Unscentable
Chapter 36

Bradley

about.

POV

Bradley was more than concerned with Harper's reaction to his Beta, it was uncalled for, he thought, and she was right there on the surface out in the open for any human to see, if they walked passed or came out of their hotel room to see what all the noise was Bradley had been prowling around inside his hotel room. He was worried that though she was on her way up here she was going to just demand that he hand Izzy over and leave the minute she had her. It was a completely possibility this would happen. She did not seem to want to give him a moment of her time.

His head had whipped around at the sound of a wolf snarling "Don't touch me." He had known she was on her way up here with Cooper, the man had already mind-linked him to let him know, also mentioned that Brandon appeared afraid of his presence. Bradley had not been expecting any aggression on either of their parts, Piper or Brandon's, for that matter, not with the boy displaying fear. He had shot out of his room into the hall to see what the hell was going on out there, it had been al of two and half minutes and everything seemed to have gone off the rails.

Cooper was actively backing away from them, his hands raised so that she could see his was no threat to her, or the child she was carrying in her arms. Noted it was not just Harper on the surface, but his boys' wolf Aspen was right there with her. Something had made the pair of them perceive Cooper as a threat to them, and in the space of two and a half minutes.

Demanded his Beta tell him what the hell was going on, needed to know to help calm the situation if he could. Cooper told him he'd just touched her to guide her to the room. It didn't make sense that was not a gesture of threat at all, yet here she was and not just her all aggression, Brandon too. A low growl was still being emitted from Harper as well. She was very unhappy, it seemed. This was not a good thing.

He'd seen the way she had taken a step back from Benson earlier this morning, when he'd reached out to touch her, now this, a full threat to rip his hand clean off, if he touched her again. It was pretty damned clear she did not want to be touched at all. Must have been the actual touch itself that set her wolf off.

It concerned it greatly, set his brain on fire at the possible reasons why she would react to such an ordinary thing for a Beta to do, it was just an instinct on Cooper's part, he imagined, certainly would not have been a threat in any way. Made Bradley wonder if at some point that pendant had come off of her and she'd been hurt. He hoped not. Though if it was after her leaving he would have felt it himself, so unlikely. He also knew he had been her first as well.

Something else was going on, he just didn't know what. Needed to replace out, he guessed. Waved her passed him, even took a half step back so she could walk passed him without the issue of them coming into contact, noticed that Aspen receded almost at the exact same time as Harper did, wondered if his young Alpha wolf was deeply connected to his mother, if he could actually feel her push forward and recede without looking at her it was possible.

He could always tell when his mother's wolf had looked at him, even before he'd gotten his wolf. She'd died when he was just 12, but could still recall always knowing when her wolf was right there on the surface, even if he wasn't looking at her. Aspen may have that himself.

Thinking about his mother, she was an early shifter he realised, gotten her wolf Hallow at 10 herself. Perhaps this was why Aspen was early.

He could tell right away that Piper was more than annoyed to hear that Izzy was in Eddie's room and likely thought the man was keeping her in there for his own gain, then to hear Brandon ask if all wolves scared everyone all the time, actually hurt a little and not just him but Benson too.

It was clear from that one statement that the only interactions his son had ever had with any of his own kind, were all bad. He'd never had a single nice interaction with the exception of his own mother. He did not like that at all. Not all wolves were nasty, mean, scary creatures, in fact, unless you ticked one off, they were usually just happy going about their own business.

And out in the human world, they were usually well mannered and polite. Their human counterparts knew better than to antagonise anyone, or get into a fight. And if he had ever seen the inside of a pack he would know that. Saddened him a little too. So told him no they did not and corrected him told him it was an accident that he had growled at Izzy, just like it was out in the hall when Harper growled at Cooper. Only to be told point blankly that was no accident. He did not like that, Harper had meant every word, and her threat to his Beta was real. Would have to work on that.

It was nice to see Izzy and Brandon interact, clearly very close, watched her hug the boy, so it wasn't that touching him was a threat, touching his mother was seen as a threat. Very protective indeed, just like Timothy had stated. Hoped that was not going to be a problem in the future.

Frowned when Piper stated Izzy was injured, and then outright threatened his Gamma with Harper, in front of Izzy. He did apologise, it had actually escaped him that Izzy was injured. He'd seen Eddie carry that woman right into this hotel room, she'd looked fine to him, just tired and if she had been injured by Eddie or his wolf they would have known about it and done something, so he'd not even smelled the woman looking for signs of injury. Turned out to be a light scratch on either side of her h!ps, Timbers claws used to remove her underwear.

Eddie had mind-linked him. It was nothing serious, a small amount of blood and it would be fine. Told the man to be more careful in future.

Watching as they ate, the bond between Izzy and Brandon was nice, she was obviously comfortable in this room, with all of them and they were all here, he and his whole unit. Hadn't looked at him with fear when she'd come out of Eddie's room, seemed she was all good. Playing with Brandon, trying to get him to eat her vegetables. Clearly, he did not want to at all, this was normal it seemed.

Watched as Brandon was relaxed at the table, swatting Izzy's fork away and shoving at her, he could tell this lot ate together on a regular basis. The boy interacted with her as though she was a normal member of his family. Looked at her like an Aunt, a good thing he thought.

Even got to see that Piper smiled at the antics that were going on between the two of them, shook her head a few times, used to seeing it. Wouldn't surprise him if, in a better setting, she would play back in the same manner.

Pipers' very poor introduction of him to Brandon when he asked her to introduce them, seeing that it was clear she was not going to, "Brandon your father." Waved a hand in his general direction, was very disrespectful and he didn't like it. Then told him that Brandon already knew who he was, that she had not lied to the boy about who he was.

That was a good thing, but telling her that was not a proper introduction, didn't get him anywhere at all either.

She simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow and stated she couldn't exactly follow protocol now could she? She had him on that, but a nicer way of doing it could have been done.

All he had really wanted was for her to state 'Brandon, this is Bradley, he's your father.' Was that really so hard a thing to ask? He didn't think so. What he wanted and what he was getting were two very different things. Then she simply told him to introduce himself. Both he and Benson were getting more than annoyed with her attitude, and reluctance to assist in the current situation, they were both just staring at her, though Benson was not on the surface, couldn't be with Izzy right there.

Had likely been a rogue for far too long, used to doing what she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. Damn near huffed, West had warned him about this, his Mate had lived on her own out in the world away from his pack and didn't take kindly to orders, used to doing as she pleased. Piper was going to be the same.

Though he was certain Piper had a slight advantage over Jo-anne's position, Jo-anne had been one of West's pack members and had to follow orders. Piper here was a rogue and knew it, also knew he could not actually make her, she did not have to take orders from him. It was likely she also knew he was going to have to keep his Alpha temper reigned in, around Izzy, a human and his son, who he'd just met today and thought all wolves were mean and nasty.

Brandon's reply to him introducing himself was as cold as his mother's "I know mum told me already, when I asked." it sounded unemotional and very dismissive, almost as though the boy did not care at all that he was his father. It was entirely possible the boy was 7 and had used in the human world, likely had friends who didn't have dads out there. He'd not had a father all his life. He had no idea if the boys wolf considered him family at all, even though they understood what he was to them, could well not care, considering all other interactions with wolves.

Told him it was nice to meet him, hoping for something from the boy at all, even smiled right at him, he was genuinely happy to meet him, spend time with him and be in the same room with him. Still itched to touch the boy, would love to get that father to son hug, but from everything or lack there off, it was unlikely he was going to get that hug anytime soon.

Was barely a minute later when he heard Piper draw in a long deep breath and suddenly Eddie's Gamma's southern drawl rolled right out of him. "Piper, it's okay." he only now realised that something else was going on.

His eyes moved right to her, he had been focused on Brandon till this point. No longer.

She looked impassive him, almost devoid of all emotions, but he knew that was only on the surface.

Eddie's reaction spoke volumes. Her hands were stilled above her plate, as though she was focused on it, something else was going on inside her mind.

"You touch me Edward, you'll loose that hand." He heard her mutter. A moment after his Gamma had spoken to her, trying to use his Charm on he, to ease whatever it was she was feeling right this minute, had very good control of her facial expression he realised, she was unreadable to him. But not to Eddie, couldn't get passed that man and his instincts.

He also noted that Piper did not so much as even look in Eddie's direction, felt his aura roll right out of him, Bradley supposed, she might no longer live as wolf did, but had lived inside the pack most of her life, knew what a Gamma was, how they worked. He realised she knew he was going to try and touch her, not that Eddie had moved at all.

Izzy was suddenly up and stalking away from Eddie, yanked her arm right out of his hand when he latched on to her to see what was wrong. It was clear the man had no idea what was going on, and to be honest, neither did Bradley. As far as he could tell, Eddie hadn't done anything wrong.

Watched as Eddie stood, so did Piper for that matter, told Brandon to stay here, and then halted Eddie with a simple hand gesture, then turned and went after Izzy. It was clear Piper knew what had just happened, without a doubt, she also knew it was Eddie who had just upset her friend.

The poor man looked more than confused, as he watched his human Mate slam the door to his bedroom behind her, looked right at Bradiey for clarification, he shook his head, saw the man look to all of them in turn.

Neither of them knew. Which only confused him even further. On the bright side, Izzy didn't leave the suite, and set Timber off. Just stalked into Eddie's room. Bonded to him likely in some way, that was good.

He noticed that Brandon was looking right at the closed door, his mother had just followed Izzy through, his head was tilted ever so slightly to the right. Made Bradley smile, his boy was using his wolf's hearing to hear what was going on in that room, so very protective and now he realised not just of his mother.

Wondered if Aspen fancied himself as the Alpha Wolf to his very tiny pack which included just the three of them. It was very possible. He did display all the markings of an Alpha, trying to protect what was his.

Realised that Piper had left Brandon alone in this room with him and his entire Alpha Unit, a little trust, it seemed, had been granted. A good thing.

Tuned his hearing into the room where both Izzy and Piper were, as he knew everyone else in the room was doing, none of them understood what happened and were all curious.

Heard Piper try to console Izzy, who had apparently taken Eddie's use of his Gamma Charm as he was looking at Piper in more than a normal way, she actually thought the man was interested in Piper, couldn't be further from the truth. Sighed when he heard her sob, saw Eddie move instantly head right for the room himself.

'Leave it. Bradley shot down the mind-link at him' Piper knows her better, let her calm Izzy.'

'She thinks I'm going to cheat on her:' Eddie shot right back. He clearly wanted to go in there and sort it out.

'Because you have done this all backwards, just wait, let Piper help her.' he had a feeling this was not new to Piper, that she had seen this before with her friend, dealt with it before. Piper also knew that Izzy was Eddie's Mate.

Eddie was prowling back and forth, listening to Piper try and explain Eddie's job to her.

Bradley's eyes moved to Brandon. He was focused on that room, listening intently, it seemed, likely this would be the first of any type of explanation of anything for him.

Piper was in there trying to make Eddie's job relate as best she could to the human world. That made Bradley smile a little, she was actually helping to sway Izzy to be Eddie's Mate. Which was a good thing, not just for Izzy and Eddie, but it allowed him to see she wasn't totally against a Mate Bond.

She was actively encouraging Izzy to go to the Pack with Eddie, wanted her friend to be happy, it seemed.

Though it hurt to hear her say no-one out there cared about her, or looked at her like that, sighed heavily to himself, when he heard her state that he only cared about his son and nothing more. Found Brandon's eyes right on him, accusingly so at that, There was a full flicker of Aspen right there. He too was mad about that statement.

"That's not true," Bradley told them both softly. Could tell the boy and his wolf didn't actually believe him and his statement spoke volumes "I won't live with you. Not without mum." the boy told him and there was anger in their words. His eyes were flickering between his wolf and his own, they were both in agreement.

"I'm not going to take you away from your mother. I want both of you to come home.. to be a family." he told him. Perhaps having the boy understand might help the situation.

Didn't want to use him like this, but it was clear to Bradley that Brandon understood their situation, or Piper had told him that Bradley could just come along and take him away, anytime he liked, because he was the Alpha of a Pack.

Saw the boy's eyes turn back to his plate, did not want to talk to him anymore, so like his mother he was, but what else could he expect she was the one raising him, he would of course, take after her, only had her to look up too. This could be more difficult than he thought.

Heard Eddie thank Piper for her help, and watched her come out of Eddie's room alone, left Izzy and Eddie in man.

There to talk he supposed. She glanced at them all, they were all watching her. Mostly because they were all shocked that she had just helped Eddie keep his Mate, and none of them had really expected that from her. She had in all likelihood talked her friend into marrying the Watched her as she reassured Brandon that Izzy alright, heard Harry thank her for her help. Not that she cared, told him that she hadn't done it for Eddie. She wanted her friend to be happy, even if that meant losing her herself.

Remarked that Izzy would likely be staying there from now on, then just told him she and Brandon could leave. She had only come here as he suspected. For Izzy.

Trying to get her to stay, even saying please. Didn't work, just elicited a comment of "I don't belong there, never did." from her. That hurt him, she did belong there, had always belonged there, with him.

Tried again to tell her that she did belong there, told her he wanted her there, reached out to touch her, wanted her to realise their Mate Bond was still intact. He knew she could smell his scent, that was a given, but it had been a long time since she'd left and not once would she have felt any pains of betrayal. Would have likely convinced herself that her rejection was in effect, easy enough to come to that conclusion for her. But smelling him would also be confusing for her.

Watched her actively take a step back away from him, from his out-stretched hand. This was not the first time either. He was not certain if she didn't want any wolves touching her, or just him. She had warned both his Beta and Gamma about touching her, told them both they would loose their hands in fact. So perhaps it wasn't just him.

Told him 'No' to 'go back' 'to leave' even used the word please. As much as he wanted her to come home, she didn't want to. He couldn't walk away from he, stepped right in front of her, careful not to touch her, didn't want to set Harper off and he got the impression it would.

Tried to tell her he understood, that he did know her life inside the pack was not nice, apologised to her for it.

Was practically begging her to have dinner with him. Not something he had ever had to do, most wanted to have dinner with him, he'd never had to beg for anything in his life, he was the Alpha, always got what he wanted.

Now here he was an Alpha begging a rogue female for just one meal, to allow them to sit down and talk privately, to sort everything out. He didn't want to have this conversation in front of their son. That was why he was asking for a private dinner. He was going to loose her, now that Izzy was going to be part of the pack, had no leverage to get her back here to talk to him.

"yes." she stated flatly, right to his face, believed it was to much of him to ask of her. "I do not want."

"Enough." he cut her off, angry now. Snapped it right at her, uncaring his son was right there at this moment to see his temper, he had a wolf who also had a temper.

Bradley could already feel the pain, she hadn't even voiced the damned words and he knew, what was coming, and he didn't want to hear it, practicaly yelled at her' I don't want to hear it. Don't do it Piper, it hurts." Then stalked himself right out of the hotel room, before he lost full control of himself and let Benson out in a fit of rage over her trying to reject them once more.

Bradley did understand how her life had been, but he had also suffered. For 8 long years he'd had a Mate who'd run away from him, through no real fault of his own. They had not known who she was to them, and how could they, with that damned pendant around her neck.

He wanted nothing more than to go back down there and rip the damned thing right off her neck, claim what he was damned certain was his, Make her forgive him and drag her home. Mate her right into submission until she accepted him and his wolf as her Mate. Left not just the room but the damned floor to stop himself from doing just that.

His father had told him, not to take her pendant off under any circumstances, and especially not around his unit. Bradley already knew it was because they would all likely turn on her, it's what that contract stated. Also, what Alpha Timothy had said, worried about her being r***d, in fact, so Bradley was certain 'turn on her' meant that they would all be trying to get a piece of her, regardless that she was their Alpha's Mate.

Found himself out on the roof stalking around, his fists balled trying to calm not just himself down but his wolf, he'd ignored his Beta's mind-link, shut it off and pushed it away, needed more than a minute to himself.

Though it didn't take Cooper long to replace him, likely used his tether to his Alpha to locate him. The man stood just watching him for several minutes then sighed "Its going to be alright Brad, just take a breath, calm down."

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do up here?" he snapped, calm down. Yeah, telling someone to calm down really works "Not even Brandon, wants to come home." He shot at his Beta.

"He's little and he's scared, never likely had to deal with wolves prior to Alpha Timothy, and right now we're not exactly putting our best foot forward. Are we?"

Bradley glared at the man. He was trying his best.

"Brad, Eddie took Izzy. You heard what Brandon said he was scared we'd hurt her. Yelling at his mother? Not a good idea either.." raised his hands at Brad to halt the yelling that was about to burst out of him. "I understand you're upset, that's why you yelled." "I begged her Coop and still nothing." Bradley grated out.

"I know," The man sighed, "you knew this was not going to be easy Brad.. a long road to getting her, even longer to getting her inside the pack itself. You knew this, coming here."

Bradley closed his eyes and tilted his head skyward, took a breath in, he did know this, right from the beginning. This was just day one of his pursuit of his Mate. He was just so used to getting his own way all the time, that he obviously had no idea how to deal with not getting his way.

Shook his head, Izzy was right! He was arrogant and did expect everyone to just fall at his feet, was used to people just doing what he wanted when he wanted without so much as a flicker of an eyelid. Piper was never going to be like that.

If he was this angry and annoyed by her resistance on just the first day of trying to get her to come home, how was he going to cope every other day she tried to, or managed to tell him she didn't want him or anything to do with him or his pack. "I know, Coop." he finally sighed "I just."

"Breathe Bradley." his Beta sighed "Just breathe, Harry is taking her back to her room, dinner will be at 6."

That got his attention, his eyes moved to Cooper. "What?.. how?" he couldn't wrangle a dinner with her, how had his Delta managed to do it?

Saw Cooper look at him a little on the guilty side.

Well, that's actually mine and Harry's fault."

"Fault? Tell me you did not threaten her?" he was going to kill them both if they did.

"No of course not..I told her," saw the man look very apologetically at him. "that she nearly killed you once, sorry. And well, Harry has reported to me that he followed on from my lead. Told her you'd felt her rejection. How you reacted to it. Including nearly ripping your own heart out. Then he escorted her and Brandon back to their room."

Brad sighed, not much he could do about it. "Harry didn't want to go direct to you, thought it was better coming from me. He mind-linked me while I was waiting on you to calm down, told piper he would pick her up at 6. Apparently she looked very confused, Harry said he thinks she might actually believe us."

Stood staring at the man, his men it seemed had taken matters into their own hands, it was something he had wanted to discuss with her over this dinner. Tell her he'd felt it, had refused to accept it, try to start sorting it out, apologise for not knowing all that time and causing her so much pain. Now he guessed most of that was done for him.

Would she have dinner with him now? "Did she say anything?"

"Not that I am aware of, you might want to go and talk to Harry. Be mindful Brad, that both of us were just angry along with you, at her disrespect and dismissing of you and your plea. We were just trying to help you." Kind of sounded like he was trying see about punishment for over stepping their bounds.

I know this." Bradley nodded "I'm not particularly angry with either of you.". And he wasn't, kind felt a bit calmer about his situation actually, they had reduced his stress and his wolfs it seemed "I would have preferred to do it myself, but.. it's out now, so..." "Thanks Brad. I don't think Harry or I want a beating from you."

Bradley's brow furrowed as he looked at the man, then realised he was just trying to lighten the mood.

"Another time, huh. I'm sure you'll trip up somewhere."

"Hmm, might have already done that. You're just unaware of it." he murmured, but wouldn't look at Bradley.

Gained Bradley's attention "Alright what did you do? Cooper shook his head "discuss it another time, back in the pack. It can wait. Come on, you still got Izzy to sort out"

"Izzy's fine, Piper practically convinced that woman to marry Eddie, we'll need bloody ear plugs every night now."

Cooper snorted "you could just order him not to do that."

"Yeah and I'm sure that would work." Bradley muttered, his bloody Gamma had no control, he was certain, even with an order on him, that man and his wolf would replace away around it somehow. Looked at his watch, it was barely 2pm, dinner was at 6." Where for dinner?" he asked.

"Our suite, the rest of us will make ourselves scarce, with exception of Eddie of course."

"Alright." Bradley nodded "I need a suit. Let's go and get some decent clothes".