WILD

twenty three

Lorena stood in line next to Max, trying to swallow around the lump in her throat. Her breathing got heavy and she shut her eyes, trying to ignore the fact that Orion was standing literally a few feet away from her. Him standing there was just messing with her head. He couldn't hold her like she wanted him to at the moment. He was working, and even though he was standing right there, he had to neglect her to be fair to the others and keep up appearances.

And she felt sad as she realized this was her new reality.

Instead of Richard lecturing to them, Orion took over. He paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, which did wonders for his posture. He looked like a statue sculpted out of marble.

"On average, you all did good today, but good isn't going to get you on the team." Lorena felt like he was looking at her when he said it, but she would never know, because the moment he started to speak she had fixed her eyes on the floor and she hadn't moved them from there. "You guys are a group of amazing fighters, but I can only choose a few of you. I will offer you a congratulations and it is up to you to accept it or not. Remember, this is one of the most dangerous jobs you will ever have. Not only are you sacrificing your time with friends, your mates, and your free time, you're sacrificing your life."

He walked over to the first person in line. He stood there for a few moments and then gave a small smile and a nod. "Congrats, Kyle." The young man who Lorena now knew as Kyle stepped forward and shook his alpha's hand, a giant grin on his face.

Orion continued, skipping over those who he didn't feel were ready yet. Lorena kept her eyes on the ground, her heart beating wildly as Orion stood in front of her.

Orion frowned at the sight of her. All of the fight and ferocity was gone. She looked broken almost. He wanted to move on and have a chat with her later, but his wolf wouldn't allow him to ignore it.

He quietly reached out and gently pushed her face upward so that she could look at him. She refused and kept her eyes down, a tear sliding down her cheek.

Orion sighed and wiped the tear away with his thumb before patting her cheek and moving on. As much as it hurt him to do that, he felt that she wouldn't appreciate him coddling her in front of everyone. He would just have to address her afterwards.

Lorena's breath caught in her throat as Orion moved away from her. She knew that she shouldn't have been on his force because she literally had her ass handed to her in front of him, but she still had hope that he would put her on anyways. Just as she thought, it was one of the most humiliating things she had ever been through. She was so bad that her own mate wouldn't even choose her out of pity. Wow.

She waited patiently for Orion to choose the rest and let out a sigh of relief when he was finished.

He clapped his hands together to silence all of the excited chatter. "Congrats again to those of you that were chosen. Training starts at 4am sharp every day except for Saturdays. Dismissed!"

The second Orion dismissed the group everyone started talking and chattering excitedly. She silently turned and walked away, hoping that she could slip out of sight without being noticed. But, as was the theme of the day, that didn't go her way either.

"Lorena!" Max ran over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "I made it!"

Lorena simply gave her the best smile she could muster up at that point and nodded. If she bothered to open her mouth to speak, she would start crying.

Max noticed that Lorena didn't look to hot and she knit her brows together in concern. "Girl...what happened to you?"

Lorena felt the tears prick at her eyes again and she turned away and kept walking without answering. Her stomach hurt. Her head hurt. Her throat hurt. Her chest hurt. She couldn't see clearly due to the tears.

Max let her go, getting the message that she didn't want to be bothered, but Orion didn't. He called after her over and over again, and she pretended she couldn't hear him. She quickened her pace and when she noticed that he was chasing after her, she ran.

She planned to go to her room, but she passed the building and kept going. She didn't have any idea of where she was going; She couldn't see anything. But she made out what she knew were trees in the distance and she wanted to reach them.

She ran as fast as she possibly could, her lungs straining to provide oxygen to her already dizzy head and her muscles. She ran and ran until she tripped and fell into the snow and pine needles on the ground. Instead of standing up, she rolled onto her back, panting heavily. Hot tears made their way down past her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut to get rid of the remaining tears before looking up at the sky.

She heard Orion's frantic footfalls and him calling for her. She knew she might be in trouble, but she didn't care. She wanted to go home. She hated it here.

"Lorena! Are you insane?" She looked to her side to see Orion approaching her, and she rolled her eyes. He stood over her and crossed his arms. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and sat up, watching as Orion crouched down next to her and examined her, making sure she was truly okay. He took note of her bloodied face and busted lip and when he touched a sore spot that she had gotten from Gen, she whimpered and tried to get away. Orion sighed and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her into the air.

She quietly rested her head on his shoulder and held on around his neck. "Lorena, please don't do that again. It might not be safe in the woods." He looked down at her and she looked up at him and nodded. "You're going to answer some questions later, but first I'm taking you to the infirmary."

Her eyes widened at that and she struggled, hoping that he would drop her from his arms so she could run. She hated nurses and doctors. He shushed her and sighed. "Relax, sweetheart."

She obeyed, but she felt tears come to her eyes again. She felt helpless. She didn't want to go to the doctor and she didn't want to answer questions. She just wanted to go home.