54. Like for Like

*Trigger Warning: this chapter contains the mention and aftermath of rape as well as violence and mild gore.*
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Kiran wasn’t completely fucking heartless. 
Seeing the twin brothers connect the pieces was heartbreaking. Kiran’s heart was still beating in his chest, but that didn’t mean it felt anything. It had already been broken. It couldn’t just be put back together. He didn’t want to put it back together after that damn fiasco at the river.
He did the brothers a favor. He killed their aunt’s killer. By telling them to bury August’s body, that was the twins’ retribution. If August was alive, they would want to murder the bastard anyway. 
He made a promise to Aura Baran and intended to keep it.

Aiden August stumbled back with a grunt, clutching his newly broken nose, blood gushing from between his fingers. “You fucking bastard,” Kiran snarled. “What were you *thinking*?!”
His Delta of a decade dropped his hand and smiled widely. Red stained his sharpened teeth. “I’m an Alpha in rut. What does one think if all he can do is fucking *feel*? All I want to do is catch a damn Omega female!”
Kiran understood all too well. An Alpha’s instincts were near impossible to ignore or resist. “Do you know how large this harem is?” he demanded, annoyingly perturbed by his Delta’s abrupt craze. “The Sun does *not* allow the *rape* of an Omega of a rival pack!”
August snorted and rolled his eyes. Kiran’s whole being swelled with rage at the blatant disrespect. “What was I supposed to do, write a formal request to knot with one of *your* Omegas? I’ve no taste for Sky or Magnolia. I want forbidden fruit. You’re just an outdated fossil who still believes in honor—”
Kiran roared and Shifted, the ripping of his flesh nowhere near as satisfying as digging his claws into Aiden’s. The Delta Shifted and rolled as those claws raked across his ribcage. 
It was the dead of night, and a sleepless Kiran had found August swaggering out of his bedroom reeking of slick—and the terrified scent of a Sky pack female carrying the tendrils of Moon. When he shoved past the grinning Delta to find that female naked and unconscious on his white bedsheets, spotted in blood, he dragged his smug ass over to the empty harem living room.
The males found their fighting stances among the scattered pillows and blankets, hackles raised and chops wrinkled. “What,” Kiran barked, “do you think I need to be *replaced*?”
August’s tongue flicked out between his teeth. “You’ve had enough children, wouldn’t you agree? ‘The gold god’ worshipped by every damn soul who knows that name. It’s time for a chance of pace—a new ruler, a new face, who can abolish this damn rivalry between you and Selene! It’s fucking stupid!”
Kiran’s harsh laugh was a wolf’s bark. “Am I being mutinied? Poor pup is bitter because I haven’t named a successor. Why would I, dumbass, if I’m immortal?”
A growl rumbled in August’s chest. They were almost the same size, being Alphas, the title of Delta merely that. But August’s black pelt was wet with dark blood; the scratches were deep. “I want the power you have, *Lord* Kiran. Damn being your secondhand.”
“I had no idea you were inclined toward anarchy,” Kiran said flatly. “Unfortunately Apollo’s Keep is not a democracy either.”
He lunged and barreled into August. The Delta, weakened by the wounds, couldn’t fend him off. Kiran’s jaws clamped down on August’s ear to elicit a yelp before batting his paw across August’s muzzle. August Shifted into his human form and went limp.
Kiran grunted in disdain and Shifted to haul August by the arm into the spare room. He retrieved a kitchen knife he kept in his office for opening letters and stabbing anyone who bothered him. On the floor, August groaned and tried to stir, but Kiran aimed a kick at his near-exposed ribs. The Delta roared in pain and rolled onto his side.
“Actually, I need you to stay on your back.” Kiran slammed his barefoot onto August’s shoulder to pin him down. Kneeling, he waited for him to open his amber-gold eyes and see the knife. Terror bloomed on his bloody face. “It should be evident what is going to happen next.”
Aiden tried to escape, gasping, “No—” but Kiran grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed the back of his head against the marble. He receded into wordless whimpers as he curled into a ball.
“Ah, ah,” Kiran purred, “straighten out. We don’t need to make this harder than it needs to be.”
August hesitated for only a heartbeat before obeying, his body trembling. He covered his face with his hands. Kiran thought it was perverse that the Delta was half hard as he lay there about to be castrated. 
“Better to get this over with,” he groused. “Care to confess your sin? I might cut clean if you do.”
August stilled. Still covering his face he said, “Pain is worth pleasure.”
“You disgusting bastard.” Kiran grabbed August’s member and didn’t use his immortal werewolf strength to slice it off—no, he started to saw. Slowly, like taking time to lovingly cut a slab of steak. 
Aiden screamed in agony. Blood gushed over naked skin. When the knife finished its job, Kiran tossed the severed member aside and rose to his feet. He left him there pathetically sniveling to drop his knife on his desk, bloodying his strewn papers, grabbing two pairs of pants out of his dresser. Pulling one on, he returned to August and dropped the other over him. 
“I don’t want to see that, cover it up. Now get out.”
Each movement was a struggle, but August’s lingering pride would keep him motivated. Kiran enjoyed every second of his karma. Eventually he made it to his feet. It was even an effort to hold the pants, his fingers shaking. He didn’t meet Kiran’s eyes and instead sought his lost body part across the room and released a strangled noise before limping out the door.
Kiran leaned in the threshold and called to his back, “I am a gracious male, Aiden. You only atoned fifty percent, but I will allow you to keep your title. Secondhand? It’s a good thing you have both hands. If you touch another female I’ll cut those off too.”

August was docile from then on. He was like a kicked puppy. Kiran was satisfied by that description. He healed fine, of course, though he adopted a limp. It only asked for pity. Disgraceful. But he didn’t touch another female.
A few weeks later, Selene barged into the Keep and kicked Kiran in the knot. “How *dare* you—”
Rage overtook pain. He halted Selene’s next blow by snatching her wrist. “It wasn’t me!” he shouted.
She narrowed her dark blue eyes, searching his face, but after a moment, she relaxed. Kiran released her and she crossed her arms. She believed him. “Who?”
“I won’t tell you.”
“What did you do?”
“Castrated him.”
Selene’s eyebrow quirked. “Hm,” she said, begrudgingly impressed. “Fitting punishment.”
“Contrary to your belief, Selene,” growled Kiran, “I do have a code of morals. I expect the Sun pack to follow it. If not, like for like.”
“Great. You’ll tell that to Aura.”
Kiran’s teeth ground. *So that was her name?* When he dragged August to the harem, the next door he passed was Sienna Haru’s, a rare female Alpha, who he learned to trust after she expressed interest in handling some of his tasks when she found out August only half-assed his. 
“Get that female back to Selene,” he had barked over his shoulder. Her agreement followed a second later.
“Fine.”

Aura Baran’s bruises had healed in the weeks following the assault, but when Kiran met her—Selene an imposing figure directly behind her—at the edge of the orchard, she was making herself as small as possible. Both hands covered her belly. Kiran went taut, cursing August and every nonexistent god he knew the name of.
He enacted justice off a moral code, he kept promises, but he did not say the words *I’m sorry*. But a circumstance like this, at a moment as grave as this, he mustered his pride to offer a dip of his head and say, “Aura, I apologize for the offense of my Delta.”
She was young. Her lower lip wobbled. He wondered if she had been taken by Selene yet or not. Judging by Selene’s fury, Aura had been a virgin in that sense. “Th-thank you, Lord Kiran.”
“And?” Selene pressed.
Kiran’s jaw tightened, though he didn’t have qualms telling Aura, “Will it give you comfort in knowing I cut off his cock?”
Her sky-blue eyes widened and her pretty mouth parted. She glanced back at Selene for reassurance; after Selene nodded in encouragement, she murmured, “So he can’t hurt anyone else?”
Kiran nodded once and she breathed a sigh of immense relief. Selene gently rested her hands on the Omega’s slim shoulders covered by strands of her cloud-gray hair. He didn’t feel the same relief, but he grudgingly admitted that he did feel reprieve. Not even a member of the Moon pack should be violated. 
“No one will hurt you again.”
“Told you he has one sliver of decency, even if it’s a twisted kind,” Selene said with a kiss to the top of Aura’s head. Turning her in the direction of Castle Night, the Luna met Kiran’s gaze, and her smile melted. “*Thank you*,” she mouthed.
He just scowled back and she stuck her tongue out at him as if they were quarreling pups. He returned to the Keep. An hour later, a letter arrived in Selene’s script.
She wrote, *What did you do with it?*
He responded, *I threw it in his room. He probably has it in a box under his bed*.
Her last reply was, *I hope it’s a small box*.