Finding Home

Chapter Thirty One-Nathan

The ride back to the pack was quiet. Nathan thought about the rest of his conversation with Micah. He had asked him how Paige felt with Micah's over protectiveness.

"Some times it bothers her, mostly when I get mad about the things others have done to her, but for the most part it's fine."

"I don't understand why though. She seems to resent everything I do, she won't let me protect her."

"Well imagine it's because she doesn't trust you as much as she does me but also I don't try to control her. Protection doesn't mean control."

"She said something like that once."

"Well I learned it from her. I also learned it from watching our Dad interact with her. He was always trying to control her. What she did, who she saw, hell, he even tried to control what she thought. Way more than he ever did with me or Sophie. It just made her resentful and when she got away from him and lived her life on her terms for the first time, she shined. It faded a bit when she got to London but she's still brighter than she ever was at home. I know it's not easy but you have to trust her. You can't make decisions for her, you can't control where she goes, who she sees or what she does. You figure out ways to protect her around her decisions. Paige is smart and strong. She knows what she's doing, you have to trust that."

"But Paige is human, she doesn't know-"

"I really hope you aren't about to say she doesn't know how to handle wolves or what our world is like. She knows, perhaps better than some. She's not the unknowing human you met in Sydney. She wasn't an unknowing human even then, it's just the image of her you formed in your mind before you knew her whole story. By saying she doesn't know, you're disregarding her lived experience. Paige knows. She knows quite a bit more than a bunch of wolves who rarely leave their pack lands."

"So it's just trust then?"

"Yeah, that's what it comes down to. You trust that she knows what she's doing, that she knows how to protect herself. You trust that she knows better for herself than you do."

"How is a newly matured and mated wolf so wise?" Nathan asked sardonically.

"Okay, one; I'm like not even five years younger than you. You were my age when you became Alpha." Micah retorted. "And two; most of what I know I learned from her. Paige is smart and she's a strong fighter. You saw that this morning. You can't fight her battles for her but you can fight along side her."

"You saw us fight this morning?"

"Yeah, I scented her rage and wanted to check on her. I saw you two sparring before the beta told us to keep away from the gym. She was always strong but it looked like she's picked up some new skills in the last few years. She wasn't that strong the last time we sparred."

"When was that?"

"Before she left Boston. I'd observe her training whenever I visited London but I think she must have been holding back then. I've never seen her hit that hard or that fast."

***

They pulled off the interstate for a pitstop. Paige and Nathan were left alone in the car as Micah and Patrick attended to their business. Nathan couldn't help but smile at the memory of another time they had been left alone together while traveling. Paige looked over at him.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "This just reminds me that train we took. You remember?"

"Oh gods." She smiled at her own memories of that ride.

"You were so annoyed at all of them for making us bunk together, I thought you wouldn't speak to me just to spite them."

They had took an overnight train between cities. Their group had all seen the chemistry between Nathan and Paige and had hatched a plan to ger them together. They maneuvered it so that Nathan and Paige would be forced to share the same cabin. The fact that there was only one halfway decent bed in the cabin was just a bonus to them.