Unscentable
Chapter 12

Bradley POV

Standing in his empty hotel suite, Bradley was absolutely fuming. Hadley had been told to stay here, not to leave this room, period. Yet she was now not here, the girl was literally asking to be punished.

He wondered absently what his father would do, if Hadley reported to him, he'd beaten her, sighed, he'd not likely beat her, but he did want to, really wanted to, but wouldn't. Wondered also how annoyed his father would be when he marched that girl right to the cells and put her in one of them.

She had disobeyed his directed order, disobeyed her own Alpha's order for that matter, wondered how long she had been gone for, didn't think that she had gone very far, her handbag was still in the room on the couch where he had made her sleep, walked over and checked it, no phone in there, must have it on her.

Dialled her number and growled annoyingly into the empty room. It was actually turned off.

What was the point in having it if it was turned off?

Turned and stalked out of his hotel suite, banged the door closed behind him. He'd only come back to check on her after lunch, to make she was doing as she was told, and she wasn't. He took himself downstairs and showed her picture to the human doorman, asked him "Did you see my sister leave?"

"Oh yeah, got that pretty girl a cab" He smiled at Bradley.

"Where to?"

"I just haled it." The doorman told him.

"When?" Bradley snapped at the man, his annoyance no longer able to be held in.

"About 40 minutes ago, I guess," He answered, looking at his watch.

"Right" Bradley muttered. '40 minutes in the cells and counting little sister' she had been warned, he was going to follow through, regardless of what his father thought. She had been told by their father to do everything she was told to do.

Hell, he as her alpha, had warned her himself and still she had disobeyed.

Walked back to his rental car and headed back out to where he'd left his unit. Nothing it seemed was going right, it was a 30 minute drive back to the cafe they were using as their base to sit and watch Piper's store. Walked into the store to find Cooper not at the table with the boys, glanced at Eddie and Harry, a slight frown on his face at not seeing his Beta, only to have Eddie look pointedly at the cafe counter area.

His eyes moved to it and he found himself looking right at Izzy, as he sat himself down. Well, now their cover was blown, she was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, as she collected her coffee's from the girl behind the counter.

'Cooper's in the bathroom.' Eddie mind-linked him 'tried to stop us from getting recognised as your men!

Izzy walked right by him as she headed for the door, glanced directly at him. "I told you already, she's not working from the store, for several weeks.

"Purely coincidence." He commented right back.

"Hm, right...You're a long way from home aren't you!" she stated and then walked out the door. Bradley frowned, a long way from home, either she had looked him up or Piper had told her where they were from. "They don't normally use this cafe." "Nope." Eddie shook his head "there are 4 on the street and she wandered along looking at all of 1 them in turn. I saw her look right at me for a moment and then just came in and ordered coffees.

She didn't acknowledge me at all once in the store, but pretty certain she came in because she recognised me."

"Must have picked up on our walk-by's." Harry commented.

"She's not so blind, in other words," Bradley sighed. "Looking for anything out of the ordinary."

"Likely" Eddie nodded.

Cooper strolled over and sank down "Brad, your timing sucks."

"Mm, it does seem that way." He nodded"

Hadley left the hotel in a cab almost an hour and a half ago now." Found all their eyes on him in an instant.

"We've not seen her," Cooper told him.

"Can't be that far away, let's go hunt the area."

They all got up and headed out of the cafe.

Bradley came to a halt at hearing Piper's name mentioned. A tall girl was chatting with her mother as they came out of another coffee shop down the street, talking about how she thought Piper Harper was so nice and her wedding dress was perfect and super excited to be picking it up in a week.

"Excuse me." Bradley interrupted the two of them, putting a smile right on his face, all his charming self and s*x appeal for them to see, "did you just see Piper Harper in person?"

"Yes," the girl nodded, "she is amazing." smiling right back at him.

"Thank you, I was hoping to catch her myself today." he nodded to them and then turned to look at Cooper expectantly, his annoyance that she was there in the store and they did not know about it for him to see. "Brad, you've been here most of the day yourself. We haven't seen her. There is no way she got passed us."

Bradley frowned now, that was true, he'd been here himself only left to go and check on Hadley.

But it was obvious from that woman's statement she was in the store, "Go and find Hadley." He muttered as he turned and marched himself down the street and right into Goddess Gown's.

Locked eyes with Izzy, whose mouth he saw actually twitched in full amusement. He could only imagine from the look on her face, she knew he'd just found out that Piper was here in the store, and his men had not known.

Turned his eyes to the upstairs loft and before Izzy could say anything to him, stalked up there, heard Izzy laugh to herself and knew it was aimed at him, he and Benson nearly snarled at the woman, barely managed to keep it inside of him when he found Piper's office empty, but the scent of that human woman's perfume was there in the office, so she hadn't been gone long.

Really hated this minute that she masked her scent, everywhere that she went. Even in her own office. Was fumingly angry with the woman, with the fact that she had somehow managed to get past him and his entire Alpha Unit at that.

"Can I help you, Mr Drake?" Izzy's voice came to him dripping with sarcasm.

His eyes moved right to hers. "Where is she?"

Bradley snapped at her. The woman was standing on the landing by the top of the stairs. She had tested his patience days ago, and now it seemed she was about to do it again. The look on her face, a very smug smile, told him she intended to do it again. Obviously had no issues dealing with him.

Likely had to deal with irate wealthy humans all the time, and was not afraid to stand her ground.

"Not here. Please remove yourself from Piper Harper's office, or I will be calling the police."

"On what grounds, a client looking for her?" he shot right back. He'd done nothing illegal.

Saw the corner of her mouth tilt right up now, stubborn bloody woman "Trespassing."

"It's a store, community property so to speak."

Bradley informed her she had no idea who he was.

"Only if you are a customer, and Piper Harper doesn't want anything to do with Drake Industries. I believe that's the new policy she instated last week."

"Well, I knew nothing about that now, did I? I was not notified of the new policy, so how would I know that? Go ahead Izzy, call the police..." he smiled right at her "I'm a lawyer." He could see that shocked her completely, he leaned right down to her ear. "Oh, didn't she tell you that." He smiled"

And a damned good one, came from a long line of them." leaned back and let her see his smile "now where is Piper Harper?"

"Gone home for the day." she told him simply.

"And where is home?" He asked right back.

"That is none of your business," She stated quite coldly and then stalked off down the stairs away from him.

Bradley nearly laughed, a part of him really liked this woman, so very protective, headstrong and could stand her ground. It was no wonder Piper liked her, reminded her of a wolf in all likelihood. He followed her down the stairs, all the way to her counter and looked right at her, smiled his most charming of smiles and saw her facade falter slightly, her eyes went wide as his sudden change.

Bradley knew that his resting annoyed face did not make him handsome at all, just looked mean and nasty to most, but when he turned on all his charm and smiled, really smiled at someone, especially the ladies, they all fell all over themselves to try and please him, especially the humans, she was no different.

"Izzy," Bradley practically purred out her name, softly "please help me out." He continued to smile at her, watched her take a step back away from him and shake her head as if to clear it, her eyes moved over his face. Knew she was taking all of him in, she couldn't help it, no human woman could. Well, not many anyway. "What can I do Izzy?" Bradley asked softly, "to get you to help me out." he leaned on the counter, with both his elbows, allowing her a real close look into his eyes. Most were mesmerised by them, both human and wolves alike.

"Oh, I'm not falling for that." she pointed a finger right at him "I've seen that before, dealt with people like you for a long time. Go away, I will not be telling you anything."

Bradley chuckled softly "I'll send my best man in to charm you, then shall I." and he meant it. She would not be able to get passed Eddie.

"W... What?" she gasped "I have a boyfriend.

"Hope he likes to share." Bradley smirked right at her. "Eddie won't take no for an answer, and it's very unlikely you will say no to him." He stood and walked out of the store, she might be somewhat immune to Bradley. Which he didn't mind at all, didn't particularly like flirting with her, didn't want too. He had Piper to consider and who knew if it would hurt her or not, so he would not. Eddie, on the other hand, was single and happy to mingle.

Bradley was done being tricked by Piper Harper, or Izzy, into believing she was not around.

The bloody woman was starting to infuriate him.

'Eddie.' he mind-linked his Gamma.

'Yes Brad.'

'I give you permission to go and charm Izzy!

'Sweet, she's a real cutie! he could hear the amused happy tone in the man's voice. He could well imagine he was smiling right this minute 'Find Hadley first though boss." 'Yes.' Bradley agreed.

They did not find Hadley, but did scent out her blood and found an unconscious rogue lying on the ground in a back alley. There was a lot of rogue scent in this alley. In fact, 4 distinct scents as well as Hadley. Fear was itching him, he didn't think she could take on four male rogues at once and win.

But something else was going on here too, Where Hadley's blood was didn't match up with the rest of the fight scene. There was another in this alley way, or maybe one of the rogues had turned on the others, but his major concern was that Hadley was no longer here, she was gone.

Eddie was already tracking her scent down the aileyway, hollered back at him, tracked it all the way to a main road, it was still quite strong, but then the scent was just gone, likely she was in a car and driven away. "Check the hospitals." Bradley snapped out.

"Brad, what if there was another, helped her get away, that fight..." It was Cooper, he'd noted it as well, a fight where Hadley's blood was, but another fight meters away down the alley likely at the same time. "I know," He nodded.

"What if it was Piper? We can't smell her, I can't scent another in the alley."

He sighed "If it was? She either put Hadley in a cab or took her home and I don't think she took the girl home," Bradley didn't think she would have even wanted to get involved in the fight, if she had, and thought Hadley was his Mate. She was saving the woman that she thought was now his Mate and putting them right back together. Therefore, he didn't think she would take her home, that would bring him right to her doorstep and seeing the two of them together had caused her a lot of pain last time, wouldn't do that to herself willingly.

"Hospital first." Cooper agreed with him.

Though if it was Piper who had helped out.

That must have caused her some conflict, yet still helped her anyway, did what any she-wolf would do, saved another from a horrible situation. Unless they were both taken by the three rogues, he could smell but not see. He was actively praying that was not the case, praying Harper had come forward and helped her win against those rogues, and that they had put Hadley into a cab.

Damned woman so frustrating, yet still so caring at the same time, he had to find her, get that bloody scent masking spray off of her and find out if she was actually his Mate or not.

They found Hadley in the emergency room of the nearest hospital and all thoughts of punishing her and putting her in the cells back home were gone from him. The nurse who was looking after her, was telling him about her condition. She had a concussion and had been strangled by the look of it. He could see there was a large hand print around her neck and bruising on the entire left side of her face, she had a graze down her right cheek and a wound at her temple.

The short sleeved hospital gown she was now wearing showed bruising and claw marks on both her arms, defensive wounds and when she looked at him, her blue eyes filled with tears and then she just burst into tears. He hugged her to him and she just held on to him and sobbed.

"Careful." the nurse told him, "she has more wounds on her body, some needed stitching."

"How'd she get here?" He asked the nurse.

"My understanding a cab driver brought her in."

"Hadley what happened?" he asked her softly, although he was certain he already knew and both Cooper and Harry had collected that Roque to deal with him, he had to ask, he also knew she would tell him only what humans would understand.

She looked up at him, her right eye was bruised, he hated seeing her like this. "4 men attacked me, Bradley.. but." more tears spilled down her face.

Eddie's hand was in her hair. "Shh, it's alright Hadley." his southern drawl rolled out of him, his

Gamma charm in full effect to help her calm down and ease her stress.

"They came out of no where and dragged me into that alley, but..." again that hesitation.

"But?" Bradley prompted.

"Piper must have heard and came to help me... she's injured too, Bradley, out there somewhere!

"Did they take her?" he asked, and hated the 10 second wait for her to answer.

"No, she helped me up, into that cab and sent me here, but..."

"But?" he sighed.

"She took on three of them alone." more tears spilled down her face and he felt Eddie's hand on his arm. He relinquished Hadley over to the man, so he could use the force of his Gamma Charm to calm her down completely.

His father had said she was in danger, alone out here. She had just saved Hadley from a fate worse than death, he would ask her more details back at the hotel. He understood why she still looked badly injured, couldn't allow Letti to heal her and let the humans see it, so had to remain injured.

"I didn't get the chance to tell her I was your sister Bradley. I'm sorry."

"It's alright Hadley." It likely was not a good situation for either her or Piper. "Did any of them?" he had to ask the horrid question "touch you?"

"No, well, not really. Piper came before they could, thankfully." She answered him" She's injured Bradley." she sounded much calmer now that she was in Eddie's arms.

"How badly, did you see?"

"Um, had blood on her face, down one side of her abdomen and on her arms, looked a right mess before I was thrown into the wall."

Bradley nodded, he didn't like it, didn't have much choice about it. Wasn't there to stop it, but if she had gotten Hadley out and won against 3 rogues, "Hadley how did you get away from the 4th man?"

"Piper attacked him too, he threw me at the wall and T hit my head. I don't really remember much after that, just that she picked me up. It's fuzzy, I think she threatened the cab driver to make sure I got here."

He nodded, could see Eddie looking at him worry on his face, if Piper was Bradley's Mate and even his own father was leaning in that direction, then the Luna to their pack was out there somewhere, injured. It was not sitting well with the pack's Gamma. She was his job.

Why the alleyway, he thought, why was she there? It was blocks away from her store. He sighed, knew the answer right away. Because she didn't want to use the front door, so that back entrance went beyond that courtyard that led to the short walkway to the front of the store, there must be another exit, one he'd not been watching.

Got Hadley discharged and back to their hotel Letti started healing her as soon as she was in the car. She was still upset and beside herself that Piper had gotten hurt while helping her, had begged him not to call their father, he'd told her he had to. So she'd begged him not to until she was healed.

This was the exact reason, she was not allowed to go out on her own without quards. Exactly what their father had lectured her about just yesterday, and then she had gone and done the most stupid thing and found herself in the situation they had warned her about.

She had now told him in full detail about the rogue's purpose for her, that she would sell for a good price. He'd even heard that Piper had told them she was a better choice. He shuddered to think of her, either of them, for that matter, in those rogue's hands. Put a call in to Cooper and told him what Hadley had said.

Heard the man and his wolf snarl in anger. He wasn't exactly sure what pissed him off more, what they wanted to do to Hadley, or that they had told Piper she was basically worthless. He just stated "I'll sort it out and end this before coming back."

Which just meant that the rogue was likely going to wind up dead after Cooper had tortured him for all the information he had about the where abouts of the other 3 rogue's who had gotten away, they did not want any of them coming back to have another shot at Hadley or Piper for that matter. Piper had taken them all on and won, so she must still train either on her own or in some gym.

Both her parents had been good strong warriors, likely both on their way to elite status, and she had been in training, according to the pack records, both before and after she got her wolf, to be a warrior herself, likely wanted to take after them.

Likely wanted to make them proud of her, had trained right up until she'd scented him out and got hit with that first lot of betrayal pains he imagined, and then it would have just been a downward spiral into withering away to nothing. Bradley hated that thought, that she'd suffered through that.

Once he had woken up inside his own pack hospital after she'd left, and he'd heard his Pack Dr. Samuel tell him that not only did it sound like and look like he'd been suffering from a rejection.

Eddie's claim that he'd felt severe pain from a she-wolf and only he would feel the Luna like that.

Then to go on and tell him that for the past 3 years he had been feeling the pain of another, not been able to track it down. Mostly it happened when Bradley was with a she-wolf, and that unfortunately, it was mostly when they were away from the pack. Though he did also feel it when Bradley had been with Bianca in their pack.

That when they were in the pack, Eddie had hunted relentlessly for the one in pain, but he had never been able to pin her down, or find out who that pain belonged to. Bradley had been more than a little horrified that it had been going on for 3 years. He had stopped touching she-wolves, stopped flirting with she-wolves and stopped having s*x right away, knew what it would do to the girl if it continued and he didn't want that. Was more than confused about it, apparently having a Mate he knew nothing about. One he was damned sure had been in his bed that very night, he'd never felt anything like her before, touching her had created a need in him that he'd never felt or experienced with any she-wolf ever, the way she felt under his hands, the way she had responded to his touch even.

Then to reject him, and not just as her Mate, but also as her Alpha and the entire pack to boot. It was not good, he'd had no idea, didn't even really know what she looked like, had been so damned consumed with how she had felt the pleasure he was taking in being with her. His bloody eyes had been closed most of the time, immersed himself in that pleasurable feeling, so self-absorbed by it. He was an a*ss-hole, it seemed.

Pulled his mind from that and put a call into his father and told him what had happened, let him talk to Hadley and see her. Her mother too, heard her actually promise to do as she was told, now that she really understood the risks of being out and about alone.