AURORA
With my arms wrapped around my knees, I rocked back and forth on the patio chair and thought about everything that had happened in the past hour. After I’d told Charolette that I couldn’t fix her, she’d cried her eyes out in her bedroom so loudly that I could hear it from here.
It hurt me almost as much as it was hurting her. But I could do nothing to help. Just by trying to heal her, all my energy was zapped from my body. This was her last chance, and I wasn’t strong enough to rip her from Hella’s grasp.
Unless I found someone who would trade their life for hers, her fate was sealed.
And I knew Marcel would trade his life in an instant, but I feared asking him, because if we lost him, we might lose the war.
From afar, Marcel and Ares walked up the path toward the pack house, chatting quietly with each other about something that they must not have wanted me to hear because when they reached me, they stopped completely.
“What’s wrong with you?” Marcel asked.
When Charolette’s cries echoed through the house and spilled onto the porch, Marcel ripped open the front door, fear all over his face. “What happened to her? Why is she crying? Did you hurt her?”
“No, I just …” I stared down at the wooden porch and frowned. “I couldn’t heal her.”
Marcel’s face fell. “She asked you?”
“Yes,” I whispered, tears welling up in my eyes. “And I couldn’t. But I … I might know something that could. Go comfort her, and we can talk about it later. Nothing is certain though, Marcel, so please don’t tell her or get your hopes up.”
After a moment, Marcel nodded curtly and said, “I won’t,” before disappearing into the house.
When he left, I closed my eyes and sighed. Hiding secrets fucking sucked, but I didn’t want Charolette to know because she’d be against this idea. And if Charolette talked to Fenris, her biological father, again because she wanted to get to know him and even mentioned that Marcel traded his life for her, then she might really die.
Ares knelt in front of me and placed a moonflower on my lap, giving me a crooked half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I got this for you,” he whispered, gnawing on the inside of his lip. He almost looked nervous as he rubbed his big hands up and down my thighs.
“I don’t deserve it,” I said, refusing to touch the flower. “I couldn’t heal your sister.”
“You tried,” Ares said, wrapping my hand around the stem. “That’s what counts.”
I stared into the house through the shattered window. Marcel walked into the living room with Charolette, who was smiling again even if that spark didn’t twinkle in her eyes like it usually did. She giggled, the sound drifting out into the night and making me warm.
Charolette was happy again, and I’d tried.
That was all that mattered.
I just wished she had gotten her happy ending.
“Why is the window shattered?” Ares suddenly said, pushing back his taut shoulders and examining the scene in the living room through the window. “There’s glass everywhere and blood on the carpet.”
“Two hounds came out of nowhere and attacked us.”
“Hounds?” Ares asked, nostrils flaring.
“Yes, hounds.” I twirled the moonflower between my fingers and watched the moonlight bounce off the petals, remembering my dream where I’d fastened a crown of moonflowers on Nyx’s head, her indigo hair glistening with streaks of white because of these flowers.
It had been a beautiful sight yet a haunting memory.
“Why are you so distanced from this, Aurora?” Ares snapped.
“It’s fine,” I said, unable to feel anything other than sorrow. “I killed them. But if they’re just appearing out of nowhere now, we have bigger problems than them just attacking us. We have to be ready at all times. They’re coming.”
Though Ares growled, he didn’t say anything else, just paced back and forth on the porch with his hands running through his thick brown hair and an unreadable expression on his sculpted face.
“You guys want to have pretzels with us?” Marcel shouted at us from the kitchen.
“Come on,” Ares said, tugging me to my feet.
I shrugged him off me, still feeling so … so … detached from everything. I wanted to be alone to figure this shit out. I didn’t like the feeling of hopelessness and uselessness. Mom’s opinions were still heavy on my mind.
“I’ll be inside in a bit,” I said.
Ares stared at me for a couple moments, his anger fading to sadness, and then he stepped into the house, shutting the door a bit harder than I’d expected. I closed my eyes and sank deeper into the rocking chair.
Feeling like this sucked, I wondered if this was how Ares had been feeling since Mars had died.
“Hey,” someone called.
When I reopened my eyes, Elijah was walking down the pathway to the pack house with Adrian, zipping up his jacket as the wind blew leaves across the stone walkway. I extended my legs off the chair and sat up taller again.
“Elijah, what are you doing here?” I asked.
Ares sauntered back out of the house with a plate of soft pretzels and without the usual hot cheese, like Mars always brought out. I gave him my best smile when he offered me some and grabbed one from the plate.
“I have some news regarding your blood.” Elijah walked up the porch steps and leaned against the wooden pole beside Adrian. Then, he took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t have any samples to go off of from divine gods and goddesses though.”
I leaned forward. “What did you find?”
“Your blood has changed,” Elijah said to me. “It still has an element of hounds, but there is something in it … something that started to glow when I tested it.” He shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “And, Ares”—he looked over at Ares—“your blood is nearly identical to Aurora’s, except without the hound mixture.”
“What does that mean?” I whispered.
“Like I said, I don’t know if it’s divine blood because I don’t have anyone to test it against, but it is different. The healing properties are tremendously strong. The blood regenerates at extreme speeds. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say that it has aspects of divinity in it, and that you both are descendants of gods and goddesses.”