"That is such a lie!" Dorothea exclaimed with a laugh. James was recounting how she had almost passed out at their binding ceremony. "I simply hadn't eaten that day and it was hot. I was a little woozy but I definitely didn't almost pass out." Paige smiled at her friends. Life had taken them all in different directions but here they were, all together again. All together again except for Betty.
Betty and James had dated all through high school and everyone was sure they'd end up mated to each other. But she had died in a rouge attack before they had turned 25. Dorothea and James told her how difficult it was after losing her. Their friendship was rocky because Betty was the glue that held them together and with her gone it started to fall apart. It was about the same time Paige had lost touch with them as well. Dorothea had reached maturity first and was away fighting in the rouge war, they hadn't spoken in months. James, who was never a fighter, had completed his healer training and was sent to the fight to help. He was patching up another when she was brought into the med tent and they saw each other for the first time since maturity.
"He left his patient in the middle of bandaging him up and came right over to me. I was covered in blood and dirt and he just stared at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the room. Then he kissed me full on the mouth with everyone watching. His patient almost died."
"He did not almost die!" James said rolling his eyes. "He was already on the mend already, I was just debriding the wound and applying a bandage to help the process along." Werewolves can heal quickly from most anything, except other werewolf attacks. Their saliva made it difficult for wounds to heal properly. They had to be thoroughly cleaned and bandaged in order for them to not suffer any long term effects from the bite. The only exception were mates. Bonded mates could heal each other.
"It was a blessing really." Dorothea said, when they told her. "We were able to help each other through the loss of everything." Paige smiled at the words as her heart clenched. She had been part of that loss. She had promised not to lose touch when she left but after her graduation and the fight with her father she wanted nothing to do with the packs. She cut off almost everyone from home. She regretted it now but had felt it necessary at the time.
After they had finished dinner and were sitting in their living room, Dorothea asked the question Paige had been dreading. "So the Alpha..." she said, letting it hang in the air like a question. Paige took a breath and decided to play dumb.
"What about him?"
"Is it true?" James asked, "You punched him in the pack house? Cause if it is, that has got to be one of the most badass things you have ever done." Paige smiled at her friends excitement. James could talk a big talk but he was a softy at heart.
"You might want to hold that assessment. You haven't heard about my trip through Asia." She said with a sly grin.
"Don't dodge the question." Dorothea said. "We were your closest friends once. And whether or not we are now, I know we're your closest friends in the pack, so spill." Paige gave her a small smile trying to figure out just how much to tell them. She knew they wouldn't tell anyone but it wasn't an easy topic for her. Her talk with Allen that morning had been the most she'd ever talked about it.
"Nathan, the Alpha, and I knew each other, before..." She trailed off.
"I think that's obvious from the way you hit him," Dorothea said, "Not really the way you greet an Alpha for the first time. I don't care how long you've lived with humans."
Paige chuckled, "Actually, I punched him the first time I met him too." And before she knew it she was telling them everything. How she couldn't stand him at first. How he was with the orphans. How angry she was when her travel friends invited him to travel with them. How one by one, her friends, which had become their friends, had all split off on their separate travels and they were left alone together. How she began falling for him, slowly at first, then all at once. It felt good to talk about it. She had kept it locked away for so long that she thought talking about it would bring back the pain of those first few months after she lost him. And it did, but not as horrible as it was then.
"Wait, so how was he going to stay in the human world, was he going to find another pack or something?" James asked when she got to the end.
"I don't know, we hadn't talked about it." Paige replied, "He wouldn't have had to though. Most cities in the rest of the world are neutral ground. It's not like here. That's how I assume he was able to travel so much. You don't have to announce yourself if it's neutral ground. But like I said, I knew he was a wolf but he never said anything. I don't know if he was actually going to stay with me, or if he was just telling me he would."
"I think he would have," Dorothea said softly. Paige looked at her questioningly. "I've gotten to know him fairly well since I joined the Dawn Guard. Wolves are always throwing themselves at him, both males and females, but he's never given any of them the time of day. I always thought he had already found and lost his mate. So many were lost in the war but now I think he might have been carrying a torch for you." She was quite for a moment. "You said this was all five years ago?"
"Yeah just about. Why?"
"This was before we joined the pack so I could be wrong but I know his brother died, about five years ago. His older brother." She said with a pointed look.
"So he wasn't an Alpha then." Paige said with realization.
"Not when you knew him no. His father died about six months later." The news hit Paige like a ton of bricks. She had been so mad at him. So sure that there couldn't be a reason good enough for leaving her like that. And while the way he left her was awful, the why was very understandable.
"Fuck." She hung her head and buried her face in her hands. "But why...?" She couldn't finish her sentence. Her thoughts were blowing around her head like a blizzard. She pushed her hand through her hair and looked at the ceiling. "Why wouldn't he have...?" James cleared his throat.
"Big emotions means big stupid." Paige let out a half-hearted chuckle at the phrase, as Dorothea smacked his shoulder. It was something they all told each other all the time in high school. Usually after there had been some type of fight between them and had said something they regretted.
"But what about the email?"
Dorothea looked at her with sympathy. "I don't know, I think he's the only person who does." Paige hung her head again. She had resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never get answers. Convinced herself that she didn't want or need them. Now she wanted to know, but that would require talking with Nathan. Actually talking to him, about feelings. It scared her. She wasn't sure she could be that vulnerable with him again.
As the evening wound down Paige sent Allen a text letting him know she was ready to go home. He had convinced her to let him drive her to and from Dorothea and James' saying it was safer and would put his mind at ease.
As they rode home she asked, "When did Nathan's brother die?" If Allen was surprised at the question he didn't show it.
"The day after we took him from Bali." He said calmly.
"Took him? You were there?!" She asked incredulously. "You were in Bali? How-?"
"Patrick and I were sent to get him." He stared straight ahead. "His father had been commanding him home for months and he'd been ignoring him."
"How could he ignore a command from his Alpha?"
"Commands don't work as well through electronics." He said simply. "They're easier to ignore. And they don't work at all when you don't answer the phone. Nathan hadn't answered the phone in over a month so his father sent us to find him an make sure he was alive and to bring him home." They pulled up in front of her parents house and Allen parked the car but Paige didn't move to get out.
"We traced him using his phone to Kuala Lumpur before we lost his signal."
"His phone was stolen, we had to get him a new one," she remembered. "He didn't seem all that upset about it." She left out the thought that he was happy he wouldn't have to dodge calls and therefore couldn't be commanded anymore, thinking it unwise, she didn't say it out loud. But by the look on Allen's face though, she guessed he was thinking the same thing.
"We found his phone and looked through it. We saw pictures of you and him. I had never seen him look so happy as he was in those photos." He smiled softly to himself. "But those photos gave us more recent one to show people and it took a while but we found someone who recognized you. An Aussie, Lennette, I think her name was. She told us she hadn't seen you guys for a while but knew you were going to Bali as your last stop."
It was Paige's turn to smile now. Lennette was the woman Nathan had aggressively hit on in the bar in Sydney. She was as equally as outraged when the rest of their group had invited him to travel with them in Chang Mai.
"We waited in Bali so a week or so, before we caught up with you guys in Denpasar. We told him he had to come home or his father would declare him rouge. He told us he didn't care and nothing could make him leave you.
"Patrick wanted to knock him out and drag him home. But I convinced him that we could talk some sense into Nathan. When we realized that you guys had left the island for a more secluded one nearby, he was furious. We checked all of them and eventually found Nathans scent. Found Nathan. We were going to wait until morning, let him have a last night with you until we got news his brother had been gravely injured. We went to him and he left with us right away. By the time we got home his brother was gone." Paige was quite for a while as she absorbed Allen's story.
"He didn't want to leave you Paige. He was ready to go rouge for you but with his brother dying... He stepped up, stepped into his role as future Alpha and put pack over personal. I know it doesn't excuse what he did to you or how he did it. But he did have his reasons. I hope you can see that; and maybe one day, be able to forgive him."
Paige said nothing. She simply nodded and got out of the car. With a small wave she went inside. Understanding his reasons was one thing, but forgiveness? That was a big ask.