Chapter 6
1001 Words
Orion's POV
“What... What are you saying?”
I asked Arlenna, squinting at her like I hadn't heard her right. Maybe I didn’t want to hear it.
"Don't... don't marry Nimara, Orion," she repeated, her voice soft but trembling.
I blinked. "I am betrothed to Nimara.”
Her eyes searched mine. "But... but you don't love her, Orion."
"And what does that have to do with anything?" I asked sharply. "I never told you I didn’t love her, Arlenna."
She stared at me, hurt showing in her eyes. "So... so you love her?"
I looked away. "I didn’t say that either."
We were both quiet for a minute. Then I added quietly, “Don’t you understand that this is forbidden, Arlenna? What happened that night... What happened... I don’t even know what happened."
But I did. I just couldn’t admit it. Not even to myself.
I’d always felt something around Arlenna, something that hung at my chest whenever she was near.
A scent. A warmth. Something familiar, yet out of place.
I tried to ignore it, tried to reason it away because she was my stepsister.
That feeling wasn't proper and I had no idea why they were there and why she always smelled familiar and why my wolf was so bubbly around her.
Not until that night. Until everything made sense.
She was my mate.
But how could we explain that? She was my stepsister. It was taboo. A curse on our name. And my wedding to Nimara was just weeks away.
"See... the only solution now is for you to take the baby out first," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat.
Her eyes widened. "Wh...what do you mean, take it out?"
"Aren’t you thinking, Arlenna?" My voice came out harsher than I meant. "You obviously can’t keep that child! You cannot!"
She stepped back like I’d slapped her. "I’m keeping it. With or without you, Orion."
"So you want to be married off? Is that what you want?"
"Let’s run away together," she said suddenly. "Let’s go far away, Orion. Somewhere no one knows us. We’ll start afresh."
I froze.
She walked up to me, gently placing her hand on my chest. "Let’s run together, Orion. Please.”
"And leave everything behind?" I asked, searching her face.
"There’s nothing here for me, Orion!" she cried. "Mother wants to marry me off if I insist on keeping the child."
"Arlenna," I said, moving closer to her. "Yes, you drive me crazy. Really crazy. That night... I got carried away. We got carried away. And it got into your head. If I had known you didn’t know anything about protection, I wouldn’t have released inside you."
Her hand dropped from my chest.
"So... so you regret it," she whispered. "I was just a mistake to you."
"No. No. No, Arlenna," I said quickly. "What I’m saying is—we cannot be. And I’m getting married to Nimara."
Her eyes were wet. "And I don’t matter?"
Fuck! She was making this difficult. I did feel something for her, something I hadn’t felt with anyone else.
But this? This wasn’t part of the plan.
I swallowed hard. "You matter to me, Arlenna. It’s why you can’t keep the baby. It would ruin us."
"So you’ll let Mother marry me off?"
"My wedding is in a few weeks, Arlenna," I said. It was all I had.
"Orion, please..." she pleaded. Her voice was so soft, I almost missed it.
But I couldn’t. As much as I wanted her, I couldn’t. Nimara was a long-term investment. A future carefully built, brick by painful brick.
"Orion..." she called again.
And I saw them—those tears, pouring freely down her cheeks. I couldn't bear them. I couldn’t bear her.
So I left.
I turned around and walked out.
She didn’t stop me. Didn’t say a word. Neither did I.
"Did she tell you who the bastard father is?"
I froze.
Anastasia’s voice came hitting me from behind the minute I left Arlenna's room.
I turned slowly. She stood near the door, her arms were crossed.
She was my stepmother, but I called her by her name.
"Anastasia," I said, forcing a smile. "You startled me."
"Ha... were you standing by the door all this while?" I asked with my heart racing.
She smirked. "No, I just got here. So tell me, who’s the father?"
I cleared my throat, trying to keep my voice steady. "She... she didn’t say."
"Do you know if she saw Erik that night?" Anastasia asked, raising a brow. "Maybe they spent some time together after you dropped her off with him?"
She had no idea.
No idea that Erik never saw her that night. No idea that it was me.
That it was my hands, my lips, my body that tangled with hers in the soft cool rain.
That we had made love like two wild, reckless teenagers drunk on each other.
"You look tense, Orion. Are you okay?" she asked, stepping closer.
"Y...yes. I’m good," I replied, clearing my throat.
"Why did you ask to move the wedding forward though?"
I looked away. "Delay is dangerous, right? Let’s leave it at that, Anastasia."
I walked past her, needing to breathe. Needing space. Needing to forget how Arlenna’s voice still rang in my ears.
Everywhere was just suffocating and I didn't want to be within the walls. I kept on pacing around and I needed to leave.
“Are you in for some drink?” I said as I picked up my phone and reached out to Jarek, one of my close pals.
I needed to talk to someone before I lost my mind.
“You need a girl for the night?” He asked me.
No, I wasn't a womanizer, but a lot of girls had their eyes on me and would die to be in my bed.
But I never paid attention to any of them, except one though.
"The wedding's canceled?" he guessed again.
"Arlenna's pregnant."
- Writer
