Orion

Thirty-Seven. Mariah

The night before was the first time that she stayed in the house that was now hers by herself.

Fed up with her silence, Orion left the morning after his pack gathering. He didn't text her, or even call for the rest of the day, and his mate did the same.

Adriel had dropped by to see her and rode with her into town to do some more shopping. They'd been out for about two hours when Gianni joined them.

The trio were on the way to  the Metaphysical shop that they'd told her about two days previous.

Of the three, Adriel was the quiet one, just chuckling and adding in his own remarks every once in a while as they drove. Hoggie and Gianni were tapping excitedly over one another, but each still heard what the other was saying. They were talking about the day they'd all met so long ago.

"Adriel told you already, Luna! Alpha made him act like an ass to see how you'd respond. And he didn't take you back to your old house, so I assume he liked it."

"Yeah, but Adriel told me that either right before or right after I almost took him out with a cast iron skillet. I thought he was being facetious, and I was ready to get the fuck out of that house."

Adriel shook his head, chuckling as he spoke, "He told me to be as rude as I could possibly be to rile you up. Said you didn't smell like you came from an Alpha bloodline, but he knew you had wolf in you and he wanted to see what you'd do. When you made me submit, I got kicked out shortly after. I figured the next time I saw you, you'd be marked and carrying the scent of his seed."

A dry scoff fell from Mo's mouth at that, and piqued entirely too much interest from her friends.

"What?"

Now, it was Gianni speaking again, leaning forward between the two front seats as he turned his eyes to her, "Nothin'... well we noticed that you arent covered in his scent like you usually are. Same for him. Y'all fighting again?"

When she didn't respond, Gianni spoke again, "And he wanted to spar again this morning, but I told him we were both too broken still. Probably won't be able to for at least a few more weeks."

Mo's teeth ground together at what she'd just learned, hating the way they all talked about battering each other like it was nothing. She still wanted to choke Gianni for hurting her mate. Her wolf seemed to hone in on him. When she felt her hands starting to shake, she managed to bite out, "Gianni, please sit back before you make her go crazy."

"Yes, Luna." He murmured it, sitting back and sounding either nervous or scared as he sat the rest of the ten minute ride in silence.

Before they even pulled into the parking lot of the metaphysical shop, she felt him. A low curse left Mo as she once again sat in the background of her mind.

Her wolf had taken control and wasn't listening to the more human side saying that everything was okay and she needed to give control back. Telling her feral that Orion was okay and liked to get hurt on purpose didn't help either. She even threatened not to let her see Orion's wolf when he came out, thinking that would for sure reel her in.

It didn't.

The damned wolf couldn't be reasoned with.

And now they were parking and Orion was standing right next to the passenger door, arms crossed over his chest, looking every bit as agitated as his mate was with her own wolf.

"Come on out."

Go! Before you agitate him even more.

Her wolf seemed to be frozen- stuck between fear and defiance.