(Piper POV)They say that the safest place to be during a hurricane is in the eye of the storm. If we take that concept and apply it to my life, my 20th birthday was the eye of the sh&t storm that my life had (and would) become.In other words, my 20th birthday actually went pretty well. There was very little pomp or circumstance, and —even more importantly— there was very little drama.You might wonder how I could manage to have a drama-free birthday with Daphne lingering around. Well, that was the first birthday surprise that I received: Daphne volunteered to work the night shift the night before, meaning that we worked opposite shifts and she spent most of my birthday sleeping. I have no idea what inspired her to volunteer —it was very out of character for her— but I was not about to complain. After all, I deserved one day of peace and quiet. And peace and quiet is exactly what I got. If I am being completely honest, a small part of me was sad that I did not wake up to a spe

(Alpha Aiden POV)By the time that Jonas found me in the warrior gym, more than an hour had passed, and both of my fists were raw and bloody. Not that the blood did anything to slow down my rage or the punches I was leveling at the punching bag in front of me.No, I was not angry at Piper. Anything but. However, if what I thought was true… if what I thought was real… I wanted and deserved explanations. And the wolves who put us in this situation? Those wolves I wanted to kill. Even if I had to dig them up from the dead to do so.“Took you long enough,” I said as Jonas walked in.“I went to your mom’s house first,” he explained. “I was worried you would go and confront her.”I frowned as I punched the bag yet again. “No. I wanted to, but I did not want to upset Natalie.” Natalie was my 11-year-old little sister.“Well, at least now Natalie will know what to expect in her future,” he joked.I stopped punching the bag and glared at Jonas.“Too soon?” he asked.“Yes,” I growle

(Piper POV)I’ll start with a quick spoiler. Aiden did not find his mate at the mating ball. Neither did Jonas, and —as far as I knew at the time— neither did I.Even so, we all had a good time.Contrary to Maya’s expectations going in, working at the bar made it a little tough for us to practice our flirting skills. It was simply way too busy, and Aiden was being far too protective. (Every time a male wolf would linger for too long, Aiden would approach and ask, “Are you mates with one of them? No? Move along.”) However, we still got hit on a lot; we made face to face contact with A LOT of wolves —both male and female; and the conversations that we had time to have were definitely interesting.For example, I spent about ten minutes talking to a handsome wolf named Chase. He was a 22-year-old gamma wolf with siblings who ranged in age from 2 to 38. We briefly bonded about having both lost our mothers, and he talked to me about what it was like when his father met his second ch

(Leo Bloodstone POV)I am currently working in the office that I have taken over while I am at Blue Ridge. It is not the alpha’s office —as tempting as that was to take— but an office a few doors down that was previously used by visiting alphas. Now it is used exclusively by my father and I. It is hard to believe that it has been as long as it has, and I am still no closer to finding Piper than I was before. It is even harder to believe that Blue Ridge is the same pack that did such horrible things to my family years ago. The pack I’ve been watching the past two years seems more like a pack of pansies than the monsters we know they are…. although I admit that a small part of me is starting to wonder if it just pack leadership that is the problem.Regardless, I am tired and even crankier than normal. I have not gotten much sleep since Piper’s birthday. My father has tried to reassure me that there is still time —that we do not know for sure when Piper will meet him, whoever “him”

(Alpha Aiden POV)It is late evening, and Jonas and I are in my office. I am holding a picture of my mother, father, Natalie, and I in my hand. It is the last picture that we took together before my father died.“When are you going to tell Piper?” Jonas asks me.“I don’t know.”“What about your mom? And Natalie?”“I don’t know.”“It has been over a month since the DNA test confirmed it. You need to tell them. This is too big of a secret to keep to yourself.”“I will tell them. Just not yet.”“Why not?”“Piper deserves to know first. And I haven’t figured out how to tell her.”“It isn’t that hard, Aiden.”“It isn’t?”“No. All you have to do is repeat after me: ‘Piper, you are my sister.’ The end. How hard is that?”I shake my head. “I definitely can’t tell her like that, and you know it. This sort of thing has the potential to upend the world as she knows it, and she is going to have a lot of questions. Questions that we do not have the answers to yet.”“So talk to your mo