Chapter 5: Missing Piper

(Xander POV)

I miss Piper. 

I miss her so d&mn much it practically hurts.  I miss her laugh.  I miss her smile.  I miss the way that we used to spend hours talking about anything and everything.  I even miss the silly practical jokes that she used to pull on me.

She was my best friend.  My partner in crime.  My everything. 

Well, almost everything.  We never kissed much less had sex.  Our fathers would have killed us if we even thought about doing that with each other.  That does not mean I never thought about going for it anyway, but the timing was never right. 

Sadly, it still isn’t.  Not yet.

Sometimes it is hard to believe that Piper left Blue Ridge Pack 1 year, 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, and 49 minutes ago.  Other times, I miss her so much that it feels like an entire lifetime has passed.  Well, a lifetime and 49 minutes.  50 minutes now.

 Yes, I have been counting every single minute since she ran away.

When I helped Piper leave, I was sure that it would only be for a little while.  Six to nine months, tops.  I figured my father would either wolf-up and call Bloodstone Pack on its threat of war, or Leo Bloodstone would get bored and move on.  Unfortunately, I was wrong on both fronts. 

My father was strong and aggressive in his prime, but he changed after the battles that killed Piper’s mom and several of our other beloved pack members.  At first, I thought the changes in him were temporary.  Piper’s mom had barely been dead a few weeks when Bloodstone proposed Piper’s hand in marriage in exchange for peace.  Piper’s father was still reeling from the loss, as were my mother and my father himself.  Going into war when your leaders are mentally fragile and off their game is a scary thing.  So, as much as I hated my father for agreeing to force Piper into marriage, at least I understood the mindset that he was in at the time.

But now?  Now it has been two years.  Instead of reverting back to the strong alpha that he was —and that he trained me to be— my father has allowed the Bloodstones to practically take over our pack while they wait for Piper to return. 

Granted, Bloodstone’s wolves are not as obnoxious or destructive as they were during the first month, but they are still here and that is bad enough.  Most of our pack members probably do not notice them much, but they attend all of our security and leadership meetings, and no significant decisions can be made in our pack without Leo’s input.  It is gross and embarrassing that my father has allowed it to get to this point.

Just as disgusting is that, almost from the beginning, Leo Bloodstone has targeted me, accusing me of knowing where Piper is and hiding her from him.  I can hardly go to the bathroom without being followed.  My cell phone was also immediately tapped —Leo probably thinks I don’t know, but I do— and all mail and packages sent by or to me are inspected by one of his men.  Piper’s father, her brother, and all of her female friends are under similar supervision. 

Surprisingly, my father and Piper’s father have not said very much to me about what is going on, but I know that they are angry.  Unfortunately, that anger is not at Leo Bloodstone or his pack.  Instead, their anger seems directed primarily at Piper and whoever helped her leave... which they (correctly) suspect is me. 

Of course, I have refused to admit my involvement and will continue to do so, because they have no evidence to support their suspicions.  To my father’s credit, despite how angry he was and still is, he has chosen not to alpha-order me.  He probably fears that Leo Bloodstone would kill me if my role in Piper’s disappearance can be confirmed.  Well that, and he and everyone else think it is merely a matter of time before the culpable party confesses, Piper comes home, or someone leads them to her.

They are all irritating idiots, but I will give them this much.  They are not entirely wrong.  I will never admit that I helped Piper escape, and I will never lead them to her —I have studied Leo’s men long enough to know how to evade them following me when necessary.  Nevertheless, they are right that it is only a matter of time before Piper will be coming home. 

However, I will be d&mned if that homecoming occurs before she is marked and married to someone who will love her more than life itself.  And that means that Piper will be married to someone who is not Leo Bloodstone. 

That cocky, bull-headed alpha will never get his dirty paws on her, and Piper will never be his.  I cannot and will not let it happen, especially not after everything I have done to protect her from him.

The funny thing is, I can’t even figure out why —after all this time— Leo is still so determined to marry her.  I mean, there are reasons… but I don’t think that Leo knows about them… and even if he did, he is not exactly the traditional kind of male who those other reasons would matter to.  Moreover, the rumors about what happened between Leo and his first wife say a lot about his character, and there is a never-ending stream of young, attractive, submissive she-wolves competing for his attention who would happily mate and marry him.  I should know —I have sent many of them his way over the past couple of years, and I know others have to.

Unfortunately, so far none of the she-wolves that have been sent over have distracted Leo enough to make him give up his obsession with Piper, but I have a trump card that I have been waiting to play. 

The name of my trump card is Addie.  As in, my cousin Addie.  Unlike the other she-wolves who I have sent to Leo —most of whom are omegas— Addie is the full package.  She is 21 years old, beautiful, and has not found her mate yet.  Even better, she comes from a strong bloodline, given that she is both my mother’s niece and the daughter of a neighboring alpha.  As an added bonus, my aunt often complains that Addie is a little too “loose” and a little too “free,” so I assume that means Addie has ample experience between the sheets.  That makes her the perfect temporary —or even permanent— Leo Bloodstone distraction.

Because Piper’s stash of herbs will soon run out, and because she will soon be 20 and old enough to meet her mate, I need to get to her as soon as possible.  To aid in my mission, I have invited Addie to visit Blue Ridge in two weeks.  If all goes to plan, I can spend a couple of days catching up with her, and then she can distract Leo while I take my on-and-off girlfriend Amanda on a special trip. 

The trip itself will be awful, but it is special because it is going to be good cover.  Amanda has been begging me for months to take her to some bullsh&t fashion show, and I realized the last time she asked that the show is going to be held in human territory about 45 minutes away from Moon Shadow Pack.  The timing of the show is perfect, because it is roughly two weeks after Piper’s 20^th birthday.  Leo will probably send his most junior men to keep track of me—the experienced wolves will use their seniority to try to avoid going to a boring fashion show— and that will allow me an additional layer of protection when I sneak away to visit Piper during the events.

 I just hope and pray that the trip goes better than my trip went last year.  I admit that my feelings about last year's trip may not be fair or logical --especially because Piper was not even aware that I was there-- but they have still haunted me since I left.  In fact, they are the entire reason that I got back together with Amanda.

Alas. 

I pray to the Moon Goddess that Piper has gotten her teenage rebellion out of her system, because I need her back.  It is time to fix things once and for all.