93. Turning Point

“Leave it to disquieted Alpha males to interrupt such a moment,” Selene sighed when Altan and Elio finally made their presence known.
They burst into the courtyard in their massive black-furred wolf forms, and Selene barked at Kiran to save the records as she Shifted into her wolf, just slightly bigger than the twins. She just didn’t turn fast enough—Altan rammed into her at full force. It knocked the breath out of her. They tumbled into a pillar, nearly cracking it.
Shaking him off, she found the courtyard in immediate disarray: Elio pinning Kiran down, still in his human form. Sienna gathered all the journals and letters in her arms, torn between guarding them and defending her Alpha. Seff had ripped free of her lover to cry out, “Stop!”
Altan took Selene’s distraction as a chance to slam his head into her shoulder with enough strength to send her rolling. She managed to land on her feet just before knocking into Kiran and Elio.
The twins achieved their naive plan: corner the Alphas to ramble out their grievance. “We finally have you two together,” Altan panted, chest heaving as he kept his defensive stance.
“So you can apologize together,” finished Elio.
Seff looked frantically between the two males. “What are you two doing? *Stop*!”
Elio snapped his teeth at her, spit flying, making her stumble back. “Stay out of this, Seff!”
Selene refrained from rolling her eyes and dropped her rump, curling her tail around. Altan tensed and rumbled a growl. “Is that really all you are here for?” she asked, knowing there was more. “You threatened to kill me earlier, Altan. Did you want an audience for that?”
His ears swiveled and went flat against his head. “We want an *apology* from both of you—”
Selene’s view of him was blocked by Seff, holding up her arms in surrender. “Altan, what are you two doing? Please, we don’t need violence—”
Selene knew from the twins’ own correspondence as well as Kiran’s that they had grown close to Seff, becoming friends, apparently. Perhaps she would be the savior of this conversation as well.
“If they don’t apologize, then we have to use force!” Ignoring her protest, he yelled as if announcing it to the entire Sun harem, “Aiden August is our sire! Selene and Kiran kept the truth from us because of their shame for their negligence!”
Indeed, Selene glimpsed doors cracking open and little Omega heads peeking out. A few brave ones started to lean over the balcony rail on the second floor. Unease flickered in her chest. She was itching for violence, yes, but not in these circumstances. This, regrettably, was not a situation she planned for. She didn’t need an audience of wolves who already hated her learning what she did or didn’t do, even if it only affected the Moon pack.
And Altan was dangerously close to admitting he was half-Moon.
Kiran was uncharacteristically silent. She flicked her tail, able to hit him in the face with it. *Do something*, she thought as if he could hear. He grunted, and Elio snapped, “I don’t feel bad about not calling you *Lord* anymore. Shut up.”
Seff spun and looked at Selene. Her eyes were wide with hurt. “Is that true?” she whispered.
“It is a much longer story,” she said plainly, aware of all the attention. “But my apology is short and honest.” She met Altan’s furious gold gaze. “Altan Baran…” She looked over her shoulder briefly. “Elio Baran… I sincerely apologize for my carelessness.”
She flicked her tail again. “Me too,” Kiran sighed in exasperation. Another slap. “For gods’ sake, Selene!” Then he finally assumed a serious tone. “Altan and Elio, I admit my faults and take full responsibility for my former Delta’s unforgivable actions. Accept my apology…please.”
Selene’s annoyance was only slightly abated by her marvel at Kiran’s humbleness to say *please*. It was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
Altan blinked, taken aback—but it didn’t last long. He shook his head. “No, I can’t take you seriously. Are we supposed to believe you had a sudden change of heart after you both dropped the truth on us as if you couldn’t care less? Are we supposed to believe you changed for the better or something, trying to atone for your sins?”
Selene twitched her ear. “My list of sins is far too long to fully atone for. But I can start with the most recent.”
Altan’s fur bristled, but Seff was there with a hand to his muzzle. She looked like a child approaching a rabid monster. “I’m so sorry, Altan. But…they apologized. You can’t ask for a higher promise than that. You can’t be angry at them forever.”
Those were the wrong words to calm a beast. He shook her off. “Why aren’t *you* angry?! You know what it’s like to be lied to!”
“I was,” she soothed, reaching out again. “But we’ve made peace. We can’t let the past control our futures, Altan. Please.”
It was a crucial turning point. Either he made peace or he made war. His eyes darted from Seff to Selene to Elio, unable to meet Kiran’s, and back. There was little for him to do, Selene knew. She, while never experiencing it herself, was aware of “forgive and forget.” If the twins were sired by a Sun Alpha, that meant their anger would translate into remembering this grudge for years to come—and that was what they had to overcome.
Seff murmured, stroking his fur, “There’s nothing left to do. If not for you two, then…for me? Our friendship means the world. I can’t lose either of you.”
Altan stared at her. Selene knew the look of defeat—and she knew the look of defiance. The hungry gleam in the eyes of someone who refused to bow down to their superior.
And that was what Altan pinned Selene with.
She rose onto all fours and huffed. “I cannot believe I’m saying this, but I do not want to fight.”
Altan peeled back his lips and squared his shoulders, Seff and her outcries forgotten, to stalk toward Selene. “Because you don’t feel like *really* atoning.”
Her hackles prickled. “Because I betrayed your trust…and now you are betraying mine. We are even. Just take your mother and Luan to the Sky pack and be done with us.”
The possibility didn’t seem to have crossed the pup’s mind. His gait faltered. Then he shook his head. “No. You still need to pay.”
Her tongue flicked out and licked her nose. “Fine. Take a bite, little wolf.”
Despite several roared protests, Altan lunged. Selene jerked to the side, letting him twist and ram into her—away from Kiran and Elio, away from the Magnolias. His claws scrabbled at her fur even as she fended him off with her own. The snapping of his jaws was a violent clacking of teeth echoing in her ears.
Selene always wanted to *fight*—sink her fangs into juicy, tough flesh, rip open a gut with her claws, watch the light fade from her enemy’s eyes. But Altan, whom she learned to care for without realizing it, was not an enemy.
She would let him get his anger out of his system and let him believe she learned her lesson, but she would not let his anger get out of control—so much that he killed her.
Selene bit and scratched with equal force. They were writhing bodies with fur matted with hate, and she taught Altan well.
He found an opening in her defense—and clamped his maw into the meat of her neck. Pain exploded and she howled, but Altan kept his grip and wrenched his head back and forth to try to shake her, dragging her by the scruff. Her legs kicked the air, but she couldn’t twist—
His jaw tightened like a vise, squeezing the muscle and bone of Selene’s throat. If he applied a few more ounces of strength to rip it all out, he could easily kill her.
*“Altan, stop!”*
It was a male’s bark, and it made Altan let up, but not by much. Selene’s energy was siphoning out as fast as the blood gushing from her body.
“She’s dying!” Elio shouted. “Do you *actually* want to kill her? That makes us no better than them by murdering our problems! Let’s just take Mom and Luan to the Sky and we’ll put this all behind us. Just let go of her. Please, brother.”
The throes of bloodthirst were nothing like that of pleasure. Altan’s responding growl traveled down Selene’s exposed muscle fibers like a plucked string. He bit harder and she felt her upper spine start to bend under the force. Just a little more—and he could break her neck.
Altan could be the one to kill the immortal Luna of the Moon pack.
*End my suffering*, Selene thought suddenly, even when she had the urge to find where Calla’s journals had fallen. *What good is living if the only one who loved me is dead?*
*So much for not letting him kill m*e.
Right as Selene accepted her fate, Altan’s presence vanished altogether with a snarl and a yelp. The pressure left her throat and she was able to drag in a bubbling gulp of air.
“Get out of here,” she heard someone yell—Seff’s voice. It was difficult to differentiate certain things when one was within an inch of their life.
Selene tried to blink past the film of blood and saliva over her eyes, and after a few moments of violent goings-on beyond terrible vision, Kiran’s human form filled it with red-splattered gold. “Stay awake, Selene.”
An unbidden laugh wracked her body. “Who thought *you* would save me?” she said with a rattling breath.
“The only one who can kill you is me,” Kiran responded—and then everything went black.