Lorena woke up with Orion's arms still wrapped tightly around her. He was snoring lightly, and in the midst of all of their late-night activities he had forgotten to put his hair up, so now it was all over the both of them, resting on his shoulders and tickling hers.

She smiled and slowly turned around to face him, running her fingertips behind his right ear and feeling the mark she made that was identical to the one he had given her the day they met.

Lorena used to be upset with the circumstances in which she had been marked, but as she fell for Orion, she had forgiven him and was grateful regardless. The fact that she was his no matter what made her so happy.

She felt a sense of pride in the fact that he now unarguably belonged to her.

Lorena looked towards the windows. The sun was still breaking the horizon and she wanted to get up and start her day early with Orion, but she decided to let him sleep. Being marked will make you sleep heavily for a while whether or not it was forced. It's the body's way of coping with immense pain.

Lorena tried to roll out of the bed, but Orion clung tightly to her, a small whine coming from his throat. She rolled her eyes in amusement and tried again.

"Oh my god stay still, Lo. It's too early," he grumbled.

"Then let me go and I won't disturb you." Lorena looked down at him as he pretended to fall asleep again. "Orion."

He frowned. "You're warm, though."

Lorena kissed him on top of his hair and pulled away from him and this time he let her go.

"Good boy," she joked.

He grunted and turned over and Lorena started her day, showering, brushing her teeth and putting on a pair of sweats and a baggy t-shirt. She made her way downstairs and cooked breakfast for everyone since she was the first awake.

She wasn't much of a morning person until Orion came to live with her. Now she found herself wanting to start her day early just to see him or be with him. It was a sharp contrast to how she felt when she was living with his pack and she knew that the time apart did the both of them good.

As she was cooking, she felt arms wrap around her waist and she jumped, turning around to glare at Orion, who smirked at her. "Whatcha making?"

"Sausage and eggs. Now what if I had burned myself?"

Orion just chuckled and placed his chin on her shoulder. "I would apologize and kiss it better. Now gimme a kiss."

Lorena rolled her eyes but turned and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "Now let me go so I can finish cooking. You can hold me after."

"Okay, I can get with that. Do you need help?"

Lorena nodded her head. "Pass the salt, please?"

Orion opened the nearest cabinet and passed her the salt shaker.

Lorena mumbled a thanks and watched as Orion stood next to her and leaned against the counter, facing her. "So what made you decide to get up?"

"You."

Lorena blushed, but turned the stove off, the eggs finally finished.

"So after we eat, we can go for a walk. I think there's a lot we need to talk about today."

She nodded. "Agreed." She knew there were important things that they needed to deal with, and soon. Orion needed to go home soon and they had to decide whether or not she was going with him right away.

Her parents entered the kitchen and Orion grinned at them. "Goodmorning."

Lorena's mother came over and kissed her daughter on the cheek before looking up at Orion and nodding to him. "Goodmorning. How did you two sleep?"

Lorena gave Orion a knowing look and she smiled shyly. "We slept well. Didn't we, Orion?"

The alpha nodded in confirmation. "We sure did."

The older couple just looked at each other and then sat down at the table. Lorena and Orion plated the food and served her parents before sitting down to eat themselves. Conversation was light, as they all had things to do for the day and there wasn't much to talk about anyways.

The second breakfast was over, Lorena and Orion went for a walk side by side. Only a few other pack members were out and about, mainly people going on runs and Carter going to make his rounds.

Once they got to a spot where nobody was around them, Orion sighed. "Okay. I know you have questions, so ask away."

Lorena didn't know how well or how badly this could go, but she had already gotten this far.

"Okay. Well, when did your nightmares start?"

Orion stared at the ground and shuffled the dirt around beneath his feet. "Five months after my dad died."

"Is there anything that triggers them?"

"No."

"Do you always remember them?"

He nodded and swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. "Vividly. It's almost as if it's reality until I wake up. I don't think I can ever forget them."

Lorena frowned as she saw how much he was hurting. But she was absolutely sure it was harder for him than for her.

"What happened to you, Orion?" She rested her hand on his shoulder. "I know you've been through a lot these past few years. And that night when you had that one bad nightmare...I saw the scars on your back."

She felt his muscles tense under her palm and she removed it, trying to give him a little bit of space. "You don't have to talk about those if you don't want to."

He shook his head. "I don't want to. But I think I need to. I've held in so much for too long. It's not doing me any good, and I want to try and move forward." He started walking again towards the field that they had gone to his first night here, and Lorena followed closely behind.

He brought her to the exact same spot and helped her up onto the rock before sitting down himself.

He sighed and looked up at the cloudy, gray sky. "I've been up to a lot, Lorena. Doing things I probably shouldn't have. Most of it was for the greater good, but I've done things I regret."

She shifted towards him and kept her full attention on him, wanting him to have a chance to let out everything he could.

"I got the scars from Sean," Orion recalled. "It wasn't a solo mission, but I had told the others in the group to look for Vera and stay on alert if anything was off. It took us forever to find Sean's pack, because they're nomads. Mind you, I came there just for Vera. If there was any chance to get out of there without a huge confrontation, we were going to take it.

"Well, eventually, I found Vera on my own. The state she was in...Lorena, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Sean was such a sick person."

Orion stared off into the distance and he frowned deeply, his eyebrows furrowing as he remembered that moment.

Lorena knew Sean was a monster. But for Orion to be floored by what he had seen...she couldn't imagine what it was.

"Anyways, as I was trying to free her from her bonds and remove the tape from over her mouth, she started screaming and convulsing and I thought she was fighting me until I turned and saw Sean standing behind me. He was in his wolf form, and he had brought two other wolves with him." Orion rolled his eyes. "You would think that I, a person who involuntarily scans each room as I enter it, would've heard the three of them sneaking up on me, but I guess not."

Lorena shook her head. "You can't blame yourself for that. It was a mission with high stakes and things are bound to be missed."

Orion shrugged. "Yeah, well. Anyways, I thought I had a decent chance at taking them, but I couldn't shift into my wolf."

Lorena cocked her head to the side in confusion. Even in times of extreme anxiety and high stress, shifting came like second nature to them. It wasn't even something they had to think about, so it was odd that that happened to an alpha. They supposedly had more control over their wolves than betas and omegas.

"So, y'know. Long story short, I almost died. Forgive me for leaving out some details. There are some parts I can't share." He sort of brushed it off a little. He didn't want Lorena feeling bad for him.

Like the parts where Sean didn't attack right away and shifted back to his human form to threaten his pack. And when Orion wasn't convinced, he told him the despicable things he was going to do with his "beautiful little Luna" if he didn't leave Vera there and get off of his territory.

He couldn't let Lorena know that he had attacked first when he didn't really have to and risked his life to make sure she stayed safe because he knew that, her being the way she is, she would feel guilty.

"I'm sorry, Orion. I'm glad you're still alive, though. It's a miracle you fought them in your human form when you were outnumbered."

"Mhm."

Lorena noticed he wasn't telling her everything, but she let it go. Of course she wanted him to share everything with her, but she knew it wasn't realistic to ask that of someone who had gone through trauma.

"You don't have to tell me anything else if you don't feel comfortable. I get it now."

He visibly relaxed. "Maybe one day I'll be able to talk about it at length. But enough about just me. We have things we need to speak about concerning the both of us."

Lorena nodded. "Agreed. First of all, when are you leaving?"

Orion brought one hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was thinking in a day or two. I only planned to stay for a week and it's been two days past that already. Max is holding it down just fine, I'm sure, but my pack needs me. It was nice to get away for a while, but I have responsibilities now."

"Yeah." Lorena smiled at him, but he noticed there was a hint of sadness in her eyes when she looked at him.

"Something's bothering you," he prodded.

She nodded. "It's just that I have responsibilities too. I'm your Luna. I have to be there with you."

Orion didn't say anything.

"I knew this day would come, but I didn't know if I would be ready to go when the time came."

"Well, are you?"

Lorena thought about it for a moment. She didn't think she would ever be excited to just drop her life and leave her pack, but she knew she would do it when the time came. She had gotten to spend a few years with her parents and all the while she prepared herself for the day when she would have to leave the nest once and for all. It was inevitable. She was a legal adult now, and she had to move on.

Who better to do that with than Orion?

She knew that from the outside looking in, she was stupid to love him, but it wasn't something she could help. They had perfect chemistry despite all of their fighting and toxicity, and she could not picture a world in which they weren't together.

She nodded slowly. "I am ready, actually. I want to start this new phase of my life with you, Orion."

Orion stared and searched her eyes. Although he could tell she was scared of taking the next step into the future, she was genuine about wanting to do it anyways. The last thing he wanted to do was pull her along for a wild ride when she was unwilling.

He was excited about it. Nervous, yes, but he was going to spend the rest of his life with this amazing woman by his side.

"Good. I'm ready too." He leaned in and wrapped his arm around her. She hummed and rested her head on his shoulder, shutting her eyes.

"Oh! And another thing!" Lorena opened her eyes and looked up at her mate. "Last time we were here, you said you had ideas for this land, so I talked to Carter and asked if I could buy it from him."

Lorena gasped. "Oh! Orion you didn't have to do that, oh my gosh. I was just rambling."

Orion shook his head. "I wanted to. I saw the look in your eyes when you said you had plans for it and I had to get it for you. If you have a dream, I want to help make it come true if I can." Lorena blushed and looked down at her lap, playing with his fingers that were resting on her arm.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Carter gave me the land, and well, what's mine is yours. Just tell me your plans and I'll find some people to build it. It can be whatever you want. Just name it."

Lorena gazed at Orion and felt an overwhelming love for him.

"We don't have to worry about it now." She hopped down from the rock and Orion hopped down beside her. "Just take me home."

The king smiled and grabbed his queen's hand, placing a kiss to it, his eyes meeting hers.

"With pleasure, my love."

Fin.