(Xander POV)When I get to the Wildwood Pack and change back into my clothes, I am shocked by the number of other wolves that are here. I silently pray to the Moon Goddess that there has been some sort of misunderstanding. Surely Piper was not stupid enough to risk coming to an event like this.“You were pretty stupid yourself when you were 19,” my wolf reminds me.“Yes, but Piper is better than me. She always has been,” I link back. I take my time scanning the massive crowd. Finding Piper will be more difficult than it should be, mainly because everyone is wearing masks. My heart stops every time I see a blond she-wolf about Piper’s height. However, after about thirty minutes and a dozen close calls, I start to relax. Piper isn’t here. The omega at Moon Shadow must have been mistaken.Or so I thought.I am about to leave when my eyes are drawn to a beautiful blond in a short black dress. Unlike the other she-wolves that I have spotted, I am unable to spot any obvious featur

(Xander POV) “Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” I stumbled a few times as I forced myself to stand up. I knew getting caught here was a mistake that I was going to pay for, but the last thing I would ever do is admit it to this a&&hole. “Well, hello there Leo,” I slurred, pretending not to care that he was here. “You are supposed to be at the conference,” he said coldly. I rolled my eyes and glanced behind him at the three goons standing with him. “Yeah, well.” “I did not give you permission to leave, Boy.” Anger and adrenaline were quickly sobering me up. Maybe not as fast as I needed them to, but it was something. I looked at Leo as defiantly as I could. “Boy??!?” I spit back. “I am just three years younger than you. And the last time I checked, you were neither my father nor my alpha.” I am pretty sure half of those words were slurred and only somewhat understandable, but in my head, they sounded crystal clear. “Why is it that every time Piper disappears on me

(Alpha Aiden POV) As Piper walks into my office and sits down in a guest chair, I run my hand through my long curly red hair in both anger and frustration. I don’t know if it is Piper’s fault that I am so upset, or if it is Jonas’s fault… or if it is my own. I have been the alpha of Moon Shadow Pack for four years. I was only 19 years old when I took over. Most alpha heirs do not take over until their mid to late 20s, after they have met their mates/ lunas, but I had to take over earlier because my father died unexpectedly. As a younger alpha, I am hyper-sensitive to criticism from others. I know that I lack the experience that other alphas have, and I would even admit that I lack some of the maturity too. However, my pack members still depend on me for stability, leadership, and security. That means that I cannot afford to make mistakes. Every mistake that I make represents weakness, and every weakness I have represents risk to my pack. That is why I got so upset when Xande

(Alpha Aiden POV) I do not know why I let the conversation with Piper spiral so far out of control. I had a plan. Confront Piper; punish Piper; move on with my day. Maybe even go back to the conference. I thought I had thought through all of the possibilities. I had even talked about everything with Beta Jonas. Admittedly, when I talked to Jonas, he had been uncomfortable. He said the allegations seemed out of character for Piper, which I could not disagree with him about. However, after I told Jonas that it was Xander Ross who called me —and after I told him about the corroborative evidence I had obtained— , he agreed that we needed to take action. Jonas thought the proposed punishment was too harsh, but he ultimately agreed with it anyway. The idea for the punishment came from Xander, who said it was what he would do if one of his omegas acted the way that Piper had acted. He said that a strong alpha does not let this kind of behavior go unchecked. Executing the punis

(Three Weeks Later)(Xander POV)It has been surprisingly quiet at Blue Ridge since we got back from the conference. Eerily quiet, to be honest.Leo Bloodstone warned me that things would get worse around here, but he has not been around. His father has not been around either. Leo is not the type to make empty threats, so I knew immediately that something was amiss.I was originally worried that Leo wasn’t here because he either found Piper or had a lead on where she was. In fact, when I sobered up after the confrontation in the bar —and realized that Piper and Leo had been within mere miles of one another— I went into panic mode. That panic reached a fever pitch when Alpha Aiden let it slip that Wildwood was Leo’s aunt’s pack.Thankfully, however, I heard some of Leo’s guards talking several days later. From what I was able to piece together from their conversation, after our confrontation at the bar, Leo received a phone call from his ex, Ingrid. She told Leo that their son h