103. Tread Lightly

The two Alphas resumed their walk, and Selene found she wanted to steer the conversation. “I mated with Calla only three weeks upon meeting. We have spent two years together.”
“Two years?” he repeated in surprise. “Do you have any pups?”
Kiran didn’t see her tail lash. “No.”
Her tone suggested that matter was not a topic to pursue, but he said, “My mate was incapable of bearing a litter. I understand your frustration.”
She steered the conversation again. “When did you realize you were immortal?”
“I thought I was *invincible*.” Kiran tipped his nose to the sunny sky, scenting the spring air. “My parents were in their fiftieth years when my brother and I were born.”
“As you mentioned.”
“Yes. And like you and your sisters, it seemed strength did not favor all.” Kiran’s voice was low, a simmering kind of nostalgia. “I could take much more of a beating; I was stronger, faster, bigger…”
Selene didn’t understand the appeal of the bright warmth of the sun; she preferred the mystery and coolness of night. “Could it have been,” she began slowly, “that even if our siblings survived, they would have been immortal as well?”
Kiran barked a laugh. “Could you imagine an eternal sibling rivalry?”
Selene snorted when she attempted such an image. “I would still be the victor.”
They reached Castle Night’s gate, Selene’s Delta waiting to open it with a change of clothes for them both. While neither were known for their modesty, Kiran refused to leer or let Selene be “astonished” by his body, so their nakedness remained a mystery.
Now clothed and in their human forms, Kiran didn’t miss Selene stalling to scan the trees and hill. “Looking for the grand return of your mate?”
Selene, even after two years, still preened at the words *your mate*. Calla Amaranth was *hers*, and the world knew it.
And she was the reason Selene hoped she was mortal.
“Nothing grand,” she said simply. “Just a return.”
“It can be…difficult to go any amount without your mate.”
Selene ignored the wistful pain in the remark. “You will enjoy her company.”
“I anticipate doing so. What is her name again?”
“My name is Calla!”
Selene spun. Calla was jogging from around the corner of Castle Night, a bundle of flowers in her arms that she dropped to embrace Selene and press a brief but full kiss to her lips. Selene flooded with warmth before kneeling to help regather the flowers.
“I was just about to put together a bouquet for—oh, is this—”
Kiran stumbled forward. The sudden movement of a large body made Selene shove Calla behind her and turn a beginning snarl on him.
He didn’t even seem to notice. “Zinnia,” he murmured, and Selene was struck by the expression she had never seen before: shock, confusion, hope, and pain, all in the burning light in his eyes.
Selene glanced at Calla over her shoulder. Her delicate brows were knitted. “Um, no… I’m Calla. You must be Kiran Cyrus. You *are* as handsome as the rumors say,” she chuckled nervously before teasing, “I hope you two are getting along.”
Every one of Kiran’s not-so-well-hidden emotions funneled into anger—into a snarl at Selene. “Is this some kind of joke?”
Some instinct told her that the question wasn’t wholly directed at her—but who else, she couldn’t know. Selene put herself between him and Calla. “I do not like jokes in my harem. Back off and calm down.”
It was stupid to tell an Alpha to calm down, and Selene never saw herself as a mediator. But she was a protector, and she stood by Calla while Kiran looked between them frantically—he was a far cry from the male she’d come to know.
It seemed even he didn’t know who to be angry at. “Why the”—he spat at the Magnolia—“fuck”—he whirled on Selene—“does she”—he glared at Calla—“look like my dead mate?!”
Calla sucked in a sharp breath. Kiran tore his gaze away and stormed off through the open gate.
With the threat gone, Selene spun to look Calla up and down. “Are you alright, my flower?”
She blinked several times, dropping her bouquet to grasp Selene’s hands. “I—Yes. Excuse me, my moon, I have to…”
Calla fled just as swiftly, leaving Selene reeling in confusion.
-
The next few days were…odd.
If Selene and Kiran had been treading lightly, it was nothing to the tiptoeing Calla and Kiran was doing.
It wasn’t jealousy that made Selene grit her teeth at Kiran’s intent staring at Calla or the outburst of questions a sheltered Magnolia would never know the answers to. It was only the innate need to protect who she loved from an outside force.
After every encounter, Calla became withdrawn and almost confused, but not enough to ask Selene to send him away. For the sake of not making an enemy out of mere rudeness as a host, Selene would rather him leave of his own accord.
But the healthy dose of annoyance she had received for Kiran had grown considerably.
With Calla out playing with young pups, Selene found Kiran sitting just outside the gate in the grass. “What the hell are you doing?”
He didn’t look up from staring at whatever he was holding in both hands. “What does it look like? I’m brooding.”
Apparently they had a relationship that was supposed to be fine with snapping at the other.
“You look like an adolescent whose mother wouldn’t let them have a second helping of chicken,” she growled. “I *mean*, what the hell are you doing to my mate?!”
Kiran jerked to his feet, crossing the space between them to loom over her. Selene stood her ground with narrowed eyes. “I’m not doing anything—”
“I get that she looks like your mate, but she is *mine*, and that does not excuse you from *scaring* her—”
“She doesn’t *look* like her,” Kiran exploded. “She *is* her!”
He shoved whatever he was holding in Selene’s face.
The sight of what she saw struck her in the chest and she was almost at a loss for words. “That is a portrait of Calla,” she said stupidly.
“No,” growled Kiran, “this is *Zinnia*, my mate. How is this possible?”
Selene snatched the oil portrait, scanning for some kind of difference. But she knew every inch of her Calla, and yet…there was no denying that this couldn't be anyone but her.
Selene shoved it back at him. “I don’t know,” she said dismissively, “but Kiran, I’m sorry, she’s dead, and Calla is mine—”
“She was *mine*,” Kiran snarled, and his features were starting to become less humanlike and more wolfish. “Zinnia Amaranth—”
She wasn’t prepared to be struck again. “Amaranth?” she repeated in disbelief. She had only heard the name Zinnia a few days ago, obviously a Magnolia name, and she thought it suspicious that it could be a coincidence. Calla had barely spoken to her since Kiran’s outburst. “That is Calla’s family name. It must be possible that they are related, but… Kiran!”
He huffed in frustration and bolted into the birch forest. Her teeth grated and she shouted after him, “Come back when you decide not to be a knothead!” not giving a fuck about how immature they were being.
She thought he had gone back to his harem after several hours of absence. She was padding toward the garden where she spotted Calla sitting on a wooden bench with her Magnolia packmate, her nose almost touching the pages of the journal she was writing in.
Selene froze when she saw Kiran approach. Instead of interfering, she forced herself to remain out of sight and eavesdrop.
The garden was grown by the efforts of more than just bubbly Magnolia Omegas. It was a sprawling collection of flowers, plants, and small trees sectioned by fine dirt paths. Selene made sure lilies and moonflowers were at the center.
“Calla,” Kiran greeted with a strange attempt at shyness.
“Hello, Kiran,” she smiled sweetly. “Clover, could you take this to my room? I’ll see you later. How are you, Sun Alpha?”
Selene saw Clover take the journal and scurry off, but not without a look of hesitation toward Calla and brief interest at Kiran.
Calla spoke formally when she was nervous. She was troubled by Kiran’s obvious and sudden obsession with her, and this was the first time alone. But she was a kind soul who would always give a second chance.
Kiran was hardly a patient male. “Do you know a Magnolia Omega female named Zinnia Amaranth?”
Calla hesitated. “No.”
“Have you ever been to the Beck River?” he pressed.
“No.”
Selene’s heart jumped at Calla’s lie. Well…not a complete lie. Last night, she had told Selene she had a dream about a river she had never seen before.
“The name Amaranth—”
Calla stood, ducking her head. “Kiran, I’m sorry, but I don’t—”
Kiran cut off her path when she tried to walk away. Selene tensed. “I have a theory, Calla,” he said hastily, “of why you look like my mate.”
“O-okay.”
“Have you ever heard of reincarnation or doppelgängers?”
*What the fuck, Kiran?!*
Calla shook her head, attempting to sidestep him. “Y-yes, I’ve heard of…”
“I think you may be one—of my mate.”
She laughed tensely. “Maybe, but—”
“Godsdamnit,” Kiran snarled, grabbing Calla’s slim shoulders, shaking her once harshly. “Zinnia—”
*“Release her!”*
“Selene!” Calla yelped when she slammed her shoulder into Kiran’s, forcing him to stumble back.
“What the *fuck* are you thinking?” snapped Selene. “How dare you touch my mate!”
Kiran bared his teeth. “You stole my mate!”
“Of all the words I could have used to describe you, Kiran Cyrus,” Selene said coolly, “‘insane’ would not have been one until now. Now get the hell out of my harem before I kill you.”