Chapter 249: Why Is It a Secret?

Brynhild chuckled, the sound a dry ribbon of amusement that cut through the tired hush of the room. Even with exhaustion still etched in the hollows beneath her eyes, the captain of the guards kept a spark about her that would not be smothered. Her laugh made Lysander smile despite himself.

"If you didn’t notice," Orion said, leaning back against the foot of the bed with easy nonchalance, "then Sophia and I must be doing a damn good job of hiding it."

Brynhild scoffed loudly at that. "A good job at hiding? Please." She shook her head softly. "You are basically announcing to the whole pack that you are with her. It’s just that for all their penchant for gossip, everyone fails to notice that you aren’t even smelling like yourself, and you don’t mask the scent either. It’s like you’re telling everyone to take a whiff at you to know you smell like your mate. I’m sure if I meet Sophia now, your scent will be all over her."

Orion’s grin slipped for a moment. He rubbed the side of his neck as if embarrassed to be pinned so easily, but there was warmth in his eyes when he looked at her. "But that’s just what you think, and I’m pretty sure it’s because you are so fucking perceptive that you noticed. Marta didn’t notice at all."

Brynhild raised an eyebrow. "Marta? She knows Sophia is mated?"

"She changed Sophia’s clothes after she collapsed from the fever, insisting that just because I had a crush on Sophia did not mean that I could ogle her naked body," Orion told them.

"A naked body you’ve seen countless times now, I presume," Lysander spoke up.

"Exactly," Orion told him. "Marta saw the mark and thought that Sophia’s mate was someone else."

Lysander frowned. "How did she not think that it was you at all?"

Orion shrugged. "Denseness must run in the pack after all. I don’t know how."

"Who does she think is Sophia’s mate then?" Brynhild asked him.

"I have no idea," Orion told her. "I only told her to ask Sophia herself when she wakes. She took pity on me, telling me she isn’t going to tell anyone."

"I’m mortified for her," Lysander said with a groan.

"I really wish she’d just come in here right now and hear us speaking," Brynhild muttered.

"She has other things to do, like rearranging the herbs with the other two until the apprentices and other healers come in," Lysander told her.

"I would have barked out a laugh if I had the energy to do so," Brynhild said with a chuckle, making the other two laugh.

When the noise faded, Lysander’s expression grew curious, then heavy. "But why keep it secret at all?" he asked, folding his hands together on his knees. "I’m sure the council wouldn’t object to you guys being together. The last council meeting showed that and... goddess! Orion, you and her were glued at the hip during the festival. Everyone knows that, so it’s not going to be much of a surprise, if at all."

"You know the funny thing? We both got together during the festival," he told them with a smile on his face.

"The truth is, I don’t want anyone to know Sophia and I are together. I want to enjoy my time with her. Imagine the work the council of elders would put her through when they find out that she’s my mate. They’d first make sure we got married and then expect her to be a leader like me, making her swamped with work and everything. I just want to explore things quietly. She may get tired of me after all, you know?" he said with a wink.

"So you just want her to yourself," Brynhild said to him.

Orion nodded. "And time to explore too."

"Let’s forget that thing about you guys exploring things. What you said just sounds greedy. You don’t want to share her with anyone else. And the part about Sophia getting tired of you? Yeah... I doubt that. If at all, you guys will tire each other out."

Orion chuckled.

"And when it comes to work... Orion, you and I both know Sophia is a hard worker. If there’s one person who will be able to balance her relationship with you and also her work in the pack, then it’s Sophia. You and I know that," Brynhild told him. "She’s not going to run away from work like you do, and let’s be frank, that’s the reason why your work is stressful."

"There’s always something to do. Of course I’ll run from it," Orion told her.

"Too bad you have to do the work now, especially since Ronan isn’t in the pack now," Brynhild said to him.

Lysander watched him, his look softening into scrutiny. "There’s another reason, isn’t there?" he asked him.

"I didn’t lie," Orion told him.

"No, but you are withholding information. You can’t lie after all. You are not telling us the whole thing," Lysander replied to him.

Orion’s jaw tightened.

He let the silence stretch, then let it fall away. "There’s something else," he said. The admission was small, the kind you give a wound to see if it will need more than a bandage. "Sophia—you know she still doesn’t remember who she is."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Brynhild asked him.

Orion sighed. "Everything."

Orion inhaled, then exhaled the shape of what he had feared for days and nights.

"Do you think everyone in the pack will accept her as my equal and listen to her when they have no idea who she is? Where she’s from? What her last memories hold? To be honest, I’m scared. I want to show the whole pack, and maybe even the world, that Sophia and I are together, but what if the others in the pack don’t accept her? I mean, I know some people will accept her, and I’m sure everyone knows that I have feelings for her, but they think it’s just a short feeling that will pass. Most people still think I like Holly, which I can’t even understand. And even if I know that Sophia doesn’t belong to the enclave, what if her untold memories become a threat? What if it puts the pack at risk—and even her too?" Orion asked them.