Chapter 517: The Things He Did Not Say

Orion did not speak as he carried Sophia through the doorway of his bedroom.

The door closed behind them with a quiet click, shutting out the faint sounds of the compound outside. The room was warm, the fire in the hearth burning steadily, its glow stretching long shadows across the wooden floor.

Sophia shifted slightly in his arms.

Her ankle throbbed the moment she moved it.

Orion noticed immediately.

"Careful," he said quietly.

He crossed the room and lowered her onto the bed with deliberate care. The mattress dipped under her weight and she sucked in a breath when her injured ankle brushed the blanket.

Orion frowned faintly.

He reached for one of the pillows at the head of the bed and slid it beneath her leg, lifting her ankle just enough to keep it elevated.

"There," he said, adjusting it slightly.

Sophia leaned back against the pillows and watched him as he worked.

His movements were efficient.

"If being Alpha doesn’t work out for you," she said with a smile, "I’ll hire you as my caretaker."

Orion rolled his eyes. "Do you really think you can afford me?" he asked her.

"Who said I was going to pay you?" she asked him. "You’ll be working for free."

He huffed a laugh as he straightened. "While you think of ways to make me work for you for free, rest. I’ll be doing the Alpha duties that seem to somehow be working for me," he told her. "And also, don’t move around too much. I would hate to see you limping through the house."

Sophia rolled her eyes at that and he chuckled, turning to the door when she spoke up.

"Orion," she called out.

He stopped and turned to look at her.

"What is it, shorty?" he asked her. "I haven’t left yet and you’re missing me already?"

"That’s not it," Sophia told him. "I just feel like you should rest with me."

One of Orion’s eyebrows lifted.

"Should I?"

"Yes."

He smirked at her words. "If you want sex, you can be direct with me, shorty."

"Get your head out of... goddess knows where you even put it. I’m not asking for sex, I’m genuinely worried," she told him.

"I rested yesterday though," he said to her.

Sophia just stared at him.

"I doubt that was enough."

The smirk remained, though it softened slightly.

"It was not, but it did its job."

Orion’s smirk faded slightly as he noticed Sophia wasn’t smiling. She just stared at him with a frown on her face.

"You can ask what you want to ask," Orion said finally.

Sophia blinked.

"I was going to anyway."

"I know," Orion said, his voice calm as his lips twitched. "So you might as well hurry up."

Her lips tugged upward at that, just a little, but it didn’t last.

It faded almost as quickly as it appeared and her expression grew serious again.

Sophia shifted slightly against the pillows and winced when her ankle protested.

Orion watched the movement closely but said nothing.

After a moment, she spoke again.

"Are you okay?"

Orion frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Sophia hesitated for a second before answering.

"You’re always taking care of people." She gestured weakly toward him. "It’s either the pack... or me... mostly me."

"Um... I can’t not take care of you, shorty. We are together," he told her. "And besides, I like you too much to not take care of you."

Sophia let out a small breath.

"I know you like me and I like you too, but that’s not what I mean and you know it," she told him.

Orion didn’t say anything. He just let her speak.

"Orion, it was you we... I saw dead in the vision. It was you in my arms. I was the one who had a breakdown, but it was you who was dead in it," she told him. "And honestly I... I just want to know if you’re actually okay. You saw yourself dead after all."

Orion stared at her for a long moment.

"Shorty, I can cope with what I saw."

"That’s not what I want to know. I don’t want to know if you can cope. I want to know if you are okay," she told him.

"Shorty... you shouldn’t focus on things like—"

"Don’t avoid giving me an answer," she said firmly. "I know it must have affected you some way, but you are pretending like it didn’t. You are pretending like it doesn’t matter, like I’m the only one who was affected."

"Shorty," he said softly. "You need to rest. Don’t focus on—"

"Are you okay, Orion?" she asked him firmly. "And I want honesty from you. Don’t avoid the answer."

Orion exhaled quietly. "I don’t want to tell you the answer to this," he told her. "And like I said, you shouldn’t bother—"

"I’m going to bother, you oaf," she said to him. "It’s you. I will always bother, Orion, and you should get it through your thick skull that I care about you the same way you care about me."

"Just stop avoiding the answer, Orion. What did you feel when you saw the vision? How are you now? How are you coping with it? Just tell me something. Anything."

"But I can’t lie to you."

"Why would you lie?"

"Because I’m not certain how you’d take the answer to the questions you asked. Regarding how I felt when I saw the vision and even how I feel now."

Sophia gave him a look. "I wouldn’t like the answer," she said softly.

He nodded.

"Then that’s all the more reason why you should give me an answer. I wouldn’t rest until you tell me what it is."

"I don’t want to lie to you, shorty."

"Then don’t."

"You—"

"I need you to be honest, Orion," she said softly, but her voice was stern.

Orion sighed and moved a hand through his hair as he walked closer and sat down on the mattress. It dipped with his weight.

"I..." he began, then paused and swallowed before he continued, his gaze on the floor. "I was surprised when I saw the vision. I’m not going to lie about that, but the surprise only lasted a while because I... I kind of expected it. The first thought I had was that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t escape it. That it was high time it came after me."