Finding Home

Chapter Fifty One-Paige

Paige paced back and forth as she waited outside of the lecture hall where she presented her dissertation and defended it. Her anxiety was off the charts. She hadn't been this nervous since she got up the courage to ask her parents if she could go away for college. Everything she had been working on for the last five years hinged on the people in that room discussing her fate.

"Paige you're going to wear a hole in the floor. Come sit down." Nathan said from the bench he was sitting on.

"Plenty of students have paced in this exact same place. If it doesn't have a hole in it yet, there's not much I can do to get it there."

"Come here," he said again, "Come sit by me. The mate bond will help calm you."

Odette hummed in her head. "Yes, go to mate."  Paige rolled her eyes at her wolf. She was hornier than a teenage boy at prom. But she went and sat by him anyways. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want Nathan as much as Odette wanted Malcolm. He put his arm around her and hugged her to him.

"Mariquil," he whispered. "It's going to be okay. Whatever happens, we'll figure it out."

"If I don't get this now I have to wait all summer for revision before I could present again. I'd have to stay here in London. There's no way we could be apart for that long and there's no way you can be away from the pack for that long. This has to happen. Today." She emphasized the last word.

Nathan reached a hand down and placed it on the knee she had been bouncing, effectively stopping it. "Whatever happens, we will figure it out," he said again calmly. She took a deep breath and let his touch settle her. The tingles she had once felt were actually weaker versions of the sparks mates felt when they touched each other. At fist it had been a little disconcerting, even if it was thrilling. Now it felt comforting.

The door opened and one of the committee came out, "Doctor, the committee's ready with your decision. Please come in." Paige let out a shaky breath. She took a few more to steady herself before standing to go back inside.

Ten minutes later she was back in the hallway, in Nathans arms. He hugged her and told her how proud he was of her. She cried happy tears, "I did it. I can't believe I actually did it."

"I never doubted you." Nathan said.

After some more intimate celebrations between the two of them that afternoon, they met Paige's friends at the pub to celebrate. Paige was so glad to have all her friends gathered together. It also served as a good time to tell all her London friends that she was moving back to New Hampshire and getting married. The shock on their faces might have been the best part of the evening.

Technically, Paige and Nathan were supposed to wait to mark each other at the binding ceremony but they got a little over excited after they got home from the hospital. So instead of having to rush to put together a ceremony in six weeks they could wait until the fall to have theirs. Which was perfect for Paige. She always thought that New Hampshire in the fall was the best New Hampshire there was.

They spent the next few days putting all of Paige's belongings into boxes to ship back to America. "I cannot understand you!" Nathan exclaimed standing in her room with what seemed like everything she'd ever owned strewn every where.

"What?" She asked.

"Your entire room is a jumbled mess of disorganized chaos, while this little corner is perfectly stacked and labeled." He pointed to the table that functioned as her desk.

"What?" She raised her shoulders in a shrug. "I'm organized where it counts."

"You have a hair dryer, a collection of loose socks, and a coffee pot all in this one drawer!" he exclaimed.

"Hey I've been looking for that." She said as she reached for the hair dryer.

"WHY IS THERE A COFFEE POT IN YOUR DRESSER DRAWER?!?!" he shouted.

She just shrugged her shoulders again. "I'm sure it made sense when I put it there but now?" She paused trying to come up with a reason. "Nope! I got nothing."

"You were never this messy in Asia," he said, looking back at the drawer.

"No, I just had very few possessions in Asia. I was just as messy but just with less stuff. There's a difference."

"But why is your desk neatly labeled and organized but rest of it a mess? Why is there a coffee pot in the drawer?" he asked again. She laughed at his outraged confusion.

"The desk is organized because it needs to be so I can keep on top of my schedule and research. The rest of my room doesn't need to be so it isn't. Like I said, I'm organized where it counts."

"Why can't you just keep the organization going?"

"It doesn't work like that." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. She laughed and waded through the chaos to reach him.

"Are you regretting marking me, mate?" She teased. Marking was the final step in completing the mate bind. They would bite one another and it would create a tattoo like image that was unique to each couple. It functioned like a wedding ring, letting others know that they were spoken for. It also mixed their scents. Any supernat with an enhanced sense of smell soul be able to tell they were mates to each other.

He opened his eyes and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close. "Never," he growled out before kissing her deeply. He started kissing down her neck towards where he had placed his mark, where her neck meets the shoulder. He kissed it deeply as well and Paige's knees buckled. All thoughts of packing were soon forgotten.

It admittedly took them longer than it should have to pack everything up but soon it was all in boxes and stacked in her room. She was leaving her big furniture items and her kitchen items for Lennette. She wasn't going to need them in America and Lennette could charge a higher price if she could list the room as furnished.

She spent the plane ride back to Boston sleeping on Nathan's shoulder. It was a much more pleasant flight than her last two transatlantic flights. Everything was different now. Paige had her PhD, her wolf, and she had Nathan. It was everything she had felt bad about not having the last time she flew to America. More than that, she had a surety of herself. She knew who she was and where she stood. And she was proud of the way she got here. It might have been a little unconventional but she made it to where she was always meant to be.

As the plane touched down the flight attendant's voice floated down through the speaker. "Ladies and gentlemen, if this is your first time here please allow me to be the first to welcome you to America. If it's not your first time, welcome back, and if you're and American returning after some time abroad, welcome home."