75. Assumptions

Selene didn’t put much effort into apologizing to her male Omega for fucking their enemy in his room. She promised to buy him new furnishings as he blubbered in disbelief before simply walking past.
It was a pained walk, of course. Kiran made sure of it.
After having a life built on suffering and death and dealing with the consequences of spilled blood, Selene learned how to switch off her emotions, even if for a little while.
So she did that: turned off the thoughts of her and Kiran’s conversation, buried all the conflicting feelings she felt. Jumping from hating his guts to naturally comforting him was just too confusing to sort into sense.
She had two choices of distraction: fight or fuck. She just did both and felt no better. Get into a physical fight, perhaps? Still a viable option.
Who did she have a quarrel with?
It seemed more wolves had a quarrel with her.
“Selene!”
The night was too peaceful for the enraged shout. Selene stopped on the steps on the main building that led toward the harem and looked behind her. The call came from Altan, storming down the corridor with Elio on his heels. They were dressed in fine blue Moon attire, but she knew they were just returning from Kiran’s Keep.
Selene sighed. *I* wanted to fight with someone else, not someone else fight *me*, she thought irritably. “What is it?” she drawled.
Altan reached her and punched her in the face.
Even his Alpha strength wasn’t enough to send her stumbling off the steps; her immortal Alpha strength was superior. But the twins were too angry to look shocked. “How could you not tell us?” shouted Elio.
Selene rubbed her jaw. “Valiant effort, dear. Please keep your voices low, it’s too late for a screaming match. Tell you what?”
“Is fucking the only thing you bastards think of?” Altan stood on the step above her to assert dominance in the confrontation. “You just live up immortality any way you want, blind to everything else but your sex drive?”
Selene knew exactly what they were mad about, and she cursed Kiran for it because she knew he didn’t reveal the situation delicately. “It is bold of you two to address me so informally,” she remarked, gaze sliding to each of theirs with cool intent. Neither backed down. “Though your resolve is impressive.”
“What’s impressive,” began Elio, moving to stand behind Selene to block any simple escape, “is that you hid it so well for so long.”
“You made our *mother* keep it from us.” Altan’s furious expressions didn’t falter, but his voice did. His gold eyes, Aiden August’s eyes, burned like the sun. “You let her be kidnapped and raped and made her give us up to the pack that housed that monster. It’s sick! We could have lived here with our mother, with Luan and Aunt Ahana! How could you be so fucking heartless?! We *trusted* you!”
*“I trusted you!”*
The resurfaced memory stung. She pushed it aside. *Turn off your emotions*, she snapped at herself. *Focus on them. Let them rage. Let them tire themselves out first.*
Selene turned her head to the side to glimpse the young male behind her. “Elio? What have you to add?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Kiran made us bury the bastard’s body!”
Selene blinked. Well, she hadn’t been aware of that. “Poetic justice,” she said.
The twins seemed to reel at her audacity. She knew they recognized that “fact” already and that they resented Kiran’s shitty chance of ability for them to enact said justice. He’d given them the chance at the revenge they wanted without the possibility of guilt on their part.
“So you aren’t planning on consoling us in any way?”
Selene quirked her head at Altan. “You expect me to?”
Altan made a disgusted noise and spun around to walk it off in a short pace up and back down the hall to face her again. “Fine. Just give us an explanation. You owe us at least that.”
“Deal—if you stand down, Elio.”
The young Alpha stepped aside so Selene could perch on one of the stairs; staying on her feet was doing no wonders to her aching limbs. She didn’t wait for them to make themselves comfortable before saying, “Yes, I fucked up. Aiden August visited every now and again just as Lona stopped by the Keep to give simple updates on the harems, deliver letters, or just to unnerve my Omegas. I never said I liked it because it is an agreement Kiran and I made years ago to have open communication between Moon and Sun. One day…it seemed he decided to steal one of them—your mother.”
Selene never pressed Aura for details she wasn’t comfortable sharing. In return she promised to spare the details from her sons.
“To sum the story up: she got pregnant, Kiran castrated August and let Aura know, which gave her great peace of mind. When you were born, Kiran demanded you belong in the Sun. The selfish bastard knew August was your sire—but August didn’t. You were safe in his ignorance. Kiran raised you with a different name to protect your identity. According to him, Aiden was too stupid and oblivious to not recognize your scents as his offspring, much less remember your mother’s.”
“But why—”
“If I disagreed to hand you two over, he said Aura was more than welcome to join the Sun as well.”
The twins stewed on that behind Selene’s back. While they did, she was busy shoving down more memories than one, honing the ability to bury them.
Before they could speak, Selene added flatly, “But her loyalty to me, to the Moon pack, was stronger than a betrayal to it.”
Another beat of silence. Then Elio said slowly, “So all it was…was Kiran’s prideful need to claim what he thought belonged to him and his harem?”
Selene nodded once.
“Fuck,” Altan swore, voice rising. “Who are we supposed to be angry at, Selene?!”
“No one,” she said simply, not registering the night beauty of her surroundings anymore. “Because not a single one of us *doesn’t* feel guilt gnawing at our hearts for the whole fucked-up situation. Rest in knowing Kiran and I lost sleep over it.”
Elio’s voice was small. “You *both* did?”
She admitted shamelessly, “Yes. As well as letting August kill your aunt. I’m sure you are aware of that event as well.”
Altan wasn’t so easily swayed by her attempt at an apology. “Losing sleep isn’t atonement.”
“No?” Selene twisted to look back at him glaring at her like his life depended on it. “What is?”
His jaw clenched.
“Ah, you haven’t thought up a punishment yet? It’s been quite some time that you’ve had to concoct some fitting karma? Take this into consideration: my immortality is a pretty damning sentence. Not an excuse, no, but it could offer you comfort in knowing I will regret all of this—and a plethora of other godsdamned miserable things—until the rest of the world turns to dust.”
It was on impulse that Altan said, “If you live that long.”
And he was brave—*stupid*—enough to not back down. Selene kept his stare for a moment, considering, but he added, “Who would believe that *you*, Luna Selene of the infamous Moon pack, was ever capable of remorse?”
Selene’s clawed hand was around Altan’s throat in the blink of an eye. Finally fear sparked in his eyes and he recognized it in his best interest to stay absolutely still. The scent of fresh blood brushed their senses when nails pricked the surface of his skin.
“You chose this pack, Altan and Elio Baran,” she said, slow and deadly. “You chose to live under my rule because you believed it fairer. You chose Castle Night over Apollo’s Keep to protect your mother. All admirable decisions. I gained two strong Alphas from a strong Omega, two males capable of more than just being spies.”
Selene’s fingers tightened. Altan struggled to breathe. Meanwhile, Elio was frozen behind her. “But I do not tolerate *assumptions*. Not about your kin, your packmates, or *anyone* in *my* harem.”
Her other hand brushed back a strand of hair off his forehead tenderly, which was equally terrifying. “I do not tolerate assumptions about *me*. Do you think you know my heart, Altan? My history, my feelings? Do you think they coincide—that my dark history has numbed every good feeling from my soul? Or do you simply believe I abandon the intelligence of my mind over the enticement between my legs? Tell me, conflicted males, what are you assuming about me?”
Altan hesitated this time. When Selene saw his mind land on an answer, she loosened her grip enough for him to rasp, “We don’t need to assume that even though you say how much you love Seff, it’s not really her you love.”
“And?” Selene asked flatly.
“And you want her to love you back.”
*“And?”*
“And Kiran thinks the same. That’s why you’ve been competing over her like some prize to be won.”
So much for shoving down her emotions. Selene shook Altan once, hard and fast enough that it popped his neck with a crack. “Come on, Altan,” she snarled, “say what you really want to.”
“If you both love *her*, why are you fucking each other?”