Chapter 163: The Mark Between Us

For a long, heavy moment, the question just hung in the air.

"What mark?" Sophia repeated, blinking up at him, her voice small but edged with confusion. Orion didn’t answer immediately. His expression was too calm, too deliberate and that only made her more anxious.

Instead of responding, he tilted his head slightly, studying her like she was some sort of puzzle he wasn’t sure he wanted to solve yet. Then, finally, he asked quietly, "Tell me something, Sophia. Did you notice anything different or weird today? Since you left my place this morning?"

That wasn’t the answer she’d been expecting.

Her brows furrowed. "Weird?" she echoed. "You mean like... weird how? Because, I’ll be honest, this whole conversation qualifies as weird. You being in my home is already weird territory."

Orion’s mouth twitched. "That’s your answer?"

"That’s my truth," she shot back. "You’re weird, this is weird, everything is weird."

He sighed dramatically, like a man bearing the weight of the entire pack’s foolishness. Then, with the kind of expression one reserves for small, exasperating children, he muttered, "Is your height affecting your ability to think or comprehend things?"

Sophia froze, blinking once, then twice before glaring up at him. "Excuse me?"

"I’m just asking," he said smoothly, entirely unrepentant. "There has to be some kind of explanation for how you manage to sound so confident and yet be so lost at the same time."

She punched his arm lightly, but enough to make a point and stepped back to put a little space between them. "My height has nothing to do with my comprehension," she snapped.

Orion chuckled, rubbing the spot where she’d hit him, even though it clearly hadn’t hurt. "If you say so."

"I do say so," she huffed. "And stop laughing!"

He only laughed harder, the deep, low sound rolling out of him like a purr, somehow making the air between them warmer.

Sophia crossed her arms. "You’re impossible."

He gave a casual shrug. "So I’ve been told."

When he finally calmed, the humor in his eyes softened, replaced by something quieter. "I’m serious, though," he said. "Think about it. Has anything felt... off today? Or different? Maybe something you noticed about yourself."

Sophia frowned, tilting her head. "Different about me?"

"Yes," he said simply. "Think back. Since this morning. Anything unusual?"

She hesitated, searching her mind. "Well, besides running into you and having this deeply confusing conversation? No, not really."

"Try again," he urged, his tone low, coaxing. "Focus."

Sophia stared at him for a long moment, lips pressed together as her mind rewound through the day. As she did, she noticed that indeed something was strange. Strange things did happen.

Her breath caught as she thought about it, the faint, inexplicable calm she’d felt all day whenever Orion was near. The way she’d known, without seeing him, that Orion had been nearby earlier. The way her pulse always seemed to increae when he was close, even when she didn’t mean for it to.

And the way her senses...his scent, his presence felt almost magnetic, as though her body recognized him before her mind did.

Her breath caught.

She had noticed it.

Sophia’s gaze flicked up to Orion, who was watching her closely, like a man waiting for a door to open. When realization began to dawn in her eyes, he took a slow breath and said quietly, "There it is."

She blinked. "There what is?"

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned, his back now facing her. The motion was fluid, effortless and distracting in ways she absolutely didn’t want to admit out loud.

Sophia’s jaw slackened slightly as she found herself staring. He was shirtless still, and his back was a masterpiece of muscle and smooth skin. The light from the candle traced every contour, broad shoulders, tapered waist, and the way his spine dipped slightly when he shifted his weight. It was... well, unfair.

And, of course, he noticed.

"I know," he said dryly, glancing over his shoulder. "I’m irresistible. But try to focus, though."

Sophia rolled her eyes at him.

"You can roll your eyes all you want but I know you find me irrestible." He told her.

Sophia had no idea how he knew she even rolled her eyes at him when his back was to her. She bit her lips to stop the smile threatening to take over her face and decided to focus.

"Look closely." Orion told her.

Reluctantly, she stepped forward again, crossing her arms as she eyed his back. "Fine. What am I supposed to be seeing here? Besides you shamelessly flexing?"

He sighed, exasperated. "Gods, the fact that you call me dumb is starting to feel incredibly debatable right now."

"I said it was debatable already." She replied to him.

He chuckled, the sound vibrating low in his chest, before saying simply, "Just look."

Sophia leaned a little closer, squinting. At first she didn’t notice it but as she traced down, she did. Something on his lower back shimmered faintly beneath the surface of his skin, like a pulse of silvery light threading through the ink.

Her breath hitched.

It was beautiful.

She took another step closer without realizing it, her gaze tracing the shape that seemed to be alive under his skin curling lines forming a crescent shape intertwined with faint runes that glowed for a heartbeat before dimming again. It was mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful, and somehow familiar.

She gasped softly. "When did you get a new tattoo?" she asked, her voice filled with wonder. "And why are you showing it off to me like it’s an art exhibit?"

Orion didn’t move. He just sighed and said, "Sophia, I swear, sometimes I truly question your brain."

She glared at the back of his head. "Like I do yours too."

He turned his head slightly, giving her a side look. "Look closer."

"Oh, for goddess’s sake," she muttered. "I can see what’s there you oaf. How much more do I need to look, my fingers are on it too."

But even as she said it, she looked back at the mark, enough so that she could see every curve, every detail of the strange mark. The longer she stared, the more it stirred something deep in her memory. She couldn’t quite place it, but she knew she’d seen it before. Not on someone’s body, but... somewhere else.

She shook her head pushing the thought away. She’d have to work with Lysander and Eldric to make do on her part of the net and try to get her memories back.

Her focus was on the mark.

And then it hit her.

"Is this...is this a mating mark?" She asked Orion in shock.