WILD

forty eight

Meanwhile, Orion walked a few houses down to meet with the alpha. He figured that that was something he should've done when he first arrived yesterday, but he got so caught up in finally seeing Lorena and her family that the thought didn't even occur to him to be polite.

As he walked, he pulled out a bottle of pills from his pocket and rolled it around in his palm. He frowned. He knew Lorena would kill him later, but he felt like just taking the pills and explaining it later was the best course of action. Confronting her about it before he left would just result in a big scene.

He approached what was supposed to be the alpha's office and knocked a couple of times.

After a few moments, the door opened and Vera was standing on the other side, her son holding her hand.

Orion was pleasantly surprised to see them. "Vera! Max," he crouched down and poked the little boy in the cheek, making him giggle.

"You doing good, bud?" The boy nodded and Orion smiled before standing up and nodding to Vera.

"How are you doing? Are you readjusting well?"

Vera gave him a tight smile and nodded slowly. "Being back home is a little challenging. I just have to catch up with everything here."

"Understandable."

Vera shrugged and let out a sigh, walking past Orion. "Carter has been waiting for you. You can go on in."

"Thanks, Vera." Orion watched as she left, feeling bad for her. She had been sent away from her pack and now her father was dead and her siblings had gone. Not to mention that she had a son now. It was going to take a while to adjust.

He entered the office and shut the door behind him, looking at the young man sitting on the top of his desk. The man smiled and stood up, holding his hand out to Orion.

Orion shook his hand and gave him a nod. "You're the alpha, yes?"

The man nodded, but grinned. "You can call me Carter."

"Orion."

"I know. I've heard so much about you! You're a legend."

Orion cocked his head to the side. "How so?" He didn't feel like he had done anything worth recognizing...ever.

"Well, it sounds like you've been on somewhat of a crusade the past two years. You've freed many packs from under the hold of oppressive alphas. Including this one."

Orion shook his head humbly. "It was the right thing to do."

"Every alpha in the region talks about you. You also brought Vera back to us. And you sent Lorena home. I can't imagine that would have been easy for you. I saw that you had already marked her when she arrived."

Orion sighed. It wasn't easy. After he sent Lorena back and his father had passed, he had to do something worthwhile with his time as the king. A part of him was so messed up that he thought if he went into battle against enough alphas he would've died and that it would have been a good thing. He kept telling himself he was doing it because it was the right thing to do, but there was a part of him that had a death wish.

Carter saw that Orion was sinking into deep thought and he interrupted. "Bottom line is: thank you. You've done so much for everyone."

Orion offered him a small smile and a nod and Carter sighed, sitting in his chair and inviting Orion to sit on the other side of the desk.

Orion sat and briefly glanced around the room.

"So, your Highness, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I didn't want to just waltz into your territory unannounced and never introduce myself. But it seems that you knew I was coming already."

"Well, Lorena and I are friends. She talks about you and only you and when you told her you were coming, that was all anyone ever heard from her."

Orion chuckled at that. "Good things, I hope."

"Only good things. That's why I was so excited to meet you."

"Well, I'm glad to meet you too." Orion brushed some of his hair that was falling out of his ponytail out of his face. "Forgive me for asking, but Lorena and I went out walking yesterday evening and she took me to the field that is apparently out of use. Do you have any plans for it?"

Carter shrugged. "Not really. I hadn't really thought about it at all. It's just sitting there growing weeds at the moment. Why?"

"I want to buy it from you."

Carter sat for a moment and stared at Orion, thinking. "You know what? You can have it."

"I have no problem buying it from you-"

"I insist!" The man held up a hand, shutting Orion down. "You've done so much for us and so many others. It's the least I could do. Nobody is using it and I want to give it to you."

Orion opened this mouth to argue again, but Carter gave him a look and he sighed and shrugged. "Okay, I'll take it."

"Good." Carter seemed to relax and Orion did the same. "Now, how is Lorena doing?"

"She's doing well. Very well. She's different than I remember, but then three years can do that to you."

"Don't I know it."

Orion watched in confusion as a look of sadness and guilt crossed over Carter's features. He frowned for a second and then leaned in to the young alpha.

"Do you mind telling me what's up?"

The younger alpha shook his head. "It's nothing you need to worry about."

"C'mon. It never hurts to talk about it with someone. And I'd be the last to judge."

Carter sighed, quickly giving in. "It's Vera. Before she left we had a thing. She said she's still willing to try having a relationship again, but I can't help but feel so guilty, you know? When she went into the arena, I thought that was it. That she had found someone that could take care of her and wasn't just some lowly orphan beta. And I was so wrong. She couldn't even describe to me what had happened to her and what she went through. I told her I loved her, but I never even bothered to go after her and make sure she was truly okay. I just sat here like an idiot for three entire years while that monster did lord-knows-what to her. It didn't even cross my mind that she would be in trouble. I don't know if I can get past that. I can't even tell if she resents me for it and I know she'll never tell me." The young man sighed and sst back, rubbing his temples.

"I'm just so lost."

Orion sighed and slowly nodded his head. "Vera will come around. She knows that it isn't your fault that all of those things happened to her. Right now, she's probably just readjusting and trying to get her and the kid settled down again.

"As for you, you shouldn't feel  guilty. You never would've done those unspeakable things and there was nothing you could've done to stop Sean. He was a ruthless monster. You don't have to live with the "what ifs?". Things will look up again. It will work out the way it is supposed to."

Carter sat for a moment to think and then smiled slightly.

"You know what, you're right. Thanks, Orion. You should be my mentor or something." Carter looked up at him hopefully.

"I don't know about all that. I'm new at reigning myself. I'm still trying to figure out what it means to rule."

"Okay. Maybe just some advice every now and then? It's really cool to hear from someone who has been trained to do this job. I kinda just took over by default."

Orion gave him a small smile and a quick nod. "That, I can do."