Page 47

Paige woke later that day to the sun streaming into the room.

She grumbled and got up to close the blinds but tripped on a shirt that she had left on the floor and crashed into her desk.

She grumbled again and started picking up what she had knocked over.

As she was standing Lennette burst into her room wielding a frying pan.

"The cops are on their way so you better leave the way you came in!" She took a moment to look around the room to find Paige, who had fallen again at the shock of Lennette's intrusion. "Paige!" she exclaimed, "When did you get home?"

"Late last night, early this morning? I'm not sure to be honest." Lennette reached down and helped her off the floor.

"You look okay. I thought you were injured, Micah said you had some sort of accident?" She asked it as a question, when Paige didn't immediately volunteer the story she asked, "What happened?"

Not being able to lie to her best friend, she said, "Nathan happened."

"That motherfucker." She had with a mixture of disbelief and venom in her voice. "Wait, how did you see Nathan? Did you run into him in the airport or something? I thought he dropped off the map."

"Not the airport, no. He's part of my parents new pack." Paige walked back over to her bed and sat on it's edge.

"Damn, of all the gin joints."

"Tell me about it." Paige said. "That's not even the best part." She laid down from where she was sitting so her feet were hanging off the bed. "The best part is he's the Alpha."

"No!"

"And he says I'm his mate."

"What the fuck?! How-"

"That's what I said."

"Okay, we need a full debrief. Living room now. I'll get the wine."

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon!" Paige propped herself up on her elbows to look at Lennette again.

"Okay, then coffee with Irish cream. Let's go!" She walked to Paige and pulled on her arm, trying to get her to move. Paige stayed where she was.

"Let me shower and eat first. I haven't done either since yesterday morning."

"Okay, you shower, I'll order some takeaway. Indian? Lebanese? Something else?" She said taking out her phone to order the food.

"You choose. I'm too tired."

"On it, go shower." She left the room and Paige laid back on her bed.

She thought about what she was going to tell Lennette.

Of course she was going to tell her all of it, Lennette was the only person in the world she told everything too.

It was hard not too after she technically committed fraud by pretending to be her wife in the hospital.

And the months the followed were the worse ones of her life and Lennette stayed for all of it.

Lennette was her rock, her best friend, her sister in arms, her person.

Her onetime lover and now best friend.

There was nothing they wouldn't do for each other.

Paige got up and got in the shower. She let the heat ease away the pain she had felt since leaving Nathan. She didn't think it would be so physically painful to say goodbye. She knew the emotional damage it would do but not the physical.

After her shower she and Lennette sat on the couch eating their takeaway and talking about Paige's trip home. She told Lennette everything and there were quite a few tears. Lennette was just as angry at Nathan's confession on top of the mountain, and just as heartbroken at the ritual's failure. That was something Paige loved the most about Lennette. She always matched energy when it was needed but also knew how to be the antidote when Paige's emotions got out of control.

"Okay wait, so you spent the night with him and then got on a plane to London without telling him, leaving him with only a letter?" Paige nodded. "Damn that's petty."

"What? It is not petty," Paige said with indignation. "I just couldn't face him. I knew if I tried to say goodbye in person I'd never leave. One look from him and I'd be trapped."

"It's a little petty," Lennette said, "You did the same thing to him that he did to you."

"I-" Paige stopped before she could voice her defense. She didn't think of it at the time but it is exactly the same thing he had done to her. Granted he wouldn't have to wonder where she went or if she was okay but still. She left abruptly without telling him.

"I didn't think about that. I wasn't trying to be petty, I just needed to get out of there."

"Oh I'm not blaming you, I'm just saying it's a little petty." She was quiet for a moment. "Do you think he'll come for you?"

"No," Paige answered in resignation.

"He has his pack. They need him, he's put them over me before and I don't blame him. Without me there he'll see that I'm right. He'll let the mate bond fade and move on. With any luck his moon goddess will grant him another mate. One with a conscious wolf this time, that can lead with him as Luna."

A knock sounded at the door and Lennette gave her a meaningful look. Paige rolled her eyes as she got up to answer it. "Knock it off. He's not coming for me." Paige walked to the door and looked out it's peephole before opening it.

"Anton! What are you doing here?"

"I saw the light in your window was on. Why didn't you tell me you was back?"

"I just got back today. Why were you looking at my window?" She couldn't help but feel a little creeped out. Had he been watching for her?

"I couldn't help it. I just missed you so much. Lennette wouldn't tell me when you was coming back, I was worried, I was. I even thought about flying to America to finds you." He moved to hug her and she took a step back.

"Anton, we're over. I already told you."

"Aw don't be like that loves. We're meant to be you and me. I know it." He moved in to hug her and she put a hand on his chest to push her back.

"I said no, Anton." Paige struggled to keep the exasperation out of her voice. This was not something she wanted to deal with right now. She was deep in the throes of Nathan heartbreak; she didn't need to add the embarrassment her relationship with Anton.

"There's someone else isn't there? That's why. You was cheating on me wasn't you?!"

"That's rich coming from you Anton."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You think I don't know about all the women you've been going around with behind my back. You're not exactly subtle. Why do you think we've broken up so many goddamn times?!"

"Aw babes! I've got needs but you know you're my number one girl." Paige rolled her eyes.

She couldn't take this anymore. After being with Nathan and feeling his love for her nothing would ever compare. The convenience of Anton felt more like a burden and she was done carrying it. Nathan's love buoyed her up, it made her feel like she could do anything.

Anton's love, or his impersonation of love, was like an anchor around her neck.

"Well, now I'm not your number anything. I deserve better than you. It's over Anton. Don't come back." She closed the door in his face. She shook out her shoulders as she walked back to the living room. Lennette was grinning at her and stood to give her a high five and a hug.

"I have been waiting for you to actually mean those words for years! And I can feel that you do now! Good riddance Anton!" Paige laughed at her best friend.

It was a moment of sunshine in the gray sky that had invaded her life.

They laughed for a moment before calming and her pain came back again.

Lennette looked at her with compassion.

She hugged Paige again.

"It'll be okay. You got through him once, you'll get through it again. And this time there's no chance of you being pregnant. So we're already off to a good start."

Paige chuckled at her boarder line dark-humor. When Paige got pregnant five years ago it's because they had run out of condoms, now she had an IUD so, while not impossible, it was improbable that she was pregnant. There was another knock at the door.

"It's probably Anton again." Paige started to move to the door but Lennette stopped her.

"Oh no. I've been waiting years to give him a piece of my mind. It's my turn." She strode to the door with purpose, shouting at him before she even opened the door.

"She already told you to fuck off ass-wipe! I don't want to see your ugly British mug on our door step aga-" She stopped when she saw who it was. "Oh fuck!"

Paige had been listening from the living room, ready to hear Lennette ream Anton out, but hearing her cut off and swear confused her. "Who is it?" She called.

"It's the dipshit." Lennette called back. Paige froze with dread. There was only one person they referred to as 'the dipshit'. They first started it when they were traveling and their group invited Nathan along. Once they got to London they would refer to him as that so Paige wouldn't have to hear his name. It was too painful.

Paige forced herself to get up and walk towards the door. "Too soon for that joke, Lennie."

"Not a joke." She backed away from the door and Paige saw him. He looked like shit but he was there standing in her doorway. Her doorway in London. "He's actually here."