AURORA
“Goddess, Mars …” I whispered, tilting my head to the side and allowing him better access to pierce me with his immense, razor-sharp canines.
Ecstasy crashed through me, hitting me almost as brutally as Ares had jerked that hound around the other night. I curled my fingers into his chest and moaned as droplets of blood rolled down my bare chest and permeated through the bath water.
Forget the sex, the lust, the need for this man. I had ached for Mars to claim me since Ares had that night in the prison. Unlike Ares’s, there was no hastiness, no recklessness, and certainly no jealousy behind the bite. Mars’s mark was made with care, caution, and most of all, love.
Mars inhaled deeply and grunted against me, all his thoughts, doubts, and insecurities suffusing my mind. And while Mars almost had more memories than Ares, a distant vision of me being bent over our bed and screaming for something to stop was the only thing I could seem to focus on.
Maybe this was his nightmare last night, one of me being … raped.
I sucked in a breath as the vision became clearer. Mars stood in the corner, unable to move and desperately calling my name, while I lay on the bed, paralyzed with Fenris taking me forcefully from behind.
After a few moments, he tensed and pulled his teeth out. “Sorry you had to see that.”
Shoulders slumping forward, he licked my wound and covered the gash with a thick layer of saliva. Almost immediately, my skin sealed the lesion shut and healed the wound. Yet I still felt the swell of his mark, the epicenter of his love, the part of him rushing through me.
I ached when Mars pulled himself away but relished in the pain.
Wrapping my arms around his shoulders, I moved closer to him and kissed him. “Take me out for breakfast. Let me show everyone your mark. I want them to know that I’m totally and completely yours.”
Mars tucked some hair behind my ear, drawing his fingers across my cheekbone. “You’ve always been mine, Kitten, since the moment I met you at the lake and you let me love you.” He sucked my bottom lip between his teeth and tugged gently. “You own my soul, Aurora, every damn part of me, of us. Ares and I would do anything for you.”
After pulling his lips into one more kiss, my heart fluttering at the thought of spending my life with Mars, I stood up and handed him a towel. I swiped my hand across the steamy bathroom mirror, wiped the beads of water off my chest, and smiled at the reflection of my swollen love bite. Surrounded by an onslaught of purple bruises, four large canine marks decorated my neck on each side.
With a towel wrapped around his waist, Mars stood behind me and admired his mark, drawing a finger down the side of my throat and stopping right before he touched the scars. Though I could still faintly see those nasty thoughts of Fenris inside his mind, he actually smiled and pulled me into a hug.
“You’re mine,” he murmured into my ear, staring at my reflection in the mirror.
“Meow.” Ruffles appeared at the door, looking directly at Mars and swatting her tail.
Mars cracked a smile and strummed his fingers against my stomach. “You’re mine too, Ruffles.”
Ruffles purred, her tail slowing to a sway. She disappeared, and then a moment later, she reappeared with her blue hat between her teeth. She dropped it in front of our feet and stared up at Mars. “Meow.”
“Sorry, Ruffles, you’re not invited to our date.”
Licking the chip dust off her whiskers, Ruffles ignored me and mewed at Mars again.
“You’re always welcome to come with us, Ruffles. Don’t listen to Aurora. She’s just jealous.” He leaned down, fastened the hat on her head, and sneezed, scaring Ruffles in the process.
I tugged him into our bedroom and tossed him some clothes. “We should get you more allergy medication when we’re out. We’re running low.” I pulled on some shorts and a sweatshirt, knowing that though fall had just started, the strong breeze and fog would block any warmth from the sun.
Ruffles padded to the front doors, her booty swaying back and forth. Something told me that she didn’t want to come with us to go out on our date. She was on the prowl for her new man, Pringle.
Mars wrapped his arm around my waist and held me against him as we walked out the front doors and down the driveway, heading straight for town. I wanted to say that he held me close because of his mark, but I knew deep down that it soothed him and Ares to know I was close to him in case a hound attacked.
As we ambled downtown, I brushed my fingers against my newest mark, savoring the feeling of it. Don’t get me wrong; I loved Ares’s mark, but Mars needed the extra love, more than Ares ever did. Being the shield and the spear, Ares knew Mars needed that protection too.
When we rounded the corner into town, Pringle walked right past us with a gray mouse in his mouth. He saw Ruffles and immediately changed his direction, stopping in front of her and placing the mouse at her feet, as if he were making a sacrifice to a goddess. After giving me a sassy smirk, Ruffles sniffed it and glanced toward the alley behind Moon’s Cafe.
Looked like Ruffles was going to have her first official date.
“Don’t get any diseases,” I shouted, crossing my arms over my chest.
Mars leaned over my shoulder. “And she’s not talking about eating the mouse.”
I playfully pushed his chest and told Ruffles not to go far. She had our scent all over her tiny cat body. If Fenris found her out in the wild, there was no telling what he’d do to her to get at me. Mars had said Fenris wanted me and my stone, and I wouldn’t let Fenris win this little game he wanted to play.
Ruffles nudged Pringle, and Pringle picked up the mouse, following her into the back alleyway behind Moon’s. After ensuring that Ruffles wouldn’t leave the alley, I walked toward the café with Mars in tow.
Beautiful white-painted silhouettes of the Moon Goddess decorated Moon’s black walls. Star- and moon-shaped lights dangled from the high ceiling. Mars grabbed my hand and found a seat at one of the white couches and wooden tables that lined the outskirts of the small room. To the average human, this was just another café, but to wolves, this was a café dedicated to our goddess, the woman who had breathed life into us and chosen our fated mates.
“The pups are coming over tomorrow night,” Mars said, trailing his nose up the side of my neck near his mark as we waited for our Chai moon tea.
I shivered at his touch and eyed the torch-like candle flickering in the center of the table. “Are you going to show me how well you act around them?”
He wrapped his arms around my waist, sprawling one hand over my stomach. “Of course I am, Kitten.” He curled his fingers into my flesh. “I want your belly swollen with my pups soon. I want little Auroras running around our pack house.”
“Being tormented by a little Ares?”
“No, we’re having girls, and they’re going to be the strongest female alphas the world has ever seen.” He chuckled into my ear and placed his lips on his mark. “Besides their mother, of course.”
Talking about having children with my mate made my stomach tighten. While I wanted pups, now wasn’t the right time, especially with everything going on in this uncertain world. But I also knew that Ares and Mars felt differently about it all. They both wanted to give me pups.
Mars leaned in closer. “So you’ll have a piece of me when I’m gone,” he whispered in my ear.
Tensing, I pulled away and suddenly felt defeated. I didn’t want Mars to think that way because we were going to survive these attacks and this war. Maybe Mars was letting his nightmare frighten him too much, or maybe his father had said something to him last night about Fenris because it wasn’t like him to … to act so conquered by fear.
“Don’t be sad, Kitten,” he whispered, taking my hands. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
I nodded and wiped away some tears. “I know.”
Unable to take my eyes off him, I frowned at his goddamn perfect face. He had always been more than I’d ever asked for, and I wanted to be with him forever. He wasn’t going to sacrifice himself for me. I wouldn’t let him. I’d use the other half of the damn stone on him if I had to.