Unscentable
Chapter 53

Piper POV

Piper's eyes flickered open briefly, registered she was no longer on the street, then closed again, too tired to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds.

Opened again sometime later, this would happen several times before she could open them properly and keep them open.

She could hear the dull but constant beeping noise, like the rhythmic sound of a heartbeat, but by machine.

The smell of cleaning chemicals filled her sense of smell, and as she looked up she found herself staring at a hanging bag of what could only be blood, allowed her eyes to follow the tubing that fed into her left arm. Groaned as her body ached from the battle she had had.

The wounds she had received.

A stupid Vampire had bitten her, fed on her and Harper, that much she did recall, was clearly in some sort of hospital, a private room, she realized, as she allowed her eyes to move about the semi-darkened room. Just one lamp on, over near a small woman who was knitting, sitting on a couch, and there was Brandon asleep next to the woman.

She moved her eyes back to the small woman, could see by the lamp light she was using to follow her knitting, that the woman was looking right at her, seemed some what familiar to her but couldn't place it right that moment, too darn tired to be honest. "Where am I?" Piper asked. The smell gave the fact it was a hospital away, along with the blood transfusion she was receiving, but she had no idea where this hospital was, being here felt weird to her.

"In the pack dear." The small woman told her. Those words snapped her eyes very wide, "What Pack?" Piper gasped. There were no packs in Australia that she knew of, but there could be, she guessed, definitely had vampire packs, but wolves she'd not known anything about wolfen packs out there.

Sat bolt up right, and she suddenly had a splitting headache, grabbed at her head and gripped it tightly, it was throbbing terribly, felt more that a bit on the dizzy side, had pain everywhere from the injuries she'd sustained and had yet to heal, likely because Harper herself had been unconscious too. Was barely starting to feel her wolf.

"Lay back down Piper dear," The woman stood up and put her knitting down, her voice was soft and gentle.

"You lost quite a bit of blood, between your wounds and being fed upon, try to relax."

"What Pack?" Piper repeated herself, but did lay back down, could barely hold herself in a sitting position. She had never been this injured in all her life. Felt exhausted.

That woman walked right over to her, she couldn't have been more than barely 5 feet tall, seemed to be a gentle and caring person, wearing dark purple nursing scrubs, looked down at her and smiled "Your pack my dear."

Piper closed her eyes briefly, once more and then looked at the woman with a frown a moment later. "I'll don't have a Pack." she informed the woman, she was of rogue status, had been for 8 years now. It didn't make much sense to her at all. That statement. "Yes you do dear." she smiled at her again "Being a Luna, of course you do."

Piper's eyes shot to the woman now, "Wh.. What?" that did not make sense to her, felt Harper huff inside her mind, and her hand reached up to touch the left side of her neck, where a Mate's Mark would go.

Felt it, the sensitiveness and tingling of touching that spot, felt the mark where fangs had been buried deep into her neck, could feel the filigree that went along with the Mark, snatched her fingers away "No." she gasped, she did not recall that, could feel her heart rate racing, heard the machine in the rooms beeping increase dramatically. How? When had this happened?

Stared at the woman, "How long have I been out?" Her eyes were on that woman now and she was no longer at all tired. Wide the hell awake.

"Two days, from my understanding."

"You are?" though the woman did seem vaguely familiar she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Lilly, Alpha Benjamin's Mate."

Piper looked right at the woman. Oh, now she recalled who she was, though she had not had anything to do with this woman, barely saw her during her time here, or the other way around, she didn't know. "It's been a long wait to meet you."

"Right," Piper muttered. No one had ever waited on her, no one even knew about her "My son?" looked past the Luna to Brandon.

"Sleeping finally, hasn't left your side, since you got here. Very protective he is." saw Lilly turn and smile at him "He's lovely, by the way."

"I know." she answered on both accounts, "What time is it?" she could not see a clock in here anywhere, and with only the lamp on she knew it was night too dark to be daytime.

"Nearly 4am, I'll let your Mate know you're awake, been terribly worried about you he has." Piper stared at the woman, but did not say anything at all. That man had Marked her without permission. She did not even know when or why even? He could not scent her. How it had even happened she didn't know.

She could feel Harper now sitting up in her mind, felt very confused and was awfully quiet on the subject.

Uncertain herself as to what was going on, Piper thought.

Put a hand on Lilly. "Wait on that." she was not yet ready to deal with him. "Izzy?" she asked, couldn't see the woman in the room.

"In lock down, I believe, so in Eddie's room and not allowed out at this time...though..."

"Why is she locked up?"

"That's more difficult to explain," she saw Lilly sigh a little on the heavy side. "There is an issue with the human," she shrugged.

Piper was curious about that, but let it go for now. If she was with Eddie, he would keep her safe. Though why was Bradley mad at her? Why was she in lock down?

Piper couldn't understand. Must have missed a lot while she had been unconscious, been out for two days.

In that time, Bradley had moved her from one country to another, right into his pack. She'd gotten no say in it, even though he knew she did not want to be here, and had told him so. She'd not even been able to tell him 'no'. Looked to the blood still hanging and wondered just how close it had been.

The last thing she recalled was sitting down on the side of the alley, after that foul creature sank its teeth into her neck and started feeding on her, it had hurt like a b!tch and Harper had gone completely ballistic filled with a fury like nothing she'd ever felt before and had gutted that vampire while it fed on them.

Thankfully, Harper was strong and fuelled with anger and rage. The thought of leaving Brandon all alone in this world, without them, had caused her to fight with every ounce of strength and determination she'd had.

She'd wanted to survive for him, just like she had when they'd found out they were pregnant. It was all that mattered, her son to live for him.

He needed them, was too young to fend for himself and they would not let him grow up alone like they had, if he was like them? It wouldn't matter that his father would claim him and take him home. He'd feel alone, and her beautiful boy, so full of life and so very happy and bright, would slowly turn to be miserable and hate his existence as she had. They did not want that for him, not for a single second.

"Lilly... I need a minute." she said quietly and she did, likely more than a minute, to absorb where she was and what had been done to her.

Saw the woman nod her head "I'm sure Brad, will give you all the time in the world. That being said, he is your Mate, and he wants to see you awake. Mates fret, my dear, when their other half is injured and separated from them. Terribly so."

Piper just shook her head. 'no' She knew she was not ready to see that man. Neither was Harper, for that matter, or at least she didn't think so.

"Yes, he's just outside. Hasn't left the hospital the whole time, even with the entire pack buzzing and all excited to see they have a Luna." she chuckled softly "My goodness dear, they've all gone crazy with excitement over the news." Piper stared at the woman now, didn't know if she actually believed that.

Saw Lilly laugh at her look, must have shown on her face "It is true, he's not even officially announced you yet. But it was pretty clear to all, when he carried you himself out of that car and put you right into the Luna's medical suite. Then there's the fact that he's not left the hospital for a whole day either"

"Mum?"

Piper's eyes moved to Brandon, he was now sitting up all sleepy, likely their voices had woken him. "Hey sweetie." She smiled at him, watched him toss the blanket off of him and run right over to her. Lilly actually picked him up and helped him onto the bed herself. Surprised Piper that the boy allowed it, more than a little.

He crawled right into her lap and then was just clinging onto her crying and sobbing, holding on so very tightly, wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back and shushed him softly, "I'm okay. We're okay." She told him softly.

"I thought you were going to die," he sobbed.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, and she was, she'd not meant to cause him any pain or suffering. She and Harper had just needed to get away for just one night.

Now look at what she had done, caused her brilliant little boy, who was usually so very happy and full of life, to be upset, feared the worst and was sobbing "I'm sorry." She whispered again.

"Don't ever go running on your own again." He sobbed.

"Alright." Piper answered him. She had no idea how anyone had even found her. Likely Cooper had realised it was her leaving the hotel, though tracking her would have been hard. Piper had no idea what had transpired in the past two days, but obviously someone had told Brandon she'd gone running on her own.

She saw Lilly leave the room, to give them time together she guessed, even as the door opened and then swung shut, she could smell Bradley's scent, on the breeze that the movement of the door caused. He was out there like she said he was. Sighed heavily. Just sat there with Brandon, until he stopped crying, till he was quiet and just leaning on her.

Her hand ran through his hair, gently stroking it to help calm him. She'd always done that and he'd always like it, sometimes just laid with his head in her lap and smile up at her as she'd run her hand through his hair. He liked the feel of it, it comforted him too. Waited until he was completely calm and relaxed against her "Brandon, what happened?" she asked him.

"Dad brought us all here on a private jet."

Piper's eyes closed, he'd just called Bradley dad.

Likely that they had bonded over the past two days, signed internally, though she of course knew that it was bound to happen at some point. It was a bit of a shock to hear him say it so easily.

"His wolf bit you...Aspen..."

His wolf, Piper thought, that was an odd thing.

Wolves don't Mark what they can't scent. Frowned, felt Harper snort annoyed inside her mind and lay down, head on her paws. "What about Aspen?" she prompted when he didn't finish his sentence for a full minute. "Is really mad."

Piper bit her l!p and put him a little away from her, to look down at him, really look at him. She knew that once you got your wolf, when it emerged you could look very different. Brandon still looked like her sweet little boy. Did he come out?" she asked worriedly. "No." he shook his head "But." saw him look at his hands, turn them over and then look right up at her "We really do have claws, huh."

"Mm, yes, and one day Aspen...he will be able to appear in full wolf form." Saw his eyes look right at her, he'd never seen that "Really?" Piper nodded, she had not really explained all of this to him, not fully, saw him frown "I've never seen Harper like that." he commented. "Is she okay too?"

Felt Harper push forward and look right at him, "just tired." she told him and then receded.

"Seeing Harper, that's difficult to explain." how did she tell him, the whole truth? She did not want to, he was too little for that.

"Can I now? Where inside dad's pack?"

"Unlikely." she answered softly "Just leave it for now, we can talk about it later.. Do you know why aunt Izzy is in trouble?" she asked him.

Raised an eyebrow when he sighed heavily up at her, and nodded slowly "Aunt Izzy and dad got into a big fight, yelled and screamed at each other. Then dad's wolf got really mad and bit you."

"I don't understand," she sighed.

"Uncle Eddie said, dad would explain it to you."

"Uncle Eddie?" She questioned with a slight frown.

Watched the boy shrug "He's going to marry Aunt Izzy, right?" Piper nodded "Yes I guess so." seemed he was bonding with everyone while she was unconscious.

Nothing she could do about it, wouldn't have anyway, she just wanted him to be happy.

The door to the room opened and in walked Edward himself. "Piper it's good to see you're awake," he stated with a smile as he walked across the room.

If he was in this room then it was likely Bradley wasn't that far off coming in himself, Eddie had been with him at all times when he'd been trying to talk to her, a precaution to keep her and her wolf calm, she knew. Saw him reach for Brandon and pulled him to her again. She was not ready to let him go yet.

"It's alright Piper. I won't hurt him."

"I know that." She answered honestly, just wasn't actually ready to let him out of her sight yet.

Saw Edward smile at her, happy with her statement "Izzy wants to see him."

"Then bring her here." Piper replied. She knew the woman was in lock down, after arguing with Bradley and ticking his wolf off was likely the reason why.

"I can't, Benson..." it was his turn to sigh now "Though I want to talk to you about Izzy, she's..." saw the man frown "Something odd happened."

Piper frowned up at him, was about to ask him what, when she saw his eyes glaze over, mind-linked by someone, when he looked back to her stated "another time, I'll take him to see her, he'll be safe with me, I promise." "And if I say no?" Piper stated flatly.

Saw the man blink in response, saw his eyes move right to the Mark on her neck. Bradley's Mark, she still needed to understand about that herself.

"Um, well" he appeared to be confused, she realised.

Realised herself that he couldn't actually take Brandon from her if she said 'no', Lilly had called her a Luna. He couldn't over rule her.

Saw him sigh and shake his head "Alright, a bit of a dilemma." he acknowledged "Piper, Aspen.. won't let Brad, well...Benson in this room."

That got her undivided attention. She was now confused herself, Brandon was calling the man dad. She thought that they must be getting along, but then why hadn't she woken up to him in this room, likely would have been resting with his son in his lap, it would be the natural instinct of a parent. But Aspen was obviously of another opinion. That must be why he was not in this room already.

"I have to take them out of this room, he's...we don't want him emerging fully and..." Piper sighed, she knew what. His need to protect her would surface, though why he was so aggressive, she didn't understand. Frown in thought for a moment. It had been Bradley's wolf who had marked her. "Where was Aspen? When this happened?" she pointed to her neck.

To the Mark that now branded her as Bradley's Mate.

"Right next to you." Edward looked apologetically at her.

Well, that explained a lot. Looked at her son Brandon?"

"Aspen is really mad." he told her again "I don't know.. hard to explain it." He was obviously confused about what his wolf was feeling, probably got a lot of emotions from Aspen and was not able to understand them all. To young she supposed. "Is Aspen awake?" she asked him.

Saw him nod and then Aspen surfaced "Sorry." His wolf's young gravelly voice told her.

"For what?" she ran a hand through his hair as she would Brandon. "You did nothing wrong."

"Didn't understand till too late. Not stop it." Piper sighed and pulled Aspen right in for a hug"

You're so very brave, but still very young. I would not want you to take on an Alpha Wolf for me." put him back a little "I want you to just be a boy wolf, do you understand?"

He snorted right at her and she smiled at him, nearly chuckled and even felt Harper feel a little amused at her son. "You're going to be big and strong one day soon, but for now, just be with Brandon, have fun and." She tapped him right on his nose "Be a boy wolf." Copped a light snarl of annoyance from him and then he was gone, receded back to allow Brandon to come forward again. "you insulted him," he murmured.

"I did not" she smiled. "He's just annoyed, I called him young." and she knew it, her son's wolf was an Alpha Wolf and a strong one, wanted to be in charge already. Take care of those he loved.

"He is, says he's the Alpha."

"Mm." she nodded, looked at Edward, he was smiling to himself, clearly Aspen had no issues with the man, hadn't reacted to his presence at all, saw him reach for the boy once more. Felt Brandon hug into her and she just shook her head at Edward. "Only when he is ready." she told him.

Saw the man frown and go to open his mouth to say something, raised an eyebrow at him, and then he just smirked and turned to leave the room. He couldn't argue with her, and if they needed to keep Aspen from Bradley's wolf, well then that man could bloody well wait, till the boy was ready to leave the room of his own accord.

After what he'd seen, it was no surprise he wouldn't leave the room. Bradley was just going to have to wait, lay back down and let Brandon snuggle right into her "Get some sleep." she told him softly.

Hear him chuckle softly "You're mean mum."

"What did I do?"

"Aspen said, you're keeping dad away, by having me here."

"Not so dumb is he." she chuckled herself and tickled him a little.

Heard him giggle now and smiled to herself, though this was just a reprieve, that man was going to come into this room at some point and she'd have to face him. She felt for Harper, who was just lying inside her mind quietly, appeared confused and conflicted by the knowledge that they were Marked by their Mate.

It was not something she or Harper had ever even considered would happen, and now here it was. They didn't even recall it happening, had no memory of it, sighed to herself and settled down, was still tired herself.

Though she could finally feel Harper healing her now, feel all the tingly pins and needles in several places across her body that indicated her wolf's healing was activated.