When Paige regained consciousness she didn't recognize where she was.  She kept her eyes closed and tried to remember what had happened. Her mind brought it back to her in pieces. Nathan's kiss, his arms, his smell. That cedarwood and pine smell. It smelled like home, she didn't know how else to describe it. It smelled like home, even though it didn't make any logical sense. She felt comforted by the memory of the night before until her mind started bringing back more. The morning after her date everything was too much. Too loud, too bright, too smelly.

She remembered the fight with her father. He was so angry, and she was so done. He tried to order her away, to make her go back to London. Earlier he wanted her home, now he was sending her away and telling her to never come back. It was the proverbial nail in the coffin. Their fight from the day before she realized that he would never give her the kind of love she wanted from him. He would never be proud of her, no matter what she did, and now she was done with trying.

She was done before and this last fight just confirmed her decision. He was really going to try and stand between her and Nathan, he was going to speak for him even though he had no idea what was really happening. For moment she felt bad that he was in the dark but then she remembered that the rest of her family was in the dark too, mostly, and they didn't try to control her. If he wanted to be in the know he shouldn't have been such an ass.

She heard the sound of steady beeping and smelled the faint smell of antiseptic and thought that she must be in a hospital or something. But she could also smell that cedarwood and pine again. Was Nathan here? She felt light on the back of her eyelids and decided to open them the tiniest amount. Not being able to withstand the brightness, she let out a groan.

"Paige?" She felt warm tingles on her hand.

"To bright," she mumbled, closing her eyes again.

"Someone get the lights." When it didn't feel as bright she tried to open them again. She blinked a few times and Nathan's face came into focus.

"Nathan," she breathed out as a smile spread across her face.

"Hi love," he let out a shaky breath. "You're awake." He leaned up and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She felt warm tingles spread out from where he touched her. She felt a tear drop on her face. Confused she reached up and touched her cheeks but she wasn't the one crying, she looked at Nathan, it was him. It was his tear on her face.

"Are you crying? What's wrong? What happened?"

He let out another shaky breath with a smile and said, "What's wrong she asks me." He huffed out a breath. "You scared the shit out of me, that's what. What do you remember?"

She furrowed her brow in concentration. She had just thought about it. "I remember, our date, and the next morning, I had the hangover of all hangovers but that doesn't make sense, we didn't drink that much."

"No, we didn't."

"Then I was fighting with my dad and I felt faint. I asked Sophie... Micah!" She looked around the rest of the room, then remembering what happened just before she collapsed. She saw her mother sitting on the other side of her bed. Micah was right behind her. She made note that Sophie was also in the room, along with Doctor Lawrence and Healer Hartland. Her father wasn't there, she didn't know whether to feel hurt or grateful.

Her focus zoned in on the two women. "What happened to me?"

Healer Hartland took a step towards her. "We believe that your wolf tried to come forward but she was unsuccessful."

"What does that mean? She was unsuccessful?"

"The hangover symptoms you were having," Dr Lawrence said, "The sensitivity to light and sound, and I assume smell as well. They're all things werewolves experience after a first shift, however because they have their wolf completely they're able to make the adjustment better. They're able to adapt better to the changes their human body goes through. Because your wolf didn't come all the way forward your system was overwhelmed and you collapsed."

"Okay," Paige said warily. "So where does that leave us?" This was not how this was supposed to happen. They were going to do the ritual and it would either work or it wouldn't. She would have a straight up or down answer.

"We have two options left," the doctor started.

"Left?" Paige interrupted, "What do you mean left?"

"When you first came a few days ago-"

"A few days? Wait. What day is it? How long have I been here?" Paige's anxiety shot through the roof. She couldn't have been out of it for more than a few hours.

"It's been three days, today is Monday."

Paige tried to sit up. She was supposed to be back in London today. She had a meeting with her advisor. She was going confirm her defense date. She couldn't miss it. She had worked too hard to get where she was and she wasn't going to miss it because of this stupid werewolf shit. It'd messed with her life enough. Her hands started pulling at the tubes and things connected to her.

"Paige, Paige, it's okay." Nathan said, putting his hands over hers to stop her. "Mairquil. It's okay Paige."

"No it's not Nathan!" She felt like screaming. "I'm supposed to be back in London. I have a meeting with my advisor. We're supposed to be confirming my defense date. I- I-" She pulled her hands away from him to get back to taking off all the wires.

"Paige, it's okay. I called him." He started to raise his voice so she'd hear him over her panic.  "Paige, it's fine. Paige!" He was practically shouting now. "Mariquil. Mariquil. Paige it's fine." Her panic started to subside at the use of the spelled word. "I talked to him. He knows what's happening. It's okay."

"You talked to him?" His words were finally getting through her panic. "How did you-?"

"Professor Moran helped me," he said gently. "He found out the name of you advisor and I called him. I explained what happened-"

She cut him off, "You told him I was in wolf pack?" Her panic started to rise again. The only person in London who knew about her background was Lennette. She wanted to keep it that way.

"I told him you collapsed and were in a coma. I didn't tell him anything else. It's okay, you can reach back out to him when you're well again."

He smiled at her and she felt her anxiety melt away. He had taken care of it for her. Even when she couldn't handle it herself, he handled it for her. He must have been a mess, but he still made sure that what was important to her wasn't dropped.

"You called him?"

"I did. I know how important it is to you," he shrugged. "I wouldn't let you not get what you want because of a little wolf trouble."

He grinned and this time her heart melted. "I love you."

He swooped in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, "I love you too." The stared at each other for, who knows how long until they heard someone clearing their throat with a slight ahem.

Nathan pulled away from her and she looked back at Healer Hartland.

"As I was saying, we have two options left. We can complete the ritual to try and wake your wolf, or we can halt the process where you are now."

"What was the other option?"

"Waiting for it to move forward on it's own, that's what we've been doing but but doesn't seem to be working."

"Okay, so we do the ritual." Paige said firmly.

"There are some risks with that." Dr Lawrence said. "Namely, it could kill you."

"Okay," Paige replied, trying her best to keep the "duh" tone out of it. She knew dying was a possibility since they met with the professor. "And what happens if we halt the process?"

"Nothing, you'll continue on just as you are right now." Healer Hartland said it as if that was the most obvious choice.

"You mean with the headaches and overactive senses? Or before as a normal human?"

"With the extra abilities. But your body and mind should adapt. Not as quickly as someone who has completed their shift, but in time, you will." Dr Lawrence said with confidence.

"You sure about that? Cuz I've been awake for all of ten minutes and I've already got a splitting headache." Paige was trying to keep the irritation out of her voice. For the past week everyone has been going on about waking her wolf. They'd tried dozens of treatments but nothing's worked. Now they have something that might work and they were all getting gun shy.

At her words everybody moved. Nathan stepped back as the doctor moved forward checking the monitors, he didn't step away though and moved to the end of her bed, hand still touching her. She saw Sophie start pacing and her mother and brother got tense.

"I told you we shouldn't have woken her up." Sophie hissed at Micah.

"What else were we supposed to do?" he hissed back. "Paige deserves a say in this."

"A say in what?"

"What you're going to do," Micah replied. "We were split. Mom and the Alpha want to halt the process, me and Sophie think you should do the ritual."

"No, I said that's what I think Paige would want. Personally, I want you to not risk your life. But I know you'd hate to stay as you are."

Paige smiled at her sister. She was right, she didn't want to stay in this limbo. The uncertainty and isolation she felt being this way was not something she enjoyed. She had spent enough time being between worlds. She was ready to choose one.

"I want the ritual."

"Paige honey," her mother said. "Please think about this. You're perfect just the way you are. You don't need to change for me, for the Alpha, your father, anyone."

"I'm not doing this for anyone else mom," Paige's tone was strong. "I'm doing this for me. I know you all love me the way I am, dad excluded, but I don't want to stay in this limbo. It's lonely. There is no one else like me. I don't fit with the humans, I don't fit in the pack. This is the only way. You're the one who told me to to not be afraid. This is me not being afraid."

"That was before I knew this could kill you," her mother replied. "I was referring to being afraid to try. You've tried honey, you gave it your best effort. That's all I've ever asked of you."

"I know mom," she tried to soften her voice, "But this is endgame. I haven't come this far just to stop short. I want the ritual. When can we do it?" Her words came out hard and determined. She looked to Healer Hartland, as the one with the most mystical knowledge she was the one who'd be leading the ritual.

She looked reluctant to say, "I guess we could do it tomorrow night."

"Good." Paige said, "Tomorrow night it is."