Orion's Luna (slow updates)

Chapter 7

I slept until early afternoon, clearly, I needed the rest. Edrik was up by the time I opened my eyes.

He had a small fire going, eating one of two small birds. His bag was ready and packed as he used it as a seat. "There's breakfast there if you want it," he said. "Sorry I couldn't get anything else, I'm not that great at hunting."

I pushed myself up from my sleeping mat and stretched away the rigidity in my bones and muscles. Rolling up the mat, I began to pack for the journey ahead.

"Thanks but I'm not hungry," I said.

Edrik pressed his lips together, unsure if he should say anything. Just the look on his face was enough to make me reconsider his offer for breakfast.

He shouldn't need to feel like my baby sitter or feel as if he needed to tip-toe around my emotions. I wasn't as fragile as he thought.

"You know you're not here to be my babysitter," I told him stuffing my sleeping mat into the rucksack. "Just trust me when I say I'm not hungry."

I pushed myself up off the ground, stretching the limp muscles again. "I'm going to go to the stream and clean up. I won't be too long."

Edrik nodded. "20 minutes and we'll start heading off?"

As my reply, I curtly nodded before making my way towards the small stream. Once there, I washed my face and brushed my teeth, using the coldness of the water to shake away the remaining sleep in my body.

The trees around us were slowly turning into a mirage of bright orange, red and yellow, marking the start of Autumn. It was crazy how fast the year has gone by.

Trying not to linger on the past year, I returned to Edrik in my wolf form. It wasn't surprising that he had already shifted, and was waiting for me nearby.

We headed off north, running as fast as we could to make up for our late start. Arctos was a seven-day journey, a full weeks run and the two of didn't want to stretch that any more than needed.

I didn't really know what my plan in Arctos was other than to use it as a safe refuge. There was too much pain in Orion for me to handle and hopefully, Keyan understood this.

There was a small part of me that urged me to go back to Orion, but that desire was quickly squashed. The betrayal I felt inside was strong and overwhelming. It was the feeling that had driven me to leave.

Throughout the entire journey, I felt guilty about Edrik. He didn't need to come with me, I probably would've been fine on my own.

I had taken him away from his pack and although he plastered on a smile, it was obvious he missed everyone he had left behind.

"This whole Arctos thing won't be permanent," I told Edrik when we made camp on the fourth day. "Maybe we'll stay for a month or two... you know, until everything in Orion becomes much easier to handle."

Edrik pulled me to him, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "It's fine," he said. "I know it's not permanent. I don't think Kaelon would ever allow it."

He was right. Kaelon would never allow me to stay forever and deep down, I don't think I could.

While Arctos seemed like a nice pack, it wasn't where my friends were. Orion had my mate, it had Jase, Irina, Zoron and Alina. It also had the graves of Anneli and Zazel, two incredible people in my life. I couldn't leave them all behind.

Time is what I needed to heal myself and I plan on doing exactly that.

"Come on, let's get going. We have another 3 days left in our journey," Edrik said, jumping up from the floor.