Chapter 54: Shadows of the Past

"Orion, wait," she called, her voice cutting through the grounds’ noise. "I need to talk to you. It’s important."

He paused with his back to her. He had just made it outside the training grounds. Slowly, he turned, his expression unreadable, though his eyes held a flicker of curiosity. "What is it, Holly?" he asked, his voice low, neutral.

She hesitated, her hands clenching at her sides, her gaze darting toward Sophia, who was now wiping her hands on her trousers, oblivious to their exchange. "It’s about the stranger," Holly said, her voice tight with bitterness.

Orion’s brow furrowed, a genuine confusion crossing his face. "What stranger?" he asked, his tone sharp, though an inkling stirred in his gut, a faint suspicion of where this was going.

Holly’s lips pressed into a thin line, her blue eyes narrowing. "You know who I’m talking about, Orion. The outsider. The girl in the training grounds."

His jaw tightened, a spark of irritation flaring in his eyes. He shook his head, his voice firm. "The outsider has a name, Holly. It’s Sophia. And she’s a woman, not a girl."

Holly bristled, her arms crossing, her leather tunic creaking. "Oh, so all of a sudden you’ve taken a liking to her?" Her voice rose, sharp with accusation, drawing a few glances from nearby warriors."You’re defending her like she’s one of us, when she’s barely been here a month!"

Orion’s expression hardened, his eyes locking onto hers. "This pack treats people with respect, Holly. Or have you forgotten? To the other werewolves, we’re the outsiders. The Nightshade Pack, scraping by in Nirvana, cast out by the Enclave. You want to call Sophia an outsider? Look in a mirror." His voice was low, cutting, each word deliberate.

Holly’s face flushed, her eyes widening before she looked away, her shoulders stiff. "I... I didn’t mean it like that," she muttered, her voice softer now, an apology in her tone. "I’m sorry." She took a breath, then pressed on, her voice steadier. "But are you really going to train her? Her?"

Orion nodded, his expression unyielding. "She passed the test. She unsheathed the sword, fair and square."

Holly’s jaw dropped, her voice rising again. "I’ve been asking you to train me for months, Orion! Months! And you’ve brushed me off every time."

He shrugged his shoulders. "What did you expect? You were working with Serena then all of a sudden you decided to be a warrior because you heard the rumour that I was sleeping with only warriors..."

"That’s not the reason..."

Lie ."Don’t lie to me, Holly. You and I both know that isn’t going to work."

Holly sighed. "Fine, I worked with Serena, overseeing residences, sure, but now I want to be a warrior. I feel I can do it!"

"I’m not saying you can’t. But it’s the reason behind you becoming a warrior that doesn’t sit well with me. It doesn’t make sense."

"But I can do it."

Orion’s eyes narrowed, "No, you can’t, feelings aren’t enough, Holly. You weren’t a warrior before, and now, all of a sudden, you want to be one? Training to be a warrior should not just be a whim to you. It should and is discipline, grit, purpose. Sophia proved she’s got that today. Have you?"

"I never once proved to you that I didn’t have it."

Lie.

"But you did." He told her. "You want to be a warrior, she wants to learn to fight to defend herself, it’s different. She is doing this solely for herself and not for someone. You don’t have to be someone you aren’t just because you want to be with them."

Holly’s face reddened, her hands clenching into fists. "So now you are the expert on relationships? You’re training someone who took hours to unsheathe a sword, Orion! Hours! But you won’t train me? After everything we’ve been through? After we were together?" Her voice cracked, a raw edge of hurt breaking through, and the warriors nearby slowed their sparring, their eyes flicking toward the scene. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Orion froze, his expression shifting to shock. "Together?" he echoed, his voice low, almost disbelieving. "Holly, we were together for three months when we were seventeen. That was years ago. It’s been done for a long time."

"But I still..."

"Don’t complete that sentence, for both our sakes please do not complete it. I know how much you loathe fighting, Holly. You can claim you want to be a warrior now but you loathe it. You’ve hated it for years. Don’t bring up the past just because I’m training someone willingly, someone who isn’t doing this just because she is into me." He told her.

Holly’s face paled, her mouth opening and closing as she stuttered, "I...I didn’t mean it like that. It was a slip of the tongue." She swallowed, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "But you know how I feel about you, Orion. You have to know."

Orion’s gaze softened, but only slightly, his jaw still tight. He nodded, his voice quieter now, almost gentle. "I know, Holly. And I’m sorry. But I don’t feel the same way. I haven’t for a long time." He paused, his eyes searching hers, a flicker of regret in them. "You deserve someone who can love you back, someone better than me. Hell, Richard is into you, Bianca is also into you, you can find someone else. Don’t hold until something that happened years ago, please. Something that didn’t last."

Holly’s lips trembled, her hands falling limp at her sides. She opened her mouth to speak, but Orion cut her off, his tone firm but not unkind. "I need to be somewhere, Holly. Whatever issues you’ve got, we’ll sort them out later." He turned, his boots crunching as he hurried away, the sword still slung over his shoulder.

Holly stood rooted, her gaze locked on his retreating figure, a mix of longing and hurt etched across her face. The warriors resumed their sparring, their murmurs rising, but Holly didn’t move, her gaze following Orion until he disappeared beyond the pines.