My Mate Took His First Love on the Trip I Funded

Nora's POV

For years, I'd covered everything for my mate's family. The house, the car, the bags, the clothes.

So when they planned a family vacation, I thought I'd finally earned a spot.

Instead, they booked tickets for the whole family, plus Sloane, the childhood sweetheart who never quite left my mate's side. Even the dog had plans.

I was the one they expected to stay home and keep working. They called it a kindness.

And they expected me to cover the bill.

Fine. Let them go.

It would be the last trip of theirs I ever paid for.

“We've decided you'll stay here while we're away,” Diane told me.

“Okay.”

My answer stopped her in the middle of folding a sweater. Beside her, Walter looked up from an open suitcase. Grant's parents had expected an argument, or perhaps for me to beg. Neither seemed prepared for me to accept it.

I didn't have another argument in me.

For years, I'd worked late, picked up extra shifts, and put off buying things I needed. I'd wanted to help the Mercers afford a real family vacation. I'd also wanted, foolishly, to be part of it.

Now my mate, Grant Mercer, would be traveling with his parents, his sister, and Sloane Alden, the childhood sweetheart who was still welcome in every part of his life. They'd made arrangements for Pepper, their dog, too.

There just wasn't room for me.

Diane Mercer, Grant's mother, set the sweater down and reached for my wrist.

“Don't take it that way, Nora. We know how much you have going on. The last thing we want is to get in the way of your work.” She gave my arm a little squeeze. “It's only a trip. Tell me what you'd like, and I'll bring you something.”

“I don't need anything.”

I slipped my hand out of hers. Her smile faltered.

Walter Mercer shut his suitcase with a thump.

“We're trying to give you a break,” he said. “You work all the time. Now we're letting you rest, and this is the thanks we get?”

“I said it was fine.”

“You don't sound as if you mean it.”

I looked at him. “My schedule's full anyway. Go. Have a good time.”

That satisfied him. He nodded and went back to packing.

Diane adjusted the designer shawl she'd put on that morning, then began counting the bags. One was missing. She called upstairs for Paige to bring it down, already discussing which outfit she should wear on the flight.

Nobody asked what I'd do while they were gone. Nobody wondered whether I might want company after work.

As long as I was available when they needed me, they were content to leave me here.

Grant's sister, Paige, came downstairs carrying a new sun hat.

“Don't look so miserable,” she said. “Everybody in this family chips in.”

She moved closer while her parents were occupied with the luggage.

“Somebody has to stay home and earn the money. Honestly, it's probably better this way. You'd only make everyone feel guilty for having fun.”

I looked at the travel bag over her shoulder. I'd bought it for her. The custom hiking boots beside her suitcase had been another gift.

She followed my glance and smiled.

“Sloane actually knows how to show my brother a good time,” she went on. “She'll make sure he enjoys himself. All you ever do is work. Then you act surprised when he wants to spend time with somebody else.”

I had picked up those extra hours to pay for things like the bag she was wearing. I could have reminded her. Instead, I pressed my lips together until I was sure I could speak without my voice breaking.

Paige took my silence as permission to continue.

“Face it. She's more fun.”

Behind her, Diane packed the venison jerky she'd been saving. She worried aloud that Paige and Sloane would get hungry during the journey. It was my favorite, too. She put the whole package in their bag without offering me any.

Walter checked the sunscreen and reminded everyone to use plenty.

I'd come home sunburned more than once, rushing from one job to the next. He'd never asked about that. Watching him check the bottle now, I realized he knew perfectly well how to worry about someone.

“Anyway,” Paige said, stepping away, “you can focus on work. We'll send pictures.”

I wanted Grant to hear her. More than that, I wanted him to hear her and care.

The front door opened before I could answer.

Grant came in with a shopping bag and a new pair of sunglasses hooked over his shirt. He looked around the room, taking in the suitcases, and smiled.

I crossed to him.

“Why am I the only one you're leaving behind?”

His smile faded. He glanced at his parents, then brushed his hand over my hair, the way he did when he wanted me to calm down.

“Nora, don't start. You're a healer. What happens if one of your patients needs you?”

At our pack rehabilitation clinic, I treated injured werewolves and helped them recover.

“We have other healers at the clinic.”

“But you'd worry the whole time. And if something came up, you'd have to fly back.” His voice softened. “I don't want you exhausting yourself. You already do enough.”

He said it as though my absence were a sacrifice he was making for me.

“Stay here and get some rest, okay? Be a good mate. We'll be back before you know it.”

I stood beneath his hand for a moment. I'd asked why he didn't want me with him. He'd answered as if I'd asked permission to neglect my patients.

There was no point pretending he'd misunderstood.

I stepped away and went to our room. Behind me, Paige asked him to look at her hat. They picked up right where they'd left off.

My phone buzzed.

The banking app showed a new charge on an authorized-user card attached to my account: $10,150.

I opened the transaction. Five round-trip business-class tickets. The travel confirmation in our shared inbox matched it: a resort on Maui, five adult travelers.

Grant, his parents, Paige, and Sloane.

I checked the amount again.

They had left me out of their Maui vacation and put the airfare on my card.