Finding Home

Bonus

Nathan bent down and blew on the kindling. The logs they had placed above it were having a hard time catching. Adding some oxygen should help it but it was still having a rough time.

"Babe I thought you were comfortable in the wild." Paige teased. "A simple fire should not be this hard."

"If you think you can do it better, be my guest." He gave her a smirk.

They were gathered in Allen's backyard, for a small bonfire with all their friends. Some of the friends they had made while traveling lived just over the border in Canada. When they found out Paige had moved back to the states and that she was back with Nathan the made plans to visit. Lennette and Thomas were also visiting from London. Allen and his mate, Delilah, had stayed with Lennette while receiving treatment for her wasting sickness and they all had become close. Lennette and Thomas had decided to do some traveling through North America and made Moon Wind Pack their first stop.

The treatment had helped Delilah tremendously, she wasn't 100% yet but was getting there and had more energy to be around people. She was a small, quiet female and Nathan was a little worried that Paige's larger than life personality might be overwhelming to her. But the two of them took to each other like a duck takes to water. They could almost always be found whispering in the corner together.

Patrick arrived with Jackson and Charlotte. Nathan stood and hugged them both. Paige had to bite back a growl when he hugged Charlotte. It had been two months since they marked each other and Paige struggled to keep her jealousy under control.

"Jealousy does not need to be controlled." Odette said to her in her mind. "Mate is ours. People shouldn't touch what is ours."

"It's just Charlotte. She has been head over heels, in love with Jackson since the day I met them. And Nathan is our mate and I trust him. He would never do anything to hurt us. He can hug whoever he wants. He not gonna fall in love with them you need to relax."

Odette grumbled but retreated and laid down in the back of her mind. Paige was still getting used to having another presence there. One the one hand, it simply felt like the part of her mind she's give stern talking's too come to life, but when that part talked back it became a little too much. Nathan was helping her but it still made her uncomfortable sometimes.

When Nathan hugged Dorothea hello, a small growl slipped out. Paige was mortified. "I am so sorry!" She told her, "I have no idea where that came from."

The other werewolves just laughed at her. "It's just the mate bond, the jealousy will pass with time."

"Well I find it deeply unpleasant." Paige said stubbornly.

"Well I find it rather attractive." Nate said. He walked over and pulled her into a side hug, holding her close. "I like you being possessive of me. I tried to make you jealous all the time before we got together." He kissed her temple.

"Wait, what?" She pulled away slightly to look him in the face. "You tried to make me jealous? How?"

"Mostly by flirting with other girls. I thought that I could provoke you into declaring you feelings for me if you saw me with other women. It didn't work though so I gave up on it pretty quickly."

Paige snorted a laugh. "Who did you flirt with?"

"Mostly girls we'd met in the hostels. The weren't many that could deny my charms," he boasted. "I did try to flirt with Lina and Beth once but they were less affected."

Paige started laughing. "You tried flirting with Lina and Beth?" She tried to contain it but the laughter bubbles out of her. Jackson and Charlotte started laughing as well.

"Mate you are thick." Jackson said. Nathan shifted, confused at the laughter directed his way. He looked around at the other wolves who had equally perplexed expressions.

"What's so funny?" Lennette asked walking in with Thomas and Allen.

"Lennie! Lennie!" Paige yelled, as her laughter began to take over. "Guess what Nathan did?"

"Oh this'll be good."

"Before Nathan and I got together-" she paused to catch her breath. "Before we got together Nathan would try to make me jealous by flirting with other girls. Guess who he tried to flirt with!" Lennette just shook her head when she couldn't find an answer. "Lina and Beth." Paige was full on belly laughing now.

"Nathan you didn't!" Lennette started laughing now.

"What is so funny?" He asked.

"Nathan-" Paige started to say but just laughed harder. She took a deep breath to try and gain some composure. "Nathan, Lina and Beth were gay. They were dating each other." She laughed again and started wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What?!" He said. "They weren't dating. I thought they were just roommates."

"They were roommates," Lennette said through her own laughter. "They were also fucking."

"Are you serious?" Nathan asked in disbelief. He was half convinced that they were pranking him. He looked to Jackson and Charlotte.

"How did you not notice it? They were always off on their own together," Jackson answered.

"Hell, they were always hanging all over each other half the time." Charlotte said through her own laughter.

"I just thought they were really close and got tired of being around us." This spurred another fit of laughter from Lennette and Paige. They were doubled over and had to hang on to each other to stop themselves from falling. They carried on like that for another few moments, when they would start to get control of themselves, they'd look at each other or Nathan and the laughter would start all over again.

"Oh Nathan, you sweet summer child," Paige took a big breath as her laughter subsided. "It's a good thing you're so pretty." She gave him a quick peck of a kiss and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"You think I'm pretty?"

"The prettiest." She scrunched up her nose as she said  told him. He leaned down an kissed it.

"That's a relief." He kissed her again, for longer this time. He basked in the comfort or her love, marveling that the goddess had paired them together. She looked up at him with love in her eyes. Her heart bloomed with the joy of the moment. She was in the arms of her mate and surrounded by the people she loved. She didn't realize just how much she was missing this when she was in London. She thought she could protect herself through isolation but it's loneliness outweighed it's protection. With Nathan she had let her walls she had carefully been constructing since she was a teenager come down. And on the other side she found a place she could call home.