Lorena was sitting on her bed, waiting for a sexual urge or something. Benny said that it would feel like an itch she couldn't scratch on her own, but she felt nothing yet, except for the extreme internal heat that was causing her to sweat and the slight discomfort in her abdomen.

There was a quiet knock on the door and Lorena gave permission to enter. She looked up to see who it was and sighed in relief when she saw Max. Orion had been popping in and out of her room, almost as if he was waiting for her to be desperate for him. She hadn't said much to him after Benny's diagnosis, and she didn't plan on it. She wasn't in the mood.

Max shut the door quietly and sheepishly approached the bed, considering Lorena carefully. "How are you feeling?"

The Luna sighed deeply. "Terrible. Apparently I'm in heat. Which would explain my meltdown earlier as well. I feel slightly sick for now, but I'm not feeling anything else."

Max's eyes widened. "Oh, wow. I didn't know, but now it kind of makes sense. Does Orion know?"

Lorena rolled her eyes and patted the bed next to her, beckoning Max to sit next to her. Max giggled and sat down next to her. "Orion can never mind his business, so of course he knows. It's slightly embarrassing, to be frank. This is all happening so soon. I've been here maybe a week and a half. I already have an enemy and now I'm going to have to bed a man that I'm not as close as I should be to. I wished we knew each other better, is all."

Max shrugged. "That's fair. But it's easy to get close to Orion. You have to try harder. That boy is like an open book."

Lorena nodded. She had to admit that she didn't say much to Orion unless it was a complaint. "Yeah, you're right." She pinched the bridge of her nose, her dark hair falling forward to frame her face. "I've been ignoring him since I found out the news. I thought it would be awkward, but I realize that doing that would make it worse."

Max nodded. "Yep. Listen, I promise he isn't as bad as he seems." She paused and they both sat in silence for a few minutes. "Now, what happened earlier? You looked torn up."

"Gee, thanks. Well, Gen messed my face up. All it took was one blow and she busted my lip and split the inside of my cheek. Benny helped clean me up, but it was pretty bad. After doing all that damage, the then proceeded to rub it in by telling me that I was a 'hot-headed breeder bitch'. Her words."

Max gasped in indignation as if Gen had said that to her personally. "Ugh. Fuck that bitch. Almost everyone hates her. I can't believe Orion ever dated or fucked that scum. I warned him, too. Women can sense bitchiness in other women."

Lorena's eyes damn near popped out of her head. "Orion...he fucking did what?"

Max sucked her lips into her mouth and shook her head. "Wait, nevermind you didn't hear that from me!"

Lorena felt herself get hotter with rage if that was even possible. "He's the one who put the target on my back and he didn't even say anything! He knew why Gen was targeting me!"

Max tried to backtrack and fix her mistake. "W-well maybe he tried to tell you and didn't get the chance to?" She offered.

There was another knock at the door and Lorena knew who it was immediately, she could easily recognize the scent. "Come. In."

Orion frowned in confusion at the iciness of her tone and opened the door slowly, peeking his head inside. "Is now a good time?"

Lorena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, looking away. "Whatever."

Orion looked at Max for help, but his friend only gave him a sheepish look before getting up and making a quick exit. "You two have something to talk about now. You're welcome." She quickly left and shut the door, leaving Orion standing there, confused.

"Lorena-"

"Fuck you."

Orion crossed his arms, growing angry with her. "Watch your mouth."

Lorena stood up and crossed her arms, mirroring him. "No," she challenged.

"Don't start with this bullshit, Lorena. I've had enough of it and I'm about to snap."

She shrugged. "Good, bring it on. You just get to do whatever free of consequences and I'm supposed to just take that shit? Fuck no!"

Orion uncrossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you on about now?" The exhaustion in his voice was evident, but she didn't care, because obviously he didn't care about how she felt if he was going to leave her out of the loop on something as important as he did.

Lorena bit her lip in irritation before sighing and trying to relax. The more anger she felt, the hotter she got and she knew it was triggering her heat even more, which she obviously wanted to avoid as long as possible. "Orion, why? Why didn't you tell me that you were sleeping with Gen?"

Orion was shocked, obviously since he hadn't told her that yet. "What?"

"You heard me. I found out. So when were you going to tell me?"

Orion felt irritation well up within him, mainly due to his wolf. He knew he was wrong for waiting so long to tell her, but his wolf was irked at the fact that Lorena dared demand answers from him. He quieted his wolf and tried to come up with a good answer.

"I wanted to tell you earlier. It just ended up slipping my mind. I'm so sorry, Lorena. If I had realized that she was bullying you then I would've told you and put a stop to it earlier." He felt concerned for his mate. On top of trying to cope with being basically displaced, she had to deal with his bitch of an ex on her own.

Lorena bit her lip, sighing. "It's fine, I guess. I just wish I could have known why she was targeting me beforehand so I knew how to respond. I suppose it's not your fault that Gen is a psycho bitch. I'm sorry for snapping at you." She was somewhat ashamed of herself for some reason.

Orion gave her a gentle smile and sat down on the bed next to her. "How are you feeling?"

Lorena rolled her eyes, almost playfully. "You've asked me that so many times and my answer is the same: I'm fine." She was lying. She was starting to feel that itch Benny spoke of, but it wasn't too bad, so she didn't say anything. She was feeling even hotter than before and there was a high chance that Orion could smell her.

Orion shook his head, his eyes boring directly into hers. As she looked into them she could tell that his pupils were starting to dilate. She sheepishly looked down and played with her fingers. "Lorena. The truth, please. It's okay to be honest with me."

She groaned, not wanting to talk about how she was feeling at all. "Why don't you believe me when I say that I'm fine?"

"I know you're not. I can feel it." He stood up and shrugged. "But...if you aren't going to tell me, then I'll have to get Benny in here to make sure everything is going smoothly." He smirked at her and turned to leave the room.

Lorena shot up out of the bed and grabbed Orion's arm, turning him back around. "The fuck you are!" The second she touched him, it was almost as if her body went into some kind of overdrive. She could feel the temperature rising in the room, her body tingled, and all of her senses were heightened. She took a step back in confusion, but stood her ground.

He chuckled, amused. "Cute that you think you can tell me what to do, Luna."

She narrowed her eyes at him as he turned and opened the door, but she growled and slammed the door shut before he could get it open all of the way.

Orion snapped his body around to scold her for trying to order him around again, but then he realized what was happening. He stared down into her wild, blown out pupils, directly challenging her wolf in an attempt to get her to calm down. When she had relaxed enough to the point where she was somewhat pliant, he grabbed her by the shoulders and held her against the wall, careful not to slam her into it.

Lorena was confused at her own actions, but couldn't stop herself, and she was surprised when Orion actually took charge of the situation. He held her against the wall with one hand and locked her bedroom door. Slightly scared and concerned, she looked up at him.

"Wha-?"

He held a finger up to her lips, bringing his nose to the base of her neck and inhaling deeply. She tried to push him away, but it was no use. "Orion, stop!"

When she was able to push him away, he stared at her, looking her up and down. "God, you smell good."

She tilted her head to the side in confusion before remembering what was happening. She was in heat, and she was definitely feeling it now. She started fidgeting under his intense gaze and slowly slid her hand against the wall to reach the doorknob. She needed to leave before anything escalated.

Her mate noticed she was trying to escape and he grabbed her wrists, swinging her around so that her back was facing the bed. She fell onto it and he crawled on top of her, holding her wrists down with his hands.

"You're not going anywhere, omega."