Chapter 294: A Truth on the Edge of His Tongue

Chapter 293: A Truth on the Edge of His Tongue

Marta’s chuckle was the first to slip. It burst out of her like she’d been holding it hostage for too long, a bright, musical sound that immediately made Sophia want to hide under the blankets. Madam Tyler wasn’t any better—her entire face was practically glowing, her grin so wide it looked painful. And Lysander... well, Lysander tried to hold himself together. He really did.

He coughed into his fist, trying to smother his laughter.

A hopeless effort.

Orion shot him a look.

Lysander avoided Orion’s stare so aggressively he might as well have looked into another dimension. His gaze landed on the ceiling... then the floor... then the cupboard... literally anywhere except Orion.

Sophia, meanwhile, wanted to pass away gently and peacefully.

Lysander finally cleared his throat and clapped his hands together like a man choosing to flee the scene. "Right! Well. Sophia... you should get some rest. The rest of us will just, um... leave you alone so you can rest peacefully."

Marta and Madam Tyler whipped their heads toward him with twin protests forming on their lips.

That didn’t matter. Lysander was already herding them out like misbehaving toddlers.

He grabbed Marta by the shoulders and directed her toward the door. "Out. Now."

"But—!"

"Nope."

Then he nudged Madam Tyler with gentle but firm insistence. "You too. Out."

Madam Tyler giggled like a woman half her age. "But I’m enjoying the view—"

"Me too," Marta said.

Lysander didn’t listen. He practically shoved them outside the door and slammed it shut behind him before either woman could wedge a foot in to stay.

Lysander was tired, he really was. But his tiredness was also filled with relief.

"The whole pack will rejoice when they find out that Sophia is awake," Madam Tyler said.

"The whole pack?" Lysander asked her. "Some of them don’t even want Sophia to be his mate."

"Who cares if they do? As long as they like each other, then it’s okay. They only need my support too," Madam Tyler said like she was the only one in the pack that had a say.

"Only need your support?" Lysander asked her and then scoffed. "That’s one of the worst lies I’ve ever heard and believe me, I’ve heard a lot."

"No one needs to matter when it comes to what those two feel," Madam Tyler told him.

"I’m not arguing with that. I’m only arguing the fact that you said your opinion is the only one that matters. We all know that’s not true," Lysander told her.

"Before you guys start arguing," Marta interjected. "Can we all just be happy about the fact that she is awake? You don’t know how many times I prayed to the moon goddess to grant that girl peace and take her pain away and just make her come back."

Madam Tyler released a sigh. "I’ll have to agree with Marta even though I hate to do so. It’s true, after hearing that she collapsed I made sure to pray every day. And when she rushed to calm me today... I thought it was going to get worse, but thank the goddess it didn’t. She is benevolent after all."

Lysander nodded. "Well, I’ll leave you guys here. I have to break the news to Brynhild. She refused to leave the facility until she hears news that Sophia is awake."

"That’s true. Say hi to Raina for me," Marta said to him. "I’ll come visit after I have some rest."

Lysander laughed. "Not that she’ll understand though, but I’ll do so."

---

Immediately Lysander and the others left, silence settled in the room where Sophia and Orion were.

A very awkward, very heavy silence.

Sophia let out a groan. "I didn’t mean to do that."

"I know," Orion said, voice low but amused despite himself.

"Do you think they already know?" she asked, biting her lip.

Orion leaned back, arms crossing. "Sophia... for some odd reason, most people in this pack are dense."

"People who gossip like it’s their life’s work are dense?" she asked him.

Orion nodded. "Yes."

Sophia chuckled, her shoulders relaxing. "Thank the goddess then, I really thought that they would have noticed already."

Orion chuckled lightly at her words.

"You do not know how terrible it would be if I was the one who exposed our relationship."

"Really?" Orion asked her with raised eyebrows.

"Yes," she told him. "I don’t have my wolf and I always have this issue with taking in my surroundings."

"Having your wolf with you would have helped with that," Orion told her.

"True," she said quietly. "I’m hoping that maybe as time goes on I’ll be able to communicate with her back. But anyway, what I was saying was, since I don’t take in my surroundings, I may just slip up by mistake."

He snorted. "If anyone was going to be slipping then it was going to be me."

"Well, given that you can’t take your eyes off me..." she said with a smirk, making Orion laugh.

"But something is bothering me though," she said to him. "Why were Marta and Madam Tyler smiling like that? Did you see their faces? They looked so proud and they smiled so widely like they were in on a secret or something."

Orion, instead of answering, suddenly stood up from where he’d been crouched beside her bed. "I, uh... should clean the room a little."

"Um... suddenly?" she asked him.

"Yes, you can’t stay in a room like this after all. It’s messy," he told her.

Sophia took in the room. It really was messy, but she didn’t understand why he should be the one to clean it. Her senses tingled a bit.

"Orion."

He pretended not to hear her and walked toward the fallen bowl to pick it up.

"Orion," she repeated, firmer.

He stilled immediately.

Sophia sat up straighter despite the pull of soreness across her back and ribs. "Is there something you’re not telling me?"

Orion closed his eyes like he was suddenly on trial.

Then he cleared his throat.

And swallowed so hard she could hear it.

"So... the thing is..." he began.