Unscentable
Chapter 79

Piper POV

Brandon and Aspen seemed much calmer now, had begun to settle into the pack nicely, he would talk to all that spoke with him and asked him questions, was happy to talk about his life so far to date, did enjoy talking about all their holidays and trips overseas, she did note that he was itching to hang out with other kids here, had brought it up before Brad had carried her off out of her suite, and had wanted to go and talk with the other kids at breakfast, had looked up at her questioningly. She'd told him he could, but he'd come back when they'd all had to go off and get ready for school. A little pouty as it was a school day, and unless he wanted to be enrolled and attend school today. He was going to have to wait until after school got out. to hang out with the other children here in the pack.

He'd huffed, made nearly everyone at the Alpha's table chuckle when he'd declined to being enrolled and go today. Brad had smiled right at him and offered to take him down to the school, to enroll him to start on Monday. That way he still had a few more days to get used to things around here. He even told Brandon he would take him down during a school break, so that he could play with the other kids for a bit. That had made Brandon smile and nod.

Told Piper he would organize everything, on this end, if she un-enrolled him in his school in Portland. It did suit her, she had a lot of work to do and catch up on. She and Izzy would be making a lot of calls today and emailing their designer, Gloria, to get things underway for the store here in Helena.

Izzy was happy to hear that Edward would also be working from the same building, that had made her smile, had come and told Piper, with a smile on her face, their bond was flourishing very quickly. Piper had simply laughed and stated "Oh there will be no sneaking off during work hours."

Izzy had burst out laughing and murmured "Work will be my escape from his hands." and then they both laughed.

Piper herself was going to have to organize movers for all her and Brandon's things, though she was not going to use the pack's movers. She had ignored Benjamin's casual bringing up of the moving van, still in the impound in Portland. Had been about to tell him to deal with it, but Brad had actually beaten her to it. Told his father, to just let it go, that he had already dealt with it himself, that the van was to be released tomorrow and would be back here in the pack a day after that.

That had surprised Piper, but she'd been happy he'd let it go, and finally taken responsibility, stopped it seemed, trying to get her to rescind that his men had been stealing her things, and so by extension, so had he. Likely he had accepted the charges and would or had paid the fine and impound fees. He will likely have to have his lawyers defend his men in court though.

Sighed internally over that one, for as much as she enjoyed putting Brad and his father in their places, those movers were pack members and had just been following their Alpha's orders, it was not them she wanted to annoy or have punished.

She was going to have to put a call into and clear that mess up, wondered if she could get the men cleared but still have Brad himself or his company fined for overstepping his bounds. She doubted it but could ask, she thought. Would likely put her in his direct line of fire, but she could handle him.

Offered to let Brandon spend the day with Brad, she had a lot to do and it would give them good bonding time. Brad seemed surprised by her offer, but was more than happy to accept it. Both their eyes moved to Brandon to see what he thought. He'd looked from one to the other, and then asked her what she was going to be doing today, told him she had a lot of work to catch up on. Brandon had nodded and stated "I'll go with dad then." she knew he got bored easily and hated sitting in her office when she worked. Walked him to Brad's office. The boy was between the two of them, a hand in hers and a hand in Brad's, he did seem to like having a father and holding hands with the both of them at the same time, had grabbed both of their hands. Brad was always happy about this. She just smiled, then told him "to be good"

"I'm always good." he'd huffed up at her, and he had been, until Aspen got stressed out and would shoot to the surface. Being here inside the pack was different for them, with the other wolves around. He'd run off into Brad's office and she'd watched him climb into Brad's chair. "You might want to..." looked right at the boy pointedly as he spun the chair around.

"He's fine, I was always in dad's chair growing

"Hmm, you'd better take this today." Piper commented and slipped the ring that would one day be Brandon's off of her finger and handed it to Brad. "Just in Case"

"Alright." Brad nodded, watched as he took it and turned it over to look at it, then just slipped it on his own little finger.

"NO!" Piper's heart was suddenly hammering inside her chest. "Don't put it on." tried to take it back, didn't want him suddenly being invisible to his own pack.

He had both her hands in his, smiled down at her "It's alright Piper, it won't work on me remember, only on the Whitlock gene. I don't have that. Take a breath, I'm still here, it won't be an issue."

Stood staring up at him, still worried about him wearing that ring "I don't know.. I just."

"I'm fine, Piper." then he leaned down and dropped a kissed right on to her lips, a brief peck to her lips before she had a chance to back away, "Go work." he released her hands. "Annabella wants to talk to Izzy today, about Izzy's family bloodline, so you might be on your own."

"I know, Izzy already told me, something about them being related, or Annabella thinks this."

"That's what I heard too, got yourself a cousin." He smiled, "one you actually like." Piper nodded, it did seem that way, a distant cousin but family she was likely to be, if she was also related to Annabella. "I've got a million things to do today, I'd better go." looked at Brandon "He can be a handful, always needs to be on the move."

"Mm, that is typical of an Alpha child. I'm sure I can handle a day with him." Piper nodded smirked a little "On little sleep, might get annoying." Then she chuckled and walked off.

"Piper, feel free to use your Luna's office today... I had it cleaned." he called out after her as she walked away.

Strolled up the stairs and sighed, her office... was likely going to have to start using it at some point, they weren't leaving and she knew it. Harper had claimed Brad and Benson as her Mate though only internally at this point, and she didn't at all mind spending time with the man, watched him from behind Piper's eyes. Seemed almost happy at times watching him.

Brandon and Aspen also seemed comfortable and they were both happy around Brad. Happy having their father around. She wasn't exactly sure about Aspen and Benson, but Aspen had not shown aggression towards anyone in days now, and had allowed himself to be initiated into the pack.

Seemed that Aspen had relinquished his Alpha's need to control everything around him and was doing as she asked, being just a boys wolf. That was a good thing. Aspen now had a father and a real blood connection to him. It might actually be helping him, those two wolves could well be talking and getting along with each other.

Piper walked into her suite and collected her things to take down to her office on the first floor. She wasn't going anywhere, had also allowed herself to be initiated into the pack, had accepted somewhat begrudgingly to state the words Mate and Luna, hadn't really been ready for all his unit to hear those words out loud, was still getting used to the idea herself.

But now that she was initiated into the pack it was a bit weird, that half realised bond of theirs felt stronger to her and she was starting to feel more connected to Brad now. Was actually quite comfortable in his presence now too.

Stood outside the Luna Office's door, it was closed, she hadn't really gotten a good look at it, Brad had been very quick to back them out of the room and bang the door shut. Apologized for what had been going on in there, she shook her head, the man was full of apologies, never knew an Alpha to be one to apologize for his actions or those around him, even for things that weren't his fault.

Though he'd not apologized for that k!ss downstairs in the basement, and knew he was not going to either, she'd kissed him back, sighed softly, had leaned right into the man. Harper had not even attempted to stop it either.

Piper knew Harper wanted her Mate. It was something they had both wanted for a long time, still did if she was completely honest with herself. She just hasn't yet ready to actually vocally claim him, seemed Harper was happy to wait on her, on that, they would do it when they felt the time was right.

Just didn't know how to handle it, what to do really, had always been alone and it was all new to both her and Harper, though she and Brad had both had a bit of fun this morning, or she had, he'd seemed a little on the annoyed side, that he couldn't replace her name written in his suite, and a part of her was actually glad that he had not found it.

That one did not say Piper Harper Whitlock, it was the only time she'd ever allowed herself to write it as it should have been, or at least as what she'd wanted it to be, Piper Harper Drake, it read and when he did replace it, it was highly likely the man was going to be on her in a flash. Wondered if she should sneak in there and get rid of it.

Heard Harper snort inside her mind amusingly "He'll smell us now.' Put an end to that thought, Harper was right. The man would scent out that she had been in his suite, in his walk-in at that. Though if he was to leave the pack and be gone all day, her scent would fade over the course of the day.

Shook it off, for another time. Pushed the Luna's office door open and stepped inside, nearly cringed at all the fluffy cushions and girly decor, this was not at all her style. Did not like the bright yellow at all, or the pale yellow walls. She guessed Lilly liked yellow a lot. Walked across the room and sat herself at the desk, at least it was reasonable, but still not to her taste, wondered about getting rid of the stuff in here. It was way too bright and bubbly for her persona, she much preferred a minimalistic look. Just have what she needed in here.

Sat down and got to work, answered emails and made phone calls. Found the phone number Brad had given her for the police officer in Portland and placed a call, had to call him back with a video call, so he could actually see her, and produce her ID to verify it was actually her as well. The man was very thorough.

Explained to the officer, that at the time of the incident she had been out of the country and had no idea that Brad had taken it upon himself to move her, admitted she not only knew him, but was in a relationship with him, as he'd told the officer. That though she was annoyed by his arrogance, being ho he was, he just thought he was helping, called him an idiot and shook her head. Then she stated if she had known, yes she would have approved it, and was moving to Montana as Bradley Drake had told him she was. It was a long conversation, and she answered all the man's questions, then he'd just sat and stared right at her through the screen, muttered she should have called and cleared this up days ago. To which Piper had actually replied "The man needed to learn, he can't just go and do as he pleases, because he's used to doing so." and the officer had actually smiled at her words, before telling her he'd close out the file over the next day or so.

Sat and organized movers finally. Really wanted Brandon to have all his things here, though where they were going to go at this point. Their suite was not big enough. Found herself a company that would move her first thing next week, then organized a courier to come and collect her house keys, so they could actually move her. She knew Izzy had organized for both her car and Pipers to be transported here, and should arrive on Monday with Izzy's belongings.

Headed off down to the pack gate to hand it over to the courier when she was informed there was one waiting for her. Found Cooper right next to her as she walked "Cooper?"

"Where are you going?" he asked, all casual like, both his hands were in his pockets.

"How did you even know I was going down here?" she asked in return.

"Brad can track you along the pack tether."

"Is he so paranoid?" She sighed.

"No, curious I think, more so than anything."

"And you're here because?"

"I'm the Beta, your the Luna." He stated as if that made complete sense. Rolled her eyes right at him "I can take care of myself Cooper. Harper and I are more than capable, we were aiming for Elite Warrior Status, before..." left that unsaid. "Thank you by the way. For saving Hadley, when you thought she was, well.." Piper looked right at him, she was still confused about them. "How come you brought her into my store? For a Luna Gown! When the two of you are well." Saw him smile "I'm not her Mate."

"How'd that go down with your Alpha?" she was curious.

"Better than expected, I think he was more upset with Hadley than ..It also helped that Benjamin intervened and said he and Lilly were okay with it."

"The hypocrite thing?" she smiled.

Actually saw Cooper snort with amusement, Bradley had the stupidity to tell Hadley, that because she was a girl, she should have waited for her Mate" Piper stopped walking and stared up at the man, a frown on her face, that was indeed very archaic and hypocritical of the man. "idiot, he didn't wait for his Mate." she muttered, he'd been with she-wolves even before she knew what he was to her.

"Mm, Hadley was not so nice about putting him in his place, stated that herself. Yelled it all Alpha, right in his face." he nodded "So why are we headed to the gate?

"I have the need to courier something." she told him and continued on. But left the details out of it.

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"My business is what," she stated, "which you and Bradley will be staying out of."

"Fair enough." was his only comment.

He however, did not leave, walked with her the rest of the way to the gate, and watched her hand over the sealed envelope. All it had on it was her name. The courier had all the details, her envelope was put into one of the couriers' own plastic sleeve envelopes and she checked the details, signed and paid for it and it was gone.

Turned and headed back to the pack-house. "Are you going to follow me every time that I come down here?"

"It's likely," he nodded simply "Brad is concerned you'll vanish again. Bother's him greatly."

"He's enrolling Brandon in the pack school today, how far does he think I'm going to go?"

"He's not concerned you'll leave Piper, just vanish like you did the other day is all."

"Oh!"

"Now I hear you put your name in the Alpha's office years ago?"

"Leave him to replace it Cooper, on his own." she smiled to herself.

"A game, is it?"

"Hmm." she shrugged "Been there nearly 10 years, if he hasn't found it yet, not likely too. Let it drive him nuts

"Ten years, that's long before you left."

"Yes it was." she nodded.

"Liked being able to go anywhere and no-one knew, did we?"

"Not particularly Cooper. But it was, what it was.

"Well, you can't do that anymore. He can smell you now. Only one that can I believe. There will be no hiding from Brad now." he chuckled, "though hiding from us, is likely easy enough, you smell like Brad to all of us." Piper nodded, she already knew that, how they had all tracked back to Brad when out looking for her. "Must have been annoying to you."

"Not really." Cooper shook his head. "Now I have one request of my Luna." Piper frowned at him and he just smiled at her. "Mind-link to me when you need to go to the front gate, so I can walk with you, and not have to catch you up."

"I might. I might not." she answered him "Oh Cooper, my office?"

"That was all Hadley's doing. It won't happen again." I saw him shake his head.

"Looking to get caught, was she?"

"Yes! I believe so, didn't like it being a secret, believes I will be her Mate."

Now that got her attention. "Will you?"

"Who knows, I have not been near her on a full moon since she turned 18, to scent her out, though we did have a weird phone call on the last full moon, Steel was all. who knows," he shrugged.

"Good luck then." she left him in the pack-house foyer, and returned to the Luna's office, shook her head it was way too girly in here. Walked about and collected all those extra fluffy and decorative pillows on the couch and took them down to the donation bins. All she needed was one desk and her studio office, sighed there was a lot to do to move her working studio.