Chapter 6

In my past life, he had declined to participate in that gathering, citing poor health.

And after that, he had stayed alone for the rest of his life.

Now I had taken several steps toward him. The rest was his to decide.

The stone steps were wet. He stood there without moving. At the last moment, as he was about to go, he handed me his umbrella.

The Alpha King's sister insisted we all go walk through the Manor gardens in the rain.

She said spring rain over the grounds was beautiful, and she dragged us along.

Just then, the Pack's domestic coordinator was walking a new group of staff through.

In the back row, I caught a familiar profile from a distance.

I thought I was imagining it. But the face matched my memory too exactly.

I walked over quickly.

The coordinator bowed, then noticed I was staring at the second woman in the back row and said, "This is one of our new staff. She'll be assigned to the Alpha Heir's wing."

"Her name is Serena Voss. Do you know her?"

I looked up.

Serena, who should have been somewhere in the southern settlement, had arrived five full years ahead of schedule.

She looked at me.

And smiled.

"It seems you remember me, Miss Calloway."

Serena asked if she could speak with me.

The coordinator gave her fifteen minutes.

Behind the garden's rock formations, she looked down at her own pink uniform.

"In the past life, I was wearing this when I found him in the gardens. Those years, he treated me like I was the most precious thing in the world."

"What happened between us — that was your fault, in the end."

She looked at me. Even with a full lifetime between us, the hatred in her eyes hadn't faded.

"You got there first. You took his Luna title before I could."

"But this time, I came early. I'm going to find him before you do. I'll be his mate, and we'll be happy together."

Her eyes softened when she talked about Dorian.

But she was being naive.

Even if Dorian still fell for her, an Alpha's love was never going to be undivided. If it wasn't me, there would be someone else pulling at his attention. That was just what it meant to be in a Pack of this size.

"I'm not competing with you," I said. "You can relax."

"I'm done. You can go."

She walked back to join the other staff, heading toward the Alpha Heir's wing to meet the man she had loved across two lifetimes.

I had my reasons for resenting her. She had used her death to frame me.

So I had someone keep track of what was happening in that wing.

Dorian was as busy as ever. He and Serena crossed paths several times.

But the thunderstruck reunion she had imagined — that first glance, that instant pull — never came.

Dorian looked at her and then looked away. She was ordinary to him.

After a few of those encounters, she got desperate.

She arranged to switch her duties so she could be assigned to help Dorian with his wardrobe. When she was alone with him, she moved toward him and started talking.

Dorian pulled back, disgusted. He called the Gamma Warriors. They dragged her out, and she received a punishment detail and was reassigned to the laundry quarters.

Serena's luck, though, was something else.

One of the most favored women in Dorian's inner circle slipped and fell into the pond beside the laundry area.

Serena could swim. She jumped in and pulled the woman out.

Dorian heard about it. He called Serena in personally. He told her he wanted to grant her one thing she asked for.

Serena knelt before him.

She said she wanted to be his mate.

A Luna's position required bloodline, Pack standing, and Council approval. Dorian couldn't grant that wish.

But under pressure from his favored inner circle, he assigned Serena a formal but minor rank within the Pack — a Chosen Mate designation in name, with no real power.

Going around in circles, she ended up as a secondary mate anyway. But unlike my past life, this time she hadn't been brought in by Dorian's own choosing. She'd been pushed on him.

Dorian gave her one look and had her placed in the most out-of-the-way quarters in the Manor. She had the title, nothing else. He'd never been to her room.

She was suffering. I was fine with that.

Spring was good. I arranged an outing with a few friends — spread out on the grass, brought snacks, found a spot by the river.

I hadn't expected to run into Cain there.

He came over and greeted everyone. I gave him a brief, polite nod in return and sat back down.

I didn't know what to say to him yet. I was waiting to see what he did at the Mate Selection Gathering before I did anything more.

As it happened, one of my friends had brought along her older brother, a very talkative man who seemed to have a limitless supply of things to say. He zeroed in on me immediately and started chatting.

Cain stayed where he was, a few steps away, not moving.

When I looked like I was thirsty, the friend's brother jumped up and came back with a cup.

From where he stood, Cain's brow came together.

Then the sky darkened. A storm was coming. Everyone started for their cars.