Grandma Rosie, who until this moment had seemed to me to be one of the sweetest she-wolves that I had ever met.“My ears work just fine, Ingrid. Yours are the ones that I am worried about. Leave. Now.”I obviously had not known Grandma Rosie for very long, but this was the first time that I had seen her angry. And truthfully? Her angry face was scarier than Leo’s.“I do not think that my boss would be happy if I left,” Ingrid replied dismissively.“Why? Are you banging him too?” Leo’s Aunt Madeline asked.Ingrid rolled her eyes. “My personal life is none of your concern. Now, who is she?” she asked, gesturing to me.“None of
(Piper POV)After our marathon-shopping trip, we grabbed a quick dinner at a restaurant downtown. Dinner itself was great, but I noticed that we got a fair number of looks from other diners. Of course, by “we” I really mean “me.” I suppose that wasn’t all that surprising given that I was a newbie in town. I did hear a few whispers speculating about who “the blond was” that was eating with Luna and Grandma Luna, but thankfully, none of the guesses were mean.We ultimately did not make it back to the packhouse until close to 8 pm.Once we got back, two of the guards carried in the shopping bags for me, and I began unpacking and sorting through all of the day’s purchases. My room had both a large dresser and a large walk-in closet, and it took me a while to get everything sorted. As I unpacked, I kept wondering if Leo was going to stop by and ask me how the shopping trip went, or if he would check-in on me. I desperately wanted to talk to him about Ingrid, and find out why his fam