Review if you like. This is short. But it gets the job done.

Anna watched as her friend buried her head in her hands. Piper's feelings towards Bran roared against her subconscious, like the waves of a raging storm. Anna's first reaction was to extend herself out, to smooth over the harsh pain. Unfortunately, that trick only worked on wolves. So instead, she sat beside Piper, listening as her fried adopted the newest belief, that Bran felt nothing in return.

Anna desperately wanted to reassure her, to explain that the notion couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, she sympathized with Leah, she felt like the woman was making a poor situation even worse. But she was adult enough to realize how good Piper was for him. How happy Piper, not Leah, made Bran.

"-so stupid. It's not like he's about to change for me. I've heard the whole can't teach an old dog new tricks, and Christ, he's more like an ancient dog. I'm no sadist, I'm not really even a dog perso-"

Anna mused at how good Piper was at convincing herself something. Anyone could see how much Bran had changed.

At first, Anna, nor any of the other wolves, had never seen Bran act so strange. He had always seemed a cheerful unassuming man, but since Piper came to Aspen Creek, Bran had been unrecognizable. Sure, he was still the cool calculating Alpha. He was still stronger both mentally and physically than anyone she'd ever met, but when not serving as a leader he was….almost normal. The rigidness had melted away from how he held himself. He smiled more, laughed louder and transformed into a man entirely more...light.

The person he'd been before, the one that Anna had called in her darkest days, who she'd thought already as entirely too light to be the Marrok, wasn't even a comparison to the new Bran. She remembered how his duties had dragged him down then. He had just been forced to kill his friend, Carter Wallace, and the town had turned against him.

Anna would never forget the sight of Bran sitting absolutely alone, on the front Pew for the funeral. Not even Leah had accompanied him that day.

Watching that same man whistle as he walks the streets of Aspen Creek was truly bizzare. The years were literally ebbing away from him. With everyday he spent with Piper, he became to act more like the twenty year old man he resembled. Like a man in love, Anna supplied. The thought was certainly a troubling one.

Charles had been the first to notice the change. He'd walked in on Bran humming to himself in front of a fire and immediately asked if something were wrong. The Marrok had simply said, "Well, there's certainly trouble. But there's no indication as of which kind."

Thereafter, Charles, along with most of the town had met Piper. It had been easy to assume she had taken Mercy's place in Bran's heart. Another orphaned stray, in need of Bran's rescuing. Anna could even remember Charles saying how good this would be for Bran. He needs a new pup, Charles had teased.

However, with time, a few of them had realized Bran's feelings were anything but had been caught, multiple times starring at the woman in such a way that Tag had described as a leer. Leah had even let slip to her, that Marrok called out for the woman in his sleep.

It was around that time, Charles had received a sign form the spirits. "We're not to interfere," he had warned, "It will work itself out in time."

Anna was confident in Charles prediction, but she worried it would work out at the expense of her friend.

Bran not stepping in at Thanksgiving only confirmed the fact. Charles had been stunned that Bran hadn't interrupted. To not break up such a heated battle meant he held them in the same esteem. Bran saw Piper as an Alpha.

Anna, however, had only seen the hurt on her friend's face.

Piper didn't understand pack rules or behavior. Bran had hurt her that night. And Anna hadn't talked to her father-in-law for quite some time because of it.

The true transformation, however, started after Bran started running with Piper. Piper assured Anna that they only ran, but she figured much more occurred. Anna wasn't stupid enough to believe her friend was lying to her, she had already learned that lesson. She did, however, believe the runs were bonding them; strengthening a connection that had already been there.

The more time they spent running, the less Bran acted like the Marrok. His speech was even updating itself.

Yesterday, when Bran had come back from their run covered in snow, he had only shrugged. "Tripped," he supplied, before walking off with a secretive smile. And with the word, Anna had made up her mind. She wasn't going to let him crush her friend. The mate-bond was unbreakable, Leo had said so. Clearly everyone was too invested in this relationship to realize that.

"Anna?" She shook the thoughts away as she focused on her friend in front of her. She wouldn't let Piper get ruined. She was an Omega, it was her job to protect her. Instead, of disagreeing, of telling Piper that Bran, in fact, had loads of feelings for her, Anna found herself nodding.

"I agree. It's probably best if you just get a little space from him."

Piper mashed her lips together, "Dam," she sighed, "This would be an excelled time for him to become a missing person."