AURORA
About halfway to Elijah’s pack, I had neither convinced them to turn back nor spoken a word. I didn’t want to convince anyone. I didn’t want to run away from Ares. He was so excited to see my wolf, yet I didn’t have the courage to tell him that my wolf didn’t come out that often, that we wouldn’t be able to run free together.
“Can you turn the AC down? It’s freezing.” Charolette reached for the middle console.
Marcel pushed her hand away and clenched his jaw. “Touch the damn thing one more time, Charolette, and see what happens.”
She scoffed, “What’re you going to do? Hit me?”
“I don’t hit women who don’t know how to fight.”
“Well then, you should have no problem hitting me.”
“You don’t know the first thing about—”
“Why does Ares want that stone so bad?” I asked, unable to hold the question in any longer and hoping that this wasn’t all just for power. Maybe there was a good side of Ares.
The two suddenly became quieter than they had been this entire car ride. Marcel glanced at Charolette, and Charolette glanced at him and then at her lap. She parted her lips, briefly looking up at the windshield, and screamed. Marcel hit the brakes, and I flew forward in the car, the seat belt digging into my neck.
Tony stood in the middle of the street, naked and sweaty. I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure that I wasn’t seeing things.
What the hell was he doing here? In Hound Territory? Out in the open? By himself? Was he stupid, or was he fucking stupid? A stupid alpha to lead Mom’s stupid pack when she retired.
Marcel took his foot off the brakes, his hand tight on the steering wheel, immediately shifting into warrior mode. “I’m going to drive past him. Leave him for the hounds.”
I clenched my jaw. “No. Stop the car.” I hated the guy, but I didn’t want him dead. Yet.
Charolette stared at Tony with wide eyes and then at Marcel.
Marcel gazed at me through the rearview mirror with hatred in his eyes. “Ares will not like us stopping, especially in Hound Territory.”
“Now, Marcel.”
“Ares is going to have my fucking ass for this.” He sighed deeply through his nose and put the car in park. “Don’t get out of the car, Charolette.”
I hopped out of the car and walked right up to Tony. “What the hell are you doing here?” I lowered my voice and looked around the dark, grotesque forest. Trees loomed over us like hellish monsters, ready to attack at any moment. “We’re in Hound Territory.”
Tony stepped toward me, and I noticed some of the other warrior wolves from Mom’s pack behind him. “I’m bringing you home.”
Bringing me home? I wasn’t going anywhere with the one man who had willingly stolen my place as alpha. I wanted to run from Ares, but I wasn’t going to run into the arms of a weak man like Tony. And plus, this seemed all too convenient for him to show up on the exact route we were taking to Elijah’s.
“You’re not safe with Ares,” Tony said.
From behind me, Marcel jutted his chin and tilted his head, as if he was about to kill Tony if he got too close.
I furrowed my brows at him, trying to figure out why he was here. How could he have known we’d be here?
“Let’s go.” Tony grasped my wrist and pulled me in the other direction.
I yanked myself away from him and glared. “I asked why you were here.”
He clenched his jaw and stepped closer to me. “Because I know about the stone,” he said under his breath.
My heart stopped, a lump forming in my throat. Tony knew about the stone? No … he was just bluffing. He didn’t know anything about it.
“I know why you can’t shift,” he said even quieter. “I know that the stone has been inside of you since your brother passed.”
“How?” I shook my head in disbelief. Nobody knew. How did he? “Wait, you knew and you still told Ares that Elijah had it?!”
Fury raced through my veins. Ares was about to rip Elijah to shreds because of this piece-of-shit alpha wannabe. Everything had been going just fine until this happened. I could’ve hidden it from Ares longer, but Tony had had to ruin it for me, just like he’d ruined my chances of becoming alpha.
Wrapping my hands around his throat, I squeezed as tightly as I could. “Fuck you for everything that you’ve ever done to me. Jeremy wouldn’t have wanted this. You know what Elijah meant to him. Even when he’s dead, you continue to disrespect my brother.”
What was this all for? Why did Tony want me back? He had everything he could ever want, everything he’d been lusting after since Jeremy left—a pack to call his own.
Tony grasped my hands and tried to pull them away. “I’m doing this to protect you. You think that the rogue and her kid just ran out in front of your car when you were leaving with Ares just because? I’d hired her to tell him what I knew, so he’d run off, power hungry, to Elijah’s, and then I could get you back.”
“No,” I said, refusing to believe anything that came out of his mouth and squeezing his neck even tighter. “You’re doing this to have me, to own me, so I am always in your debt.” And I was done being his little puppet. I pulled him close, so my lips met his ear. “Leave now, and I won’t tell Ares to snap your neck. I would do it myself, but Ares would relish in how good it felt.”
And plus, I couldn’t kill him, no matter how hard I tried. I didn’t want to see Mom’s pack—my old pack—go up in flames. I still cared about them. I still wished the best for all the pups. I wanted them to thrive too. I just wished it could’ve been me leading them.
When I walked back to the car, Marcel raised his brows at me. “Actually have some fight in you.”
I slammed the car door shut and clenched my teeth together, staring at Tony as he disappeared back into the woods with his posse.
Marcel got into the car and gazed at Charolette and then at me. “What was that about?”
“Drive, Marcel. Just drive.”
After ten more minutes of complete silence from Marcel and Charolette, I sat in the backseat, nearly shaking. What was Tony’s problem? Why did he always think that I needed saving? The only one I wanted to save me was Ruffles. Only Ruffles. I didn’t need any alpha-holes thinking that they owned me.
Deafening victory howls sounded through the forest. I gazed out the car window in the direction of the wolves, my heart dropping. About a quarter mile east, warrior wolves were gathered around a man—a god—Ares, who stood naked on two feet with blood dripping down his chin to his chest, holding a beaten Elijah by the throat.
Ares was seconds away from ripping Elijah’s throat right out of his neck, punishing him—for something that was my fault. He would kill him, and I would be that weak alpha Mom had always said I was for letting it happen. My heart tightened until I could barely breathe.
“Stop the car,” I said to Marcel.
Charolette gazed at me with wide eyes and shook her head. “Ares never lets him stop the car while he’s hunting.”
“Stop the damn car, Marcel, or I’m jumping out.”
From here, all I could see was how utterly cruel Ares was treating Elijah. Throwing him around like he was a rag doll. Punishing him like he deserved it. But it wasn’t Elijah who deserved anything. It was me. I deserved this all. I deserved to be punished for this. For being an alpha who could barely shift, who couldn’t protect, who had made her entire family and pack so ashamed that they traded her.
Marcel pressed onto the gas and drove us further into Elijah’s property. “No.”
When he didn’t stop the car, I opened the goddamn door—because I had to do everything myself—and jumped out. Not caring if it would hurt me because watching Ares torture Elijah hurt more.
I somersaulted three times and landed hard on the cement, leaving my whole body aching badly. My wolf howled inside of me from the impact, but I tensed and took it like any alpha would.
Marcel hit the brakes, and the car screeched against the pavement. Everyone in the forest looked over at it, except me. I hopped right off of the ground, dusted myself off like it was nobody’s business, and stormed to Ares, who still had that sinister look in his eyes.
“Put him down!” I shouted, my whole body trembling in both rage and heartache.
If Jeremy were alive … Jeremy wasn’t alive, so I had to keep Elijah safe or at least look out for him.
Elijah was more than just an alpha. He led a pack with intelligence instead of violence, had the best doctors and smartest wolves in the entire world, and had found love with my brother. They’d spent hours together every single night, and he was the first person I had seen Jeremy truly happy with. He was family even if Mom didn’t approve of him.
Ares’s large hands were around Elijah’s neck, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until Elijah’s cheeks turned purple. Elijah—already broken in three places and bruised all over the left side of his face—lay helplessly in his arms. I needed to protect him. Not only because he had made Jeremy happy, not only because he’d saved me, but also because it was the right thing to do.
I dug my claws into Ares’s forearms and pulled with all of my might. “Let go of him now, Ares!” I screamed, except he didn’t budge.
I didn’t think that he even knew I was there. His eyes were pure gold calamity, focused on his prey with vengeance and valor, arrogance and superiority.
“Ares. Now,” I commanded in my alpha tone.
Ares spared me a single glance, pressed his lips together, and growled viciously. “What the hell are you doing here, Aurora? You’re supposed to be with Marcel. Somewhere safe.”
“Well, you’re not supposed to be killing Elijah. Now, are you?” I gave him a pointed stare and yanked on his arms one more time. “Think for one fucking second. You need him. You need Elijah because he’s the only person who knows how to surgically place the stone into someone’s body. If you want all the fucking power in the world, you need him.”
I grasped on to anything to buy Elijah a few more moments. I wouldn’t let him die, but I needed time. Time to get us all back to Ares’s pack house, so I could say good-bye to Ruffles forever.
Simmering, Ares threw Elijah to his warriors, as if he were throwing a spear into someone’s heart. “Take him back home. Lock him in the prison. Capture any of his warriors who try to protest.” Then, he stormed through the forest, heading back toward Hound Territory.
But I wouldn’t let him get away with hurting someone I loved. I rushed after him, running as fast as I could to catch him before he shifted, and snatched his arm. “So, what? You’re just going to throw him in a cage and torture him until he gives you an answer?”
“If that’s what I have to do, Aurora, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
I clenched my jaw, angry yet terrified. “Well … what if he gives you an answer that you don’t like? What if he tells you where the stone is … but you don’t … accept it?”
He let out a long and tense sigh and dragged me back to the road by my wrist, where Marcel waited in the car. “Let’s be clear, Kitten. There will be no answer that I won’t accept. I will have that stone even if it kills me. I will trek to the ends of the earth, walk through fucking hell to get it. Hurt anyone and everyone I need for it to be mine.”
Every word tore into me like claws, digging deeper and deeper until my heart nearly stopped.
I wanted to ask him again if he’d hurt me, but I was afraid of the answer. Ares looked ready to kill me now for jumping out of the car and onto his battlefield. Before, Ares had been calm when I asked him; now, he was the man the rumors loved.
Marcel tapped his foot on the ground, arms crossed over his chest.
Ares thrust me to him, and I hit his hard chest. “I told you to watch her.”
“You didn’t tell me that she would jump out of the fucking car.” Marcel shoved me into the backseat, where Charolette now sat.
Instead of protesting, I wrapped my arms around myself and refused to look at Charolette, or I would cry.
Ares … Ares was … more frightening than anyone gave him credit for.
Ares slammed the door in my face, and I stared at the seat in front of me. He was either going to kill Elijah or he was going to kill me. It wasn’t in my blood to have someone hurt for my shortcomings. I was a damn alpha.
An alpha who couldn’t shift when she needed to. An alpha who couldn’t protect the people she loved. An alpha whose mate wouldn’t want her after he found out her secret—that she was useless, just like her mother thought.
It took thirty minutes to get back to Ares’s pack house, and the whole car ride, Charolette tried to soothe me, but there was no soothing something so deep, something that would ruin everything, something that would shatter her brother, who would then shatter me into a hundred thousand little pieces.
When we reached the pack house, Marcel escorted me up the stairs to the yellow-curtained bedroom and stood outside the door, guarding me from leaving. After hugging Ruffles to my chest and telling her that she was the only one I’d ever loved—dramatic much, but she deserved all the dramatics—I threw open the window and climbed out of it, hitting the ground with a thud.
I followed Elijah’s trail of blood to the prison. There were seven guards in the front of the main and only entrance. They all tried to stop me, but I did whatever I had to do to get past each one—punching, kicking, biting.
Elijah would not die.
When I made it inside, I shut and locked the door, taking out the key from the knob and putting it into my pocket. This way, nobody would be able to get in to stop me from doing whatever I had to do to get Elijah out of the dungeon.
I walked down the cold stone steps and into the dimly lit, rusty cells. It reeked of blood and rotting corpses and—I scrunched up my nose—shit. And while the smell was overwhelming, I followed Elijah’s scent.
In the back of the prison, Ares stood menacingly over Elijah’s body, blood dripping from his fingers. When I saw the silver chains clasped around Elijah’s wrist and neck, both of his eyes swollen shut, blood spewing from open wounds on his abdomen, I screamed for my life, for Elijah, for Jeremy.
Ares didn’t flinch, didn’t move, didn’t even react to my shouting, so I tried to find the one person who would.
“Mars,” I whispered.
Ares gazed at me, eyes widening in fury, and tried to grab my wrist, but I pushed him away and collapsed onto the ground with Elijah.
“What—what did you do to him?” I took Elijah’s head in my lap, brushing the hair out of his face. I could barely recognize him. “Wh—”
“Mars is gone, Kitten.” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me off the ground, holding me there like he was about to clasp a silver chain on me too.
I tried not to be intimidated by him. Mars was in there somewhere. He needed to be. He needed to see me, to see how much of a mess I was, to love me for my secret.
“You will stop this now, Mars,” I said. “Let me clean Elijah up. I can talk to him about the stone. I can see if he knows where it is.”
“No.” Ares curled a hand around my throat and forced me to look up at him. “Why do you want to protect him? What is your fascination with a man who isn’t your mate?”
“Ares …” I gently grasped his wrist, hoping that it would calm him down.
When I told him about the stone, I didn’t want him to be angry. Maybe I could talk some sense into him and convince him not to hurt me. His mate. His only mate.
“Answer me, Aurora!” He seethed, eyes blazing gold.
“He-he—”
“Do you like him?” he asked. “Does my mate like another wolf and not me?”
“Ares, what are you—”
“It’s a simple yes or no answer. Don’t complicate it.”
“Don’t talk down to me,” I said, pushing him away.
He stumbled back for the briefest moment, and I took the chance to fall back onto the ground with Elijah and cradle him in my arms. No, I didn’t like Elijah or Tony or any other guy for that matter.
For some stupid, crazy reason, I liked Ares and Mars … but … they wouldn’t like me.
Ares growled, gazing down at Elijah’s head in my lap, and yanked me up again. This time, harder. He wrapped a hand around my throat and pushed me all the way to the cold cement wall. “You’re mine, Aurora.”
I squirmed against him, trying to push him away, but he held me tighter to him, his hand closing around my throat.
“Only mine,” he said with more authority.
My heart raced in my chest as I watched his canines lengthen from under his lips.
“And you’ll always be mine.”
Then, he pushed my head to the side and sank his canines deep into my neck.