Chapter 307: Broken Fingers and Loyal Wolves

Chapter 306: Broken Fingers and Loyal Wolves

"More like will they be able to cope with us?" Cat asked, making the others laugh.

"True," Dren chimed in. "Anyone who even tries to mutter something remotely akin to the fact that Holly is better— which, can we all be honest and say the truth, Holly doesn’t even compare—"

"That wasn’t what you said before," Cat interrupted.

"I’ve seen the light," Dren declared. "But anyway, anyone who even tries to utter the words that Sophia and Alpha Orion don’t belong together is being shut down by me."

"That reminds me," Laia said. "You had a fight with one of the older trainees just two days ago."

"Yeah, what was that about?" Nia asked.

"Who did you fight with?!" Sophia demanded.

"Someone... he’s an archer. And just before training was over he was saying mean things about how he was sure he’d be able to—" Dren shook his head. "Gah! I don’t want to remember it."

"You already remember it," Sophia pointed out.

"Okay, well... I don’t want to say it."

"I can say it for you," Cat announced.

"You know what the fight was about?" Joren asked her.

Cat nodded. "Yes."

Nia stared at her with a smirk that said she already knew where this was going.

"Let me guess," Nia said. "Lover boy here told you, right?"

"Lover boy?" Joren frowned.

"Yeah."

"Who? Dren?" Joren asked, confused.

"Who else?"

"I thought you were talking about Micah because—"

"Dren fought the archer because he said he was sure he could fuck Sophia too if he approached her, and that she was a slut," Cat blurted out, interrupting Joren before he could finish.

She already knew what he was about to say—that Micah had feelings for Sophia. Micah wasn’t going to tell Sophia until he was ready, and sometimes Joren just didn’t read the room.

But Cat may not have read the room either... or she’d simply underestimated how her friends would take the news she’d just thrown at them.

The room went silent. Eerily silent. The only sounds were those from outside the pack and the distant footsteps of healers moving about their work.

"What," Micah said, his voice ice cold, "did you just say?"

Cat swallowed.

"I want to believe I didn’t hear that right," Laia said through clenched teeth, her eyes narrowing to slits. "That bastard who took over nine days to finish the task Alpha Orion gave his group said what?"

"Nice going, Cat," Dren groaned.

"Guys, Dren already dealt with him," Cat tried to placate.

"From the fight I saw, Dren didn’t do anything," Nia said. "Thank the goddess I know where the bastard lives. I’ll just—"

"You’ll do no such thing," Sophia said sternly.

Nia gave her a look. "I’m going to have to disagree with that. You don’t expect me to just sit around and do nothing when someone says things like this about a friend I care about, right?"

"I’m not saying you shouldn’t do anything when a person does something like that," Sophia said, "but I am saying that you shouldn’t go after him. Dren already handled it. There’s no point in going after him again." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Nah," Micah said quietly. "We should go after him so he learns not to run his mouth. And if he does, then he should know there are consequences."

Sophia stared at him in disbelief. "You’re supposed to be the calm one among us."

"Did you hear what he said about you? How can I be calm?" Micah shot back.

"Exactly. That’s like someone calling Nia a slut to my face and I do nothing about it," Laia added.

"But they didn’t say it to your face," Sophia argued. "They said it to Dren, and Dren shut him up immediately."

"With a light scribble that looked like two kids fighting," Micah said.

"Dren actually broke his finger," Cat corrected.

"Oh," Nia said thoughtfully, nodding with approval. "Should’ve torn his vocal cords out too."

"Or ripped his tongue off," Laia added.

Nia nodded again. "Yes, but we can at least be a bit satisfied that Dren broke his finger."

"Besides, Sophia said we shouldn’t do anything," Laia said.

"And we won’t," Nia agreed. "We’ll just wait until the test and see what group he joins."

Micah smiled then—slowly, dangerously—finally understanding what they meant. He might not have a chance with Sophia, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let anyone call her a slut. Especially someone who wasn’t even half of what Sophia was. Some people in the pack just talked because they had mouths. They didn’t care that Sophia was better than Holly, that she was the reason they even had the opportunity to take the test, the reason they got to train under Orion.

They talked because some of the older trainees felt a stranger like Sophia didn’t deserve to be with Orion.

"And then," Micah said as he relaxed back in his chair, "we’ll see if he can pass the test. Or if he’ll likely assume the role of a slut—seems a better job suited for him than being a hunter."

Sophia stared at him, mouth open. Then, suddenly, she burst out laughing. She wasn’t laughing because what he said was funny—Micah had been deadly serious.

She laughed because, unlike what her mother may have believed, she had friends who supported her. Friends who didn’t see her the way her mother did.

"I think she’s losing it," Joren whispered.

"Or she’s just overwhelmed by how much we love her," Nia said proudly, sending the others into a fit of chuckles.

When the laughter died down, Sophia gave them all a look.

"If we’re going to hurt him," she said with a slow smile, "let’s do it in a way no one will suspect."

Nia leaned in, grinning. "Now you’re talking."

They spent the rest of the day plotting how to get back at the person who had called Sophia a slut and told Sophia who to be on the lookout for when she left the medical facility because some members were very rude with their opinions.

They also suggested that for anyone who talked bad about Sophia, that all she has to do is tell them and that they’ll get rid of the people.

After a while, they left but Micah lingered behind.