WILD

forty five

Lorena nearly broke a dish in her state of shock.

"M-marriage?" Her heart started beating wildly and she felt her fingers become numb. "Oh..."

Orion's eyes widened as he started to realize he may have said the wrong thing. "Wait. You don't have to answer that now. God, that was such a stupid question. I'm sorry, Lorena."

He bit his lip hard in embarrassment and turned slightly away from her so she couldn't see how red his face had turned.

They stood in silence like that for a moment before Lorena spoke again.

"It's not that I don't want to marry you, Orion." She placed a hand on his arm and turned him back towards her. "I just can't marry you now. Or any time soon, really."

He nodded. "Okay. That's fair."

Lorena shrugged. "Nothing else has changed. I still want to be your mate. I still want to be with you and rule by your side when we decide the time is right. But marriage is such a huge thing. I haven't even thought about it because I didn't think that far ahead. We have a lot of work to do between us."

"You're right. I'm so sorry I put you in that position just now."

She grabbed his hand and smiled up at him. "I think it's really good to talk about it, actually. Seems like a step in the right direction. Like I said, I still love you and am ready to be with you."

He pulled her closer by her waist and kissed her on her forehead, resting his chin on top of her hair. She giggled and wrapped his arms around him.

"We do need to finish cleaning this kitchen, though."

"Agreed."

They finished cleaning up, and after telling her parents they were turning in for the night, Lorena led Orion upstairs to her room.

They walked in and Orion nodded. "It's really nice."

Lorena blushed. "Thanks. You can sleep wherever you feel comfortable. There's a couch, a giant beanbag, or the bed. Your choice."

"Where are you sleeping?"

Lorena paused to think for a second. "In my bed. Why?"

"Well, I don't want to sleep in the bed if you are. I'm in your parent's home, and I think it would be of bad taste for me to sleep in the same bed as you."

Lorena rolled her eyes. "I don't think they will care. It's not like we're doing anything besides sleeping." She pulled the comforter on her bed back and then turned to look at him with a mischievous look on her face. "Unless-"

"No! Lorena-"

She held her hands up and shrugged. "Chill out, I was just messing with ya."

Orion rolled his eyes playfully. "Okay, then. I'll sleep in the bed."

He sat down on the bed, pulling one of his bags towards him so he could grab what he needed to sleep. Lorena grabbed her shorts and shirt and went into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth.

When Orion heard that the water was running, he grabbed the things he needed to take a shower and waited, looking around the room. He wanted to get a glimpse of what Lorena was like before they met.

Clearly, from the trophies on the wall, she was number one at everything. She fought hard and was extremely competitive. She also loved her family deeply and it seemed like they were close, as far as he could see from the pictures on her bedside table and on the wall.

It seemed that despite her past issues with her mother, the family remained a tight-knit unit.

He felt a small pang of jealousy. He longed for that as a kid.

He didn't even realize that he was staring at one particular family picture on the wall until Lorena walked out of the bathroom with her hair up in a crazy bun and the clothes she had changed out of in her hands. She tossed them into the laundry bin in the corner and grinned, coming to sit next to him.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Your things. I was more fixated on your family pictures, though."

"Really, why?"

Orion shrugged. "I didn't have that. And without thinking of the implications my selfishness would have had on you and your family, I-"

Lorena placed her hand over his and looked up at him reassuringly, urging him to continue.

"I almost tore yours apart."

"Orion-"

He shook his head. "Please, don't try to say it's okay."

Lorena raised an eyebrow at that. "I wasn't going to say that. I was going to ask about your family. Why don't you ever talk about your mother?"

Orion immediately shut down, and before Lorena could fix it he stood up and grabbed his things, turning towards the bathroom.

"I'm going to get ready for bed." He made a few quick strides to the bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind him.

Lorena sat on the bed for a few moments in confusion. She had no idea that his mother was that touchy of a subject. In fact, he hid it so well that Lorena never bothered to question why his mother was absent. It was like he never had one. She had never seen any pictures of her and nobody ever spoke of her. Like she had been wiped from the memory of everyone in his pack.

Lorena shook the thought from her head, deciding that she could worry about that later, when Orion was more open to talking.

She stood and went back downstairs, just as the shower started running. She padded back into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard, humming as she got some water.

She reached into the medicine cabinet for her bottle of pills and poured two into her hand before popping them into her mouth and washing them down with her water. She placed the bottle on the counter and went to refill her cup.

She heard footsteps and before she could react, Orion stepped into the room, a shirt on and a towel tied around his waist. She squealed in surprise and nearly dropped the glass she was holding.

"Oh my god! Can I help you?" She couldn't help but feel a little irritated with being startled like that.

Orion ignored her and squinted at the print on the small bottle of pills on the counter. "Are those...laxatives?"

Lorena rolled her eyes and snatched the bottle from the counter, tossing it back into the cabinet. "None of your business."

He raised a brow at that. Not challenging her, but just out of genuine curiosity. He looked her up and down and then he thought he had pieced something together.

"Please tell me you aren't using those to lose weight."

Lorena crossed her arms. "I am, and what about it?"

She glared at him and Orion, wanting to be the protective mate he was, felt the urge to reprimand her and scold her for it, but then he realized that it really wasn't his job to keep track of things like that. If he said anything it would cause an argument, and there was no way in hell he was about to argue with her about her method of weight loss under her own roof.

So he swallowed all of it down.

"Anyways, I just came to ask you to help me with the shower. I have tried every possible way to get hot water and-"

Lorena shook her head in amusement. "C'mon, Mr. Alpha...can't figure out how to work a faucet?"

Orion chuckled, all of the tension melting out of the room. "No, I guess I cannot."

"Alright, c'mon. And we need to settle down soon, my parents need their sleep too, you know?"

"Okay, but you go up the stairs first. I don't want you peeking up my towel when I walk up the stairs."

The Luna jokingly smacked his arm. "You wish."