All Chapters of Mated in the Shadow of Betrayal: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

(Piper POV)On Thursday morning, I woke up to the wonderful feeling of being wrapped in Leo’s huge, strong arms. His scent was all around me, and like always during that time period, it brought me a sense of comfort and safety.The last few days had been wonderful. In fact, they were the happiest days that I had had since leaving Blue Ridge. I still missed my family, friends, and my pack… and yes, even Xander… but I knew that I would soon get to see them again, right after the wedding. My excitement of finally being reunited with them easily overpowered my homesickness.With respect to Leo and I, things were going great. Our days had been mostly filled with wedding planning and entertaining the Brogans, though, which left very little time for us to simply hang out or talk about any of the serious stuff, including the secrets that he continued to hold onto. The little time that we got alone usually happened before bed or when we woke up in the morning. Because I cherished this ti

(Piper POV)As soon as the guard announced that there was a fire at Ingrid’s house, I saw and felt how conflicted Leo became.Given how horrible my one and only interaction had been with her —and given that Leo and I had not yet talked about who she was to him— that conflict hurt. However, I brushed my feelings away. I told myself that I was being selfish and that I had to trust Leo.“Go,” I told him.He looked at me, obviously unsure.“It’s okay. Go,” I repeated.“Little Pea, I ---”I reached out and touched his cheek. “We can finish this conversation tonight,” I reassured him. “I have my wedding dress fitting soon anyway. Go, make sure Ingrid is okay. Do what you need to do.”“It’s not Ingrid that I am worried about. It’s ---”I held up my hand. “You don’t have to explain right now. I can see how worried you are. Go. You can explain later.”Leo pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead tenderly.“Thank you, Little Pea. Have fun with my mother. I will see you for o

(Leo Bloodstone POV)My parents agreed to both take care of Axel and entertain the Brogans while I took Piper out for our second date.I wanted it to be special, but after the crazy f&&king day that I had had dealing with all of Ingrid’s bullsh&t and its aftermath, I did not have a lot of energy left for a grand gesture. I decided to keep the date simple and traditional: a romantic dinner followed by a movie. I knew that I needed to use part of our date to explain some things to Piper, but I really hoped I did not have to spend all of the date doing so. I honestly just wanted to spend some time with her… and the last thing that I wanted was to give her any reason to run.I tried to remind myself that I had taken steps to avoid any unexpected problems, but —between the herbs, Kade, and Ingrid, and my own family’s constant questioning— my d&mned gut was on high alert again. And, as close as I was to the finish line, I could not help but worry.Thankfully —or not— those worries evapo

(Piper POV)“Tell me about Kade.”It took me a few minutes to process Leo’s question.My brain was swirling. I felt overwhelmed and confused. My brain, my gut, and my heart were all on completely different wavelengths. I have no idea how I managed to order dinner. Perhaps I did it on autopilot, or perhaps Leo did it for me. Looking back on it, I really could not tell you. Either way, this much I knew: Leo had managed to tell me a lot of things without telling me much at all. For example:I now knew that Leo had a pup with Ingrid, who he was strongly attached to and protective of, but that he was not the biological father.I also knew that Ellis was that pup’s father, but I did not know what the relationship between Ellis and Ingrid had been.Hell, I did not even know what the relationship between Leo and Ingrid was, or what it had been. Leo’s laughter confirmed that they had not been engaged… but I knew from the wedding dress shopping trip that his family had seen her in a we

**AUTHOR NOTE: SOMEWHAT STEAMY SCENE AHEAD.**(Piper POV)Can you be a sl&t if you have only ever slept with one male? And the male you slept with was one that you thought that you loved?I used to think you could not be a sl&t in that situation, but I would soon learn how wrong I was.Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised. Everything that I did at dinner and beyond was the definition of sl&tty. Yes, Leo had touched me, but I did not exactly resist him. Instead, I begged him to touch me more. I kissed him, teased him, and basically taunted him into taking me back to the packhouse and f&&king me senseless.Looking back on it, I had been the instigator the first time that we had sex too, but that time I could blame it on the drugs that had been forced on me. This time, the only thing I could blame was my own raging hormones and uncontrollable lust. Well, that and my stupid, ill-informed, ignorant heart.As Leo drove us back to the packhouse, both of us had difficulty keeping our ha