Chapter 306: Gossip, Tests, and Quiet Worries

Chapter 305: Gossip, Tests, and Quiet Worries

Sophia turned to Joren with wide eyes. "It was a secret."

Joren shrugged. "Then it was a badly kept secret. I suspected from the beginning but I wasn’t sure. And besides, if you guys were keeping it a secret, then why didn’t you mask your scents?"

Sophia groaned. "That was a mistake."

"I’m sure she forgot that part ’cause Alpha Orion has the skills," Nia said, wiggling her brows.

"Can we not talk about any bedroom skills between her and Alpha Orion while I’m in the room?" Dren asked with a groan.

"Get over yourself, Dren," Laia said with an eyeroll.

"Or on top of someone," Nia added with a snicker.

"Oh! That reminds me—do you know Kaitlyn?" Laia asked Sophia.

"No, I’m not sure I do."

"Well, no worries. I’ll show you who she is later. She works in the forge with Elder Mary, and she was in a very tough relationship. He was a serial cheater," Laia told her.

"The whole pack knew he was, but she refused to believe it. She thought she could change him."

"And I’ve told her numerous times that she cannot change him," Nia said with a nod.

"Anyway, after finding out he cheated—with a friend of hers, and it was really messy—she took to drinking, and she got over her partner by getting over someone else." Nia laughed.

"I thought the phrase was ’the best way to get over one person is by getting under another’ or something along those lines," Sophia said.

"But this is different," Nia insisted. "Because she really was over someone else. Someone in the form of her partner’s sister. It was really messy. They even tried to involve Alpha Orion, but he wasn’t in the right headspace to deal with something like that. It was trivial after all," Laia said with a shrug.

"My mother talked about how there hasn’t been a scandal like this in the pack for years," Cat said with a laugh.

"I loved it for Kaitlyn, honestly. Samuel needed to be taught a lesson," Nia added.

"Samuel and Kaitlyn... they were not mates?" Sophia asked.

"No, nothing of that sort. You forget that not everyone is lucky enough to have a mate," Nia told her.

Sophia nodded.

The crew continued telling her every piece of gossip she’d missed in the pack—both the ones she cared for and the ones she absolutely didn’t. They filled her in on everything, peppering the conversation with jokes that made her laugh every minute.

Throughout their stay, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. And it wasn’t just the gossip—they fussed over her endlessly. When she winced as she adjusted on the bed, Micah jumped up immediately to help her get comfortable.

They treated her like she might crack open if someone breathed too hard, until even Sophia had to remind them she wasn’t that sick. But Dren argued back, saying her body was still warm.

"And also, I heard that we’re going into the forests for the test," Cat told them suddenly. "Micah said it before, but I heard it from some others too."

"The test?" Sophia asked with a frown—then remembered the two weeks Orion had said he’d train them for. The test was supposed to have happened already.

"You guys haven’t taken it yet?" she asked.

"Why would we take it without you?" Dren asked.

"Maybe because it’s an opportunity for you guys to move on from being trainees? I’m not trying to be a warrior or a hunter—everyone knows that," Sophia reminded him.

"True," he agreed, "but we all trained together. It’s an opportunity to see how far we’ve come. You don’t need to be either. As long as you trained with us, you take the test with us."

"And besides," Cat added, "it’s because of you that we even got the opportunity to take the test. Obviously we’re not going to do it without you."

Sophia swallowed. "You guys are good friends," she said, her voice wobbling.

"Please don’t cry. I’ll cry too," Nia sniffled dramatically, making Sophia laugh again.

"But just because you guys think so doesn’t mean the others do," Sophia pointed out.

"Oh, that doesn’t matter. We shut them up," Laia said easily. "And the majority think it’s best if you recover fully before we take the test. Like Cat said—it’s because of you. We’re not doing this without you."

Sophia nodded. Tears gathered again as she remembered her friends from before. She wondered if they’d ever have gotten this close—if life hadn’t shifted the ground beneath her feet.

She closed her eyes, pulling herself together. They’d finished eating the food Joren brought and were now just lounging around. It had been hours, and none of them seemed interested in leaving. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Once you recover fully, you’ll take the test with us, right?" Joren asked softly.

"You guys leave me no choice," she laughed.

"I hope we get to be in the same group during the test," Joren muttered.

"It’s in groups?" Sophia asked.

"Don’t mind Joren. We actually don’t know if we’ll be in groups."

"I heard they’re merging the tests together," Cat said. "Instead of waiting until the end of the month like usual, we’re doing everything at once. So we all get the opportunity to move forward."

"I’d have said your information was wrong again," Dren teased her, "but after last time, I’m inclined to believe you."

"Sophia," Micah called softly.

Sophia turned to him. Micah had always been quiet, but today he felt almost withdrawn. He’d joked with them, but there was a reserve to him she couldn’t place. She made a mental note to check on him later—maybe something was bothering him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don’t know if you know," he said, choosing his words carefully, "but there are a lot of people who are opposed to the fact that you and Alpha Orion are together. They’re very vocal about it. Will you be able to cope with all that?"