Paige woke up early the next morning. Jet lag can really mess up your sleep schedule. Having nothing else to do she decided to go for a run. Running had been her escape for as long as she can remember. In high school she was on the track team. Her father insisted she play a sport and with track you can be alone for most of the time so she decided on that.
She walked out the door and started at a warm up pace. She thought about how she ended up back here. Obviously she was going to have to come back at some point. Her brother and sister were going to have big life events eventually. Bindings, pups and the like. But still she wasn't ready. Part of her thought that the first time she'd come back here she'd have more. A degree, a career, a family of her own perhaps. She knew nothing could make up for her lack of a wolf but that didn't stop her from trying.
It didn't matter how many human accomplishments she achieved, nothing would make her father be proud of her. Nothing could make him respect her. She didn't fit in his world. No amount of forcing or wishing could make it so. And now that she had seen life outside of the pack, she was determined to never come back here.
The authoritarianism of the pack had never sat right with her. She had learned to obey, to bite her tongue but in her gut she knew it was wrong. She had to beg her father to let her leave. He didn't understand why she wanted to go. He thought pack life was the best thing there is. He didn't see how much she was hurting under it.
She's turned eighteen in the fall of her senior year. When she failed to shift she was despondent at first. Heartbroken that she wasn't a wolf. She had known deep down that she wasn't but it still hurt to have that confirmation. For the first few weeks she didn't get out of bed. She couldn't face her family or friends. Not that she had many. Betty, James and Dorothea were her only friends but she couldn't stand to see the sad looks on their faces.
By the time Yule came around she had decided to take her fate in her own hands. She started applying to college, looking for a way out. She knew she couldn't stay in the pack. She had good grades in high school. Even if what she learned wasn't standard for the rest of the world she still had good enough grades to be accepted at most schools.
She ended up in a school in Portland, Maine. It was small and she had to take a lot of placement tests but she survived her freshman year and was thriving by the time she was a sophomore. She started to look beyond her small cities and towns and looked for something bigger. She applied and transferred to a better school in Boston. Her father was furious with her. He thought Portland was too far and too big, but she knew in her heart Boston was where she was supposed to be.
After the disaster of a graduation dinner she decided to travel for a while. She had paid for school with scholarships and had worked through her four years. Her father's insistence that she come home, just made her run further away. She traveled all over the world. Europe, Asia, Australia. It was one of the most amazing years she had spent in her life. Until she was left behind.
The sky began to lighten as she made her way back to her parents house. It wasn't her home as that one had been destroyed by rouges. She walked through the side door to find her father in the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks and they stared at each other in an awkward silence. Not knowing what to say she walked past him.
As she made her out of the kitchen, her father said "Don't do anything to embarrass us today." She stopped to listen. "What you do reflects on all of us. You might not care about this pack but your mother and brother and sister and I all live here and will continue to live here even after you're gone again."
"I understand father." She walked out. She bolted up the stairs back to her room. She took some deep breaths to steady herself before she headed to the bathroom. After showering she made her way back down stairs and was relieved to see her father had left for the day. Her mother and sister were in the kitchen. After saying good morning and having some breakfast it was time to go.
Sophie and Paige were quiet on the way to the pack house. Sophie, because her coffee hadn't kicked in yet and Paige because her mind was filled with memories of Nathan. Though, why she was thinking of him, she couldn't say. There was no way her Nathan was Alpha Nathan. She knew that, but her mind kept wandering back to him.
"You okay?" Sophie asked from the driver seat.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
"Your scent. It's doing something weird."
"Weird how?"
"I don't know, it's just something I've never gotten from you before. What are you feeling right now? Sometimes emotions can cause your scent to change."
"I'm not feeling much of anything. I was just lost in some old memories."
"Huh." Sophie said giving her the side-eye. Before they could say anything else they were at the pack house.
It was bigger than she imagined it would be. The Summit Pack pack house had been tiny compared to this. This looked more like a hotel than a house.
"Soph, just how big is this pack?" She asked looking up at it.
"It's pretty big. Moon Wind was the strongest in fighting the rouges a few years back. A lot of other smaller packs fell and Moon Wind took most of them in. This pack house was just completed last year."
They entered what must be the business entrance of the pack house and went over to reception.
"Hi Holly! This is Paige, she has a meeting with the Alpha." Holly looked at her with surprise.
"Paige? Your sister Paige? Your human sister Paige?"
"Yep!" Sophie said with a big grin. "I told you she was coming for Micah's binding."
"I know but I-" Paige raised an eye at Holly in question. Almost daring her to say what she really thought. "I've just heard of you for so long but never seen you. I was beginning to think you didn't exist."
"Well I do, and I have an appointment with the Alpha so if you could let him know I'm here and direct me to his office that'd be great."
"Oh of course. Right this way." She clicked a few buttons on the computer and led them down the hallway. "He should be out in just a few moments. You can wait here."
"Thank you."
The waiting area was cozy while still business like. Paige anxiously pulled at her blouse and looked around. She was wearing her nicest jeans and blouse. She knew she should probably be in a dress or something more business-like for a meeting with an Alpha but she didn't pack anything. And she really didn't care. She looked presentable enough.
Paige stood looking at the paintings on the wall. They were the last thing she expected to see in a pack house. Most pack houses had big imposing paintings of wolves, if they had any paintings at all. These were impressionist paintings. She didn't know there were impressionist paintings of wolves. She was completely engrossed in one of a wolf and a young woman with their foreheads pressed to each other that she didn't hear the people arrive behind her.
"Paige?" She stilled. She knew that voice. Turning she saw the face of the man who broke her heart.
"Nathan?" Rage surged through her.
"What are you-?"
"You son a bitch!" She quickly closed the space between them, and before anyone could react, punched him square on the jaw.
Sophie screamed and the other wolves that were with him moved to grab her. "That's for Bali! You bastard!" She tried to swing at him again but the wolves had already grabbed her arms and were pulling her back. She knew she wasn't strong enough to actually hurt a wolf but Nathan's head had jerked back like it had hurt. She had probably just caught him off guard but she still hoped it hurt like hell.
She had been struggling against the wolves who held her but stopped when she saw him right himself. "Still got one hell of a right hook I see." He touched his lips where her fist had made contact. "It's alright, you can let her go."
"But sir, she attacked you!" One of the men holding her said. She assumed it was his Beta.
"That's just how Paige says hello." He said looking at her. "I said let her go." She shook out her shoulders as the wolves let go of her arms but they still stood in front of her, as if they were worried she'd attack him again.
"Come on in Paige, let's talk."
Paige stood seething with anger. "I have nothing to say to you." She spat. She turned on her heal and started walking to the exit. Sophie ran after her.
"Paige, you're supposed to present yourself to the Alpha!"
"Consider myself presented!" She called over her shoulder and marched out the door. She started to walk towards the car before remembering Sophie had the keys so she just kept waking.
She made it back to her parents house in fifteen minutes and was relieved when no one was home. She quickly went upstairs and changed into her hiking clothes and took off for the mountains. One good thing about living so remotely was that nature was always close by. She didn't have to drive hours to get there like she did in the other places she lived. She could just start walking and be surrounded in less than 20 minutes.
And that's what she did. She had enough wilderness experience and common sense to know its landmarks and which direction she was going. She had grabbed a map and compass on her way out, along with a few bottles of water and some granola bars. Even if she was human, she was not a weak one. She learned how to survive in the wilderness just like all the others kids in her pack. On her way out the door she sent her mom a text letting her know she'd gone hiking and would be home in time for dinner. She made for the nearest mountain and started up it. Getting up above everything always made her feel better. She climbed and climbed, letting her thoughts wander as she did. They were too jumbled to direct into any coherent thought.
When there was no more mountain to climb she sat down and stared at the landscape. Nathan, her Nathan was here. And he was the Alpha. She was completely lost. She had tried so hard to leave all that, all of him, behind her. To move on with her life. But here he was, bringing up all that old pain and hurt.
She sat on that mountain until she felt she could face people again. She had come up with a plan to survive the next two weeks. She was going to avoid him at all costs. Focus on her work, see her brothers binding and then take the first plane back to London. Back to her life and the family she had made for herself there.
She repeated the plan to herself over and over as she climbed down the mountain. It was full dark by the time she made it home. "I'm back!" she called as she entered the house. "Sorry I'm late," she grabbed another bottle of water out of the fridge as she passed it. She saw that they still hadn't eaten dinner. The lights on in the living room and she made her way there. "My phone died or I would have called. You didn't have to hold dinner for me. I-" She turned the corner to see her family sitting with the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.