Chapter 31 - Unscentable

Izzy POV

Izzy was at the store first thing in the morning, had called Paul and Devon,
wanted to look around herself. They both met her at the store at 8am. She
was excited to be in the store, her own store, couldn’t stop smiling actually.
She loved the gold lettering on the front door, thought it was very pretty. All
the stores had it, she’d actually chosen the lettering and colour. It was her
own personal touch on every one of Piper’s stores.

Smiled as she walked about in her own office space. Her desk had arrived,
and unlike Pipers' very cold and impersonal glass and metal desk, she herself
had opted for a modern curved white lacquered executive desk which had two
movable white file storage set of draws. Her chair was there too, a Napoli high
backed office chair also in white. She walked over and sank down at her desk.
Loved that this was her office.

Her glamorous velvet Chesterfield sofa, in dark grey, had not yet arrived, but
was going to look great, and be very comfortable to sit on, and not just for
herself, but for the clients. There would also be a nice white wood coffee table
coming as well. And a dark grey rug to go over the polished floor boards.

Checked out the whole store, stood and talked to Devon, his office furniture
was not in yet, due next week. He to seemed happy with the way things were
progressing, ran through the inventory list of due arrivals, and let her know
what was coming and when, emailed her a copy of it so she could be in store
to help if she so chose to. Then he assured her he had it all under control.
And it did seem that way.

Then she headed off, and was about to get in her taxi back to the hotel when
she heard her name called out. Looked up and across the street.

“Izzy!” It was Edward, Mr Yummy was here in person. “Don’t you get in that
taxi.” He called out to her, Izzy’s heart was suddenly pounding inside her
chest, as she stared at him. He had actually come all the way here, turned up
like he said he would. He was wearing black jeans and a blue short sleeved
button-up shirt, it fitted him very well, showed off all those muscles she knew
were under that shirt.

Her eyes met his and she could see the smile in them. He knew she’d looked
him over, checked him out. “Izzy.” he called out as she started to get in the
taxi. She had to get away from him. Even from across the street she was
attracted to the man, goddess only knew what would happen if he got his
hands on her.

“Go.” She told the driver “Quickly.” There was a stream of traffic currently on
the road, it was peak hour and it was the only thing stopping him from
crossing the street and putting his hands on her. Something inside of her told
her if he did she was going to be in even deeper trouble.

Her taxi pulled out and she turned in her seat to see him watching her as the
taxi drove away. His eyes never left her, bit her lip and faced forward, got the
feeling she was in real trouble. He was frowning at her, didn’t seem to be
mad, but was watching her intently.

Went directly to the hotel. He’d not followed, as far as she knew, stepped into
the elevator and turned around to hit the 6th floor button, only to find Mr
Yummy coming through the front doors to the hotel, he was looking right at
her. She hit the close door button repeatedly trying to make it hurry up and
close as he walked over towards her.

“Izzy.” He stated calmly “Just come here to me.”

She shook her head ‘no’ at him. Why was it the man seemed to be able to
render her speechless, watched the doors close and sagged against the wall
and sighed with relief, then realised he’d only have to wait and see what floor
it stopped on to know where she was.

Pressed all the buttons from the 4th floor to the top, and then stood wondering
where to get off, on her floor or before or after, and make her way via the
stairs to try and avoid him, was chewing on her lip worriedly, didn’t want to
lead that man to Piper, not with Brandon in the room.

Got out on the 4th floor and headed for the end of the corridor where the sign
stated Exit, and was just pushing the door open to the stairwell when she
heard a rather large growl coming from behind her. Turned around expecting
to see someone with a dog and found Mr Yummy at the other end of the
corridor watching her “Don’t run Izzy.” He stated loudly, kind of sounded a bit
like a warning to her.

She stepped into the stairwell as she watched him take a step towards her,
then just banged the door shut and bolted up the stairs as fast as she could,
nearly screamed in fright at the sound of the door banging open and closed
behind her, like all of 10 seconds later. What the hell, he moved so damned
fast.

Izzy was barely on the landing above him, locked eyes with him and saw his
mouth form into a smile “Oh Izzy.” He grinned right up at her, she could swear
his eyes were more green than she remembered, and then he was coming up
the stairs after her slow deliberate steps, a soft growl issued from him and her
heart rated shot through the roof, didn’t actually know if if was fear or
excitement, just turned and bolted up the next set of stairs away from him,
what the hell was going on, she could hear him coming after her though
deliberate steps it sounded kind of like he was stalking her on purpose.

She was not the super fit, I gotta run every day like Piper. Izzy didn’t even go
to the gym, she was never going to be able to out run him. Managed to get
two floors before she was huffing a little, she turned and looked back at him.
He’d kept pace with her but not caught up and she knew he would be able to.
He was very fit and likely worked out hours each day.

Izzy was holding on to the hand rail staring at him, he was staring right back at
her still smiling, “Stop it.” She gasped at him.

“Never.” He told her and then moved so damned fast it was like a blur, he was
on her pushing her up against the wall, his mouth was on hers, hungry and
demanding, his hands were already tugging at the blouse she was wearing
pulling it open, gasped as she was suddenly and roughly turned around, his
hands on her breasts as she was pressed by his body against the wall, a deep
soft growl rolled right out of him “I missed you baby.” He growled right into her
ear.

Then a hand was sliding down her body, slid down over her belly, pressed
himself hard against her and goddess. He was aroused already, moaned as
she felt him grind himself against her, then his hand was moving down her
thigh, to the hem of her skirt and his hand was under it gripping at her thigh,
his fingers sliding up the inside of her thigh firmly till he was touching her
intimately between her thighs, she gasped as he pinched her clit gently
through her panties.

Then his fingers slipped right inside her panties and she cried out as he
actually touched her, heard a groan come from him as his other hand stroked
over her nipple, it hardened at his touch, she couldn’t help the moan that
came from her, goddess he was going to seduce her right here in the damned
stairwell and she was unlikely going to be able to stop him.
His mouth was on her neck, bit her skin roughly and then two of his fingers
pushed inside of her firmly, and were already moving in and out of her. “ Don’t
you ever run away again Izzy.” He murmured as he kissed her neck and
buried them fingers inside of her, finding just the right spot to make her gasp
with pleasure and then she was moving with his hand, she could feel herself
cumming, felt his hand move faster and harder like he just knew what she
needed till her orgasm spilled out of her and a cry of “Yes.” came with it.

Felt his whole body pressed up against hers, his finger slipped from her body
slowly and she was pulled around to look up at him. She watched as he slid
those two fingers he’d used to make her cum right into his own mouth and
sucked on them, tasting her on his own fingers. “You tasted damn good.” He
was smiling down at her.

His eyes were definitely way more brilliant green than normal, and they trailed
down her body, to the blouse he’d already undone, reached out a hand to
touch her and she gasped and clutched at her shirt, pulling it closed. Saw him
raise an eyebrow at her, “Don’t hide your body from me.” he demanded of her
and pulled her hands away, then pushed them up over her head and pinned
them there, using just one of his large hands to hold them there.

“I want to see you.” He growled softly and she felt her legs press together as
heat burned between them, that growl caused desire to build in her. What the
hell was wrong with her? How could this man make her so desperate for his
touch?

Felt his free hand slide down her face gently, down her neck, “Do you want
me Izzy?” He growled softly.

She bit her lips together, couldn’t for the love of the goddess, take her eyes off
of his, such a brilliant green now, was trying desperately not to say yes. Felt
his fingers trail down her collarbone and then move her blouse aside, just the
tips of his fingers trailed down the skin above her bra, to stroke and tease her
nipple through the soft lace material of it, gasped as it hardened once more
under his touch.

“I’ll show you Izzy, what you do to me.” He murmured, and then his hips were
hard up against hers, grinding against hers. Goddess he was so hard. He
grabbed her ass with his free hand and pulled her even harder against
himself, his mouth found hers for a hot demanding kissing that devoured hers,
made her toes curl as he ground himself harder and faster against her.
Found herself spun around to face the wall once more, her hands free as both
his hands were pulling her skirt up now, “Wait.” she gasped, anyone could
come in and see them.

“No, I want you.” He growled right into her ear, so very deep, felt heat pool
between her thighs, heard the zipper of his jeans go down, as his mouth bit
her roughly on the shoulder and then he was tugging her panties aside and
thrust deep inside of her, a cry of pleasure ripped out of her as he took her
deep and hard, his mouth at her ear his hands on her hips “Mine.” he growled
possessively at her “Always mine.” He stated as he buried himself repeatedly
inside of her, pulling hard on her hips as he pushed deeper inside of her till
she was crying out his name, thrusting back wantonly, needing him, wanting
him, wanting all of this “Edward.” she gasped, tried to pull away from him to
turn herself around, wanting to touch him, to grab on to his body use it herself
to grip onto to get what she wanted.

“No, you must be punished first.” His hands left her hips and grabbed at her
wrists, pinned them to the wall by her face, and drove himself harder into her,
till she was screaming, cumming for him, pleasured by his punishment of her
body. Took every aggressive thrust he dealt her, relished in it, completely lost
to it.

Felt her whole body get shoved hard up against the wall as he growled his
satisfaction, cumming himself, his breathing as ragged as hers was now. His
mouth was on her ear. “Never again Izzy, will you leave me.” He told her
gruffly. “I will come out and punish you if you do.”

Izzy bit down on her bottom lip and turned her eyes to him. Part of her was
terrified by that statement, but another part of her was so very excited by it at
the same time. If this was the punishment, she would run away again, she
thought. His mouth found hers soft and gentle as he slipped from her body,
found his hand in her hair and he tugged her head back slightly.

“Found those brilliant green eyes right on hers “Say it Izzy.” He growled
deeply at her.

She even knew what he wanted to hear. He’d asked her before, and she’d
told him them, stared right up into those brilliant green eyes, that seemed to
be glowing with desire for her and whispered “I’m yours.”

“Yes you are.” He growled again and she could feel more heat pooling
between her thighs, goddess she wanted to have him again and knew it. His
mouth was on hers as he pulled her around to face him once more. Izzy
wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, moaned as she felt
him pick her up “Edward.” She gasped, knowing he was going to have her
again.

“Call me Timber.” he growled.

“Timber.” She moaned as she moved her body against his, didn’t even care
where they were anymore, didn’t care about what fetish this was, felt a sharp
stinging sensation graze down her hips and then her panties were gone.

“Do you want Timber?” his voice was so deep, full of gravel and desire.

“Yes.” She moaned and she did want him.

Found herself slammed hard up against the wall, his mouth on hers, so
hungry, so demanding, his hands gripping hard onto her hips as he took her
rough and fast, furiously so, pounding in and out of her, so damned hard she
knew it should have been painful, but was just crying out in pleasure, she
loved it, wanted more, actually begged him for all of him, could hear him
growling and snarling, as he ravaged her body and it only turned her on even
more, she clawed her nails into his arms, into his back and his neck anywhere
she could get a hold of him, unable to control herself or her need for him. It
was desperate, she was desperate for all of this man.

Screamed Timber as he’d requested her call him as she climaxed finally, her
body pressed up against that wall, his hips hard up against hers as she heard
him growl her name, his voice all deep and gravely still, dropped her head
onto his shoulder, exhausted, had no idea how she could have sex like that
with him and it not hurt at all, it should have there had not been one gentle
movement at all.

Izzy felt his arms slide around her as he stepped back, and heard him sigh
softly “Sorry about that.” He murmured, slipping from her body. “Think you can
stand up for a second?”

“Maybe.” Izzy answered honestly, didn’t actually know if she could, felt her
feet touch the ground, damn near slid down the wall, grabbed on to him, heard
him chuckle softly, heard him zip his pants up and then he picked her up
bridal style “Come on, let's get you into bed.”
“I can’t possibly,” she murmured as she rested her head on his chest, there
was no way she had the energy to do that again.

“You need sleep.” heard the smile in his voice.

Izzy knew he was right, was utterly exhausted by this man, had no idea where
he was taking her, just closed her eyes and allowed herself to settle into his
arms, heard another voice state “So much for staying in control.”

“Mm, seems I can’t help myself.” It was Edwards' voice, opened her eyes and
found not just one person looking at her, but three.

Bradley Drake himself was staring right at her, a deep frown on his face, she
bit her lip. He wanted to know where Piper was and he was here in the same
hotel she was betting.

“Eddie, you are in serious trouble.” she heard Bradley say as she was carried
off away from them, placed down in a bed, she looked up at him worriedly.

“Sleep baby, you’re perfectly safe in my bed.” Edward leaned down and
kissed her softly on the mouth before leaving the room.

She yawned “I’m definitely in trouble.” she muttered to herself and rolled over
to curl herself around the pillow on the bed, allowing sleep to claim her.

Chapter 32 - Unscentable
Brad POV

Bloody Eddie and Timber couldn’t, it seemed stay in control of themselves

where Isobelle was concerned. Had yet again lost all control, only this time in
a damned hotel stairwell, of all the bloody places. Harry had reported that Izzy
had come hurrying in through the hotel’s front doors, a tell-tale sign that Eddie
had found her.

He’d also reported to Bradley that Eddie had not been that far behind her, had
strolled in to the hotel casually, like he was in fact in full control of himself, but
then Izzy had gone and run from the man, actually run from him and his wolf,
right into that stairwell and it had set Timber off on a game of Hunt the Prey.

Not only had Eddie taken what he wanted from his human back in Maine, now
Timber, his wolf, had even managed to get her to lay claim to him. When she
had, his bloody wolf had Mated her right there in the damned stairwell on the
7th floor, as loud as anything. All growling and snarling, Timber right on the
surface. On the bright side, the woman had not resisted him, actually Mated
him back and actively so and thoroughly enjoyed it from all reports.

The woman was currently asleep in Eddie's bed, in their hotel suite. At least
he had seen that Timber had not Marked her. That would be a proverbial
nightmare, with only days to the full moon, it was pretty damned clear that he
and his wolf were completely out of control.

They had better scent her out come this full moon. If not, they were getting
themselves a chosen Mate at the order of their Alpha, whether they liked it or
not.

Seeing that both Eddie and his Wolf were Mated to her, but somehow,
Bradley didn’t think the man really cared about any of the consequences. He
just needed her and it showed, his wolf had also demanded she lay claim to
him, actually told her his name and told her to say it and she had. Then they
just carried that girl right into the hotel suite on the top floor. She’d been
completely exhausted from being Mated by Timber, and they’d just tucked her
into their bed.

She’d better stay there or she was likely going to end up Marked and turned in
a matter of days, Eddie had gone off to shower and Bradley was standing in
the hotel rooms living area, waiting on the man to reappear, but he appeared
to be in no rush what so ever.

Eddie strolled out of his room, dressed in light grey slacks and a white short-
sleeved dress shirt, closed the door to his room, didn’t even look concerned
about what his bloody wolf had done, surfaced completely and Mated a
human. His Wolf should know better, he knew Eddie did, glared right at his
Gamma.

He was too damned relaxed from Mating her to care about anything, smiled
right at him, pleased with himself, it seemed “One Mate tracked down Brad,
one to go.” Eddie told him simply, “I’m good to help you with Piper.”

“Well, isn’t that good to know Edward!” Bradley snapped at him. “The human,
really. You just let Timber Mate her out in the open for all to see.” Bradley was
more than annoyed with his Gamma.
“I couldn’t stop him” Eddie shrugged. “She ran, I did warn her not to, but she
did it anyway.” the man shook his head, “you try stopping your wolf when that
happens.”

“Your mother will beat you senseless, and I am going to let her. I should
bloody do it myself, but lucky for you, I’ll likely need you today, and at your
best. Are you going to be?”

“Yes, Timber is really calm and well settled, I’m good.” he nodded.

No big surprise that his wolf was calm and settled, right this minute, “Good,”
Bradley muttered. He was still annoyed with his Gamma, but there wasn’t
much he could do about it now, too bloody late. Turned to Cooper and Harry,
who had been trying to keep both guests and hotel staff out of that damned
stairwell at all costs, interrupting wolves Mating was a deadly game. They
were now both in this hotel room as well.

“Did either of you manage to find out what room Piper is in?”

“Yes, the hotel's receptionist was forth coming, 6th floor room 17, its a family
suite, likely where Izzy is also staying.” Cooper smiled at him.

Bradley nodded, he had no idea how this was going to go, looked at the three
of them, didn’t think it was wise to have her open that door and find all four of
them staring at her. “Coop, Harry, stay here, I’ll link you if I need you.”

“Don’t wake Izzy,” Eddie commented as they walked out of the room. “The
plan Brad?”

“To knock on her door and see what reaction I get. I’m not expecting a good
reaction. The movers were arrested last night. Piper’s neighbour called her
and told her what was going on. I don’t know if she knows it was me, or if she
thinks it was Timothy, he was the one threatening her.”

“So, wait and see then?”

“Yes, just be ready Eddie. Timothy also stated that Aspen surfaced because
of the threat he posed to his mother. I don’t need him wolfing out here in a
hotel, so keeping her calm and presenting ourselves as no threat, is what I
want.” he told his Gamma.

“Alright, do you want me in sight or not?”

“I don’t think that will matter. Stand wherever you want. Just feel out the
situation, if you can. That is, I don’t know how you’ll feel or what you’ll be able
to sense with her. You stated you couldn’t figure it out back then, find her,
right?”

“Correct,” Eddie nodded at him, “but she’ll be right in front of me, and I know
who she is now, it should be alright.” he sounded pretty confident.

Bradley stood right in front of her room. His hearing was tuned into the room.
On the bright side, hotel rooms were not sound proofed, so their hearing
allowed them to detect what was going on inside that room.

The TV was on and he could hear them talking about things Brandon wanted
to do, wondered how keen her wolf senses were. He could pick up when his
men were outside his hotel room before they came in. Though he did have
Alpha senses, much stronger than normal wolf senses.

Took a breath in and let it out slowly, knocked on the door to room 617, two
simple raps with his knuckle, hopefully it was light and casual sounding to her
ear. Maybe she would think it was Izzy coming back.

Heard her walk to the door and just open it, watched as she stood frozen to
the spot as her eyes landed right on him, saw anger in her expression a
second later. Well, that was better than fear and pain, he thought to himself.

“Morning Piper.” Bradkey smiled right at her, a genuine smile, soft and gentle,
as he took her in, she was wearing a pair of light blue slacks, and a cream
coloured silk blouse. He realised that every time he had seen her, she’d been
dressed smart casual, her hair was pulled up, today, in a high ponytail.

“How dare you.” She suddenly hissed at him, all angry.

Wondered if she too, was trying not to set Brandon’s wolf off. “Dare I what?”
He asked calmly. He needed clarification before he jumped to the wrong
conclusion.

“Move my things, you have no right.” She hissed at him again.

“Ah, that!” Bradley nodded, so she did know it was him. “Well, I would like you
to come home, so I thought I would.”
She cut him clean off. “Leave, I don’t belong to your pack anymore, you have
no hold over me.”

He sighed out loud “Piper please, I just want to talk to you. A sit down is
needed.”

“No it’s not, just leave.” Was glaring right at him.

“Not without you Piper.” He left Brandon out of that statement. Bradley didn’t
want her thinking this was only about the boy.

“Get a dress else where.” She stepped back and went to shut the door.

Put his hand right on that door and stopped it from closing. “My little sister
loves your dresses Piper, desperately wants one, wanted in fact to meet you
in person,” He told her calmly as he pushed the door open once more, his
strength for out weighed hers, saw her frown right at him and his actions or his
words he was not certain of which “Hadley is my little sister.” He stated
openly. Hoping that this would help clear things up and ease some of the
tension, was not going to drag this out. Needed to get her home, to safety.

Saw movement behind her and let go of the door, he didn’t want to appear as
a threat, when he actually wasn’t one, he saw Brandon look right at him. He
smiled gently right at the boy, really wanted her to acknowledge him as the
boy’s father, but knew she wasn’t going to.

“Mum?”

“Everything is fine, go watch TV. The man was just leaving.” he heard Piper
tell their son.

“Piper.” Bradley sighed “I’m not leaving, I just want the chance to talk to you
about you coming home.” he told her of his intent.

Saw the boy frown now, look from his mother to him, and wondered if he was
old enough to figure it out for himself. He did have the same eyes as the boy,
and his comment about her coming home, could be taken more ways than
one.

Benson’s head was up inside his mind. Looking at Brandon now, this was the
closest they had ever been to him, he was maybe 10 feet away, a part of him
itched to touch the boy, hug him, he realised. Knew Piper would likely stop
him, likely to step right in front of the boy.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, leave.” she told him, and grabbed the door.

He frowned right at her, saw the boy's eyes flicker between his and Aspen’s,
he was or his wolf was getting agitated. Felt Benson stand all the way up
inside his mind, pushed forward, snapped his hand out to halt the door and
stare right down at the boy.

There it was, the connection to the boys wolf, his own boy. Benson could now
sense his own pup inside that boy, was looking right at him, in fact, as he
looked right back at Benson.

Watched as the boy's wolf surfaced all the way, thought it was curiosity until a
massive snarl ripped out of him. Aspen was perceiving Benson as a threat.
Benson tilted his head to one side, he was only young and of no threat.

“Mine.” His wolf suddenly stated in his gravelly voice, claiming the child as his
own.

Heard Piper actually curse under her breath and Bradley nearly laughed. How
did she think she was going to hide the boy when they were face to face as
wolves? So freaking cute she was.

Saw Aspen tilt his head right back and stare up at Benson “Son.” Benson
stated again, laying claim to what was his, actually saw Aspen retreat away
and then Brandon stepped right behind his mother out of sight.

Benson’s eyes followed his every move, then lifted right to Piper’s, once the
boy was out of sight. Huffed in annoyance, she had run away with his son,
rejected them and their pack, but had bared him a son, the heir to the pack.
Stared right at her, long and hard, then reached out to touch her, only to have
her take a step back away from him.

Huffed again in annoyance, Bradley knew his wolf only wanted to touch her, to
see what she felt like to him, just wanted to know if she was still his Mate or
not. Dropped his hand and receded back, allowing Bradley to have control
once more.

“That was interesting,” he commented softly “We need to have a sit down
chat, Piper.”
“No.” she shook her head.

“Hmm, do you think my wolf is going to allow his own son, to remain as a
rogue, out here and unprotected?”

“Go away. Leave us alone.” she stated.

Felt Eddie’s hand on his arm, she was getting up set and could see it, “I can’t
do that Piper. Your son, is my son. He’s the future heir to the pack.”

Watched her shake her head, wondered if it was denial or just didn’t want that
for her child, her life had not been easy inside his pack. Getting her to come
home, he knew was going to be difficult.

“Piper, it’s okay. I’m not mad at you.” Bradley told her and honestly he wasn’t
“I’m just concerned about your and his safety is all. Please at least talk to me
about coming home.”

“I have a life. Go back to where you came from, just stay away from me.”

“Piper, I can’t do that. We really need to talk and not just about our son. There
are other pressing concerns as well.”

“There is nothing I want from you, leave.” She stated flatly and closed the
door, and he allowed her to this time. She needed a minute to absorb the
current situation.

He also needed a minute. Her words had actually hurt him, caused him
physical pain, which could only mean their Mate Bond was still active.
Otherwise, those words would have just rolled off of him with nothing more
than annoyance.

‘She’s scared.’ Eddie commented quietly via the mind-link.

‘Our Bond is still in tact. Her words caused me pain to hear them. Actually hurt
me.’ He sighed right back, she was his Mate. He mind-linked Cooper and
Harry to come and stand guard at each end of the hotel corridor of the 6th
floor.

Took the elevator back up to his suite, to give her time to calm down, left
Eddie in the elevator. There would be no getting off that floor without him
knowing it. It also kept her and the boy protected, should anything else
happen.

That being said, she’d lived out here unprotected and alone all this time, been
safe as far as he knew, sighed heavily. That did not mean she had been
unharmed by others.

‘Harper didn’t show herself.’ Benson huffed inside his mind.

‘Might take some time Benson, they were traumatised a lot, inside of our
pack.’

‘I didn’t do that.’ his wolf shot at him, sounded very annoyed with him.

‘I didn’t know Benson, you yourself know this.’

‘Still your fault.’ his wolf snarled right at him and stalked off to the back of his
mind.

It was true, his wolf had never even once looked at a she-wolf. It was all
Bradley’s doing. Now his own wolf was ticked off with him, because not only
was their Bond still in tact, his Mate had not surfaced to claim him, not even
surfaced to look at him, she would know, would still be able to scent him out in
fact.

Bradley was going to have to try again, Aspen had retreated when Benson
had laid claim to him, that was interesting to him. Perhaps he felt the
connection as well, it had also not escaped Bradley’s attention that Brandon
had stepped right behind his mother, scared, he thought.

Right this minute, Bradley was certain that the boy had never had any good
interactions with wolves, likely none at all, until Alpha Timothy and that man
had done nothing but threaten the two of them. He was going to have to show
Brandon that not all wolves were a threat to him and his mother.

Though what she was telling him right now was anyone’s guess, he was
certain the boy would believe that they were his father. His own wolf would be
able to confirm that, even if Piper didn’t, though she had not denied his words
when he’d stated ‘our son’ likely she was not going to lie to the boy, a start he
guessed.
Wondered if he could get her to come up here and help explain things to Izzy,
about Eddie. Hmm, he could try that angle, he supposed, just needed to be
able to have any interaction with her. She was denying their Bond.

Likely out of self preservation. Likely what she had tried to do for years, he
sighed as he prowled around in his suite, wondered just how much time he
should give her to calm down, to adjust to the realisation that he now knew
about the boy.

Likely she thought, he still didn’t know what she was to him. That would be
more difficult to clear up. She knew he could not smell her, likely understood
no-one could, had been unscentable since she was 10.

With wolves relying on their sense of smell to recall who others were, they
could tell just by walking past another wolf who they were, even without
looking at them, could tell if a group of them were related to each other,
whether they had their wolf yet, hell even what Rank they were, could be
discerned by just the smell of them.

Piper was under no illusion about the fact that he couldn’t scent her out,
though he was very certain she could smell him, had been able to since the
very first time he walked into her studio in Portland.

Chapter 33 - Unscentable
Piper POV

Brandon was looking right up at her. She knew he now had questions about
Bradley, whose wolf had just laid claim to his wolf, it was likely that if Benson
felt the connection, so did Aspen. She sighed and waved him to go and sit
down. She was not going to be able to deny it. His wolf would never believe
her, not now that they had come face to face with his own father.

“Is that man?” Saw him bite his lip.

“Your father?” Piper finished his question for him, “ Yes he is.” she nodded.

“He didn’t know about me did he?” watched as those eyes, so like his fathers
turned right to her.

“No, I never told him...To be honest with you, Brandon, I was never going to
either.” She told him truthfully.
“Why not? Is he mean like those others?” sounded worried.

“It’s just complicated, is all.” Piper could not tell him, that man out there would
never recognise her as his Mate. Had yet to even explain to him what a Mate
was, or how that worked even, didn’t want to, not really. Not with the way her
life had turned out, had all intention of living as a human, had been raising him
human, seemed to be the best option.

He’d not ask any questions till he was old enough to understand, then he
could take it all in and make a decision for himself, how he would choose to
live. He’d already asked her about her pack and she’d told him it was better
for her and Harper to not be in one. She’d meant that, it was the truth, he’d
seemed to understand and accept it.

Now faced with his father, who’d laid claim on him, told her he wanted them to
come home or at least sit down and talk about it. Brandon had heard all of
that, he’d been standing right behind her, his small hand had been clutched
into the back of her blouse, he was likely scared and confused.

“Is he going to leave us alone?” Brandon asked quietly.

“Unlikely.” She shook her head “Wolves…” How did she explain this to him?
“Are possessive creatures and...inside a pack there is a leader, to those
wolves that live there.”

“He’s the boss, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he’s what you call the Pack Alpha Wolf. Everyone inside that pack, does
what he tells them.”

“But you didn’t?” Brandon frowned at her.

Piper half smiled, trust her boy to be so bright. “I’m not a pack member any
more, not for a long time, even before I knew about you. I left long ago, I’m
not...He can’t tell me what to do any more, not really.”

“And you don’t want him to?” he sounded a bit confused.

Piper shrugged, “I chose to leave, for Harper and I. We were sick and dying
inside that pack.” She said “We had to leave the pack, to survive.”
Watched him sit and think for a long time “Did he hurt you...is that why you
left?” He finally asked.

That was a very difficult question to answer, because yes, Bradley had hurt
her, so very many times. But Bradley had also not known who she was to him,
so he had not known he was hurting her, that he was the one to make her
sickly and dying.

If she said ‘no’ to Brandon, he was likely going to ask her why she left him
then, and if she said ‘yes’ he was likely going to want to know how “Like is
said, it’s very complicated, Brandon.”

“No it’s not. Did he hurt you?” he asked again “Like hit you?”

“No, not ever…” she shook her head, that man couldn’t hit something he didn’t
even know existed, she didn’t even know what type of man he was, not really.
She had desperately tried to stay away from him, tried to ignore their Mate
Bond in the hope it would dissolve itself away to nothing. No such luck. “Let’s
just say, he had another woman, that was of more interest to him.” and he had
Bianca. They had learned to stay away from the pack-house, so she hadn’t
had see them together.

“Oh.” it sounded like there was sadness etching his one word.

She hugged him and pulled him onto her lap, “Don’t worry about it. It was a
very long time ago,” though it still hurt her to this day.

“He wants us to come home?” he leaned on her.

“I heard him.” and she had. She also knew that he was never going to leave
Brandon with her, out in the human world away from him. Bradley had used
the word Heir, which meant the man was already thinking that he would train
Brandon to take over the pack one day.

She didn’t know what to do, did not want to immerse herself into Pack life
once more, be non-existent and invisible yet again. At least out here in the
human world, she was recognisable, and people not only wanted to meet her,
wanted her to work for them. Appreciated what she could do, stopped and
talked to her, sought her out all the time, she was part of their society and
recognised as such.
She’d made a good life for herself, one where she was not at all invisible,
human’s did not rely on their sense of smell to recognise each other. They
actually used their eyes, looked at what a person looked like, used that to
recognise others around them. The humans could see her right away. It was a
good feeling.

Something that she had craved growing up inside the pack, something she’d
never gotten, there had been a few wolves like Renee who had seen her, she
didn’t know why, perhaps their sense of smell was damaged and so they used
their eyes to recognise she was there and stepped around her.

“Is he going to make us? I like my friends.”

Piper smiled at him. “I know you do...got lots of them.” Always popular, she
liked that for him. Doubted it would be the same inside the pack, especially if
he was just like her, Alpha Wolf or not, no-one would scent him, no-one would
recognise him and she did not want that at all, he too was better off out in the
human world, where people would see him.

“Can we just leave?” Brandon asked quietly.

“Unlikely.” Piper sighed heavily, she’d seen Edward, he could well be out
there in the hallway still.

That thought brought her to Izzy. She had not returned this morning and
should have by now, likely she was wherever Eddie’s room was. If he’d
spotted her, he would have gone off to retrieve her. “He’ll have his most loyal
men watching you.”

“Me?” he frowned up at her. “Why me?”

“Yes, you Brandon…You will be his top priority now. Getting you into his Pack.
That is what he wants, now he knows about you.”

“Why?”

“Its a pack Alpha Wolf thing. Aspen is like him, his type of wolf. Aspen is an
Alpha Wolf.”

“What does that mean?” He asked.

“That is a very good question...It means that your father one day will expect
you to take over the running of the pack. He’ll want to hand it down to you, I
suppose.”

“What if I don’t want that?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, and Piper did not. Had no doubt that Bradley
and his wolf wanted their son in their pack, would likely be worried about
someone finding out about the boy and trying to get to him. But no-one knew,
so he was safe, they’d had no trouble at all in all these years for unscentable,
meant invisible, so a kind of given protection from other worldly creatures and
not just wolves, all of them that relied on their sense of smell.

“Will I get a choice...Is he going to take me away from you?”

Piper had no idea about that either. Bradley had sent movers to move all their
belongings, stated he wanted her to come home, so maybe she would still get
to raise him as long as she was inside the pack that was.

“I don’t know, honestly. Wolfen law status he has every right to just come and
take you. I have no status, no pack, so its in his favour, I guess you could
say.”

“I don’t want to live with a stranger.” He whispered and hugged into her.

“I don’t want that either.” Piper told him truthfully, and hugged him back, guess
she was going to have to actually sit down and talk to Bradley, not that she
wanted to, did not want to be in the same room as him. She could still smell
him and so damned strongly, she didn’t understand that.

She was positive the rejection she had voiced was in effect, or she would
have felt every time he was with another and not once since she’d left that
night had she suffered those pains and, to be honest, she was thankful for
that. It would likely have cost her, her son. Her pregnancy wouldn’t have
survived those pains, and that would have killed her and her wolf.

She just sat there, and let Brandon cuddle into her. He was quiet as was she.
“How’s Aspen doing?” Piper asked after a little while, she’d seen him back
away after being claimed.

“Confused.”
“Did he understand what happened?”

“Yes, said that Wolf was his father. He’s quiet now.”

“But okay?” she asked.

“Confused,” Brandon repeated.

It was only going to be a matter of time, before Bradley came back and
knocked on the door, glanced at her watch, still no Izzy, that bothered her too.
What if the woman was terrified, being held hostage or prisoner by Edward?
Fished out her phone from her pocket and called Izzy's numbers.

It was answered by a man, “Izzy’s phone.”

She frowned “Edward?” she asked.

“Yes Piper,” she realised her name would have lit up the screen. “What’s up?”

She shook her head, he spoke to her like they were friends. “What have you
done with Izzy?” she asked.

“Izzy is fine. Sleeping upstairs in my bed is all.”

“Sleeping?” she questioned.

Heard him chuckle “Yes, she exhausted Piper, is my Mate and well.”

“You’re an ass-hole Edward, she’s human.” she snapped at him and ended
the call.

Found Brandon staring at her with concern, she sighed “Aunt Izzy is fine,
just...did you see that other man at the door earlier?”

He nodded “Blonde guy.”

“That’s him, apparently taken a liking to Aunt Izzy and she’s in his hotel room
upstairs.”

“He’s not human.” he frowned at her. “Is Aunt Izzy like us?”

“No.” she shook her head “But sometimes, wolves and humans attract to each
other.”
“Like boyfriend, girlfriend.”

“Yes, that man, Edward, wants Aunt Izzy for his...wife you could say.”

Brandon was really frowning now, “But she doesn’t know him, what he is
right?”

“I know, only met him twice before, I think. Wolves are different to humans
when it comes to relationships... it's complicated.”

“How does that work?” he seemed suddenly curious.

“ Let's leave that one alone for now, you’re too young for that conversation.”

He poked his tongue out at her, and she smiled at him. At least he’d cheered
up a bit.

Chapter 34 - Unscentable
Bradley POV

Bradley stood once again before Piper’s room. He’d left her be for a solid two-
hour period, which should give her the time to adjust to not only him being
there and wanting to talk to her, but also to the knowledge that he knew about
Brandon. Consider the offer to come and have a sit-down talk with him.

Would have also given her time to think about him wanting her to come home,
move back to the pack. He was hoping that this time he would actually get an
introduction to his son as well. That was a pressing concern for him.

She had not once even so much as opened her hotel door, or attempted to
leave, likely knew she was going to be watched by his unit now, something he
knew she was not going to like at all. But he had no choice at this point, he
was not going to leaver her or his son out here unprotected for anyone to
snatch away from him, when he had just tracked her down himself.

Piper had tried to call Izzy, to check on her. He thought. She had not come
back from her trip to the new store, likely worried about the woman. Eddie had
answered Izzy’s phone, didn’t want her ex calling her and he got the distinct
impression that man was not going to just walk away from Izzy. So was
intending on answering the phone when he called. Just to put that man right in
his place and tell him to get lost.
Apparently, Piper had called him an Ass-hole due to the fact that Izzy was
human and he had taken her for himself and claimed the woman. Piper would
know the rules. They were all schooled inside the pack and humans and the
Mate Bond was one of the classes they all had to take, so they knew how to
deal with a human Mate if they found themselves faced with one.

Eddie had told her that Izzy was his Mate, but from all reports, that had not
seemed to matter at all to Piper, still pissed off about it and reiterated that Izzy
was human. Eddie had not been happy about the insult. He had been quite
annoyed about it in fact.

To which Bradley had told him, “Well Eddie, she is right, Piper is also to be the
future Luna to the Pack, so deal with it.” Gotten utter silence from his Gamma
on that one. Probably made Eddie realise that he was causing their Luna, who
was his actual job, to keep calm during stressful situations, and this would be
one for her, more undue stress. Especially with Izzy not just being Pipers
employee, but appeared to be her closest friend.

He had been chastised by his Luna, or soon to be Luna, if Bradley had his
way. Bradley actually liked it, that she had laid her boot right into his Gamma
for his behaviour. As was her actual given right to do, if she was already the
Luna and part of the pack, she well could have dished out a solid punishment.

The man was going about all of this completely backwards, where his human
Mate was concerned, and if Piper wanted to read Eddie the riot act, Bradley
was going to stand by and let her, likely smile at her the whole time, too. She
was very strong willed and didn’t seem to care who she talked to and how.
Already had a Luna’s air of authority, just didn’t realise it, he supposed. Likely
just put it down to being a rogue and had no-one to tell her what to do.

Piper opened the door and stood staring at him, seemed quite annoyed he
thought, that he was back before her once more, then she looked passed him,
looking for his Gamma, he thought. Likely wanted to tear strips off him in
person. “Eddie, is not with me, but do feel free Piper, to smack him one for his
behaviour. His mother already has.” he half smiled at her.

“Where is Izzy?” she asked right away.

“In our suite upstairs. She is still sleeping. A bit of an issue going on there,”
Bradley admitted, she already knew.
“Oh, I’m well aware of that fact. You have no control over your own Gamma.”
she shot right at him, a little anger showing in her words.

Bradley frowned at her. “I have tried to rein him in, Piper.”

“Then you didn’t do a good enough job, did you?” she glared right at him.

She was outright challenging him, he realised, and letting him know she didn’t
think his authority over his men was any good. He nor Benson didn’t much like
it. They both wanted to retort themselves, but knew they had to hold it in,
needed to stay calm and controlled in the face of her lack of respect for who
he was.

“Why don’t you and Brandon come up to the suite, we’ll sit down for lunch,
and you can go and check on Izzy yourself.” He offered up instead, making
sure to keep his voice calm and let none of his annoyance show. Could
possibly kill two birds with one stone with it. Get her to see Izzy was alright
and get her and Brandon into his suite to have a meal with him at the same
time. He could actually see that she was thinking about it. Perhaps this was
the right way to do things. Might need Izzy for leverage. Wouldn’t use his own
son, but Izzy?

“Did he mark her?” she asked, not what he was expecting at all.

“No…” he sighed.

“But?” she questioned instantly, at his hesitation to finish his sentence.

A heavy sigh escaped him, he already knew she was not going to like what he
had to tell her, “His wolf Timber, Mated her this morning.”

Saw real anger flash in those eyes of hers, she knew the laws, knew humans
had to be treated differently to she-wolves, then snapped right at him “If I were
you, I’d punish that Ass-hole.”

“Calm down Piper, and I will be. When we get back to the Pack, can’t very
well do it here in the human world now can I?” he muttered. He was also glad
there were no actual humans in the hallway right now. This was not a
conversation to be had out in the open.

“She’s not going to stay with him, if he constantly treats her like his play thing.”
“Play thing?” Bradley frowned, not really understanding.

“That’s the politest way I can put it.” she grated “how else is a girl, supposed
to feel when a man just turns up, shoves her up against a wall or onto bed and
takes what he wants, when he wants?” she was staring hard at him now.

Bradley was staring right back at her. He’d actually not considered that aspect
of Eddies behaviour, it was a natural thing for wolves to be all aggressive
when it came to mating, well they could be. He now realised he’d only actually
considered that the man and his wolf had Mated her, without her knowing
what they were to her. Not how she would feel about the way it was done.

From all reports, one from Cooper and the one from Harry, Izzy had actively
participated in the act, had even derived a lot of pleasure from it, no real
surprise to him. It was now clear they were Mates. His wolf would not Mate
her unless he was certain of her being his Mate. Wouldn’t even give the
woman a second passing glance otherwise. Izzy had seemed to crave Eddies’
or Timber’s touch, been aroused by it and Mated him right back.

“Alright, I hear you,” he told her after thinking about it, letting her know he
understood her concerns. They were real “Though Izzy unfortunately, ran from
Eddie, and that set Timber off, Eddie did try to tell her not to run, to warn her.
From what I was told.”

“and how would she know what that meant?” saw her shake a head, had a
real point on that one “I don’t care to be honest, he needs to back off and do
things the right way, or he’ll likely end up with no Mate at all, you might want
to warn him.”

Bradley nodded, “I will do Piper...on that note, do you think she will be open to
it? Accepting Eddie fully?”

“This is not the time nor the place to discuss such things.” she told him flatly.

He didn’t see why not she’d brought it up. It was just an extension of the
conversation they were actually having now but could use that to get what he
wanted “Agreed, May I come in then?” if this conversation was not to be had
out in the open then inside her room was as good a place as his suite.

“No.”
He frowned instantly. “Piper please...we really do need to talk and about
everything, if i can't come in then will you and Brandon both, come upstairs, I
would like a proper introduction to the boy. We...you and I, we also really need
to talk.”

“I’m not just going to hand him over to you.” she shot angrily at him.

“I’m not asking you to.” he said right back, he didn’t want her thinking that “I
have no intention of separating the two of you, not now, not ever.” he
reaffirmed for her “I want both of you.” he stated calmly to see what reaction
he would get.

She frowned right at him now, narrowed her eyes right on him, likely didn’t
believe him, “I have a life. Well away from you and yours. I have no intention
of going back to pack life, inside your pack or any other for that matter.”

Now he was frowning deeply, the words, ‘you and yours’. ‘inside your pack’
bothered him greatly. “Please at least come and have one meal, we can
discuss things. I’ll give you time to think about things. I’m not going to rush this
Piper, if you need time...I'm going to give you that.” he told her with full
sincerity, hopefully she would hear it and believe it.

“I’m not going back to being invisible, inside a pack.” she stated flatly.

“I’m not asking you too.” he was frowning deeply, as he realised that during
this entire conversation, that not once had she said his actual name or Eddies
for that matter, had used the words ‘you’ and ‘him’. Sounded like she was
actively avoiding using his name. Probably hadn’t said it out loud in a very
long time, might actually cause her pain to say it he realised.

The ‘you and yours’ was also bothering him now, wondered if she was talking
about her having to be inside his pack, where she thought she would have to
see him with other she-wolves, his and his lovers.

Also the going back to being invisible, made him realise that’s how she had
felt growing up inside the pack, felt invisible because no one could recall her,
bothered him a lot. Wolves were social creatures and he did know she had
been alone since the age of 10. Had no idea how she coped at all with that,
how she had survived all that time. Wanted to ask her in fact, but was having
no luck talking about the pack with her at this point. Not ready he guessed.
“I want Izzy back. You will have her brought back to this room.” she suddenly
demanded of him, trying to make him an Alpha do as she wanted him to.
Likely used to getting her own way in the human world. Or she thought having
Brandon would gain her leverage over him to get what she wanted.

“Piper, come up and collect her yourself, it's room 1008, on the 10th floor.” he
stated, was not willing to bow to her demand, she might have Brandon, but he
had Izzy. “Bring Brandon, lunch at 1230.” he said and then just turned and
walked away, he was getting annoyed by her challenging him, and he was
going to loose his temper at some point,

She was not the only one having to deal with their bond, which was
unattainable for the both of them, she only thought it was her who was
affected, by her not having a scent, she was very wrong on that account and if
she would give him 1 hour of her time he would explain it to her.

Bradley found Izzy stepping out of his suite when he strolled down the hallway
to his room on the 10th floor, “Isobelle, please go back inside the room. I can’t
have Eddie hunting you every minute of every day right at the moment.”

She looked right at him, bit her lip at the realisation that Eddie was not going
to just leave her alone he thought. Saw her look passed him, she was looking
for Eddie and he knew it. “Can we talk Izzy, you and I?” he stepped right up to
her ‘Inside would be best.” he opened the door all the way and at her sigh he
ushered her back inside the room.

He walked her over to the lounge and waved her to a seat, “Piper is worried
about you. I’ve told her she can come and collect you herself, we can all have
lunch together.”

“Um.”

“Please stay here Izzy. I need Piper to agree to this. More is going on then
you think.” he walked over and got her a bottle of water from the minibar, and
she not only took it but drank a third of it as well.

“Um, you haven’t seen my phone have you?”

“Eddie has it I believe.” Bradley told her as he sat opposite her, got a frown
from her at this bit of knowledge “He’s quite possessive Izzy, and Eddie is not
about to walk away from you. More than likes you in fact. I believe he wants
you to come and live out in Montana with all of us inside Drake Industries
gated community.”

Watched her nearly choke on a mouthful of water she’d been drinking. Then
just stared at him. Pretty much the reaction he was expecting, due to Eddie’s
backwards approach. He smiled right at her “I have approved it, in case you’re
wondering.”

“I...I can’t do that. I am going to be running Piper’s new store here in just a
months time.” she finally managed to say.

“Hmm, a hick up.” he nodded. “I’d like for Piper and Brandon to come back as
well. All three of you, would be welcomed.”

Saw her frown now “Piper is not going to do that.” she told him out right.

“Why not?” Perhaps Izzy could give him, some information that he didn’t have,
something that could help him to sway Piper into coming home.”

“Um…”

“It’s alright Izzy. You can just say it...I can take an insult, believe you’ve
already called me a few not so nice names...even though you don’t know me
at all, and that they were uncalled for.”

Actually saw guilt pass over her facial expression and then her eyes fell away
from him. “Piper is my friend, Mr Drake and you hurt her.”

“Hm, that’s what she says. What if I was to tell you? That is not exactly the
whole truth.”

She was back to looking at him now. It seemed curious, he thought,

wondering if Piper had lied to her perhaps “It doesn’t matter, she’ll not come
back, does not...and I don’t blame her...want to be around that child you’re
about to marry.”

“What? A child? And I’m not getting married…” he frowned and then realised
she was talking about his sister “Hadley.” he shook his head “Izzy, Hadley is
my little sister, not someone I am going to marry. I have also already told
Piper, just this morning. Was in fact the very reason I was trying to get a hold
of her, to tell her just that.”
“Oh!”

“Oh, indeed.” Bradley nodded, “then finding out about Brandon, that was a
complete shock. Actually, if it wasn’t for you I’d likely still be in the dark about
my son.”

“What? I didn’t tell you anything.” she shook her head.

“No you didn’t.” he acknowledged, “but my man, Cooper, overheard you ask
Piper at the store in Portland if I was the boys father. ‘Has the same eyes.’ I
believe you stated.”

Saw her sigh as she looked right at him, at his eyes in fact. “He does have
some very unique eyes, it’s not like I was going to miss you have the same.”

“So...Izzy, I’d like you to help me.” Bradley asked outright.

“Oh, no. You and Piper. I’m not choosing your side, she is my best friend, Mr
Drake. I have known her for a very long time, and you all of two minutes...I
also know she has real pain where you’re concerned.”

Bradley liked how loyal she was but needed her help “Just some information
is all I need. I’m not going away Izzy, anymore than Eddie is for you.”

“What exactly do you want from Piper?” she asked directly.

“Everything.” he stated simply.

“Everything? Elaborate. Piper is not the dating type.”

He smiled “And I’m actually thankful for that.” and he was, he did not relish
suffering the pains of betrayal.

“OH! So it’s okay for you to date and fuck around, but not her.” Izzy suddenly
snapped all sarcastically, her temper triggered “You’re a typical man. Just a
pig.”

Bradley was staring at her now, wide-eyed and completely shocked by her
sudden angry outburst, and the foul language she had used, clearly had man
issues herself, like he thought. Shook it off had to. “Isobelle, please don’t
speak to me like that. You know nothing about me, and that is not at all what I
meant.”
“Bullshit.” she yelled right at him “And I know plenty about you. Read your Bio,
looked you up online. Knew men just like you, in fact I grew up around men
just like you, rich, arrogant, controlling and with the belief you’re gods gift to
women, when really all you do is go and fuck around, regardless of who you
hurt.”

Even Benson was annoyed with her now, Bradley had to keep him in check,
she was human, reminded his wolf of just that. “I have not fucked around in a
very long time.” he snapped at her “and if you did actually know me at all,
you’d know that.” he couldn’t keep the irritation out of his voice anymore,
trying to rein Benson in and stay in control was no easy feat. “I do not know
what Piper told you. Likely not much at all.” and he didn’t think Piper had ever
mentioned him till recently, let alone the situation she was in, “She left me, I’ve
not been with anyone since.” he told her flatly “Not a single woman since she
left.” he reiterated to her to make it perfectly clear.

The look on her face told him, she did not believe him at all, obviously knew it
was 8 years. “You’re celibate?” she questioned him sounded skeptical.

“I am. I only want Piper, however the woman left in the middle of the night,
changed her name and just vanished from my life. Eddie actually hunted her
most of that night, but had no luck himself in finding her.”

“Why didn’t you do it yourself?” she shot right at him. Still didn’t believe him,
he realised.

Bradley sighed “I was in the hospital, nearly died that night, not long after she
left, I thought someone had poisoned me. When I woke up, she was gone.”
did not tell her at the time he thought it was Piper who’d done that. Best leave
that alone, especially as that was not the case at all.

He could see her frown deepen, as she tried to absorb the news he wanted to
tell her the truth, but didn’t know if she’d handle it. Was curious as to what she
would do if he let Benson push forward, heard Benson snort inside his mind
‘run’.

She was just staring at him, several minutes he waited. “Piper told me you
never cared about her. I heard the actual pain in her voice, she did not lie
about it.”

He couldn’t even get into that with her, not here, that was a conversation for
inside the pack, so he couldn’t explain anything without telling her what he or
Piper was, what a Mate Bond is at this time. Sighed “That is not exactly true, I
was blind, I admit that.” and he had been, not being able to scent her at all,
hindered all his memories of her, all of them, not just her as his Mate, but her
as a pack member too.

Right now when he looked at Piper, he was not using any of his wolfs senses,
had to switch them off along with all his instincts to use them, to recognise her
for that matter, not an easy thing to do, it was ingrained into him to smell
everything around him, to recollect and create memories of people.

Every time he was in front of her right now, he was just looking at her with his
eyes only, it was all he could do. Trying to ingrain her into his memory without
a scent. He could at least see her and hold her image in his mind with this
technique. Seemed to be the only way to hold on to her.

“You only want what you can’t have, is more like it. Is she the first woman to
ever leave you, I wonder?” Izzy was not about to let go of her assumption of
him, it seemed.

Bradley frowned at her, the world she came from, rich, arrogant me, who
needed to be in control, she was very biased against him, that was a certainty.
If he answered ‘yes’ to that question, she would likely laugh at him, tell him he
didn’t handle rejection. So he didn’t say anything at all on that subject.

“Izzy I will not hurt her. I am loyal in this regard, I will treat Piper with respect.
Give her everything she wants, deny her nothing.”

heard her snort “Accept her freedom from you right?”

“It’s complicated, Izzy. Piper and I come from a very different world to you.
Our lives move differently to yours. Piper actually belongs with me, and I want
her.”

“Well, Mr Drake, good luck getting her to believe that.” she rolled her eyes
right at him.

“Then help me.”

“Why should I? Give me one good reason!”

“I love her.” he stated.

Saw the woman burst out laughing, a little on the hysterical side, then her
eyes landed right on his and all amusement was gone, “Love? I doubt that
very much, Mr Drake. Piper is a very well known Designer. She has been in a
lot of magazines, done TV interviews. How is it if you, as you say” she dripped
with sarcasm “Love her.” rolled her eyes yet again “you couldn’t find her, she
didn’t exactly hide herself in a dark corner of dingy little room. She graced the
cover of 4 magazines just last year, magazines that were national, so would
have also been there in Montana, where you live, on the news stands, and
you say, you couldn’t find her. More like you didn’t look for her at all. Only now
that you know about Brandon, do you want her around.”

The low growl that ripped out of Benson at her very hurtful words and the
blatant disrespect she was showing, shot the woman to her feet and her eyes
were very wide as she now stared down at him, likely looking right at
Benson’s green glowing eyes, his wolf had had enough of her accusatory
words, he was the Alpha in this room and would not be tolerating anymore
from her.

Bradley forced Benson to back down and cleared his throat, “Like I said, it’s
very complicated, we’re not the same as you.” Stood up himself when she
edged towards the door slowly, mind-link to Eddie to come right to the room.

That not only was Izzy awake, she’d ticked Benson off and he’d growled right
at her, was now scared and itching to leave. Heard Eddie swear, but that was
it. He walked over to bar her exit from the room. “I’d like you to stay here, till
Piper comes and gets you.” he reminded her casually.

She was still just staring at him. It didn’t take Eddie long to arrive, he strode
right into the room and looked right at Izzy, fear was still written on her face for
all to see as she stared at Bradley.

Eddie sighed heavily and walked over to her, Bradley watched her step into
the man’s arms without hesitation, when he held them out to her, a good thing
to see. She trusted him on pure instinct. Watched Eddie hug her and then
walked her back to his room and close the door, she went, didn’t seem to
resist in anyway at all.

The woman had infuriated him, pushed him passed his and his wolf’s limit,
they were not likely going to get any help from her at this point, sighed. There
was nothing he could do about it. Wondered what she thought about Eddie
turning up right when she needed him to. Likely thought it was a mere
coincidence.
 Chapter 35 - Unscentable
Piper POV

She just knew that Bradley was not going to let Izzy out of that suite they were
all staying in. The only way Izzy was going to be able to leave was if she went
up there and retrieved her, herself and that damned man knew she would, to it
seemed.

Brandon had been quiet since the second visit, and had only asked one
question of her.

“Is Aunt Izzy in trouble because of us?”

Piper had sighed softly and told him “No and yes. It is not solely because of
us, and Brandon none of this is your fault. Alpha’s do what they think, they
need to, to get what they want. Izzy...is currently a bargaining chip, she will be
fine, and she is safe, no harm will come to her, I promise.” and she knew that
it wouldn’t, she was Eddie’s Mate, a precious commodity so to speak.

He had sat now quietly for the past hour and Piper knew he was concerned,
he knew that Izzy was human and not like them. She looked at the clock, it
was coming up on 1230. Bradley’s lunch invitation wasn’t really an invitation at
all, she didn’t think. More of a demand which he had just put as politely as he
knew how, she supposed.

It had also not escaped her attention that Brandon himself was watching the
clock. The longer she left it the more worried he was getting. “We’ll go and get
Aunt Izzy.” she told him at 20 past 12. He was becoming restless and fidgety,
she didn’t want him worrying any more than he needed to. Held her hand out
to him. “Come on.” He took it.

Piper didn’t want to sit down with this man, even if that redhead from her store
had been his little sister, that did not make being in a room with him any
easier at all. She doubted that there was anything that ever would.

Stepped out of her hotel room and frowned as she saw Cooper lean away
from the wall down the end of the hall to her right. Turned and looked the
other way and found Harry leaning on the wall, his eyes were also on her right
this moment. Likely stationed in the hallway to stop her from leaving without
them knowing.
She ignored the two of them and walked to the elevator. Brandon, she noted,
looked from one to the other and then inched that bit closer to her. Aspen
must have told him what they were, or from the size of the two of them, he
realised they were wolves. She didn’t think he had seen these two before.

Bradley would have told the pair of them about the lunch or they would have
been within earshot of their last conversation, likely had been standing out
there in the corridor all morning doing exactly what there Alpha told them to
do. Watch for her trying to leave with his son.

She was not surprised to see them out there in the hallway, just annoyed
about it. But also knew that now he knew about Brandon, there was nothing
else but this to be expected.

Found Cooper, the pack Beta step right into the elevator with them before the
doors closed. Found Brandon clinging right to her leg, “It’s alright.” She
murmured as she reached down and picked him up, and felt him hug into her
“I got real sharp claws.” she whispered, trying to make him smiled, felt
Cooper's eyes move right to her, as she pressed the 10th floor button.

Heard him chuckle a little “Me too.” He whispered right back.

Piper couldn’t help but snort a little, as she tried not to look at Cooper, it had
been a veiled threat, and she’d never seen Brandon’s claws at all, but she
imagined if Aspen was awake he’d likely told Brandon to say it and the boy
had. It amused her completely, though she knew it likely did not amuse
Cooper at all.

He could not command her or Brandon, for that matter, could roll his aura at
them and try to instil fear into them, but he couldn’t make her back down.
Maybe she should tell Brandon that. It might make him have a little bit less
fear around all these wolves and she did want that. Though she had not seen
Aspen since this morning.

Not since Bradley’s wolf had laid claim to the boy and his wolf.

Stepped out of the elevator onto the 10th floor, “This way Piper,” Cooper
stated casually, his hand dropped to the small of her back and before she had
time to register it, Harper was all on the surface, snarling loud and
aggressively snapped her eyes right to his “Don’t touch me.” her gravelly
voice roared right up at him.
Saw his eyes go very wide, and his hand was gone a second later, Harper
stood staring him down. She also registered Aspen was growling from his
place in her arms.

They did not want to be touched by another wolf, and though a part of both of
them understood, it had likely been pure instinct on his part, just being the
pack Beta guiding her where to go. He wouldn’t have even thought about it, it
did not go down well with Harper.

Both his hands were raised in a defensive, non-threatening gesture. “I’m

sorry,” he commented.

“What’s going on?” it was Bradley’s voice. He’d likely heard the snarling and
growling with his wolf’s hearing and thought there was a problem.

Cooper backed away. “I just put my hand on her back, to guide her Brad,
nothing more.”

Harper was still watching Cooper as he moved away, still on the surface, and
a very low growl was still being emitted from her as she watched him, “Doesn’t
like being touched, I don’t think.” she heard him tell Bradley.

“Piper, please calm down, he meant no harm or disrespect.” Bradley told her
as Cooper walked off down the hall.

“He touches me again. I’ll rip his hand off.” Harper snarled, before receding
and giving Piper back control, she slid her hand through Brandon’s hair and
looked down at him. Aspen was gone too, it seemed, it was just Brandon
looking up at her, his wolf had likely reacted to hers, reaction to being
touched.

“It’s alright.” she kissed the top of his head and let him lean right back into her,
turned her eyes to Bradley. Harper had not once looked at the man, had been
solely focused on the one that had dared to lay a hand on her.

Bradley had a look of concern on his face, he was likely very unhappy about
her wolf’s threat to his Beta, she had made herself so very clear in her intent.
He was also likely to be very unhappy with his own son's reaction to the pack
Beta as well.

“This way,” he commented, and waved a hand down the hall, she walked.
“Where is Izzy?” she asked the moment she stepped into the room.

Heard him sigh before answering her “In Eddie’s room.”

Her eyes moved right to his, she was annoyed to hear those words.

“She is fine Piper, though unfortunately, Benson growled at her earlier, for
disrespecting us, and it scared her. Eddie is with her now.”

“Do they just go around scaring everyone mum?” Brandon asked up at her.

“No, son. I do not. It was an accident, just like now, when Harper and you
growled at Cooper, my Beta.”

“That was not an accident.” Piper informed him, then turned away from him.
“Izzy.” she called out. She didn’t really care what he thought about Harper
growling at his Beta, they knew nothing about her or her wolf. He and his pack
had done nothing but cause them pain and loneliness. Harper was not
interested in being a wolf or being touched by one at random, regardless of
the manner of said touch.

Saw as Izzy stepped out of a room, felt Brandon squirm to get down and let
him go, “Are you alright?” Piper asked her as Brandon ran right over to her
and hugged her.

Izzy nodded “I’m alright.” She knelt down and hugged the boy back, reassured
him she was okay and smiled at him.

“I was scared you were hurt by them.” Brandon told her.

“I’m alright Brandon.” She squeezed him gently.

“But they took you prisoner.”

She heard Bradley huff in annoyance at the boy's words, but what did he
expect a 7-year-old to think, when his aunt was taken and refused to be
allowed to come back, or be given back when asked? Saw Eddie frown down
at the boy. Frown even deeper when Izzy didn’t correct him.

It was likely she had tried to leave at some point and had been refused to be
allowed, therefore was actually a prisoner, not that any of these wolves would
see it that way, but things worked very differently in the human world.
Tilt her head slightly as they looked at Izzy, Harper smelled her, smelled
human blood, felt Harper’s instincts rise and a low growl issued from her
inside Pipers mind ‘Izzy’s injured.’ she told Piper.

She slid her eyes over Izzy, couldn’t see any blood, but yes definitely could
smell it. “Izzy, your bleeding.” she stated coldly, her eyes moved right to
Edwards accusingly.

“No.”

“Yes you are, or were. What happened?” there was an angry edge to her
voice, Harper was almost on the surface.

“She got scratched is all.” it was Edward. “Only lightly so, she is fine Piper, I
assure you.” Watched as the man put a hand on Izzy, the woman didn’t flinch
away from him, likely didn’t fear him, his touch might even bring the comfort of
a Mate’s touch. Harper however, didn’t care, his wolf had Mated her and she’d
gotten injured by him, it seemed.

‘Does she need medical attention? Did you even check it?” she didn’t think so.
Wolves had natural healing abilities and a scratch to them was nothing, but
not to a human, saw him actually blink in the realisation that he’d forgotten to
even check it. Didn’t care about anything but himself and his need to Mate
her.

Didn’t even care about causing her injury, saw guilt on his face a second later.
Yes, not a wolf. She wanted to yell at him, but couldn’t because Izzy had no
idea what they all were, “Izzy, perhaps you should let me check you over.”
Eddie said softly.

“What why?” she didn’t seem to understand at all.

“Piper is right, a scratch could get infected.” saw his eyes move to Bradley.
“the med kit?”

“Cooper.” Bradley stated.

How was it. There was a whole room full of wolves and it took her to pick up
the scent of Izzy’s blood. “Brandon come here please.” she held her hand out,
knew Edward would tend to the wounds, his own wolf had caused, found
Brandon’s hand in her a moment later.
“Mum?” he sounded worried.

“Edward will tend to her or Harper will have a piece of him.” she stated flatly.
Izzy looked very confused by her statement. Saw Edwards' eyes move right to
hers, it was an outright threat to the packs Gamma. Harper did not care about
who he was, he was nothing to her. Never had been.

Izzy was also going to find out in short order what they all were anyway,
probably better that it was she who told the woman, Izzy had known Piper and
Brandon for all of Brandon’s life bar the first 6 months. They’d never hurt her
not once, there was a lot of trust between them, a sister’s bond she liked to
think of it. Izzy would be able to see that not all wolves were mean and nasty
creatures. Not all were arrogant and selfish.

Though from what Izzy had seen of late, by this Alpha and his entire Unit, was
that they only cared about what Bradley wanted, and the typical arrogance of
a wealthy man trying to get his own way, she knew Izzy had looked him up,
told Piper as much.

Wondered why the woman had done so? What had piqued her curiosity about
the man? Or was it that she was simply trying to get a heads up on what she
would be dealing with? Seeing as they had been stalking her and Piper since
she’d refused to make that dress and tossed them out.

Saw Edward take Izzy back into his room, with the med kit Cooper had
handed to him. She turned her eyes on Bradley, raised an eyebrow at him
questioningly.

“My apologies, I have been distracted of late. Other concerns blinding me, you
could say.” he was looking right at her, never took his eyes off of hers.

Heard the hotel door be knocked on “That will be lunch.” he commented.

It was, and the woman pushing the cart, blinked and stared up at him when he
smiled down at her, Piper rolled her eyes and walked away.

“I’ll get that, Brad.” Cooper stated and headed over to the door.

“Thank you Coop.” Brad acknowledged him.

“I didn’t know what Brandon liked to eat, so I got a couple of choices for him.”
Bradley told her “Please come and sit, we’ll wait for Eddie and Izzy.”
Harrison, she noted, was coming in the door as the service lady was leaving.
He held the door for her to pass him. Piper watched as the woman, turned
and looked at all three of them, shook her head almost as if to clear it, and
looked again, like she couldn’t believe that they were all real.

Eddie appeared with Izzy. “A couple of light scratches, nothing serious.” He

looked right at her as he spoke.

Her eyes turned to Izzy for confirmation of his statement. She nodded at her.
She only sat down at the table once Izzy did. Brandon was between her and
Izzy, he likely felt safer, she thought.

A plate of chicken and chips was put in front of Brandon. Bradley himself did
it. “Is this alright Brandon? If not, I do have a hamburger and fries for you.”

“It’s fine.” Brandon told him, but didn’t look at the man. He too was unhappy
that his aunt had not only been a prisoner but had been injured as well, it
seemed. Likely Aspen could also smell the blood on his Aunt.

Bradley also placed a meal in front of Piper. It was a medium rare steak with
vegetables, a typical wolfen food, she thought. Noted that he was careful not
to touch her, likely didn’t want Harper to threaten him, she’d already
threatened two of his Unit, and she’d meant it. They might be what these
creatures were on some level, but had not been inside the wolfen world for
many years, lived as human, because they actually didn’t like wolves, or pack
life. Being touched by one, was not something they wanted.

Saw Brandon look at her meal and wrinkle his nose at the sight of those
vegetables on her plate, shake his head, “You have to eat vegetables.” he
whispered.

“Mm.” was all she said “Be thankful you don’t.”

“Yuck, I won't.” he shook his head.

She couldn’t help but smile down at him, even here in this very awkward
situation, he would refuse to eat vegetables if they were on his plate, heard
Izzy chuckle, then watched her wave a piece of broccoli from her plate right in
his face, and Brandon swat it away.

“Eew get it away from me.” he was shoving at her hand as she tried to make
him eat it, playing with him.
Even Izzy knew the boy was hard pressed not to eat vegetables, though he
would actually eat broccoli if necessary, one of the vegetables she could bribe
him into eating. Realised the whole room was quiet, and found all four of them
watching the antics between Brandon and Izzy.

It was a completely natural thing for her to see, for them to do, so of no
surprise to her, just amusing to see and hear. This was however, the first time
they were seeing it, seeing Brandon actually act normally and not afraid of
them. She supposed. Picked up her knife and fork, there was not going to be
much conversation here. Not with Izzy in the room, they could not talk openly
and freely about being wolves with her around.

So she ate quietly and just watched as Izzy tormented Brandon by trying to
get him to eat other vegetables off her plate. It was cute, even Harper was
enjoying watching him.

“Piper?”

Her eyes moved across the table to Bradley, by way of an answer. “Do you
think you could actually introduce me properly to Brandon?”

“He knows who you are,” she told him simply.

“Piper, I would like an introduction.”

She stared at him for a few seconds then shrugged “Brandon, your father.”
she waved a hand at Bradley to indicate him to the boy. Saw Bradley frown
right at her, didn’t like the way she did it she guessed. What did the man
want? Bells and whistles? Brandon already knew who he was.

Narrowed his eyes right on her “That is not a proper introduction, Piper.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Then I’m not exactly sure what you want.
Protocol...”she halted. “Traditionally, can’t be followed right this minute.
Introduce yourself, how you want, I suggest.”

He was looking right at her, seemed he wanted something from her but she
was not exactly sure of what that was. There was a human sitting at the table.
She couldn’t well introduce him as the Alpha to his pack now, could she?
His eyes moved to Brandon who was watching the interaction between the
two of them, likely so was Aspen, she thought. “Brandon, son. My name is
Bradley Drake, I am your father.”

“I know.” he shrugged right back at the man “Mum told me already, when I
asked who you were.” Piper saw more of herself in him than she realised was
there before. That shrug and his dismissive tone, that was all her.

“It’s really good to meet you.” she watched as Bradley smiled right at Brandon,
and looked away, had enough issues being in this room, did not need that
image inside her mind to torture her further. Focused on her meal. Noted
Brandon didn’t actually say anything back to him.

He was biased against wolves, as was Aspen. All they had seen of wolves so
far were that wolves were mean and threatening. That’s also what she’d told
him, before she knew this was coming, before she knew Bradley was going to
be a part of their lives. This likely also didn’t help his reaction to his own kind.

Probably going to have to curb that, it was clear to her that Bradley was not
about to go away anytime soon, wanted to get to know the boy, likely she was
going to have to deal with him on a regular basis, felt pain touch her at that
thought ‘yay see him with others.’ not what she wanted at all. Had had enough
of that to last her a whole lifetime, took a deep breath in as her fork hovered
over her plate, while she pushed that pain away.

This was the very reason she left, to stay away from him, to forget how it felt
to see him with another, “Piper it’s okay.” she heard the southern drawl of his
Gamma, even felt the wave of calming aura he was suddenly pushing at her.
Likely being the Gamma had picked up on something of her emotions.

“You touch me Edward you’ll loose that hand.” she muttered, knew he would
need to touch her to get the full effect of his Gamma’s Charm to work on her.

Didn’t even look at him, didn’t care to, she knew what a Gamma was, what he
could do, all about his particular Charm, had seen him use it around the pack,
on distressed she-wolves after rogue attacks. Not that he had ever come to
help her, and she would have been his actual job, his main concern, or should
have been, but no, she’d gotten no help from him, not once. So didn’t want it
now.

She’d dealt with years of pain, could handle much worse than a little heart
ache, hell a lot worse. She’d felt like she was going to die at times, inside that
pack. Had actually prayed to the moon goddess, who’d forsaken her to end
her miserable life, on more than one occasion. But no, that woman seemed to
enjoy her suffering and had allowed it to continue, year after year. Until she
had taken matters into her hands, and left, that was, but of course, couldn’t
even let her do that her way. No, the moon goddess just had to have one
more jab at her before she left. Put Bradley right back in the pack when he
was supposed to be away.

Given her a taste of her own unattainable Mate, only to have him still not
recognise her, just enjoy the use of her body for his pleasure, a good fuck was
all she was to him, and nothing more.

Wondered not for the first time what she had done so wrong to piss off the
moon goddess, to be cursed by her, to be toyed with by her, wondered if the
woman they all prayed to and worshipped actually even cared at all about
them. Or were they all just toys for her to play with, little puppets attached by
strings to her fingers that she liked to just cut loose or toss around un-caringly.