by Emilia Rose
My eyes widened, and I pulled Elijah toward the edge of Ares’s property, knowing that it wasn’t just any hound. It was Jeremy. Jeremy was back to see us, and I couldn’t wait another minute to see him again.
Sprinting even faster, Elijah tried hard to keep up with me. There was some yelling behind me, coming from Charolette, Marcel, and Liam, but I ignored it, needing to get to Jeremy after all these years.
“Kitten,” Ares said through the link. “Don’t engage with the hound.”
“It’s Jeremy, my brother,” I said back, inhaling Ares’s scent behind me. “I know it is.”
The guards stood heavily at the border, all staring at the monstrous hound with the stone in his back, who anxiously paced back and forth in the woods a few meters ahead. When Jeremy saw me, he ran over. Upon Ares’s orders, guards stood in front of me to protect me, but I shoved them out of the way to get to my brother.
Pushing his snout against my nose, he looked over at Elijah and gave him the weakest smile he could muster.
Elijah stayed quiet for a few moments, brows furrowed together. “This is him?” he whispered, crouching next to me and holding out a hesitant hand.
After Jeremy pushed his snout against Elijah’s hand and licked it, Jeremy looked back at me. “Aurora,” he said through my mind link.
I stared at him with wide, teary eyes. His voice. Jeremy’s voice … it was the same. My lips trembled, and I collapsed to my knees, taking his paw in my hands and leaning my forehead against his. I hadn’t heard his voice in years … I’d thought I’d never hear it again.
Out of all the things that had changed, this part of him had stayed the same. And it was my favorite part. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment with him, remembering all the times I had heard his voice before … when he used to sing me sweet little melodies about the Moon Goddess every night on the porch; when he helped me howl to the moon for the first time; when he told me one of Dad’s family war stories the night before the hound attack.
I’d thought I had lost those memories forever, but now, we could make some more. Whether he was stuck in wolf form or not, I didn’t care. I’d love him no matter the consequences or the struggles that came with him.
“How?” I asked through the mind link, brushing my fingers against the wound in his head that hadn’t closed yet, guilt washing over me. “How are you talking to me? Why didn’t you talk to me at the cave? I wouldn’t have hurt you.”
“The bite …” He gazed down on the bite mark in my wrist, and then he looked back through the foggy forest again. “I couldn’t talk to you without biting you.”
Ares slowly approached us with brows furrowed together. “Aurora …” He gazed down at Jeremy and grasped my shoulder. Though he didn’t pull me away, I could tell that he was ready to.
“Ares is your mate,” Jeremy said weakly, but his voice wasn’t filled with disappointment, like Mom’s and Dad’s had been. “I’m glad. He can protect you from what’s to come.”
My chest tightened, and I had the sudden urge to cry my eyes out. Jeremy approved of Ares. Someone in my family approved of my relationship with the savage, deadly, hurting alpha. And in that moment, the rumors and my parents’ approval didn’t matter to me anymore. Only Jeremy’s.
“You have to listen to me,” Jeremy said.
I stared at him in amazement. The feeling of him being with me was something I’d never thought I’d experience again. I brushed my hand over his ratty fur, wanting to help make him look better. I’d wash out all the dirt and the dried blood, making his coat nice and shiny, help heal his wounds.
“Aurora,” Jeremy said, more sternly this time, “they’re coming. You have to take the stone out of me. You—” He looked back through the woods, as if he’d heard something, with fear that hadn’t seemed to leave his face the entire time he’d been here. “You have to hurry, Aurora. Take the stone. Use it to heal yourself. You can’t let the hounds have it. You can’t let them take it from you either.”
I shook my head at him. “What are you talking about?”
Elijah tapped me on the back. “What is he saying?”
“They’re coming. There’s no stopping them,” Jeremy continued. “I tried.”
“Jeremy, who? What are you talking about?” I asked, scanning the forest for any signs of life other than the birds in the trees.
Elijah started to pace back and forth next to me, rubbing his palms together, probably feeling his mate’s anxiety.
“The hounds aren’t what you think they are. They’re more dangerous, and they’re coming for everyone … especially you.” Jeremy glanced over his shoulder and into the forest. “Aurora, we don’t have time. Take the stone out of me. They were following me.”
“No,” I said out loud. “It’ll kill you.”
Jeremy growled at me and bared his blunt teeth.
Ares stepped between us, but I pushed him away.
“Do it, Aurora,” Jeremy said, whimpering and submitting to Ares.
The Jeremy I had known never submitted to anyone. He was an alpha himself, not this broken wolf before me. Whatever he had been through this past decade must’ve been hell.
“Don’t let Tony have it or you. He’s betrayed our pack over and over, and … and he’s coming here. They all want you.”
“Let him try,” I said. “I’ll kill him.”
Jeremy growled at me again. “You’ll die. Everyone here will die. He’s coming with hounds.” He gazed back into the woods. “Aurora, you have to do it. You have to take the stone and survive. That is my only wish for you.”
From deep in the forest, I could hear the thunderous roar of paws hitting the ground. I swallowed hard, not wanting to believe it. Why were they coming for me, and why were they coming at all?
“Jeremy, no … there has to be another way.”
Pain was written all over his face. “I don’t want to live this life anymore,” he said, voice breaking. “Put me out of my misery and save your new pack. Lead the people who survived the hound attack and make sure they survive the ones to come.”
The ones to come.
He’d made it sound like a war that we couldn’t stop was approaching.
Tears welled up into my eyes, my heart aching more than it ever had in my entire life. Jeremy wanted to die. He didn’t want this life anymore. It had been taking a toll on him, and the only thing he wanted was for me to put him out of his torture.
More branches snapped in the woods, the rumbling becoming louder. I inhaled deeply and got a whiff of Tony’s putrid stench. He was here, just as Jeremy had said.
“Why? Why are they coming for me?” I asked with tears in my eyes. “For my stone?”
“For divine revenge,” Jeremy said. “Now, shift, Aurora.”
Divine revenge? What the hell did he mean, divine revenge?
“Shift!”
I pushed away all my tears and collapsed onto all fours. Fuck the reasoning. I would fight whoever tried to hurt Jeremy, my family, and my pack. If I could do anything, it was going to be trying to save us all.
But I needed to shift quickly. Tony was close, and I didn’t have much time.
Gathering all my strength, I willed myself to shift. My bones cracked and snapped back together. Every part of my body ached. Pain shot up my legs until I could barely feel them. My arms felt like they were being stabbed over and over from the inside out.
It hurt even worse because I was forcing this shift to be quick.
I let out a piercing scream and then saw Tony sprinting in my direction through the fog. My eyes widened, and I forced myself to shift faster than I ever had. There were four hounds with him, running directly at us. Elijah shifted beside me and started to fend them off, but Tony slipped past him.
The warriors and guards around me shifted, including Ares, who stood in front of me with Jeremy. When I finally finished shifting, I looked around and realized that there weren’t just four measly hounds with him. There were hundreds in the woods, surrounding Ares’s pack.<
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Pain shot through my body as I recovered briefly from the shift, but all I could feel was adrenaline, so much fucking adrenaline. Hounds leaped in my direction, but Ares kept as many off of me as he could.
Somehow, Tony made it past Ares and easily pushed Jeremy to the side. Keeping his head low, he stared at the bare side of my neck and leaped at me. I moved my head away just enough for his teeth to sink into my shoulder instead of my neck.
“Don’t resist it, Aurora,” Tony said through our mind link. “I want to help you survive.”
I thrashed from side to side, trying to shake him off me, and dug my claws into his underbelly. When he realized I wouldn’t give in to him, he ripped out a chunk of my shoulder, spit it out of his mouth, and then lurched at Jeremy, who reacted too late.
Jeremy struggled to stay on all fours, but Tony took him down within moments. Seeing Jeremy so physically and emotionally weak broke my heart. He had always been the strongest person that I looked up to and had always been my rock.
Tony went straight for the back of Jeremy’s neck, about to sink his teeth into it to pull out the stone. There was so much I didn’t know about why he was doing this or what this divine revenge meant, but deep in my heart, I knew that I couldn’t let the hounds have the stone.
So, milliseconds before Tony could rip Jeremy’s spine open to get the stone, I pushed my snout under Tony’s teeth and sank my canines into the back of Jeremy’s neck. My wolf whimpered as Jeremy instantly relaxed under me.
My body heaved back and forth, but I didn’t pull out my teeth from his neck. This was what I had to do. I couldn’t let Tony take the stone, couldn’t give him that kind of power.
Tony sank his teeth into the back of my neck—right where my stone was—yet he only pricked the first few layers of skin before he was ripped off me and thrown across the forest by Ares.
And even then, I didn’t let go of my brother. I stayed on top of Jeremy, knowing that once I pulled my canines from his flesh—whether he had the stone still in him or not—he’d be dead.
“I’m so sorry, Jeremy,” I said through the mind link, my voice cracking. My whole body felt so weak, yet I stayed strong. “I’m so sorry for this. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you all those years ago. I’m sorry that you couldn’t have a good life.”
“Go back to … cave, Aurora. Dig. Don’t go alone.”
“I love you with all my heart. I’ll never forget you, Jeremy. Ever.”
“I love you too.”
And those were the last words I heard from him.
I pulled the stone out of Jeremy’s neck, blood dripping from my mouth, and turned on my heel toward Ares and Tony, who were trying to rip each other apart.
That man had taken too much from me, and I was determined to take everything from him. I growled viciously at the two men, pulled Ares off him, and lurched at Tony myself. Ares had weakened him, but he was my kill.
Before he could even react, I latched my teeth into his neck and ripped out his throat. His throat fell from my mouth onto the ground, and a couple moments later, he fell with it. I collapsed next to him and crawled over to Jeremy, resting my head on his back.
It was over. It was all over.
For now.
Chapter 48
Ares
Aurora lay in a puddle of blood, her body struggling to shift back into her human. When she shifted back, she collapsed onto her brother’s lifeless body with tears streaming down her face. The Malavite Stone lay in her open hand.
I stared at her in shock, not knowing what to do. She had just killed her own brother after years of not seeing him to keep the stone away from the hounds. It was something that even I wouldn’t have had the courage or strength to do.
Elijah shifted next to Aurora, eyes glazing over to mind-link with someone. He nodded at me, as if to say that he’d protect her with his life as more hounds ran out through the forest.
They were coming.
They were coming, and again, we weren’t prepared.
But unlike last time, I wouldn’t let Aurora out of my sight. I’d protect her with my life because these hounds wanted the stone, and for some reason, they wanted her too.
Hundreds of beasts sprinted out from the forest, all running directly toward Aurora. I licked my lips, thirsty for blood and ready to kill. Not only were we fighting on my property now, but we were also at my home—the battlefield. I knew every tree, every hill, and every cave in this part of Sanguine Wilds. They wouldn’t win.
But even without the element of surprise, the hounds were stronger than they had been last time. And I couldn’t make sense of it. They were rogues. They were mayhem. They should never be this strong.
Something wasn’t right with them … it never had been.
I sank my teeth and claws into as many of them as I could, trying to get rid of them before even more showed up. But they kept closing in on us.
Wolves were howling to the sky with their final breath. My pack was falling, my people dying.
Marcel let out a piercing howl and shifted almost immediately back into his human form. A hound ran right at him to kill him, but Elijah sprinted at the beast and knocked him down. Marcel swiped his claws across the hound’s neck and killed him instantly.
In the distance, I heard more paws hitting the forest floor.
Fuck … fuck, there couldn’t be more. We couldn’t fucking die here today to these things, not before I healed Charolette and got my revenge for Mom. And Aurora … I couldn’t let Aurora die either. She had been through so much … and for what? To die here and now? No. Fuck no.
Elijah’s pack showed up in the woods, ready to fight these savage, ruthless beasts with us. A wall of warriors formed around me and my mate. My pack pushed the hounds deeper into the woods until they were on the outskirts of my property.
From across the forest, I locked eyes with one of the many men I had hunted for my entire life. Two scars ran diagonally across his face like an X, dragon-like tattoos covered one side of his head, and those hollow black eyes that I’d stared at when Mom was raped seemed to cut right through me.
He had almost killed Aurora the other day after I chased her into Hound Territory, but I’d refused to chase after him then and leave her alone. I couldn’t lose her to the hounds too. But now that he was here …
My Goddess had given me a second chance to kill his ass.
I growled viciously and bared my teeth at the man. The only thing I could feel was rage, rattling my insides, begging me to end his life and my misery right now. All I wanted to do was chase after him, rip out his throat, and finally feel closure for everything he had taken from me—Mom’s sanity, Mom’s happiness, Mom’s life. She deserved to be avenged for her rape. She deserved more than fourteen years of misery in the ground. I had to kill him, to shred him to pieces with my teeth, to let rogues feast on his rotting flesh.
I wouldn’t have another chance.
He wouldn’t get to terrorize me anymore.
“Aurora,” I said through the mind link, hoping that she’d be okay with me chasing after him.
There was pain in my heart. I was torn between chasing our life’s passion and staying with our entire life. I glanced over at my mate, who was doubled over her brother. Her naked body was heaving back and forth, her head was on his chest, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
If I stayed, I might never see him again. But if I chased after him, then I might never see Aurora again. The hounds would try to kill her to get the stone. They would try to take her from me.
And nobody would take away my Aurora again.
I let out another warning growl, standing in front of my pack and killing any and all of the hounds who got past my wall of warriors. My claws dug into fur like it was fabric. My teeth latched into throat after throat, tearing them out like it was nothing. All while I watched that hound run deeper into the forest like the coward he was.
When our pack had either killed the hounds or chased them off the property, I gazed at my m
ate, trying so damn hard to ignore the betrayal Mom must’ve felt because I’d chosen my mate over revenge for her.
Completely lost in all her grief, Aurora clutched on to Jeremy’s dead body. The strong and unyielding expression that she had given me the first night I met her was gone, and I could feel every ounce of her pain. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that this wouldn’t break her. I didn’t want her to feel the way I felt every day, and I didn’t want her to feel bad about what she’d had to do.
I slowly approached her with my head down and brushed my forehead against hers, wanting her to know that I was here for her. She lifted a trembling hand and pushed me away, trying to hold back her cries.
Both Mars and I felt hurt, but she was the one hurting right now. It couldn’t be about us. She had killed her own brother to save him from the hounds.
The stone glistened in her hand, falling from her open palm to the grass beside her. I backed away from her and stared at the Malavite Stone, the thing that had caused this whole mess. And in that moment, I made the second hardest decision of my entire life.
After what Aurora had done, if she wanted to use that stone on herself, I would let her.
I knew I could save Charolette with it, but Aurora had made a sacrifice that I would never have been able to make. She was stronger than I ever hoped to be, and she deserved to be able to shift without pain.
So, I lay on my stomach, rested my head on the bloody ground, and stared at my mate. Marcel walked up next to me and bowed his head to his luna, sitting and waiting with me. And then, one by one, the rest of the pack followed suit, bowing their heads and showing their respect.
Chapter 49
Aurora
Sitting around me in the fog, the pack watched me cling on to my brother and cry my damn eyes out … and I felt so weak. I’d let them fight without me. I’d let them protect me without trying to protect them. I was supposed to be their luna. I was supposed to care for them. I didn’t want to be like Mom or Dad and let other wolves protect me, so I could lead. I wasn’t better than any of these warriors.