Unscentable
Chapter 18

Bradley POV

Bradley was standing at the reception desk waiting to check out of the hotel with Cooper and Hadley. They'd had a late breakfast, seeing as their flight back to Montana wasn't until lunchtime, looked at the number on his phone when it rang. Alpha Timothy IMP. Picked it up. Maybe the man had gotten her already.

"Bradley Drake" he answered in the human way due to where he was and the humans all around him.

"Bradley, Timothy Avery." then the man sighed.

Bradley closed his eyes. He just knew that something had gone wrong. "What is it, Timothy?"

"Piper got away." he muttered.

"Didn't your Beta, lo jack her car!" he asked, more than annoyed, he'd heard that very conversation himself.

"Yes." Timothy sounded annoyed as well now. "I thought we'd let her settle down for the night. The car didn't move all night. When we got there this morning to collect her, the car was still there, but no Piper, no Brandon."

Bradley sighed now and knew he should have insisted on going himself. "Did you not watch her or at least where she spent the night, put a guard on her at least?"

"I did, must have left before we got there," heard the man huff, "I'm just as annoyed as you are Bradley."

"I doubt it. That's my son you lost and likely my Mate." he grated out, uncaring that Hadley would be hearing this conversation. Only he and Cooper knew at this point about the boy. He still hadn't informed his Gamma or Delta. "Do you have any idea where they

are?"

"No."

"Where did she leave the car?" Bradley changed his train of thought, thinking now of how to track her. She'd gone somewhere and that somewhere would likely be to someone she trusted. He was betting he knew who. "The mail states Isobelle Jenkins."

Bradley frowned, "Isobelle Jenkins." he mused aloud, then he sighed "Izzy." turned his eyes to Cooper, ignored the very concerned look he was getting from his sister, who now appeared way more concerned about the situation now she'd heard him say his son. "You've got Izzy's details right?"

"I'll call her, though I likely won't have any luck, but.. saw the man pull out his phone.

"Izzy is Piper's Assistant Manager, they are quite close." Bradley informed Timothy while they waited.

"Where else do you think she will go?" Timothy asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine on that. I'll have my men make some calls to her other stores. She could have gone off to Olympia or LA. I'll get back to you Timothy," he hung up and closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and then let it out slowly, a rogue on the run with no describable scent to track, didn't even small like a rogue for that matter, just freaking great.

Looked at Cooper, he was frowning "What?" he asked when the man hung up. "Voice mail."

Told the receptionist at their hotel they would like to stay at least one more night, maybe two, instead of checking out. Then drove them to her store here in Portland. It was open, he walked in and saw the woman behind the counter smile right up at him. He'd not seen her before. He might have some luck on his side.

Glanced at her name tag 'Laura'

"Morning Laura." he smiled right at her, heard her heart rate quicken, smiled a bit more as he leaned right on the counter, getting closer to her "I'm looking for Izzy, cheeky woman stood me up."

Heard a little disappointment in her tone. "Oh! She must have forgotten to tell you. She's home in Maine for her sister's wedding, not back till Wednesday."

"Ah, naughty of her indeed. I must punish her when she comes back." he chuckled softly, allowing his tone to imply it would be a fun bedroom punishment. "You wouldn't happen to have the number where she's staying now would you?" he asked, saw the woman nod her head.

"I do actually, in case there is an emergency."

"oh, wouldn't you just call Piper for that?" he threw out all casual like, giving off the air that he knew her as well.

"No, Izzy runs everything."

"Oh, could I have that number for Izzy, she needs a naughty phone call, she does." he winked right at Laura.

Saw her blush as she understood his meaning, and nodded "Give me a second, I'll write it down for you." And she did just that, wrote down two numbers actually, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"That's her family home number where she's staying, and that is the work mobile she always carries."

"Thank you Laura.. Oh and tell Piper I said to say hello." he pushed up off the counter.

"I will when I see her."

"Not in today then?"

"No, not for a while, I heard working from home.

"Well, tell her, Bradley said to say hello, next time you see her." watched as the woman's eyes went a little wide, he smiled as it dawned on the woman she'd just given out information to a man, she aught not to have. "Bradley who?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"Drake," he commented, "Thanks for the info Laura, you were most helpful." he smirked right at he, then strolled out the door. Humans sometimes just couldn't keep their full whits about them, when faced with his eyes and charming smile and he'd laid it all on for that Woman.

"Got two numbers for Izzy, in Maine. Nothing on Piper. Though I dare say that woman in there is now terrified she's going to be fired," he chuckled to himself.

Leaned back in the seat of the car and put a call into the work's mobile number. It answered on the 4th ring "Goddess Gowns, Izzy speaking."

"Isobelle Jenkins?" he used her full name to clarify that Isobelle was Izzy.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"Where is Piper, Izzy?"

"I have nothing to say to you. Mr Drake I presume.

"If you don't tell me, I will come to you."

Heard her laugh "Go ahead, come and replace me. Good luck with that."

He smiled to himself "Laura was very forthcoming, Izzy.. You're in Maine at your sister's wedding."

"Stupid woman," he heard her mutter, "Even if you come here. I will not tell you what you want, because I don't know."

"I don't believe you," Bradley told her simply, and he didn't.

"Well now, that is your problem, isn't it." Then the line was disconnected. She was so very stubborn, just like Piper. No wonder they got along.

"Cooper, replace out all there is about Isobelle Jenkins, from Maine." Dialled Eddie's number and waited for the line to connect didn't take long. "Hey Brad, what's up?"

"Piper's gone. Timothy scared her off. Izzy is in Maine. How would you like another cock at her?"

"I would love it." he could not only hear the smile in the man's voice, but pure determination as well.

"Go get her. She's at her sister's wedding." he read out the home number for him so Eddie could track it to an address. "I give you permission to charm that woman's socks off, or anything else you need off. To get me information about Piper's where about's she went to Izzy's place, then just vanished."

"So you're betting Izzy knows where she is then.

"Yes, I'd bet everything I own on it." he agreed. "Let me know when you get the information."

"Will do."

He sat and thought about it, wondered how far that woman would go to get away from an Alpha or two of them, now. Wondered what Timothy had threatened her with to make her go and get Brandon and return to his pack. She'd not looked happy that was a certainty. Neither had his son.

Put a call into the man and asked him just that.

Was completely furious at the man's answer, and so was Benson, who snarled right down the line at the threat of separating her from her son. Did not like it at all, no wonder the woman had bolted away into the night. It did not appease him to hear Timothy tell him, he'd not actually intended to follow through with it, that he knew he wouldn't have to, knew that Piper wouldn't risk it and would go with him.

"Don't interfere if you are going to threaten her or my son Timothy, I'll replace her myself." he'd snarled down the line at the man, and ended the call, even why Timothy was telling him not to interfere.

Recalled that Timothy had told him he'd also threatened her the first time they'd met as well. It was no wonder the woman was on the run, she'd gotten nothing but threats from him. He was just as guilty for raging at her about Hadley's dress. "Her place, Cooper, let's see if we replace something on where she might go."

They did just that. Hadley was wandering around looking at her things, stopped and looked at the photos too. He'd let the cat out of the bag, she'd not said a single word since he'd used the words 'my son' at the hotel. He'd not missed her expression at the time had said it all.

Bradley was sitting in Pipers' home studio, once again trying to get passed the password when Hadley walked in and looked around, he noted she was holding a photo in her hand "He's got your eyes." She commented softly as she walked passed him and into the room to look around.

"He does, his name is Brandon." he told her with a nod". You're a girl, Hadley. What do you use for a password?"

Saw her roll her eyes at him. "Yes I am a girl." watched her eyes move passed him to the computer and then just shrugged "I don't password protect things. "Nothing?"

"Nope.." she shook her head.

"What about your study lap top, the one you take into the human world" he asked surely that was locked.

"Oh, yeah that. It's mum and dads Mate Bond anniversary."

That did not help him at all with the password.

Cooper was off searching the house for anything at all.

Heard Hadley gasp from behind him and turned to see her looking at the ruined dress on the mannequin. She'd moved the screen aside, he could see it as well.

"That's the dress I want, or did." she pointed to Bradley looked right at it, though he'd seen it last time he'd not really taken it in, had a defined sweetheart neckline with crisscrossed ruching and a fitted bodice all the way to the top of the hip area, had some pretty embroidered tiny flowers on the left hip and then fell in a ball gown style in lots of soft layers of sheer white material that that had three inch white silk ribbon edging on each of the layers, that fell like cascades down the dress in overlapping folds, almost looked like large curls.

It was in a soft white dress.

He didn't think she could possibly have made it and torn it to shreds in just a week. Surely not. Then he remembered Renee telling him only one had ever been made and taken out of the catalogue. He looked at it.

Hadley as she stood there trying to put it back together.

"Leave it, Hadley." he told her gently. He could see her getting upset by the state of the dress. "I'm certain once everything is cleared up, she will make you your dress."

"No she won't." He heard Hadley say with a heavy sigh.

"Yes she will." he reassured her.

"No Bradley, you don't get it.. this is her dress... the one she made for herself..." her big blue eyes turned right on him full of sadness "She'll never make it again."

His eyes moved passed her to the dress once more and then he sighed himself, her dress. The one she would have worn for him, he realised, was what Hadley meant, the one Hadley wanted for herself, the one he had gone in there demanding she make, for the woman that Piper believed was his new Mate. Wanted her to wear the dress she had designed for herself. No wonder she'd ripped up that photo, no wonder she had refused to make it and told them to get out. No wonder he could feel her pain that day.

He'd waltzed into her office and demanded from her point of view, that she allow his new Mate to wear the dress, she, his actual Mate, had not only designed but would have worn for her Luna Ceremony. It just seemed to get worse with every minute. Nothing he did eased her pain, only made it worse. He had to sort this out and quickly.

She had made the dress, even though she would never get to wear it. Then destroyed it, but still kept it.

The woman was torturing herself with it and on a daily basis. He sighed as he stared at it, it was beautiful, she would look beautiful in it.

Was this how she reminded herself to stay away from him? He wondered.

Cooper came up empty handed after searching the place top to bottom, went through every single room, methodically started down stairs and worked his way up, searching for clues as to where she may have gone. Nothing there was not even a hand written address book with people's phone numbers in it that she knew or socialised with.

"Need to search her office at the store." Cooper stated "I got nothing at all,"

"We'll have to wait until it closes. I don't think Laura will let us search the office."

"The building has an alarm, remember. We'll need Izzy or another staff member to let us in."

"Or an alarm code." Hadley stated, she was still over by the dress. "Coop you go in and seduce the woman locking up, while you entertain her in the back room. Bradley and I will go upstairs and search her office." Bradley turned and looked at his little sister, shocked by her bold statement to Cooper. She had just told his Beta to go and have s*x with the human woman.

"Not a half bad idea." Cooper laughed. "But I don't do humans, Hadley."

"Why not, a girl is a girl, we got all the same bits." she stared right at Cooper as if making a point.

"Hadley enough, you're not to talk like that."

Bradley watched as she turned her eyes on him and then rolled them. "What can't he take one for the team?

I'm dead certain the man has had plenty of women, and likely done this before. What's one more notch in his belt?"

"Enough." Bradley frowned at her. "Out, we are done here."

"I'd take one for the team." She shot at him as she stalked by him out of the room.

Bradley's eyes widened now. What the hell was that?

Yes, he'd felt her all Alpha in that comment, but where had his sweet little sister gone? She was speaking words he'd never heard come from her mouth, let alone didn't want to hear.

"We'll wait on Eddie," Bradley muttered and stood up.

"When did she get a potty mouth?" he asked Cooper.

Cooper laughed "that was clean, not potty mouthed, put it in the most politest way I've ever heard, considering." he looked right at Bradley "I have done that, and the way you put it 'Coop go fvck that she-wolf till she tells you what we want. Hadley's words were very polite." Bradley couldn't argue about that, Cooper was right.

They left locking up behind them, returned to the hotel seeing as he'd not actual checked them out, there was nothing he could do at this point, sat with his laptop in front of him and logged into the pack-house's database via remote access and checked for that alliance contract Timothy had mention to him that he might want to look up. Had been going to do it back at the pack, but seeing as they were not returning, this was the only other option to him.

Read through it, it did not just involve Piper but also her mother Jewel as well. It went right back to when she had found her Mate Talon. It stated she was never to have her pendant removed by anyone in the Pack ever.

That if she was to produce a child it would come to the Ice Moon Pack, to speak with the Whitlock elders.

That any and all children would retain the Whitlock name, until such a time as their wolf emerged and if there were no white eyes, then the child could claim the father's name. If the wolf's eyes were white, it had to be reported to the Ice Moon Pack. For bloodline linage to be documented.

It also stated that if Jewel or any daughter that she produced were injured or suffered death at the hands of the pack due to multiple males r****g either one of them, it would be all out war. Those male wolves involved would be slaughtered and the current Alpha 'himself" was fully responsible for their deaths. That he would be Alpha Duelled to the death by the current Ice Moon Pack Alpha or by one of the Whitlock elders themselves.

There was a picture of the pendant in the agreement to show what it looked like, not that he had seen it on Piper, a long pale blue pendulum type pendant. His father's signature was on the bottom of the document.

Bradley sighed, something was definitely going on that he had no idea about. And bloody well should be considering the consequences fell right on his shoulders. His father had never put this document before him, never even mentioned it. He was more than annoyed. Turned it to Cooper for him to read. He'd not been wrong about that pendant.

Brad had not seen her pendant, though there was a chain around her neck, he could only presume from what his father had said, that Piper had likely collected it off of her mother's dead body and now wore it, likely always had.

That document sounded as though if Jewel or Piper did not wear said pendant, the whole or a lot of the male wolves in his Pack would turn on them. The word r**e had been mentioned by Timothy and it was in that document as well. He really didn't like where this was going.

Timothy himself had said that female Whitlock's didn't live long. He had actually sounded sad, in fact. Had also asked him how their child was conceived, told him to his face if Piper stated it was r**e he'd be Alpha duelling him to the death.

This did not bode well, something about Piper and her bloodline was putting her in danger, and she likely had absolutely no idea at all. That pendant was definitely a protective charm, and Bradley, right now, was praying she never took it off, clearly needed to keep it on to save her very life. Though he was damned sure right this minute, that it was also that pendant that hid her from him scenting her out as well. How were they supposed to sort this out? He couldn't just remove it, that was for Sure.

Needed more information. Likely was going to have to take her right to Timothy and the Whitlock elders, not something she was going to be willing to do, from all accounts. She'd run from Timothy. Hadn't run from Bradley though, just avoided him, interesting in itself.