ARES
Aurora didn’t just love Mars. She fucking loved me too.
I held her tight to my chest, brought her to our bedroom, and lay down next to her, brushing a strand of her brown hair from her face. Part of me didn’t fucking believe it. How could she like me as I was?
All I had was pain. All I felt was heartbreak. All I wanted was to make other people hurt.
“Why do you love me?” I asked her, brows furrowed together.
Hearing those words had made me feel so good on the inside, but after sitting with them, they didn’t make sense. Aurora should hate me.
I deserved to be fucking hated.
Moonlight flooded into the room through our window, bouncing off Aurora’s big eyes. A look of sadness crossed her face, yet she held eye contact with me and brushed her fingers against my stubble. “Because you’re the only person who’s ever accepted me as an equal.”
My fingers dug into her hips as I remembered how her family had treated her when I showed up. I had known that something was off about them. They hadn’t even fucking asked her to fight with them during the attack.
She sighed deeply through her nose. “My old pack accepted me, but they never treated me as an alpha or even as a warrior. They always gave me work to do that didn’t matter, barely included me in anything, acted as if I needed all their protection.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I didn’t tell you about the stone because I thought … I thought you wouldn’t accept me as your mate either.”
I pulled her to my chest tightly, showing her that I wouldn’t hurt her and that I wouldn’t let anyone try to fucking hurt her again because part of me knew how she felt. Growing up with these polar opposite personalities, I found it so fucking hard to get people to accept it.
Sure, I’d had friends and girlfriends and lovers, but most of those fucking assholes hadn’t loved me. They all loved the alpha; they didn’t see the man behind the title. They didn’t know how to deal with both of us. They’d left. They’d fucking left when I needed them the most.
Holding Aurora tighter, I shook my head. It was only when I had taken over for Dad that people started respecting Ares. Mars had hidden away. Mars—my chest tightened—was terrified of them.
“I love you too, Aurora,” I whispered into her ear. “For letting me be myself around you.”
And for so much fucking more.