Unscentable
Chapter 28

Piper

POV

Piper sat watching Izzy, the woman was all over the place about Edward, had stopped calling him Mr Yummy, she'd noted. Was very confused about that text message he had sent to her via the work mobile.

Piper, however, was not confused by it at all. He was upset that his human Mate had run away from him, was honest in his apology for yelling at her, likely felt bad and thought it contributed to her running away from him. His concern for her safety and well-being was completely genuine. The whole, I'll see you soon, just meant that he was on his way here, coming to see her. Wanted to be near her.

In all likelihood, he and his wolf were anxious that she had up and left and gone half way around the world.

She was his Mate and he and his wolf had scared her off.

His only desire now would be to fix it. Placate her and win her over. They would not like that she was alone and without a pack for protection. She was human and therefore very vulnerable in their eyes. If she'd been a werewolf, well... she would have understood everything and there would be no problem.

But Izzy was not. Piper had the feeling that Izzy would text him back, the woman was drawn to him, that much was clear to her. Humans could feel the Bond, it was just not the same as a wolf.

To them it was a strong s*xual connection and when touched by their Mate, though they did not get those hot electric tingles, they still felt like it was the most erotic touch they'd ever felt, craved it. It still felt completely amazing to them. Made them hot and needy, wanton, easily swayed into their Mate's bed on any given occasion.

From what Izzy had told her, she just couldn't help herself where Edward was concerned. Did not understand how she'd wound up in bed with him. Piper knew that Izzy was not the type to sleep around, dated yes, but didn't just go having s*x with anyone, had rules. She was actively looking for Mr Right and according to Izzy.

Mr Right would be happy to wait for s*x with her. He would not look at another woman while they were out together, want her to feel comfortable with their relationship and only have s*x when she was ready too.

Always came back to Phillip, who had cheated on her, scarred that woman's heart. Phillip had not been her first lover but he had been her first real serious relationship and she had thought at the time he was perfect and had intended on marrying him. Then that S.O.B. had not appreciated what he'd had.

A strong and capable woman, with a mind of her own, who was intelligent and loyal to him, she did not believe in multiple s*x partners at the same time, thought it was 'Icky' was the word she had used once.

When Izzy saw a man's eyes tracking another woman while they were dating, out on a date, having a meal or seeing a movie, she ended it. Got rid of him, believed he would not be faithful. Phillip's betrayal had sewed doubt into Izzy's heart, and unfortunately, Piper hadn't thought any man was ever going to live up to the woman's standards.

Now there was Edward. He on the other hand, would live up to that standard, his eyes would never wander, not even if a parade of naked women or she-wolves walked passed behind Izzy. He would not care about that, he only had eyes for one, his Mate and that was Izzy.

It must be nice to have that. She sighed as pain touched her a little. She would never know, her and the Mate Bond, it was just pure pain. That literally gutted her and ripped her apart. Cursed as she was. But she would not deny her friend the right to feel loved and cherished and Edward would do just that, give her everything she desired if Izzy let him in.

Piper knew she was likely going to loose Izzy at some point now, it was just a matter of time, she supposed. Had no idea how she was going to deal with that. Or even if she could be happy about it. Not considering where she was going.

She was going to loose her best and only real friend to a place that had caused her nothing but agony and heartache.

Wondered absently if she could get Izzy to promise her, not to tell them anything about Brandon. It would be difficult for her to do. Especially once she was initiated into the Pack and shifted, which is when she would really understand the connection wolves had to their offspring, and their Mates.

Piper was not about to up end her life, she'd left all that heartache and pain behind her, left pack life for a very good reason and no-one and nothing was going to drag her back into it, so she could see all those Mated wolves happy and loved up, no she was not going to be forced to watch and be constantly reminded of what she could never have.

She certainly didn't want to be around wolves, didn't want nor need to come across another Mate who would not scent her out and cause her all that pain and agony which she would not be able to hide from Brandon, there was no way he wouldn't see it or hear it, let alone have to watch her waste away and get all sickly again. No, she was human now and she would stay that way.

They all ate breakfast and Izzy put a call into the realtor about her apartment, was concerned about the money Piper was shelling out for this suite. Piper was not, it was just money, she had plenty of it, and Izzy knew that as well. It wasn't like she went splashing it all over the place, she just mostly bought stuff for Brandon with it or took him on holidays other than that it stayed in the bank.

Piper had never had much growing up inside that Pack, no-one to buy her new clothes or toys to play with, not even a computer to help with her school work as she'd gotten older. She had just learned to use the pack-house laundry of a night time to do her own washing, used the lost and found bins and the donated clothing racks to replace clothes that fit her. She had eaten three meals a day in the pack-house dining room like all wolves could, no-one cared that she did, hell no-one noticed her doing it.

To keep her schooling up to date she had used the pack-house library computers and their wifi. She'd cut her own hair when it got to long to manage and bothered her, just usually spent her days sitting inside her parents house, missing them mostly. Until one day she had come home from school to replace it had been cleaned out and completely empty.

She'd been 11 at the time, and had not understood that at all. Didn't know where she was supposed to live if not in her family home, so had taken to living in the pack-house basement where she had found some of her parents furniture stored, to still feel close to them. It was a place where the pack stored unwanted things until clean out day once a year, or others came through to look at the stuff and see if they wanted any of it.

She'd stayed there in the basement until she'd felt that first pain of betrayal, and had found that abandoned cabin as she'd been trying to escape the pain. That place had not been much, but it had been out in the middle of the forest, away from everyone that could hear her cries of agony and pain.

So that was where she had stayed after turning 18.

When not buried in her work, she'd gotten used to being alone along time before turning 18, so living out there alone in the woods was nice. No-one had bothered her out there, no-one ran into her out there and blamed her for not moving out of the way, so she'd made it neat and tidy, put in some curtains for privacy, and had even managed to drag a mattress from the pack-house basement storage area to the cabin to sleep on.

It had been simple and basic and if anyone did stroll in there, well they wouldn't scent her anyway. She'd seen rogue attacks from that cabin over the years, none of them had smelled her as they had crept passed the cabin, none of them had come for her also unable to detect her, just like everyone in this pack.

She had even been the one to report a rogue or several sneaking about the pack woods, had alerted the Pack Beta Cooper, never the Alpha himself. Couldn't deal with that man's voice inside her head. Cooper had always taken her seriously, told her to get to a safe place and hide if she couldn't get to the pack-house.

Being that she was a female and reporting rogues out in a heavily wooded part of the pack, he likely worried for her safety, she supposed, worried that those rogues would replace her and have a piece of her. They couldn't have what they couldn't detect and they never scented her out, just like the pack didn't, she didn't fear them, just stood perfectly still and let them pass by, and now she was one.

Piper sighed and pulled herself from her memories as Izzy tapped her arm. "Where were you?" she asked.

"No where in particular." She half smiled at the woman.

"Not ready for at least 3 weeks, still got tenants in there."

"It's not a big deal, Izzy. I can afford the hotel. Wouldn't have booked it if I couldn't, come on don't worry about it." and as if to prove it, told her and Brandon to get dressed. They were all going shopping. Piper had seen the time of Edward's text message. If he was leaving right before he texted Izzy and it had read that way, the man wouldn't get here for another 12 hours or so, depending on layovers. It could well be longer than that, depending on where he had been when he texted Izzy, on the east coast where Izzy had been? Montana where the Pack was? Or on the west coast? She didn't know, though, if they had still been looking for her, at her stores were all on the West coast.

So at the earliest, late tonight, would be when he arrived and he'd be jet-lagged and all cramped from flying, and wouldn't be looking for until tomorrow at least. So today was a care free day for all.

Piper let Izzy know this, after she had looked over her shoulder for like the tenth time when out shopping, she seemed to understand and settle, was actually able to relax and enjoy their shopping trip to the Pitt Street Mall.

Piper bought new clothes for all of them. Today was her treat, just to show Izzy she didn't care about the money side of things and they were all shopped out by 2pm and returned to the hotel to sag down on the couch.

She and Izzy had coffee and cake while Brandon set up his new PS5 so he could play online games with his friends back home in the States.

Picked up her phone when it rang at 2130 and was more than a little surprised to see her neighbour Ingrid's number flashing on the screen. Answered it "Hi Ingrid, what is wrong?" she asked. Ingrid would never just call her for no reason, only ever when she saw something suspicious in the street.

That woman did love to sit in her living room and drink tea or coffee and watch her neighbours, lived across the road from Piper. "Piper, are you moving, and did not tell me?"

"What no!" Piper frowned, that was a very odd question to be asked. "I'm on an impromptu trip to my store, sol am out of the States, but not moving why?"

"Well, I'm standing in my living room, watching people, like four of them, quite big guys, and they have parked what looks like a moving van in your driveway." "What?" She was more than shocked by this news, and considerably confused as well.

"Yes Piper, oh hang on, there is another vehicle pulling up, a SUV and they're all talking to each other. Unloading boxes.. hey your garage is open now."

"What the hell?" She muttered, had to be bloody Alpha Timothy, trying to force her hand once again. Packing up all her stuff and moving it back to his pack. "I'm not moving Ingrid, call the police, those people are thieves."

"Oh my, right away Piper."

"Wait, what company is that mover van from? Can you get me a logo? I'll have to call the company and tell them what is going on. Tell them I did not approve it." "Um I can't see it from here, I'll go over there and demand they stop at once."

"No! Just call the police. Don't risk yourself, Ingrid."

"Alright. I'll do it now." the line disconnected.

That self-centred, arrogant a*ss-hole, was still trying to force her to move to his pack and had actually sent movers to do so. He thought just because she was unafiliated he could push her around. Well, he was in for a rude shock. She was Piper Harper, a well-known human designer. If he wanted a war with her, she would give him one, a very public human world one.

That man could not just drag her from her life, and force her into his pack, not without Brandon as leverage, and she and her boy were halfway around the world.

Damned Alpha's always thinking they could have whatever they wanted. Likely, he just wanted a piece of her profit line. She knew any pack affiliated business meant that the wolf had to hand over between 30% and 50% of their profit margin. It went right into the Pack funds. It was each wolfs way of being a productive member of the pack, showing their support to help better the pack. Give it funds to upgrade buildings and schools and build new buildings etcetera.

Well, she had worked damned hard to get to where she was, and no damned Alpha was going to step into her life and claim what she had accomplished all by herself, on her own, with no help from them. He could bloody well shove it up that a*ss of his. She had lawyers, just needed confirmation that it was him so she could take that bastard on. Charge him with theft, hell she had a working studio in that house, could well be considered that he was out to steal her designs as well. They were worth quite a bit, some of them upwards of 50 thousand or more. Bloody grand theft she'd be charging him with and make it very public she would. That man was going to have to back off and explain himself to the humans.

Got a multi-media text from Ingrid, a photo of the moving trucks logo, stared right at it nearly dumbfounded. Black Haven Moving Co, and the photo showed the Packs logo in the bottom corner a black lake with a rising moon coming from it. The phone number and address along the bottom of the logo were al Black Haven Pack details, then along the very bottom under that were the words printed in black capitals: owned by Drake Industries.

What the hell was going on?

Sent back a thank you text for the info. Now, she had no idea what to do. She could take on Alpha Timothy Avery, not a big issue. But Bradley Drake himself, she had secrets from that man, bit her l!p and wondered if Brandon was in fact still a secret at all. If Bradley had tracked her to her home and then taken it upon himself to enter her home, he'd have seen photos of Brandon, likely have recognised his own eyes.

To track down her home address, though? He had to have figured out who she actually was, a Whitlock, and that name would crop up in his Packs database.

"Shit." she muttered, she could not take on Bradley Drake, he was a lawyer himself, and a simple DNA test, which she knew he would insist on, would prove Brandon to be his. Even in the human world, he'd be granted access to the boy. It would likely be a very messy, public battle.

Either that or he would go to the Wolfen council and just claim she had kept him an Alpha from his heir, had not told him about the child and an Alpha claiming his heir from a rogue female, she did not stand a chance.

The Wolfen council would grant him all rights to his son and heir, and if he was moving her things, to his Pack, and that is likely what was happening, he was already intending on claiming the boy. It wasn't enough that she had to suffer his new Mate, he was likely going to use that Wolfen council and the Wolfen laws to force her and Brandon to live inside the pack and she was certain he could, because she was unaffiliated and held no rank or status of any kind. Her human world would not be taken into account.

Perhaps Alpha Timothy was her best option right this minute, stood up as she realised it was not going to be just Edward coming, it was going to be Bradley himself and the rest of his Alpha Unit, coming for her Son.

He obviously knew who she was, a former pack member. Her real last name, Whitlock. It was the only way he could have found her house. Her passport and credit cards she'd used to come out here were also under Whitlock, he could track her as easily as Eddie had Izzy.

Turned her eyes to the clock, they would likely be here in the country already, not long ago landed, they could very well be here in this hotel, banging on her door any time he liked. Though she doubted he would know what room she was in and he couldn't just wander the halls and try to scent her, that wouldn't work.

But it was entirely possible that Edward could already scent Izzy, or that anyone of those men could charm the woman at the front desk to give them her room number. This was not good. She had no idea what to do about it either.

They could well have booked right into this hotel themselves, have all the exits covered, that's what she would do. There were four of them and though she was unscentable to them and could likely slip passed unnoticed, with Aspen now revealed it was unlikely that Bradley wouldn't feel drawn to his child and there was no way that Izzy was getting past Edward, that man would be hunting with all his wolfs senses, hearing, sight and smell.

She could use Izzy as a distraction to get away, but that wasn't fair to the woman. Throwing her to the wolves, she snorted in amusement at her own thought.

Literally at the wolves. Then she sighed no she couldn't do that, was going to just have to wait and see.