Nathan was walking through the pack house when he caught the scent of his mate. It was her usual jasmine, pine, and wood smoke but there was a spicy element to it. It stung his nose a little. It took him a moment to place it. It was her anger. More than her anger it was her rage. He had only scented her rage a couple of time since he'd known her. Each time he'd seen it, it had terrified him a little. Once it was directed at him and he actually feared for his life.
He followed her scent and found Paige in the gym. She was wailing on a punching bag so hard he thought it might break. Punching bags in werewolf gyms were weighted much heavier than human gyms. All of the bags in the pack house gym were well over 175 pounds. The bag Paige was using was almost one a a half times her weight and she was moving it.
He stood watching her for a moment in awe. She danced around the bag, her movements clean and precise and packed with power. With each kick and punch she landed she let out a grunt of frustration. He found her terrifyingly beautiful. When she landed a particularly powerful punch the bag swung off the hook and she let out a scream of pain. He stepped inside the gym and choked on the scent of her rage. She stood seething with anger. He thought that her scream was physical pain but standing in here now he could see it was emotional. He wanted to run to his mate and comfort her. He wanted to take away her pain and hurt the person who had caused it. But he knew better than to sneak up on someone when they were like this.
"Paige?" he said hesitantly. She whirled around to face her him, chest heaving as she breathed deep. "You alright?"
"Do I look alright?"
"You look like you need a better opponent. That bag doesn't look like it'll last much longer."
"Who would fight me?" She huffed a laugh in derision. "The lowly human offspring of my fathers whore." Her fathers whore? He wondered. He had never heard her called that before, but then again, he didn't know much of her old pack.
"I'll fight you." She laughed again.
"No, I don't think so. That's not a good idea."
"Why not?" He started to take off his jacket. He hadn't changed out of his training clothes yet, he had been leaving breakfast when he caught her scent. "You sacred or something?" He smirked at her. He knew she hadn't fully worked out her frustration yet and wanted to help her. He'd prefer to do it by holding her but if she needed to beat on something he would give that to her too. He wanted to give her anything and everything.
"It wouldn't look good."
"Wouldn't look good for who?" He took off his shoes and socks. You only fought barefoot on the mats.
"You, me," she paused, he waited. Her face contorted in rage, "My father." The sharp scent of her rage spiked again. Nathan had to hold back a cough. He mind-linked Allen and Patrick. "Cancel my morning meetings and keep everyone away from the gym."
"All you had were the doctors and Paige. Is everything alright?" Allen linked back.
"The new training class is supposed to be in the gym in an hour." Patrick linked.
"Keep them away. I don't want to be disturbed." He used his no-nonsense tone. It was the one he used when he didn't want to be questioned. Patrick and Allen were his best friends, but sometimes they were too nosey for their own good. He got back a 'Yes, sir" from both and he cut the mind link.
"It's a good thing there's no one here to see anything then." Giving her the smirk he knew she hated. He was trying to goad her anger back out. She needed to release it.
"But there will be soon." She insisted.
"I've taken care of it."
"Nathan-"
"Fight me, Paige." He stepped on to the mats and she took a few steps back.
"I don't-"
"Fight me. Unless you're to weak. We can wait for your wolf to show up if that'd make you more comfortable."
That did it. She let out a feral scream and charged at him. She swung hard and fast. Throwing blow after blow. At first he was blocking her with ease but as they extended their bout she wasn't letting up. Time elapsed and he started having trouble keeping up. It was as if the more his stamina dropped the more hers increased. She was throwing combinations at him he had never seen before. It wasn't long before she actually started getting some strikes through. He gave up trying to protect everything and focused on his face. He took body blow after body blow. Once he was too slow and she landed a hook to his brow and he stumbled back.
"Goddess Rook! How the hell did you do that?" He touched his brow to feel some stickiness. She had drawn blood. He looked at her hands, he hadn't noticed that she wasn't wearing gloves before. Her fingers were black and blue. He reached out for her hands. "Damn it Paige! Why aren't you wearing gloves?" At least her hands were wrapped.
She pulled her hands out of his grip. "I'm fine."
"You are not fine." He grabbed her before she could pull away again. "What's got you so worked up like this?" He inspected her hands, he was almost positive she had broken at least two fingers and dislocated a knuckle.
"It's nothing." She tried to pull away again.
"It's not nothing," he said. "What did he say to you?" He was beginning to get angry now, her father had obviously said something that got her worked up enough to injure herself. He knew her relationship with him wasn't a good one. When he first met her, she never talked about her father unless she was drunk and she was making 'daddy issue' jokes. As they got closer and she started to tell him more about her childhood. She loved her mother and siblings but couldn't understand why her father would feel so different about her. Her mother had claimed her and raised her as one of her own, without having given birth to her. He couldn't understand why her mother could do so but not her father. She she finally explained where she came from that night in Bali, it finally made sense to him.
"It's fine Nathan, leave it."
"It is not fine, Paige." She tried to pull away again. "Tell me what he said or I'm going to go ask him myself." Her eyes widened in horror before anger took over again.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I?" He dropped her hand and started walking away. She jumped him, pulling him by his shoulders to the ground. They started grappling on the ground. She was a competent fighter here too. She used her slight frame and long legs to her advantage. But she wasn't as precise on the ground. It wasn't long before he had her pinned. He was sitting on the ground, holding her to his chest in a vice grip. She tried to kick her legs to get out but he just wrapped his over hers and locked them down as well. She was well and truly stuck.
"It's time to use your words now." He said in her ear. She struggled and pushed against him but this time her rage couldn't free her. "What happened?"
"Nothing!" She spat.
"Did he say something?"
"He doesn't have to say anything, he never does. I'm an embarrassment to him."
"Paige," he said softly. "You're not-"
"I am!" She screamed. "Always have been, always will be. Even if we do find my wolf, he'll still find something to be embarrassed about."
"Paige, that's-"
"He asked me if I was seducing you."
"He- what?" That was the last thing he was expecting.
"He said that he's asked around and learned that I've been seen with you a lot this week, that seeing us dance at the binding celebration after I punched you, can only mean I'm seducing you. He called me a trollop." She had stopped struggling against him now and Nathan could hear the pain in her voice.
"But that wasn't the worst part." Tears started to flow. "The worst part was realizing that he regrets me." Her voice cracked. "He regrets he had an affair with my mother, he regrets that he has to take care of me, he regrets that his own mate treated me as her own when he wants nothing to do with me. All he cares about is image and I don't fit into the image of his perfect werewolf family and his perfect werewolf children. I sullied the image by staying away, I sullied the image by coming home. Now he's afraid that I'll sully the image by being a trollop and throwing myself at you."
Nathan could feel her tears dripping onto his arms which were still wrapped around her. Sobs racked her body. "He doesn't want me. He's never wanted me." He loosened his grip and she curled up into him. Turning her face to his chest she buried it there and sobbed. There was nothing he could do, but hold her.