by Emilia Rose
“Someone, clean this up, please,” I said, crouching by Charolette.
Doubled over onto her hands and knees, she let out a harrowing howl. Chest heaving up and down, nails lengthening into claws, she transformed into a small wolf and took off through the forest, sprinting faster than I had ever seen her.
Not wanting her to be alone, I ran after her in my human form and tried to maintain her increasing speed. With her condition, she’d slow down in a while, and I’d be able to catch up with her. But I hoped she stopped way before she darted off the property and onto Hound Territory.
If the hounds killed her, Ares would lose it. And I probably would too.
“Charolette!” I shouted, breathing hitched. While I came close in my human form, I could never keep up with a wolf’s speed. Their bodies were prime for sprinting far distances and for an extended period of time. “Charolette, please, slow down.”
When we approached a stream, she stopped and lifted her snout to the air to howl, the sound so heartbreakingly that I nearly cried out with her. She shifted and curled into a ball, head bare without her wig, the stream water coasting through her toes.
“We always used to come here. Liam would take me here every Friday. I … this was our spot.” Her body trembled. “He wasn’t my mate. I was using him the entire time. I … I didn’t want to be with Marcel. I thought I’d die before Liam did. I didn’t think … I didn’t think I’d ever see him like that.”
My chest tightened, and a lump formed in my throat. But I couldn’t cry now. I had to hold myself together for my pack and for my family. So, I pulled her into my lap and stroked her head, hoping to calm her down.
“I hated Liam for what he had done, but I didn’t want him to die because of it.” She grasped on to me for dear life, her lips parted, as if she wanted to say more but couldn’t physically get the words out.
“That doesn’t make it your fault,” I whispered to her.
She clutched onto my shoulders. “Yes, it does because he did this.”
“Who did?”
“My dad,” she whispered.
“Mr. Barrett?” I asked, furrowing my brows. “What does—”
“My real dad,” she cried.
My eyes widened in realization. She was talking about Fenris.
“He told me that nobody hurts his daughter. I didn’t believe him. This is all my fault.”
She spoke about Fenris as if it were normal, and I sat there stunned.
Was she in contact with Fenris? Why was she in contact with Fenris? When the fuck was she talking to him?
She thought that it was all her fault that Fenris had killed Liam, and part of me thought it was too; I just didn’t say it aloud.
Needing her to tell me everything, I held her tighter. No way in hell that she’d admit this to Ares, but once I told him, he’d flip the fuck out. Not only was Fenris the man he wanted to rip to pieces, but Charolette speaking with him also threatened our pack’s security.
I loved Charolette to pieces, but she had made a grave mistake.
“What do you mean, he told you?” I asked quietly.
“A few weeks ago …” She hiccuped. “During the hound attack at your mother’s pack. I stayed back with Liam, and then went out for a walk by myself, needing some fresh air.” She pulled away from me and threw her hands over her face. “I saw him out in the woods. He told me that he loved me, that he wanted me back, that he was trying to get Mom back for us to be a family …”
“Charolette,” I snapped, unable to hold back my anger. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
She whimpered, “I just … I want him to love me. And I want Mom back too.”
Her words came from the heart, and I saw myself in her—wanting and needing to be loved by a father. I couldn’t explain the feeling, but when I felt alone, I did stupid things to feel good again too.
After another few moments, she stood and wiped off dirt from her skin. “I should go back home.”
I followed after her through the woods. “Was that the only time he contacted you?”
“Yes,” she said.
Yet my stomach tightened. Something was terribly off and didn’t feel right.
Stopping in the middle of the woods, she grabbed my hands. “Please, don’t tell Ares.”
I shook my head in refusal. “I have to tell him. He’s the alpha, and he needs to protect this pack, Charolette. I know Fenris is your father, but he’s causing all this trouble and killing your friends. Who will he take next? Ares and Mars?”
Marcel jogged up from behind Charolette with her blonde wig in his hands. “Where’d you go? You should’ve fuckin’ stayed where we could watch you. If anything hap—”
“Shut up, Marcel.” Charolette snatched her wig and stormed past him toward town.
“What happened?” Marcel asked, staring back at her. “What’d you say to her?”
“She’s been in contact with Fenris,” I whispered.
Marcel growled, “Are you fuckin’ serious?”
Before he could hurry after her, I grasped his arm. “Don’t be hard on her and don’t tell anyone about this. We don’t know who to trust. Either someone helped Fenris get onto our property or he has some kind of magical powers to be able to go unnoticed. And as for Charolette, it seems like it was once—not that it makes up for anything—and from what I could gather, he didn’t hurt her.”
After extending his canines, he snarled in her direction. “Ares is back at the pack house. I saw him walk by when we were digging the graves. He had left with the boy but didn’t return with him.”
I nodded. “Thank you. And, Marcel, don’t let me down. I convinced Ares to make you beta. I need you to step up and be the best warrior and leader that you can be. Love Charolette with all your heart, but remember that Ares isn’t stable. This is going to destroy him. I need you to be ready to make hard decisions.”
Looking back at me, Marcel nodded. “I’ll do anything to help this pack survive.”
Not thrive. Not succeed. Survive.
“Good,” I said, watching the wind blow strands of white hair behind his shoulders. “Prepare to leave for the mountain within the next two days. Now that Fenris has attacked, we need to act quickly.”
Once I departed for the pack house, I laid a hand on my stomach to try to suppress the knots inside of it. No matter what happened, Ares would spiral out of control and kill Fenris. But I feared that once he did, Charolette would rebel. Though she didn’t even know him, Charolette seemed to be fond of her father for some ungodly reason.
I didn’t know what he had been trying to accomplish by speaking with her. Maybe he was trying to prove his love to her in some stupid way or get her to trust him. Maybe he had known that Ares wanted the stone for Charolette and he thought that he could steal it from her.
But he didn’t know that the stone was mine.
When I reached the pack house, I grasped the door handle with a shaky hand. I needed to tell Ares about Fenris, but I was terrified of the consequences. What if Ares lost complete control and killed his sister?
No, that wouldn’t happen.
Ares and Mars both adored Charolette, but this could cause strain.
I followed Ares’s hazelnut scent up to our bedroom and opened the doors. Freshly showered, wearing only a towel, he stood tensely with his scarred back turned to me. Beads of water dripped from his hair and onto his shoulders. And Ares was a frightening kind of quiet.
“Ares,” I whispered, stepping into the silent room.
“It’s my fault,” he said, gripping the bedsheets in his fists. “It’s my fucking fault.”
My wolf howled inside of me, feeling more pain than the night Ares had confessed to me that his mother had killed herself.
I moved closer and brushed my fingers against his back. “Ares, it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have stopped this from happening. Fenris is a monster who will stop at nothing to torture you.”
While Ares was always so strong and so wrathful, I hated to
see him so broken like this. It clawed me apart on the inside. After witnessing Fenris rape his mother and finding her dead in her bed, Ares had held in his hurt for so long, so damn long.
“How am I supposed to just let it go?” He pulled himself away and glared with his canines drawn, eyes glowing red and body visibly shaking. After a couple moments, he shook his head and looked between us with guilt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
I stepped closer to grasp his hands. “Don’t apologize.”
“That boy …” he whispered. “He didn’t do anything. He was just a pup, and now, he’s dead. I couldn’t help him. I let this happen. I didn’t have enough security. I didn’t have anyone protecting him. It’s my fault that he’s gone, and he will probably be brought back as a hound.”
Not knowing what to say, I pulled him up onto the bed with me and cradled his head to my chest. I didn’t care how long it took to calm him down. I laid with him until he relaxed and slowly stroked his hair until he snored softly in my lap. When he woke up, I’d tell him everything about Charolette. But for now, he needed peace.
Chapter 23
Aurora
“I’m sorry about the deaths,” Elijah said, looking over Ares’s desk at me.
After Ares had fallen asleep, I’d hopped out of bed to work. Now that Fenris had attacked our pack and killed three members, we had so much more to do in such a little time. Who knew when the next attack would be? Who knew what they’d try to take? Charolette perhaps.
Sitting beside Elijah, Adrian rested his hand on Elijah’s knee. “Ares is taking it bad, isn’t he?”
Tears welled up in my eyes, but I held myself together. I needed to be strong for Ares because he had always been my rock; he’d always been as strong as a damn god. Yet nobody could just erase the sight of headless bodies, hanging and swaying in the fall breeze, from their minds.
Memories of the day I’d almost died in the hands of the hounds in a violent and gruesome attack played through my mind on repeat. A tear slid down my cheek, and I thrust my face into my hands, unable to hold back the tears anymore.
“What are we going to do?” I asked, voice trembling. “Even though it doesn’t seem like it, he cares so much, almost too much. I’m so afraid one of these days, he’s going to break, and I’ll lose him for good. One day, the hounds are going to go too far, and I won’t ever see Ares or Mars again.”
Every day that went by was another day closer to war, a war that I feared would be worse than the War of the Lycans. And we weren’t ready. We weren’t even close. If Ares went blind with rage during war, who knew what the hounds would do to him?
What would life be without Mars if I only had Ares? Or without Ares if I only had Mars? What if I lost him the same way he’d lost his mother because he couldn’t handle this anymore? Ares had cut himself before because of all his pain—all the scars on his arms proved it. Would he do it again? Could he hold any more hurt?
“Aurora,” Elijah whispered, taking my hand. “We’ll be here for you, no matter what.”
“What if he”—my lips quivered even more, and I leaned against Ares’s oak desk, unable to hold myself up at the thought. I squeezed my eyes closed—“hurts himself?” Speaking the words aloud made them real.
I didn’t—I couldn’t lose him. If I did, I’d lose part of myself. My wolf would never forgive me for not protecting him at all costs, for not sacrificing myself before he took his life or someone else did.
“You make him stronger, Aurora,” Elijah said.
“But what if that’s not strong enough?” I asked, staring down at the scuffed wooden floor.
Elijah frowned deeper. “It needs to be. We have problems bigger than him. I know it’s fucked-up, but if he isn’t strong enough, then you need to be. You’re an alpha; you need to lead this pack if he spirals out of control.”
But I didn’t want to lead this pack alone. I wanted to lead this pack with Ares.
“Do you want some good news?” Adrian asked.
I nodded. Anything would be nice to know this wasn’t for nothing.
“After the hound attack this morning, more people have volunteered to help cement the underground shelters. Pack members are beginning to take it more seriously, especially the older wolves. We should be finished by tonight.”
“By tonight?” I asked with wide eyes. “Thank the Moon Goddess we have some way to protect our pups.”
“Next are the tunnels, which will start when you return from the mountains. I want you to be here to oversee the project, and I don’t want to start anything while we’re unguarded.” Adrian glanced over at Elijah, who looked uneasy.
Leafless branches struck the window, screeching against the screen outside, as rain pounded against the glass. I stared out into the gloomy afternoon sky and wondered what had caused such a great shift in the weather lately. Sanguine Wilds had never been this windy, foggy, and drab during the fall.
“Have you thought about the stone at all?” Elijah asked.
“Ares wants me to do it now, but it’s too risky. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to heal.”
After last time, I hadn’t moved for days. If I put the stone inside of me now and we hiked all the way up to Syncome Mountains, I wouldn’t make it. And I would not in a million years let Ares go alone. Not after what Dad had said was there.
Though I wanted to wait, I feared I was making the wrong decision. I should put it inside me now. I shouldn’t wait any longer. War would come either way, and I needed to be prepared. Yet how could I prepare if I couldn’t walk?
“I think that immediately following the Luna Ceremony would be best.”
Out of nowhere, Adrian said, “It doesn’t make sense.” He looked over at us and furrowed his brows. “Sorry, I’ve just been thinking about the hounds. I don’t understand it. Hounds don’t kill for reason, and they certainly don’t make statements like this. They would’ve killed Liam and the other two and left them for dead, not hang them by their feet and stick stakes in their heads.”
Elijah nodded. “No hound has ever had the ability to shift, never mind have their human mind completely intact. Jeremy was close, but he couldn’t shift. But this hound is different from the rest.”
“And so am I …” I whispered.
“If the hound leader has the ability to bring normal wolves back from the dead and turn them into hounds …”
My eyes grew wide. “Then, how does that explain me?”
Elijah sat further back in his chair and swiped a hand across his face. “To be absolutely honest with you, I have no idea. None of it makes sense at all. It’s been over a decade since we put the stone in your back. Dr. Farral has done thousands of surgeries since then, and I’m not sure if he’d remember something different about you. I haven’t gotten enough time to talk to him, but I’ll make time when you leave for the mountains.”
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding against my chest. “You don’t think that I’m a—”
“No,” Elijah said quickly. “You can think for yourself. You can shift—though it’s quite difficult—into your wolf and your human. You are able to speak and be civilized. I don’t think you’re a hound. Hounds can’t do that.”
“But …” My voice was barely above a whisper. “But Fenris can. He can think. He can lead. He can command an entire army of the dead and he must be undead too.”
Both Elijah and Adrian became quiet, and I sank into Ares’s comfy swivel chair, feeling anything but comfortable at this news. I should’ve learned more about the stone, like how it worked, its true powers, how and when the best time was to place it inside of me.
“Fenris is different,” Elijah said. “I don’t know how. We’ll have to capture him when we find him, study him if we can.” He stood up and glanced down at Adrian, the corner of his lips curling slightly. “It’s getting late,” he said, looking at me and smiling widely. “We’re going out to dinner.”
Though I was still worried about what was going on with me, I smile
d at him, my heart feeling light. Elijah deserved this—whatever he and Adrian had.
“I’ll be here to watch over your pack when you’re gone this week.” He pulled me into a hug. “Just come back home, safe and alive.”
Chapter 24
Ares
“Ares!” Aurora shouted from the kitchen window, the yellow curtains blowing out into the night. She leaned over it and stared down at me, brows furrowed. “Ares, have you seen the pups?”
“Pups?” I asked, eyes flickering to the bonfire about a mile east.
Some pack members had invited us to an elder’s eightieth birthday party. Aurora had been complaining all day about not wanting to go. Hell, I didn’t want to fucking go either. It was the first time in ages we were alone.
“Yes, Ares. Our pups.” She waved me off, disappearing for a moment, and then walking out of the back door, arching a brow at me. “Where are they? I told them to be back by seven, and it’s”—she looked down at the glowing numbers on her phone—“eight forty-five p.m.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “They’re out of our hair, which means I get to spend time with”—I grasped her jaw—“my mate. I hope that you’re not trying to get out of that, are you?”
She rolled her blue eyes, strands of hair blowing into her face. “No, I—”
Suddenly, someone shrieked from deep within the forest. “The kids! The kids!”
With wide eyes, Aurora grabbed my hand and took off running toward the screeching woman. My heart pounded in my chest as we ran through dense fog that seemed to roll in front of us. The further we got, the air became thicker, making it harder to see.
“Someone get Alpha Ares and Luna Aurora! Quick!” the woman yelled.
When we approached the woman, Aurora doubled over and screamed, “No! My babies, no!”
I stopped dead in my tracks to see our four decapitated pups hanging by their ankles with their heads on stakes. I dropped to my knees and shook my head in disbelief. No. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t fucking be happening. Our pups. Our only pups were gone. Killed by those ruthless, sinister, piece-of-shit hounds.