WILD

thirteen

After Max found her mid-meltdown in the kitchen, Lorena was helped to her room and put into the bed, where she cried herself to sleep.

She cried for being kidnapped, for not fighting harder, for getting caught. For losing Vera. For not being able to speak to her dad before she was taken. For being a bitch to everybody on the way.

For being a bitch to Max. It wasn't the red-headed girl's fault that she was there. Orion put her in place to do a job, and all Lorena did was make it harder for her out of her own pettiness and anger. And she realized the fact that she was only so mean because the servant girl had more freedom than she could ever have, and it made her bitter.

And Orion. She cried for him too. He seemed like an outstanding person, and she was sure that if they had met in a different place under different circumstances, they would've had a fighting chance.

But right now she hated his guts, and the hatred would grow more every time she thought about everything she couldn't have because of him.

She felt uncomfortable here. The bed was too big and empty and she had nobody to turn to.

So when she woke up, she prayed.

"Whoever is up there listening, please help..."

The door then opened and since she was hiding underneath the comforter, she didn't see who it was. She slowly peeked out from underneath and saw her alpha standing there, staring at her.

She sat up and sighed. "Yes?"

Orion shut the door gently and went to sit down next to her on her bed. She looked at him, waiting for him to say something. Instead he reached up and wiped her tears away.

She was sort of embarrassed that he had seen her in that state. She knew she looked ridiculous, puffy, red eyes and all. All he had to do was yell at her and she was bawling like a baby.

"I'm so sorry, Orion." The words were out of her mouth before her brain even had a chance to vet them. "I've been such a bitch and a brat and I've been so mean to everyone! I'm sorry!" She started crying all over again and Orion sighed.

She stiffened in surprise when her mate wrapped his arms around her, pulling her head towards his chest. "Its okay, my Luna. Let it all out." He rubbed her back as she cried, and she was surprised that even after all of the crying she did today she had tears left to cry.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you the way I did, Lorena. I was wrong. Forgive me?"

Lorena looked up at him, a blush washing across her face. "Mhm..."

He grinned at her, showing off two rows of pearly white, but not so perfect teeth. And she thought it was cute that he had a visible flaw. Even though neither of them weren't, it made him seem more...

Human.

She wiped her tears onto his shirt and he jumped back, laughing. "Now I have to go change."

She bit her lip and shrugged. "Or you could just take it off..."

There she goes with the diarrhea of the mouth again.

He chuckled and then shook his head. "One step at a time, Lorena." He kissed her on her forehead and then stood up. "You've been in here all day, and I'm sure you've spent a lot of time crying. With all of that energy spent, you're probably hungry, yes?"

She nodded quickly and stood to her feet. "What time is it?"

"It's about 1AM."

She sighed. Out of all the things she could've done today, she spent almost her whole day locked in a room crying. "I want ice cream."

"What the lady wants, the lady gets." He opened her bedroom door and bowed dramatically. "After you, m'lady."

Lorena laughed and exited the room, Orion following close behind her. She felt a lot better. Orion wasn't furious with her now and it made her feel good to be in his good graces again. She would never say it out loud, but she knew she wanted to do whatever she could to please him. She blamed it on instinct.

"This way," Orion placed a hand on her hip to guide her where he wanted her to go. She gasped at his warm touch and looked up at him in surprise. He just smiled at her reassuringly and kept walking.

Her heart started beating faster. No. That couldn't be right. She had to dislike him, or else it would be harder for her to run away later. She chose to ignore that warm, fluttery feeling in her chest, telling herself to resist it completely.

It might have been a little bit useless, but she didn't care. She couldn't give up that easily.

"What kind of ice cream do you want?"

She shrugged. "What do you have?" She sat down at the same counter where she had her meltdown this morning and narrowed her eyes at the memory.

"Well, we have so many..." He walked over to the giant freezer in the corner of the kitchen and sighed. "There's cookies and cream, strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, rocky road, peach, butter pecan - which is a personal favorite-"

She grinned. "I'll try that one! Butter pecan."

Orion nodded and brought out the tub before going to get two bowls. "Can you grab me two spoons out of that drawer over there?"

He motioned to the drawer on the other side of the counter. She nodded and retrieved the two spoons as he had asked. He began scooping the ice cream into the bowls and Lorena decided to break the silence.

"I don't mean to keep making complaints today, but I don't like her."

Orion hummed and continued with what he was doing. He figured that if she didn't get a big reaction out of him, it wouldn't spur her on so much. "Who?"

"Max, is it? Yeah, I don't like her. She's mean."

"Why?"

"She forced me to let her bathe me and she was smart with me. I don't like it."

Orion shrugged and handed her her bowl of ice cream. "Really? That's crazy..." He walked around her and went to sit down in his chair and started eating.

Lorena didn't expect this conversation to go this way. She at least thought he would be more protective of her and do something about it. She growled slightly and went to take her seat next to him.

"I want her fired."

Orion just laughed.

She was getting irritated. "I'm serious!"

He nodded. "I know. And I'm just as serious when I say this: no."

"Orion-"

"Lorena." She shut her mouth immediately. The way he said her name, she knew he was getting annoyed with her and she didn't want to get yelled at again. Not when things were finally going somewhat well for her.

"I'm not going to fire one of my best employees and best friends because you're a brat. I gave her specific orders, and she carried them out. Now if you have a problem with those orders being carried out, then you take them up with me and me only. Don't give my employees hell when they are just being obedient, okay?"

Lorena bit the inside of her cheek as she processed what he was saying. "Okay, but I'm not a brat."

"Whatever you say, princess." He scooped another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "Eat up before it melts."

She looked down at the bowl and saw a mess of probably butter flavored ice cream and a whole lot of pecans staring back at her. She wasn't even sure she liked pecans, since she hated the way they looked, but she reluctantly took a bite anyway.

As soon as it touched her tongue, she lit up. "It's so good!"

Her mate chuckled deeply beside her. "Glad you like it."