Chapter 3: The Search

(Leo Bloodstone POV)

My bride has been missing for over five hours.  And it has been exactly 4 hours, 15 minutes since anyone bothered to inform me.

I do not know what I am angrier about:  that this stupid pack allowed her to escape; that they wasted 45 minutes making excuses for her delay coming down for the wedding that we could have used looking for her; or that their trackers are so incompetent that they spent the first half of their search following the fake trail Piper left with her “hidden” wedding dress and heels. 

The Blue Ridge trackers would probably still be following that trail had my men not pointed out their stupidity.  Thankfully, my men are well trained.  They immediately noticed that Piper's scent did not carry through the meadow, meaning that although her shoes may have been there, Piper herself never walked through.

At this point, my wolf is ready to murder everyone in sight.  It is a small miracle that I have been able to prevent him from doing so. 

As it is, both the alpha and the beta —who is Piper’s father, by the way— have red marks on their necks from where I threw them against the wall and demanded answers.  Meanwhile, every table, chair, and flower arrangement set up for the wedding has been smashed into small pieces.  The courtyard where the wedding was to take place now looks like a war zone.

Those that know me well are standing back, waiting for further direction.  Those that do not —in other words, the leadership of Blue Ridge Pack— continue to pester me with pointless nonsense.  At one point, the morons even tried to convince me to take a different female as a bride.

As if this was about wanting “a” bride.   

I have never needed help attracting female attention.  If I simply wanted to get married, I would have been married by now.  I am a 24 year old alpha wolf, and I am the heir to the largest and wealthiest pack in this part of the United States.  I know my worth.  I do not need to threaten anyone to get laid or to get a female to marry me.

No, this was never about wanting “a” bride.  This was about wanting Piper.  I have wanted her since the moment our seer told me about her  ….or at least since our seer told me about her AND I was able to confirm many of the things the seer told me with my own research.

Contrary to popular belief, seers are not like psychics.  Not really.  They cannot predict the future and they cannot talk to the dead.  Nor do they claim to have special powers.

Instead, seers are highly trained experts who have dedicated their careers to the study of history, symbolism, prophecies, and the "waves" and "wrinkles" that gods and goddesses create every time they try to interfere with life on earth.  The waves and wrinkles are the natural consequence of the gods'  interference.  

If you know what you are looking for, waves and wrinkles can be consistently rich in insight and information.  It is the interpretation of those waves and wrinkles --informed by seers' understanding of history, symbolism, and prophecies-- that allow seers to give advice and make predictions. 

When our seer told me about Piper, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to ensure that she was safely secured within Bloodstone’s territory as soon as possible.  My father, thankfully, agreed with me.  He has been slowly allowing me to make most pack decisions on my own anyway; our plan is for me to formally take over the pack once we secure Piper.

I admit that my father and I threatened Blue Ridge Pack with war if they did not arrange for my marriage to her.  But that was not because I could not have eventually gotten Piper to fall for me.  The arranged marriage was merely a shortcut that I took in an effort to avoid the alternate fate that the seer had predicted.

In hindsight, I should have known that Piper would try something like this.  The forced wedding was too soon and Piper was too young.  Everything that I learned about Piper during my research was that she was smart, impulsive, and determined.   I had counted too heavily on Piper suppressing those traits and sacrificing herself out of love and devotion to her pack.

In fact, I had even laughed when Piper's father informed me that she wanted a morning wedding.  He tried to feed me some bullsh&t about Piper being a morning person who loved the smell of the morning breeze, but I knew better.  I knew it was a symbolic “f&ck you” message.  Unfortunately, I wrongly interpreted that as a sign that she would cooperate, but on her own terms in her own sassy way.

Never did I expect her to literally leave me standing at the altar.  I should have expected it, but I didn't.  Maybe that's why I am so angry right now.

Regardless, Piper and I will have a lot to talk about when I find her.  And find her I will.  Nothing will stop me.  Not now.  Not ever.

Looking around me, I realize that there is nothing left for me to destroy unless I head inside the packhouse.  I am tempted to do just that, but first I turn to my father.  He has been watching me with amusement while my mother has been playing “good cop” with Blue Ridge’s luna in the hopes that the luna might accidentally spill something useful.

“Have they found anything?” I ask him.

“The trackers haven't.  But Luna Rachel let it slip about 10 minutes ago that her son has always had a secret crush on Piper.”

My ears perk up.  That is new information.  These mother f&&kers should have told me that before we came here.

“Which one was her son?  Why wasn't I introduced to him when we arrived?”

“He skipped the ceremony.”

A light bulb goes off in my head.  My father and I exchange knowing looks. 

“Where is he now?”

“He got back about an hour ago.  He was wasted drunk.  He was questioned like everyone else.  He claimed to have been at a strip club waiting for the wedding to be over.  He said he was surprised to hear Piper was missing.”

“You believe that?”

My father smirks.  “Of course not.”

“Which strip club?”

“He said it was the one in human territory, about a 15-minute drive from the eastern borders.”

“You are just telling me this now?”

“You were busy.”

I growl as my father continues to smirk.

****

(One hour later)

I hold Piper’s silver locket in my hand as I sigh in both frustration and relief.  The frustration is because  Piper is long gone; the relief is because I now know which direction she went and how she got there. 

The locket is beautiful and I can tell from the pictures inside that it means something to Piper.  I know it is hers because I saw her wearing it when our eyes locked in the window just before the wedding.

I put the locket in my pocket. 

“Do you want our men to pummel the Blue Ridge Pack to the ground now?” my father asks me.  “They breached the agreement.”

“No.  We can be patient.  They will lead us to her first.”

My father pats me on the back and squeezes my shoulder.  “Thinking like an alpha.  I am proud of you, Son.”

“Be proud after I find my bride.  Not before.”

****