77. The Ren Family

Kiran held a Magnolia Omega female’s unconscious body by a riverbank and couldn’t tell the past from the present.
He carried Seff to the Keep, roaring orders left and right, sounding far more fearsome than he felt. Sienna corralled all the lesser Alphas involved in the attack on the three young Magnolias either in the clinic to be treated for their injuries (Kiran didn’t think they deserved it), or in the basement of the harem where he held wolves for persecution.
Hawthorn Henbane was unconscious and Allium Ren was standing guard over their bodies. Despite her seeming more than ready to fight until her last breath, it was a front. She was exhausted and upset and for good reason.
She was in her wolf form.
Kiran had been shirking his duties and pleasures as the Alpha of his harem. Beside Allium, he hadn’t fucked any of his Omegas in heat or otherwise in weeks. But he was still aware of its goings-on thanks to Sienna. He didn’t need them to know that Allium was pregnant with his litter and Omegas weren’t supposed to Shift when they were.
He remembered when she told him. He’d just lost an ear and was in no mood to celebrate; he’d snapped at her and thought just how much she was a terrible friend to Seff. He also hated how she’d asked about Aiden. Altogether she was on Kiran’s bad side.
*Kiran the softhearted god*.
With Seff cradled in his arms, he approached Allium with her ears flat and head hung. She was too afraid to move even as Hawthorn was carried toward the Keep. “Are you alright, Allium?”
She winced before looking up. Wolves were able to cry; her green eyes were glossy. They traveled from him to Seff and back. “No.”
“You’re terrified.”
Allium looked away and nodded. “I don’t know if they’re even… If they’ve formed enough that it matters if I Shifted or not…but if they are, won’t Shifting back mess everything up more?”
“I can’t say,” he said gruffly. “Either way, go to the clinic.” When Allium hesitated and searched Seff’s prone form, he added, “I will take care of her.”
Kiran couldn’t say why Allium trusted him, but she carefully sat up. Once he made sure she was able to walk and a Beta female showed up, he allocated her with Allium, he broke into a run.
The last time he ran with a Magnolia Omega female’s unconscious body was through piles of snow. Now it was only through a ravaged apple orchard, but he was no less a wreck.
-
Kiran had Aella, his Beta daughter, take care of Seff. Her expertise was midwifing, but she excelled in emergency care. She grumbled about not having Seff in the clinic for more efficiency, but she did more than her best. It took a shorter time than his irrational mind made it seem.
“There,” Aella announced, shooing away her assistants out of Kiran’s room who carried out all the bloody clothes and instruments. Taking off her own stained apron, she crossed her arms and blocked Kiran from rushing to the bedside. “Leave her be for now. She’s fine. No need to be smothering.” Before he could snap at her, she continued, “You need to go clean yourself off. You stink of blood, sand, and *sex*.” Her light blue eyes—she was a rare offspring who carried not Kiran’s eyes but her father’s from the Sky pack—widened. “Did you fuck *Selene*?” she hissed.
Kiran bared his teeth. “If you utter a single word I will kill you.”
Her gaze went flat. “Fine.”
She closed the door behind her, only for Sienna to open it a moment later. “Kiran, the Ren family is here.”
Kiran thrived off opportunities and possibilities that benefited him. Watching Seff, hearing her normal vitals, he grinned. “Tell them I would love to speak with them.”
-
Allium, unharmed physically, was in her room. When Kiran knocked on her door, an elegant female Omega answered it. She was obviously Allium’s mother and her worrying green eyes, the moment they met Kiran’s went utterly flat. Even he was taken aback at the hatred for him.
“Kiran Cyrus,” she growled.
He felt disgusting—covered in many sticky substances, wearing Moon attire—but his smile was stunningly charming. “You must be Wisteria Ren.” He glanced over her shoulder and found an Alpha male sitting beside his daughter, who had found the courage to Shift back into her human form, on her bed. “And you must be Rush Ren.” To Wisteria, he dipped his head. “A pleasure. May I—”
“No.”
“Very well. I only have a few questions.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Fine.”
“Wisteria,” her mate began, but she just shook her head and entered the hallway, closing the door behind her so she and Kiran were alone.
“I used to hold you in high regard, Lord Kiran,” Wisteria said, crossing her arms and craning her neck to look up at him with fearlessness. “I was just as excited as my daughter for her to potentially join your harem. It is any mother’s wish to become a grandmother. But from the first letter she sent, I knew you were nothing but a heartless bastard.”
*How can I be softhearted if I don’t have that particular organ?* he wondered with an internal chuckle.
“I’ve been called worse, Lady Ren. You are a fearsome female.”
“You want something. What could you possibly want from me?”
Kiran spared her an impressive look. “Who said Magnolias were too passive for argue? First I want to extend my apologies and regrets for your daughter.” Wisteria snorted in disbelief. “Second, I am aware she and Seff Bleize are very good friends. Which means you must be very good friends with *her* mother, Linden.”
Wisteria was exceptional at hiding her true expression, but Kiran excelled further at reading the most controlled. The smallest glimmer of terror gave her away. That, and the way her crossed arms turned into wrapping around herself.
She masked it all with a scowl. “It’s inappropriate to talk about the dead, Lord Kiran.”
“Yes, yes,” he appeased. “I simply wanted to make you aware of my willingness to add another body to the Magnolia graveyard if I am not satisfied by the answers to my questions.”
Wisteria’s confidence was faltering, but she was stronger than he gave her credit for. He learned long ago not to underestimate an Omega mother protecting her family. “If you kill me, Kiran Cyrus…”
Her gaze flicked to the door; on the opposite side, it wouldn’t be hard for the other two Ren wolves to overhear every word. Kiran leaned forward. She smelled like her namesake flower and cunningness.
“Then you will never see the Amaranth records.”