55. The Death of a Sky

*Trigger warning: This chapter mentions rape.*

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Selene recalled the day of Ahana Baran’s death and how it filled her with shame and rage.
Luan chasing after her to ask her to play, responding to Selene’s refusal with, *“My mom died.”*
And she had said, *“What do you mean, she* died?"
*“The Sun Alpha killed her this morning.”*
Selene picked Luan up under the arms and shook him hard enough that he lost his little attitude. Tears jumped to his deep blue eyes, strands of his cloud-gray hair falling in front of them. “Where is she, Luan?”
“Her—her room,” he sniffled. 
Swearing, she placed him on her hip and ran to the consort quarters, wrenching Ahana’s door open and finding her laid out on the couch with blankets hiding everything but the crown of her head. She set him down and he ran to her, sitting at her feet and staring at her covered body. 
“I carried her here,” he said, rubbing his runny nose with a forearm. Selene internally wrinkled her own nose. *Stay away from me, you germ-infested hellion*. “From the flower field.”
Just outside the walls of the compound was a giant tended garden for the occupants to use as a pastime. The Baran sisters were frequent planters, bringing Luan to play in the dirt. Selene padded around the couch and crouched in front of her Sky Omega. The stench of blood and manure hit her senses, nearly sending her staggering onto her ass. 
She drew the blanket back to reveal Ahana’s face. Luan whimpered and looked away, as his mother was drenched in blood. “Go to the door and don’t look,” she ordered him. When he was out of eyesight, Selene took the blanket away. 
She dropped it and sighed, her gut roiling. Because Ahana’s was missing.
Her torso was shredded and gaping open. Her stomach and uterus were gone.
*Kiran, you bastard.*
She would figure out the details later. She had to confront Kiran first.
Covering the body and scooping Luan back into her arms before closing the door, she dropped him off at Lona’s room. The Delta was instantly on alert from the look in Selene’s eyes.
“What happened?” she demanded, taking teary-eyed Luan, holding him against her as lovingly as his mother would have.
Selene could barely find words beyond her rage. “Watch over Ahana’s room. Send Luan and Aura to my office. I’ll be back after killing Kiran.”

She couldn’t kill him. It was more than just the fact of the Magnolia Choosing in a few days. As he said, she took like for like in killing his Omega at the riverbank even though she wasn’t the murderer. Kiran wouldn’t tell her who was, but she knew it wasn’t him.
Taking care of her own was more important. She returned to Castle Night, to her office where Aura sat in Selene’s desk chair with Luan in her lap, her chin resting on top of his head. Their faces were red with tears.
After some difficulty speaking back, Luan told her, “It was too dark to see who it was, but he smelled like Sun pack—warm and mean. Mama told me to hide in the bushes. I…I heard her scream and then…then the…the…”
“Ripping?” Selene supplied.
Aura showed a flash of anger at the Luna’s insensitivity. 
But Luan was his sire’s son, and simply nodded. “I dunno if he smelled me but he just left after… And then I carried her to her room.”
Werewolves had great physical strength, even young ones, but *carry* seemed less likely than *drag*. The garden wasn’t too far from the consort quarters. 
“But no one noticed?” pressed Selene.
Luan shook his head. “Everyone was sleeping. It was two in the morning.”
Selene’s brows knitted. “What were you two doing at that time?” she demanded, glancing at Aura. The she-wolf was just as confused and concerned.
The young wolf started to fiddle with his fingers, suddenly hesitant to reveal what he knew. Selene opened her mouth to berate, but then he said, “She told me you were supposed to come to her room because you promised to bed her. She was staying up waiting for you. She got tired of waiting and couldn’t sleep so she thought going to the garden would make her sleepy. But she didn’t wanna be alone so she woke me up and took me with her.”
“Oh gods, why didn’t she ask me?” Aura breathed brokenly.
Selene jerked to her feet. For fuck’s sake, she did make that promise. It was rare that she agreed to her Omega’s requests but Ahana hadn’t been whiny about it, asking simply and casually, so Selene caved. Who was she to deny sex? 
“Why didn’t you show?” barked Aura suddenly, her glazed look turning sharp. “My sister is dead because of you!”
Selene’s jaw clenched. She wouldn’t stand to be accused. She did have to be honest. “I was fucking someone else.”
“Someone was hurt because of your negligence.” Aura’s voice was thick, her body shaking with anger and pain. She was clutching Luan tightly enough for him to squirm. “Doesn’t that sound familiar.”
Selene bared her teeth. Eighteen years ago, Selene hadn’t noticed Aura missing for two days—she had been kidnapped and raped by Aiden August.
It clicked then. Selene straightened and at looked Aura. Luan had his face buried in her chest, asleep; the trauma had exhausted him. It was the perfect chance for Selene to murmur, “It was him.”
Aura blanched, drained of rage. It was still and quiet for a long moment. The Sky pack was known for its passive temperament, but no wolf could take the death of a packmate—much less a sibling—calmly. She met Selene’s eyes with rancor in hers. 
“He has to die, Selene.”
Selene had known Kiran for sixty-eight years. What they had gone through together… It wasn’t a soulmate connection, and it wasn’t anything out of positive emotion. But they’d grown to be able to read one another. 
She exhaled. She liked enacting revenge just as much as any wolf, and to miss a chance at ending Aiden August’s life was regrettable. “I believe he is already dead, Aura.”
“What? How do you know?”
“I can tell when Kiran is lying and when he isn’t.” Selene offered to take Luan, but Aura clutched him tightly and stood, taking a few steps back from her. She tried not to take offense. “Even when he intermingles truth and lie.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Aura hissed. “My sons were living with my rapist and my sister’s killer! They were taken from me. My sister is dead. Luan is all I have left.”
“Come to terms with that,” Selene said sharply. 
“That’s it? You’re not going to do anything?”
Selene’s jaw clenched. “Kiran will send monetary accommodations and we will bury Ahana in the cemetery with—”
Aura made a noise at the back of her throat and stormed out of the office. After a moment of collecting her anger, Selene sat and furiously penned a letter to Kiran, *The pain inflicted on the Baran family because of your pack’s uncontrollable egos and cocks is unforgivable. You will make amends by letting them chose which pack to live with at their Presenting*. 
The letter went out and Kiran responded half an hour later, *Fine. Let the grudge be dead and buried*.