WILD

eighteen

Max apologized to Richard for them leaving so abruptly and jogged to catch up with Lorena, a surprised look on her face. "Um, wow..."

Lorena sighed and opened the door to her room, stripping out of her dirtied clothes.

Max tried again. "You're...you're really good."

Lorena shrugged. "I was just trained well, I guess."

Max nodded. "Okay. Well, you can go ahead and shower and then we will be going to see your little office space. Every Luna here has had one, but it's really up to the alpha if he wants you to work or not. Orion says he wants you to get acquainted so you'll know where you'll be at most of the time."

Lorena nodded and went to take her shower. She shut the door to the bathroom and sighed, stripping off the remainder of her clothing.

As she showered, a nauseating feeling crept into her stomach. This is how it was going to be everyday? She had to fight to prove her worth, fight to prove that she wouldn't be tread on easily, and fight to not look weak so that the pack would respect her as their Luna, a title she didn't even want in the first place.

She shuddered even though the water was burning hot. She wanted Orion. She knew he was super busy, but last night she was so close to him and she felt safe and warm in his arms. She didn't even know how they ended up that way in the first place. It just happened, and she blamed it on their bond from the mark he gave her.

She brought her fingers up to her neck and traced over the raised pattern where Orion had bit her. She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself. She felt the urge to run away again. It wasn't like she wanted to because she wanted to be free, but she just needed to let off some steam. She had experienced so much since she got here and it was overwhelming. She was frustrated. She needed a release.

She needed Orion.

She absentmindedly trailed her fingers down to her thigh, hesitating when she reached the sensitive area where her thigh met her...private parts. She was a virgin, but she knew her body and she knew how to get herself off.

She shut her eyes and imagined her mate with his face buried between her thighs, lapping at her sensitive anatomy like his life depended on it. And although she'd never felt a man's tongue down there, she felt that she had a pretty good idea of the sensation.

There was a knock on the door and her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She quickly snatched her hand away from where she was rubbing and blushed in shame, even though she hadn't been seen.

"Girl, hurry up! There's a whole day ahead of us and you've been in there for fifteen minutes!"

She sighed and exited the shower. Maybe later, then.

As she and Max walked towards her new office, she spoke up.

"I'm not ready."

Max raised an eyebrow at her, holding her clipboard close to her side. "Not ready for what?"

Lorena stopped right in her tracks outside her office door. "For this. I'm not a Luna. I'm hardly even a leader. I'm a mess and I screw everything up. I don't even know why Orion chose me. All I do is disappoint him and everyone. I'm a hazard to your pack. I was better off at home or with another omega wolf. This isn't for me." She hung her head as she realized how out of place she felt in what was supposed to be her new home.

Max placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I know this must be hard. You were ripped away from your life so suddenly. But now, you have a chance to make an impact here. A Luna has the most important role in the pack: you're the neck that turns the head. You're just as much an alpha as Orion is. Orion and I grew up together and we're close friends. He's smart and usually right, so if he could have his pick of any wolf he wanted and he chose you, trust me, that means something."

Lorena looked up at Max with tears in her eyes. "What if I can't handle it? What if I'm not good at it? What if I'm not good for Orion and I destroy the pack and-"

"Stop it. You can handle anything. You handled Gen today. She's a bitch and I don't like her, but she's one of the packs best fighters. She's good at weapon, hand-to-hand, and wolf on wolf combat. And on your second round, you kicked her ass. She tried to pull rank on you, but you showed her who was boss. You aren't a child, Lorena. You're grown, and you're a Luna now. You can handle anything. You're one of the strongest people I have ever met."

The brunette wolf sniffed and wiped her tears away, smiling up at Max. "Thank you, Max. If anything, I'll try."

Max nodded. "There you go. Now let's do this, okay? I'll be like a little guide when nobody else is around. I am your assigned assistant."

Lorena nodded and opened the door to her office, which to her surprise, wasn't as small as Max made it seem. It was half the size of her very large bedroom, and there was plenty of room to work on the very large, dark wooden desk in the corner.

"Wow. I love it!" She walked over to the bookshelf sitting behind the chair and she ran her fingers over the spines of the books. "I love books. This is beautiful. Thank you, Max."

The girl held her hands up. "Nope. Not me. Orion put this together for you. He was working on it the day you arrived."

Lorena felt her heart swell. She felt a little lucky to have a mate that cared for her that much, even when she wasn't showing him how much she cared about him. Well, yesterday she didn't care about him, not really. It was slowly changing, though.

Her heart wasn't as hard towards him as it was before. He was making it so hard for her to stay detached, but at that moment she didn't care.

She turned to Max, starting to get the hang of the way the list was working now. "What's next?"

Max bit her lip and looked down at the clipboard. "Umm...Orion wants you to have lunch with the little kids."

Lorena smiled. "Lead the way."