seasons change

Henry lifted his head from the food that he was in the middle of prepping when he heard a knock at the door, followed by Orion calling out to him. "Just a minute!" Henry called as he washed his hands off in the kitchen sink. When Henry appeared in her line of sight, he was drying his hands off with a kitchen towel. "Hey yourself," he answered with a soft smile. He tilted his head to the side, moving to push the screen door open so that they weren't talking through it.

"Oh? You don't have to thank me for that, sweetheart," Henry murmured, shaking his head as if it had been easy for him. It wasn't how he typically spent an evening with an omega but it had been easy to rely on his instincts. Hell, Henry would have even said that he enjoyed it, if Orion had pressed for an answer.

Henry cleared his throat as he glanced over his shoulder before turning back to face Orion. "I, uh, was just starting to make lunch since I got a pretty early start. If you wanted to join me?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he tilted his head to the side. Henry hesitated, knowing that his cooking likely wasn't up to par for someone like Orion. She was an omega with an omega mother, of course she was used to delicious meals.

"It's lettuce wraps so probably not that exciting to you. Sorry about that," Henry added with a soft laugh. "You don't have to... if you don't want to," he added quickly, not wanting Orion to feel trapped.

Ori wasn't exactly sure what she was doing or what she hoped to accomplish. Now that she was right in front of him, looking up at him again, she almost forgot all about...the shack full of body parts. "Yes, I do." Ori laughed, losing herself in his eyes for a moment. "You didn't have to do any of that." She just wanted him to know that she appreciated it.

She was all to ready to accept his offer, wondering if she might find anything in his home that would give her any answers. Or even spending more time with him might get him to accidentally say something. Ori was letting her curiosity get the better of her, completely ignoring how dangerous sticking her nose in his business could be. What would she do if she found concrete evidence that he was a killer.

"I'm not really hungry, but I'd love to come in." Henry was quick to step out of the way, motioning her inside off of the porch. Stepping inside, Ori felt a weird sensation wash over her. The feeling of Henry's house was welcoming, it was open and bright, but for some reason she felt like she shouldn't be here. Following him through the hall, Orion's eyes were scanning over everything. Just curiously peeking around, looking for anything that might seem out of place.

Passing by the living room, Ori noticed a girl's jacket resting over the back of the couch. That didn't necessarily scream anything malicious and dark, but it did turn her stomach. Following him into the kitchen in the back of the house, Henry had all the windows open, a nice view of his backyard and the stable with his horse. Ori walked further into the kitchen, glancing towards the head of lettuce resting on the counter. "Want me to help?" It was her instinct coming through, wanting to care for him.

Ori moved to the sink and washed her hands before grabbing a nice to slice tomato for his wraps. "So, what do you do?" She was trying to start small talk, her mind racing as she made herself comfortable in his kitchen, prepping the ingredients for the lettuce wraps.

@ castle.

Henry could have preened when Orion agreed to come inside. Even if she wasn't hungry, she wanted to spend time with him. That was all this was, as far as he was concerned. Henry breathed a small sigh as he led Orion into the back of his home, where the kitchen was. He moved over to the counter to finish dicing up the chicken before he tossed it into the frying pan. "Hm? Oh, uh... you don't have to," Henry answered after a moment of considering how to respond to Orion. "I mean, if you're not hungry..." he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. Henry couldn't possibly ask Orion to help him with his lunch, especially if she wasn't going to eat any of the lettuce wraps. Though he supposed she could always change her mind.

"Thank you," Henry was quick to speak when Orion started chopping the tomatoes for the lettuce wraps.

"My parents left me a fair bit of money but I'm a volunteer firefighter. I get called out if something pops up and I'm needed... or for training, 'course," Henry added after a moment. Trying to heal after losing his parents hadn't been an easy task but he liked to think that he was slowly learning how to live without them in his life.

Henry cleared his throat as he glanced toward her. Once the chicken had finished cooking, Henry started adding in more ingredients to the pan until he had the stuffing for the wraps all done up. Methodically, Henry began to stuff his before glancing her way. "Did you change your mind? If you don't want anything to eat, you can still grab a drink from the fridge. There's tea and water in there. Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid."

one month later

Ori had been spending almost every day at Henry's and eventually, the alpha had asked to court her. Enough time had passed to where Ori finally was over her weird fixation on that shed. She didn't believe it could be Henry's anymore and she figured it was best to just leave it alone. To keep herself out of trouble.

Until one weekend when her parents were out of town again and Henry had told her he'd been called by the fire station. They needed him to cover for the weekend, so Ori was all on her own. It was a warm fall night, so she decided to take another walk through the woods. It'd be a good idea to make her way to Henry's, maybe brush his horse. It'd be something to do. So, grabbing a beer from the fridge, she pulled one of Henry's flannels on that he left here for her and headed out of the back door.

Twenty minutes into her walk, almost to Henry's, Ori came across the rusty shed once more. Through the cracks around the door, she could vaguely see a glowing light from inside. That was new. She had never seen anyone inside, not even smelled a scent around the place. That's why she'd never been sure if it was Henry. She had never smelled him around the shack before. Until now.

Creeping closer to the building, Ori stayed far enough away that she was hopeful she'd go unnoticed. Squatting down by a tree, she stared at the shed, trying to hear anything going on inside. It was eerily quiet, until it wasn't. A shrill scream broke through the still fall air, and Ori didn't need an extra second to react. She was on her feet in seconds, running as quickly back towards her home as her feet would carry her. That scream was gut wrenching, blood curdling... A young girls voice. Sounding like she was dying.

Ori was trying not to think, just focusing on getting away. But tears were burning her eyes because she knew who she sensed. Henry's scent was all around the entrance, around the trees... It had to have been him in there.

@ castle.