Page 23 of Daddy's Mail Order Mate

Paige just bulls her way past him with a gift bag in one hand, grinning ear to ear.

I fully step out into the hallway, even though my heart is racing in my ears.

“Guess you didn’t tell her.”

“Tell me wh—”

Paige stops dead in her tracks and stares at me in a wash of clear shock.

“... Gwen? I-is that you?”

I drape my arms out in an apathetic movement, not even managing a shrug. This isn’t going to go well. Paige was so young when it all happened. I know for a fact this is going to be messier than I’d like.

A quick glance past her to Thorn’s stoically stricken expression lets me know that he’s pretty mortified by the mess he’s put us in.

“Sunshine? What’s going on?”

I take quick stock of the Alpha with a scrutinizing look. By his demeanor, he doesn’t seem too aggressive or volatile. And the gentleness with which he speaks to his mate seems pretty genuine. But you never knew with pack leaders. They have the most skin in the game when it comes to maintaining appearances.

“U-uhm, yeah, she’s…”

Thorn finally manages to seem to remember himself and approaches everyone.

“She knew us when we were still in the Portsmill Pack. You might remember Gwen Mitchell. She’d been… We were together.”

At least he had the decency to not mention the rejected mate bond. I’d already suffered enough embarrassment when he’d denied me in the first place.

“Hello. Hope it wasn’t a difficult drive,” I state with as much politeness as I can.

“Oh my god Gwen, I never thought I’d see you again!”

Paige definitely seems to have done well for herself, with her healthy frame, easy smiles, and seemingly loving husband. She turns to him and casually drops the bag off into his free hand, as he’s apparently also carrying some sort of handled food dish in the other. He doesn’t complain though and just smiles after her as she rushes up to me for a big hug.

It definitely catches me off guard, and I’m not sure what to do with my arms for a second before I carefully pat her back.

“Yeah. Me neither.”

“And you’re—I had no idea it was you! That’s… Wow.”

And then with a sense of veritable whiplash, she releases me and storms right up to her brother without hesitation.

“And why didn’t you tell me anything!! You knew we were coming to meet your new mate today!!”

“I—... Forgot.”

“What? You never forgetanythingimportant, Thorn. How could you forget to tell me this? Or that your little sister was coming all this way to see you? You’re so mean!”

I know she doesn’t mean it, but a fresh pang twitches raw in my heart. A miserable thought curls in my mind:I’m not important.I don’t know if it’s just a statement of my own fact or a cruel calculation that I must not be important to him.

But much like Thorn, their bond seems much like it ever was, but also so different. Paige was so much more exuberant than she’d ever been as a kid, but I’d witnessed plenty of conversations that went not too far off from this when we were growing up.

Thorn’s expression cracks slightly.

“I’m sorry. Just… A lot came up.”

“Apparently! Well,” Paige recovers, turning back towards me with an almost manic glee. “We have gifts and dinner! I thought this would be an introduction, but now we can all catch up instead!”

I stare bewildered after her as she takes everything from her husband and traipses into the kitchen with a merry sway to her step.

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