The first place Lorena lead him to was a small shop a few houses down from her own. It was one of her favorite places to go to when she was a young girl. Anyone who worked there back then always snuck her free toys and candy when they could.

She opened the door and a little bell rang, letting whoever was in the store know that someone was entering. "Nana, I'm back!"

"Is that you, Little Wren?"

Orion was busy looking around the cute, rustic shop, wondering how long it had been there. He chuckled when he heard whoever was working in the store call Lorena "Little Wren", as they had written letters back and forth with him calling her various birdnames as a joke. Apparently, it was a common thing for her.

Lorena elbowed him in the arm playfully just as the store owner was coming from the back room.

"Oh, 'Rena, how are you! And is this mister handsome?" The old woman with silvering hair chuckled and approached the two.

Lorena gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek. She stood back and gestured towards Orion. "This is him. That's my mate."

"He's as handsome as you described, if not more!" Lorena facepalmed and blushed a deep red, and Orion chuckled and blushed as well.

He grabbed the old woman's hand and lowered himself to give her a kiss on the hand. "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am."

The old woman gasped and looked towards Lorena, causing them both to chuckle.

"Well, Nana, I'm just showing Orion around our territory. We'll be on our way now, but I may see you tomorrow."

"If you're going to leave so soon, at least grab something to eat. I'm sure you're hungry."

"No, I'm-"

"Yes!" Orion said eagerly. "Since you're offering." He turned to Lorena. "Please eat something. I'm sure you haven't eaten all morning and afternoon and you've been working non-stop."

Lorena bit her lip and shrugged. "Well, okay."

After grabbing a snack and saying a farewell to Nana, Lorena led Orion to a large field and sat down on a large rock somewhere in the middle of it. Orion sat down next to her and they finished their snacks in a comfortable silence.

Once Lorena was done, she looked over at Orion, who was staring at the ground and seemed to be deep in thought.

Something about him changed, she noticed. She wasn't surprised that he had changed over the course of three years, but the level of maturity and also humility he had come back with felt weird to her.

"So, how are things back home?" She had a feeling that Orion had been through a lot, and she wanted to give him the chance to share what he wanted.

The alpha sighed and lifted his head, leaning back on his forearms. "Everything is fine. Max is doing great. Everyone is doing great. Some of the kids ask about you."

Lorena smiled. She didn't think that anyone would miss that high strung, bratty version of herself, but apparently the children in his pack did.

"They do, do they?" Lorena leaned back, mirroring Orion's movements, but then realized that it would be easier to just lay down completely. She did, and looked to the side to see Orion staring at her. "What?"

He chuckled. "Nothing, sweetheart."

"Oh! How's your father?"

Orion shook his head and shut his eyes. Lorena realized what had happened and she gasped. "Oh no. I'm so sorry-!"

"Shh. It's okay." He waited a few moments to gather himself and then addressed her again.

"He died about two weeks after I sent you away. He told me to tell you that you're technically his daughter-in-law now and that he loves you too."

Lorena felt tears well up in her eyes. It's not like she was close to the man, but it was still touching that he thought of her before he went. "We wrote all those letters back and forth for years. Why didn't you tell me?"

Orion shook his head. "I couldn't seem to write it down. And I knew you would feel bad for not being there. I didn't want to interrupt your readjustment process with something of that magnitude."

Lorena nodded and sighed, staring at Orion's side profile from where she lay. "May he rest in peace." She grabbed his hand and he opened his eyes and looked at her.

A few moments of silence and Orion popped up. "You know what else I found out?"

Lorena sat up as well. "What is it?"

"My father and Kenneth were together."

Lorena gasped and pushed his arm. "You're lying!" She had almost forgotten about Kenneth, Ares' right hand man and the man who helped raise Orion when his mother left.

"I'm telling the god's-honest truth!"

This little piece of information made a lot of things click differently for her now. Kenneth was always by the King's side and he treated Orion like a son.

"Kenneth told me at the funeral. Weird timing, but it made a lot of things I had witnessed previously make a lot of sense."

"Well, how is Kenneth holding up?"

Orion nodded. "He's been doing very well. He didn't cry the day my father died, at least not in front of me. But I suspect that, much like me, all of his tears were shed while watching my father die for about half a year. I can't say that the day he passed I had too many tears left either."

Lorena nodded and stared back up at the sky. "You have some explaining to do, by the way."

Orion glanced over at her, confused. "What do you mean?"

Lorena leaned into him. "When I arrived home, Alpha Warden was nowhere to be found."

Orion shrugged. "Really, that's weird."

"Is it, now?" Orion held Lorena's accusing stare for as long as he could before it became pointless.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay. Yeah, I killed him."

Lorena crossed her arms and nodded. "I knew it!"

"Well, after he tried to kill the both of us, I couldn't just let him walk. And I would never have sent you back here with him still alive and breathing, I hope you know that."

"I had a feeling you wouldn't. Doesn't matter to me, anyways. The man was a scoundrel. The day they took us to the mating arena, officials dragged us from our homes and he threatened all of our parents with severe punishment if they even thought of interfering. He terrorized us and I'm glad he's gone."

"Well, I'm glad I did at least that right by you, if nothing else."

Lorena shook her head. "You've done plenty for me, in the capacity you know how. You aren't perfect, Orion, and I can't expect you to be. You've never expected me to be perfect, only to try. That's one thing I learned when you sent me home."

"No," Orion shook his head. "I could've done better. I feel like I lacked the sympathy you deserved from me. As the sole heir to the throne, I should have felt for you. I never got to make decisions for myself, only the right decisions for my pack and kingdom. All of my burden is also on your shoulders now."

Lorena didn't really think about the fact that she wasn't the Luna of a regular pack. She was going to be queen, and she didn't know if she was prepared but she was willing to jump in head first and help her mate at any cost now.

"So what have you been doing the past few years?" she asked.

Orion shook his head. "I can't even remember it all. Well first, after you left, I buried my father and took over as king. After that, I went to look for Vera like I had promised you."

Lorena smiled and nodded. "Thank you for that."

He gave her a curt nod back and stared back up at the clouds. "I killed Sean, but let the rest of the pack go. I can't tell if that was the best idea, but I couldn't bring myself to kill innocent women and children."

The Luna knew that when alphas go to war with another pack, oftentimes they wipe out the entire pack for security reasons. A long time ago, alphas would kill the opposing alpha and make a harem out of all of the women there, killing all of the men and the male babies. Sometimes the winning alpha would make the mistake of keeping one of the male babies alive because he took a liking to the mother for some odd reason, and that same child would come back and challenge the alpha, making his life a living hell or just killing them all together.

Lorena sighed and looked over at Orion. She was just realizing that he had inner turmoil that he probably wouldn't ever share with her so that she wouldn't worry for him. Too bad she worried regardless.

"I trust that you did the right thing. We don't live by our old rules anymore. We make our own." She took his hand and sighed. "Also, I know why it took you so long to come for me."

Orion stiffened, but kept his composure. "Oh really?"

She nodded and squeezed his hand for a brief moment. "My father asked you to let me stay longer, didn't he?"

Orion snapped his head around to the side to stare at her for a moment. He nodded slowly. "How did you find out?"

Lorena rolled her eyes. "Its not exactly like he was a pro at hiding the fact that he didn't trust you to have me yet. He only sent letters to you once or twice a year and only when he stopped sending them, you came."

Orion bit his lip. "I hope you're not angry with him. I completely understand where he's coming from. If we have a daughter I won't be so quick to give her up either."

Lorena's heart rate picked up at that. That last part made her realize that she did want a future with Orion for sure and for the first time in a while, her imagination ran wild with all of the possibilities of the life they could have together. Surprisingly, she felt like she wouldn't mind carrying his pups. She wanted a family with him.

"It's getting late now. Should we head home?"

Lorena stared at the purple and orange sky for another moment before standing up. "Yes. I don't want my parents to have to come look for us for dinner."

Orion held his hand out to her and helped her jump down from the rock. She smiled as they held hands, making their way out of the field.

"All that land...does it belong to you guys?"

Lorena nodded. "To the pack, yes. We have no use for it. I mean, I've had a vision for it for a while, but I need the alpha's approval. I haven't spoken to him about it yet."

For some reason, Orion was surprised this pack had a new alpha. It never crossed his mind that he was technically trespassing on another alpha's territory.

"Who is the new alpha?"

The young woman sighed. "Well, it's somewhat complicated. Alpha Warden is dead, leaving the position of alpha up to his firstborn child, which would be Vera. The pack assumed Vera was dead as well, so it was up to the Luna. The Luna actually abandoned the pack, taking her children with her to live amongst the humans, so the position went to one of Alpha Warden's betas. He had two. My father, and some orphan boy he took in and made a beta a long time ago named Carter. My father turned the position down. So Carter is the alpha unless he gives it to Vera or Vera fights him for it."

Orion whistled. "That's insane."

"Yep."

"Well, I think I'll make it a point to speak with him early in the morning."