Page 82 of In the Light of the Moon

Orion clutched my hand, and I sent calm through our twined fingers. I still didn’t know what the hell I was doing in terms of soothing others in this way. Even Granna wasn’t able to provide specific guidance about this particular ability. It was a strange realization that her knowledge had limits, and I could tell that it frustrated the both of us.

Whatever it was, it seemed to be working, because Orion was at least able to remain cordial with his mother, which wasthe true litmus test of his mood. The sights and sounds were overstimulating to me, so I couldn’t imagine how he was feeling.

Meredith seemed perfectly comfortable, waving and talking pleasantly with people she hadn’t seen in decades. I could tell she was eating up the attention and appreciation for how great she looked. And she did—far younger than she was and impeccably dressed and coiffed.

Ramona’s moods, on the other hand, were up and down. With the lack of relationship between Orion and Meredith, I’d assumed that Ramona would be close with their mother. Through the long weekend with them, I now wasn’t really sure that was the case.

“So, when do you two plan on making it official, Sylvie?” Meredith appeared while we were slowly browsing a tent that had vintage clothes and trinkets. She wrinkled her nose, presumably because of the dusty smell that clung to everything in here.

“Ah… what—we’re exclusive and…” I tried and failed to form a concise answer with her piercing blues pinning me where I stood. Though she seemed to have gotten used to the idea of me being around, Meredith had an uncanny ability to literally flay you alive with just a glance. A few words, and you’d be frozen over.

When it was directed toward Orion, I had no trouble coming in and engaging her in conversation, but when it was directed toward me, I floundered. And my patience was wearing thin. We were hosting, but I’d never been around someone who justexpectedto be waited on like Orion’s mother.

“How long have you been together, again?” Meredith picked up a glass vase, turned it around in her manicured grip, and set it back down.

“Two and a half months, Meredith,” Orion supplied shortly. His eyes were tight and unseeing while he flipped over an old record.

At last, I found something to say, “We’re taking things as they come. But I’m committed to your son, as you know.” I didn’t meant to sound curt, but this woman was so tiresome. If anything, I would argue that a mating mark was as ‘official’ as a marriage proposal. But, maybe she just wanted to plan a wedding.

Meredith fished around in her Prada handbag, and after checking her phone, she produced a cigarette and a lighter that Orion bought her that first full day of their visit. “Oh, I’ve never known my son to just ‘take things as they come’. He has far too much trouble with a lack of rigidity. Certainly you’re old enough to shack up, as they used to say, but why would you?”

“Didn’t you get knocked up in high school, Mom?” Ramona shot, and the daggers Meredith shot back would have made me burst into a flurry of ice shards. But Ramona stood her ground, even raising a brow and taking a sip from her styrofoam cup of cider.

Meredith looked like she was going to say something else but decided not to, and she instead turned out of the tent, muttering something about “disrespectful fucking children”.

Orion’s lips on my forehead brought me back, and I let my calm flow again. How funny was it that making it for him was easy? It was the giving it to myself that was next to impossible. “I do intend to give you a ring. If you’re worried about that.” He had bags under his eyes, which, through all of our time together, I’d never seen before. We hadn’t been able to talk much about our other troubles, like the murders and the pack and Granna’s slips getting worse, but they were all wearing on us.

I pressed up on my toes to give him a kiss on the cheek and joined Ramona while she flipped through a rack of denimjackets. “I wasn’t worried, baby.” I sent him a smile and let him sink into his search through the boxes of records. We’d been shopping a couple of times at the record store in town—enough for me to know that the laser focus he went into was comforting and most beneficial to him when he had no interruptions. Orion muttered to himself, fingers tapping on his chin while he considered which ones to purchase.

Ramona and I browsed in silence for a while, navigating the thin space between clothing racks. I’d gotten quite used to taking space with others without speaking—Orion and Granna were both very fond of it, and I’d grown to enjoy it as well—but I noticed Ramona’s fidgeting. I wondered what her life was like, living in a big house with everything she needed, but all under her mother’s thumb. Or was it just when they were around others? At home, was Ramona left to her own devices? With the rate she seemed to be texting whoever when she first arrived, I chalked it up to a multitude of friends, but with each hour, she brought her phone out less and less. I wasn’t even sure I saw her on it at all today.

We kept moving through the clothes, and I found a black dress with lace appliqué on the sleeve hems. I plucked it off the rack and held it up to my front, trying to judge if it would fit. A throat clearing made me take notice that Ramona was now on the same aisle as me, fingers testing the feel of a thick sweater. “Do you really want to marry my brother?” We both glanced at Orion who was still fully fixated in his browsing, and I watched him shake his head to himself and stuff a record back into one of the boxes. I couldn’t help but smile fondly.

“Yeah, I do. Though, I’m already mated to him.”

Ramona got a weird look on her face, some mixture of discomfort, longing, and sadness. “Mom’s not mated to Dad.”

I nodded and tried to imagine being with someone so long without truly knowing them. Since he’d revealed his Wolf to me,I realized how large a part of Orion I’d been missing. I still hadn’t really told him how much it’d hurt to not have his trust earlier, but the more he told me about his life and from what I’d seen firsthand, I understood. But to truly see him relax with me was better than anything I ever imagined. It made me do the same.

I chose to be honest with Ramona, “I couldn’t imagine not being mated to your brother. Not knowing about who he is. I love him so much.”

Now it was Ramona’s turn to nod, and she turned to hunt through the rack behind us. Her face was very noticeably hidden from my view this way. “Well, obviously, if you hurt him, I’ll have to kill you.”

Her words took me so far aback, I didn’t realize I was cackling until my laughter was already echoing loudly through the space. Neither Ramona nor Orion turned to me, but I could see the very edge of her face and the little tilt in her lips. “Obviously. And I wouldn’t blame you.”

“And… I know that he and Mom don’t really… vibe, but. If you guys have a wedding, or whatever, I’d wanna be there. If that’s cool.”

Though a wedding was pretty low on my list of things to think about at the current moment, the sudden talk of a ring and tying myself to Orion in that way made me feel lighter. It was something to look forward to amidst all that was still difficult.

I draped the dress I was going to buy over my arm. “Absolutely. I doubt we’d do anything big, but you’re definitely invited.” Ramona nodded along, not looking at me. I caught sight of Orion starting to make his way over. “And,” I added as nonchalantly as I could, “if you ever wanted to come visit. We’d be happy to have you. I know he likes having you here.” She laughed off what I said, but I decided not to push.

Instead, I turned my attention to Orion who was clutching at least ten records to his chest and his free hand tapping quicklydown at his side. “Wow, you must’ve hit the jackpot,” I pointed to his haul.

His eyes crinkled, and he launched into a detailed explanation of his spoils. A few special editions he’d been hunting for a while, some random ones that he found interesting. I worried for a moment that there was no room on the shelves at the cabin for more, but I was sure he’d find the space. The thought of curling up on the couch with Orion, reading beside each other with a record playing, made me feel antsy. Just a few more hours and we’d be alone again.

We paid the owner of the little shop on our way out, and Ramona snickered, “Jeez, O, you could’ve left some for other—” she cut off mid-sentence at the same time Orion’s head snapped up and over to the left. We emerged back out into the throws of the festival, but it took me a second to figure out what Orion and Ramona were looking at.

My pulse quickened in a mixture of dread and anger, and when I looked up at Orion, he was already moving forward and starting to pull me with him. Ramona was clearly confused but followed us unquestioningly, and the closer we got, the easier it was to hear.

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