by Emilia Rose
The suitcases were stuffed full of my clothes and essentials, the zippers stretching so much that they were bound to rip at any moment. I picked them up, one in each hand, and walked down the stairs, following Ares’s stupid fucking voice.
When he saw me, he grabbed the bags from my hands, his biceps flexing, and carried them the rest of the way to the car that he had bullied Mom into giving him since his pack had run here.
“I could’ve done that myself,” I said, gently setting my backpack down in the backseat and unzipping it a few inches.
“I know,” he said, shoving the bags into the trunk. “Is this all your stuff?”
I pressed my lips together, glancing up at my window, where Ruffles usually sat, and frowned. “Yes.”
I pushed past him to the passenger seat, but he caught my wrist. My skin tingled, my heart racing faster than I wanted it to. And I cursed the Moon Goddess. Ares didn’t deserve how my wolf felt toward him. He was a no-good, psychotic alpha who had been destroying the lands for a stone he knew nothing about.
“And the cat?”
I growled and snatched my hand away. “She’s sitting on my bed, wondering why my asshole of a mate isn’t letting me take her.”
Mom walked toward me, stretching out her arms to hug me. I glared at her and walked to Dad instead, enveloping him in a halfhearted hug. After Jeremy had died, he had been the only one to give me a chance, letting me read his books about the War of the Lycans, where a vicious group of hounds were defeated by our warrior family—but that defeat didn’t last long as the hounds have started to torment these lands once again.
Dad rested his chin on my head, caressing my hair with his hand. “Don’t hate your mother. She’s … doing what she thinks is best,” he said.
But even his plea didn’t change my mind. What kind of person traded their daughter to someone known for his blatant destruction, for his vicious killings, for evil? A bad mother and an even worse alpha.
I rested my head on his chest and expected Ares to break us up, to tell me that it was enough and we had to go, but he waited patiently by the passenger door.
Dad kissed my forehead. “Stay strong, A,” he said, and somehow, I felt even worse.
What kind of warrior would let his mate trade his only daughter? Not any kind of warrior he used to tell me stories about when I was just a pup.
“I’ll take care of Ruffles for you,” Dad said in my ear before pulling away.
I forced a smile and bit back the angry tears. “You don’t have to.” I walked to Ares, brushing right past Mom and Tony, who was glaring at my mate.
“Aurora,” Tony said.
“Don’t,” Ares snapped.
He pushed me into the car and slammed the door, a growl ripping from his throat the moment he turned back to Tony. They exchanged a few harsh words, and I stared at them through the car window, not listening to a word they said.
So much testosterone. I could only imagine what it was going to be like at Ares’s pack. All the rumors had told me that Ares’s pack was just like him—ruthless, cruel, and heartless. The Moon Goddess and I both knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle everyone thinking with their instincts rather than their brains.
I blew out a deep breath and tapped my fingers on my knee. Who knew how many hours of hell I’d be in the car with the god of war? It was going to be a fucking nightmare. Ignoring him the whole time, listening to his breathing, smelling that damn good scent of hazelnut.
Ares walked to his door and scooted into his seat. Then, without turning back, he started the car and drove out of the driveway and off of my property. I watched my pack disappear in the rearview mirror and didn’t see an ounce of guilt on Mom’s face.
Trees whizzed past us, their leaves rustling together in the wind. I frowned, wanting nothing more than to run through that forest again, to let my wolf free the way I used to before I was hurt, to feel the wind in my fur, to be happy with Jeremy.
Miles ahead, the clouds turned from cotton white to an ominous gray, looming over Sanguine Wilds. I wondered how Jeremy was as he ran with the wolves up in the clouds. He’d always loved the thunderous storms, rain beating down on the leaves, watching the lightning strike trees from our hideout cave deep in the forest.
Was he happy? Would he have exchanged me for his pack?
Tears welled up in my eyes, yet I didn’t let them fall. Jeremy would never have done that. He’d have stood up and fought or traded his life for mine. I balled my hands into fists. Goddess, I missed him.
Ares turned to me, one hand on the steering wheel, the other inching closer and closer to my thigh.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said through clenched teeth.
We came to a stop sign, the road splitting off into two directions. Ares turned right into the fog. Tilted slightly and adorned with large bite marks, a silver stake was stuck into the ground to my right with a sign attached to it, labeled Hound Territory. I tensed and sat up in my seat, gaze flickering across the forest to catch any signs of rogues.
“Talk to me,” Ares said.
“No,” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the windshield.
Leaves blew wildly around us, and little droplets of rain started hitting against the glass. Out of all the ways Ares could go to get back to his property, why’d he take the rogue route?
“Kitten …”
“What?” I snapped, fear and fury rushing through me. “What do you want me to say to you? That you’re a dick for making me leave my family? That I think you’re a complete idiot for destroying packs just for power? That I would rather be at home, continuing my comfortable life without you?”
Okay, that last one was a bit harsh and totally untrue. After last night and earlier in my bedroom, I was more than glad that I had met him. My wolf hadn’t been this excited since Jeremy was alive. She was doing flips in my stomach, jumping up and down, running around in circles, like his scent was some kind of wolf-nip.
She was happy, but part of me wished he weren’t my mate. He was an aggressive asshole who killed people for power, and I didn’t want to lead that kind of life. But now that I was being thrust into that lifestyle of pure violence, I had no other choice.
He growled, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel. “You know nothing about me,” he said. “Nothing about the reasons I do what I do.”
“I know that you plucked me right out of my home because you wanted me for yourself. I know that you used me to gain access to my pack. I know that you—”
Someone ran right out into the deserted street, and Ares slammed on the brakes, sending me forward. My seat belt cut into my collarbone, and I groaned.
“I know that you’re completely senseless,” I said under my breath.
He gazed at me for a moment, looking me up and down, and then turned back to the woman in front of us. She knelt in the middle of the street, clutching her neck. Blood seeped through her fingers and drenched her raggedy red hair. The woman glanced up through the fog lights at me, and I immediately recognized her as a rogue. Her hair was wild, her stench putrid, her skin cut up with scars only a rogue would have.
Ares parked the car, and my eyes widened.
“What are you doing?” I asked, clutching my seat belt.
Nobody should ever stop in Hound Territory, not even for an easy-to-kill rogue. Hounds used rogues as bait. Though a type of rogue themselves, hounds were more vicious, stronger, and so much more violent. They didn’t give a damn about anyone.
Ares opened his door. “Stay here.”
I undid my seat belt. “Are you crazy?” I asked, grabbing his forearm. “This is Hound Territory, and you want to go out there to help a rogue you know nothing about. Hounds could be chasing her for all you know.”
“Are you afraid of the hounds?” he asked me, lips curling into the smallest of smirks.
I growled and released his wrist. Fine, if he wanted to go out there and lose his shifting abilities like I’d lost mine to the hounds, I would get a front row
seat. I didn’t care anymore. I’d drive off as soon as they attacked him.
“Stay here,” Ares said sternly, a bloodthirsty look crossing his face. There it was again—that look of a god.
He closed the door and approached the woman, saying something to her that I couldn’t quite hear. She shook her head and wiped tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She motioned to the forest and crouched down, grasping her stomach. Moon Goddess, this was going to take longer than I wanted.
What was supposed to be a few hours’ drive was going to turn into an even longer one.
After glancing around the forest once more to make sure it was clear, I grabbed my backpack from the backseat and unzipped it. Inside, two black eyes gazed up at me, and it meowed. I smiled and pulled Ruffles out along with a bag of Ruffles chips.
She rubbed against me, like she always did when she wanted food or knew I was worried.
“Sorry, girl.”
I tore open the chips, and she stuffed her head in the bag, munching on one. Her cute little crunches made me smile and relax back into the seat.
“My mate didn’t want me to bring you … but I wouldn’t leave you behind.”
She hopped onto the driver’s seat, placed her two paws on the steering wheel, and stared at the scene in front of us with a single chip in her mouth.
My gaze fell on Ares, who was walking into the woods alone while the woman just stood on the two yellow lines in the middle of the road. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. Moon Goddess, he shouldn’t be going out there. He should be in here, with me, where he would be safe.
After a few minutes, Ares emerged with a young pup on his hip. The pup was crying, his hair disheveled. The woman fell to her knees and reached up for the boy, unable to hold back her emotions. Ares placed the boy in her arms.
Ruffles glanced over at me and meowed.
Ares gave the woman a breathtaking smile and handed her the child.
My eyes widened slightly, and I nodded my head to Ruffles. “I know, girl. I know.”
She meowed again and swatted my knee. I looked down at her to see her staring at my passenger window. And just as I looked over, something smashed into the side of the car, the glass shattering all over my lap.
I screamed and scurried away from the window, my heart hammering inside my chest. Two black eyes of a hound stared right at me as it sprinted straight for the passenger door again.
A vicious growl exited Ares’s throat and echoed throughout the entire forest. He shifted midair into his wolf and sprinted toward the car like his life depended on it. The hound hit the side of the car again, blood-colored foam oozing from his mouth. He thrust his snout into the broken window, trying to latch his teeth into my shoulder.
More hounds appeared through the forest, trapping Ares. My heart pounded in my chest, and I threw myself over Ruffles to save her life, like I wish I had done with Jeremy. But Ruffles had other plans.
She hissed, jumped on my shoulder, and swatted at the hound with both paws, tearing into his skin. It wasn’t hard but was enough to be annoying. Her tail stood straight up, and she caught him in the eye. Thrashing back and forth, the hound howled.
Goddess, I wished I could shift, so I could kill him instantly. The rogue shoved himself further into the car, saliva dripping from every one of his teeth. I glanced back at Ares, hoping that he, the woman, and her son were okay. But what I saw instead were two hounds lying dead in the middle of the street and Ares surrounded by four more.
Rain beat down diagonally around him, fog sitting heavily in the air.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
I felt useless. Completely useless. My mate was fighting the monsters—the same ones I had dedicated my life to finding a way to eradicate—while I just sat in the car, trying to protect myself and Ruffles from being ripped to shreds.
This was how Jeremy had been murdered. Surrounded by four wolves. In the pouring rain. Unable to escape. Torn to shreds. The leader of that hound group had killed him almost instantly with a look of pleasure on his face.
I tossed Ruffles to the driver’s seat and scooted into the seat myself, kicking the wolf’s snout with my heel. He sunk his canines into my foot. I fumbled with my backpack, grabbed the silver knife inside the bag—because silver was the Achilles heel for wolves, and shoved it right into his mouth.
The blade sliced through the back of his neck, and he released my foot, shaking his head from side to side. I kicked him again, crawled over to my seat, wrapped my hand around his neck, and snapped it.
When I looked back at Ares, he was pulling a hound’s throat from his neck, and the other three were lying dead on the cement with their comrades. Ares’s teeth dripped with blood. He gazed over at me with the darkest golden eyes that I had ever seen and growled lowly.
I lured Ruffles back into my backpack with the bag of chips before he had a chance to notice her and cursed to myself for ever coming with Ares. We hadn’t even made it a couple hours before shit happened.
Ares gazed around the forest twice and shifted into his human. Blood gushed out of a bite mark in his chest. He hurried over to the car, opened his door, pulled out a phone that he had gotten from somewhere, and glared at me.
“Liam. Hounds. North Sanguine Wilds. Get here now.” He threw his phone onto the seat and growled at me. “What was that?”
My eyes widened, and I pushed my backpack into the backseat. “What do you mean?”
“He attacked you.”
“Yeah, and they attacked you.” I pressed my lips together, unable to hold back my rage. “Why the fuck are you angry with me for your stupid-ass decisions? I told you not to go out there.”
“You didn’t shift.” He clenched the door handle in his fist, muscles flexing. Beads of blood rolled down his naked and tensed abdomen. “You could’ve gotten killed because you didn’t shift, Aurora.”
I wanted to argue with him, but nothing came out. How was I supposed to tell my mate—one of the strongest alphas of our time—that I couldn’t shift? That I wasn’t the alpha he thought I was. That I was useless to Mom and that I’d be useless to him too.
My wolf whimpered at the thought. Mate won’t want us if we tell him. Nobody will want us. We can barely even protect ourselves.
She disappeared in the back of my mind, and I wrapped my arms around myself. Ruffles would want us. She would always want us. But my mate might not.
I’d become a lone wolf. Maybe he’d feed me to the hounds himself when he found out. The horror stories of him told me that he would do such a thing. And then we’d cease to exist together.
“It was one hound,” I said, brushing it off as if it were nothing, but my voice wavered.
Ares continued to glare at me with eyes so rageful and so hateful that I thought he would kick me out of the car right then and there for not protecting myself. And I didn’t know how to feel about that. Part of me thought that it would be great. I could go back to my pack—my pack that didn’t want me. The other part of me dreaded the mere thought of being without my mate, without Mars or Ares or whoever the hell he really was.
After a few moments, he gestured to the mother and child. “Get out of the car, so I can watch you.”
“I can watch myself.”
He clenched his jaw. “Now, get out of the fucking car. I’m not going to say it again.”
I grumbled to myself, trying not to touch the shattered glass sprinkled along the seat, and stepped out of the car. Some had cut into my leg, but I hid it well with my dark jeans. It didn’t need to be treated now. I’d deal with it later.
After Ares found a spare pair of pants in the back of the car, we approached the woman.
She turned to Ares, tears streaming down her face. “How can I repay you? I-I don’t have anything of value.”
“With information and by accepting membership into my pack, so we can keep you safe.”
My eyes widened. He was going to let her into his pack just like that? While I had sympathy for her and her son,
she was still a rogue, and rogues were known for betraying, slaying, and murdering innocent wolves.
She fell to her knees. “Yes, of course. You’re my savior today. What kind of information do you need?”
“The Malavite Stone. Tell me all you know about it.”
I stiffened. I should’ve known he’d ask about that.
The Malavite Stone.
The stone he tore apart packs to find. The stone that could really make him a god with all its power.
The stone that I had inside of me.
After the hounds had attacked my pack, it had been used to heal me. Half of it was inside my back, keeping me alive. And the other half was with the hounds—lost forever.
The stone had powers that not many knew about. Healing properties. Strength properties. Power properties. Properties that hadn’t even been unlocked yet. It was the rarest gem in the entire world. Every alpha wanted to get their hands on it, but nobody knew where it was. Except Elijah—one of my closest allies—and me.
“I don’t have any information about the Malavite Stone,” the woman said, blood draining from her face. “As far as I know, it’s not even around here.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Ares said in his alpha tone, so frighteningly deep and stern.
My wolf purred, heat warming my core at how powerful he sounded. Damn mating bond.
She stepped back toward the woods. “I-I don’t know anything about it.” She snatched her son’s hand, tongue clicking against her teeth.
Her gaze was fixed on the ground, and I knew she was lying. Ares knew it too.
He snatched her chin hard. “Tell me,” he demanded. His voice was deadly quiet. “What do you know?” When she didn’t say anything, Ares gripped her chin tighter. “Tell me now before I have to make you.”
After parting her lips a few times and squeezing her son’s hand, she nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I … the hounds have the stone … a man with a large scar down the side of his face rules over them. That’s as much as I know.”