(Beta Landon POV)You may wonder why I agreed to the arranged marriage between Leo Bloodstone and my daughter. Most wolves around here believe that I agreed because, after losing my wife, I became afraid of war. Certainly, that is what Alpha Henry, Luna Rachel, Xander, and the Bloodstones believe.They are all wrong.I did not agree to the arranged marriage because I am afraid of war. I agreed because I am afraid of Piper finding her fated mate. More specifically, I agreed to the marriage because I am afraid that Xander is Piper’s fated mate.Of course, there is no way for me to know for sure who Piper’s mate is. But the risk is there, and it worries me. A lot.Let me explain.Piper’s mother, Grace, and I were fated mates. We met when she was 20 years old and I was 24. The pull of the mate bond was strong, and we fell in love quickly and passionately. Within mere days of meeting, she made herself my entire world, and I made her my wife.Grace did not have an easy life growing

(Piper POV)Was it smart for me to taunt and knowingly disrespect an arrogant, cocky beast of an alpha? No, of course not. Especially not one who had accepted me into his pack and allowed me a safe place to stay, few questions asked, while I was on the run.But you already know that I get triggered by sexist bullsh&t. I do things I probably should not do.And being triggered does explain some of my reaction to Alpha Aiden. However, I NEVER, EVER would have tried something like that at Blue Ridge. Even when I am triggered, I am a rule follower, and the rules are very clear that you are to always respect your alpha and obey their summons. That is just how it is.But this situation was different. I wasn’t taunting Alpha Aiden just because I was triggered. When he first announced my punishment, I was actually crushed. In fact, I cried every day for a week straight after our conversation. Part of that was the timing. I was already starting to mentally break because of the overwhe

(Piper POV)Another two months passed, and life at Moon Shadow had mostly become tolerable again. After our last fight, Alpha Aiden had lifted most of my punishment, including the offensive, impractical rules about having no contact with unmated males. He also allowed me to go back to working days; the night shift would once again be rotated amongst the omegas just like it used to be.The only part about the punishment that Alpha Aiden kept in place was the requirement that I not leave the pack for any reason. His excuses for leaving that part in place were confusing, but given how close I now was to my 20th birthday, I was mostly okay with it.Alpha Aiden did continue to make the occasional, irritating comment about wanting me to avoid being around unmated male wolves, but he did not enforce any restrictions. He also never again called me a whore or a sl&t. And, importantly, he himself seemed to stop sleeping around. I think the combination of all of those things made it easier

(Piper POV)"What is your end game, really? We all know that you have one."Daphne opened her mouth to protest, but then seemingly decided against it.“Ok, fine,” Daphne huffed. “I just don’t think it is fair that Piper will not be honest about her birthday while everyone else in the pack is running around making bets about when she will meet her mate and who her mate will be.”“I never asked you to bet on my personal life,” I snapped. “If you don’t think it is fair, don’t participate.”“You may not have asked me to participate, but you never told me not to. And I now have $5,000 riding on winning the bet.”Asher spit out his drink. “$5,000?!?!” he exclaimed. “Daphne, why would you bet $5,000 on anything, much less who Piper’s mate is?”Daphne gave a fake-innocent smile. “First of all, I did not bet on who Piper’s mate was. I bet on whether she would have a mate at all. Second of all, despite what Maya wants to believe, I am Piper’s best friend and I know her better than anyo

(Piper POV)To my disappointment, my mother did not appear in the dreams again until the night before my 20th birthday.That final dream started the same way as all the others, with me and the male at the grand waterfall. I do not remember what we talked about that night, but I remember feeling more anxious than normal.“You seem distracted tonight, Piper. What is bothering you?” the male asked.“My mother. She came here once. Why hasn’t she come again?”“You miss her a lot.”“I do,” I said sadly. “Why hasn’t she come back? Why isn’t she here?”Suddenly I heard a female voice behind me.“You silly girl. I am always here with you, Piper. You do not have to see me for me to be here.”I jumped up from the rock and looked towards the forest. As soon as my eyes landed on my mother, I took off running towards her. Unlike the male’s face, nothing about my mother’s voice or look was fuzzy. Instead, my mother looked and sounded radiant and happy.“Mom!” I cried as I wrapped my arms a