"Okay wait, I have a question." Allen said as they all ate together in Nathan's office. After the intense morning they had yesterday the Doctor/Healer team came back and did some more tests. Paige had been reserved and quiet and Nathan was worried about her. Some of his fears were quieted after spending the morning with her, though they weren't gone entirely. Paige was becoming her old self again but part of it seemed forced. Like she wanted to be who she was when they were traveling but she couldn't  do it all the time. Sometimes he found her staring off into space with a sad look on her face. When he'd get her attention her smile would pop right back into place. He didn't know if it was intentional or a reflex when people spoke to her. It broke his heart.

"Okay shoot." She said, giving Allen a smile. Nathan had to hold back a growl. He knew it was nothing. He knew Allen was mated. He knew she was only being friendly. But none of that knowledge helped him control his emotion. He wanted her to be his and only his.

"You said you knew Nathan was a wolf. Like the whole time right?" She nodded, "How? You don't have the ability to scent the way we do, you can't mind-link, your vision isn't as good."

"You're really building myself esteem here coach."

"Coach?" Nathan asked, jealously creeping into his tone.

"He was trying to get me to give you a chance," Paige looked at him, "He said some psycho-babble shit and I asked if he was a life coach as well as a gamma." Nathan laughed and Patrick tried to hold back a smile. Patrick still wasn't comfortable with Paige. He saw her as a threat to Nathan and therefore a threat to the pack.

"I pity anyone who hires Allen as a life-coach. That's just begging the goddess for trouble." He turned to Patrick, "Do you remember that time he was convinced Katie Lexington was in love with you and tried to get you to ask her out."

"And when I did, she slapped me and told me never to speak to her again?" Patrick said. "Yes I remember. Last time I ever took his advice. Especially about love."

"Okay," Allen looked at Nathan, "One: that was just rude. Two" he looked at Patrick, "We were 15, how was I supposed to be able to tell looks of love from looks of contempt. Also I'm the only one of us who's mated so you can stick that where the sun don't shine. And three:" he turned back to Paige. "Can we get back to the original question?"

"Which was?" Paige said as she let out a chuckle.

"How did you know Nathan was a wolf when you met him in Sydney?"

"Oh." Her eyebrows rose fractionally before she contorted her expression into one of nonchalance. "I'm a super hero." She shrugged and looked back at her lunch, taking another bite. Allen rolled his eyes.

"Really? A super hero? You can't come up with anything more original?"

Paige laughed again as she finished chewing her bite. "I can't really explain it. It's almost like a sixth sense but enhanced by keen observation skills."

"Observation skills?" Patrick asked.

"My therapist said it's trauma-induced, but I think it's just from growing up in a wolf pack." She shifted in her seat. "There are subtle things a werewolf does that humans don't, thing's that you wouldn't notice if you hadn't grown up around them."

"What type of things?"

"Just different little things; your reaction to different scents, like when you smell something the rest of us can't, your nose flares a little bit more, eyes get shifty. Your human ears move slightly like an animals would. When I first entered the human world I thought I was going crazy. I would notice these things all the time but I could never understand why. It wasn't until I took a class on wolf-human relations that I realized what it was I was noticing."

"Wait, you actually took a class on that? I thought you made that up to cover up how much you knew about wolves." Nathan said.

"I mean I did do that, most of my knowledge was from growing up but I also took a class. A couple actually."

"Why did you have to take so many?" Patrick interjected.

"I did an anthropology minor for in undergrad."

"How did you realize you the things you were noticing were characteristics of werewolves?"

"Some of the classes were taught by an unpacked werewolf, Professor Moran, nice guy, terrible teacher." She chuckled. All three of the males tensed. If Paige noticed she didn't let on.

Nathan cleared his throat, "Unpacked?" He asked.

"That's what they call themselves. You'd call them rouges. Unpacked are wolves that live normal lives. Civilized rouges you could say. What you call rouges, the ones that attack your packs, they call roamers."

"You had rouge werewolves as teachers in the human world?" Nathan asked, not really hearing what she just said.

"Yeah, there's a whole unpacked community that lives and interacts in the human world. You didn't think all of them ran around in the forest attacking your lands did you?" She chuckled. That's exactly what Nathan thought. When no one else laughed she looked up, "Oh gods are you serious?" She looked around at them in shock. "That's- You really think there's that few rouges out there? When a wolf can be exiled for the smallest grievance you really think there are just the roamers? Professor Moran was a third generation unpacked wolf. His grandmother was shunned for getting pregnant with his mother. The unpacked intermingle and mate with humans, other unpacked wolves. It's a whole sub-culture in most major cities."

"But how do those packs not deal with them?"

"Most major cities have multiple pack boundaries in them, with so many people crossing them all the time the packs that control them don't really notice the unpacked." Paige answered, "And that's really just on the east coast, on the west coast and in most of the rest of the world, major cities and some surrounding wilderness are neutral territory."

Nathan was doing his best to keep his possessiveness in check. His need to protect Paige was growing the more he was around her and he hated the thought that she was ever around any rouges. He lost his entire family to rouges. They were dangerous, unpredictable, uncontrollable creatures. Since becoming Alpha he did his best to not exile any of his pack, except for the most extreme circumstances. He listened to the rants Paige would give and eventually the discussions they would have. She was right of course. The packs make rouges way too easily and way too often. If he thought about it, having rouge communities exist in cities made sense, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Do you think this rouge community would have any information on dormant wolves?" Allen asked. Nathan let out an involuntary warning growl. They all sat up a little more. "I'm sorry Nate, but if they have been intermingling and intermating with humans for a few generations now, then maybe they've experienced this before."

"It's possible." Paige said, "I never thought of it but I could reach out to Profe-"

"No." Nathan barked. Paige raised her eyebrow at him, as of daring him to continue. "I'm sorry Paige. I can't-" he cleared his voice, "We can't involve rouges, it's too dangerous."

"These aren't roamers. They're acclimated to human life, they've created bonds that sustain them just like a pack bond would. It's no different than reaching out to another pack."

"I said no." Nathan said firmly. Paige held his gaze. They stared at each other, neither willing to back down.

"Guys," Paige said, addressing Allen and Patrick without taking her eyes off Nathan. "Give me and the Alpha a moment together."

Patrick started to protest but Allen just grabbed his arm and pulled him from the room.

With the door closed, Paige started. "Nate, don't do this." She said in warning.

"Don't do what Paige? Protect you?" He bit out.

"Try to control me." She said evenly, "It will not end well for you or for us."

"I'm not trying to-"

"You are." She said firmly. "Protection isn't control. You just made a unilateral decision without discussion. You don't get to do that. I know you're scared of rouges, but-"

"I'm not scared of them. I hate them. The took my entire family from me."

Paige took a deep breath and pushed it out through her nose. When she spoke it was with compassion, "I know Nate. I know you have a lot of pain and anger and all of it is justified. However, your pain, your anger, your fear, does not mean you get to control me, it does not mean you get to make decisions based on that anger." Her voice was firm.

"It's not just about you, it's about the pack. What would the pack say if they see a rouge come here? There isn't a wolf in this pack that hasn't been affected by the rouges."

"Okay, and that's a valid reason to say no, but you have to express it and we can find a work around. We can go to Boston or-"

"No." He said again. "No rouges."

"There you go again."

"What?"

"You're making a decision for me with out discussion or my consent. I agreed to give this a try so that I can know about myself. It's not your decision alone. You can't stop me from asking the professor. You said you guys have been researching this for a week and we spent all day yesterday and all morning with the doctor and healer. They've got nothing. We have five days left. Either we do it together or I do it alone, it's your choice."

"Paige, please-"

"No, Nathan you don't get to take my autonomy. You don't get to make unilateral decisions for me. I am not one of your wolves for you to control. And even if we do wake my wolf, I will never submit to you. I told you that, five years ago. You better think long and hard about if you want to move forward with this. I will not be subservient to you. If we do this and I am indeed your mate, then we will be partners. We will be equals. You will not command me nor I you."

"If we wake your wolf and you're not my mate you'll still be part of this pack, would you submit then?" he asked.

"No," She said. "I will leave. I will go back to London and live unpacked." Nathan's heart clenched. Malcolm was screaming in his mind, he wanted to claim Paige and never let her leave.

"You can't do that Paige."

"I can and I will." She stood, "This is non-negotiable for me Nathan. I promised myself I would never be submissive again. I've already betrayed myself enough by giving in to my father. But old habits die hard. However we," she motioned between the two of them, "Would be forging a new relationship. I will not enter a relationship with a power imbalance like that. Alpha and Luna are meant to be equals. Too many couples and packs think that the Luna is submissive to her Alpha but that is not how it is meant to be. It is not how I will be." She started walking to the door. "You need to decide if that's acceptable to you or not."

She walked out and left Nathan to fume.