ARES
Moments.
It was mere moments before I had to leave.
I sat in the cage in Hella’s bedroom and turned the key over and over in my palm. While I wanted to get out of here so badly, I didn’t know how the fuck I could just leave Marcel here to rot for the rest of eternity. It wasn’t fair.
But none of this was fucking fair. It wasn’t fair that Mars hadn’t been able to witness Aurora’s pregnancy. It wasn’t fair that Aurora hadn’t even gotten to see our daughter’s face before Medusa turned us to stone. It wasn’t fair that we were missing our daughter’s life.
There was no way that I could sit in this cage for another night. I needed to get out of here sometime tonight, and Marcel had risked his damn life to get me this key. The least that I could do was use it, right?
When the clock dinged, signaling that I had fifteen minutes until the guards changed, I pushed the key into the lock on the dog cage and twisted it. The bars creaked as I opened the door, but the silver suddenly wasn’t burning my skin.
I quickly crawled out of the cage and stood to my feet, stretching for the first time in what seemed like days now. My entire body ached, my muscles sore from sitting in the same position. My wolf howled inside my head at the freedom he’d been granted.
Find mate, he said in my head. Escape and find mate now.
After finding some clothes that wouldn’t draw attention to me, I stuffed the key into my pocket and walked to the door. When I grasped the handle, a pain shot through my chest. I shouldn’t leave Marcel here.
It might’ve been something that I would’ve done in the past, but not anymore.
Once these monsters had killed Mars, I had to fill in for him. I had to be that same man for Aurora. I had to be strong and loving, even when I didn’t love my-fucking-self. I had to fucking care more about her and more about my pack because I was the alpha.
Alphas didn’t leave their comrades behind.
Ever.
Aurora, my wolf howled. Find Aurora.
I swallowed hard, knowing that this wasn’t the right thing to do, and opened the door. After checking to ensure that the coast was clear, I stepped out of the room and hurried down the same hallway that Hella’s guards had brought me down.
Sitting in that cage for hours—days maybe—I’d had to replay something in my head to believe that, one day, I would get out alive. So, I had replayed the escape route that I would take once I found a way out. I remembered everything after Nyx had pulled me out of that dream state.
Sneaking down the hallways, I peered in every room in hopes to find Marcel. I didn’t want to leave alone. I wanted to take him away with me, though part of me knew that I would never be able to, or else Hella would kill Charolette in the worst way possible.
Once I made it down a back staircase, I glanced around the corner and spotted my exit—a large door, guarded by two tired-looking, demonic hellhounds. Outside the windows, all I could see was the thick fog, similar to how Hound Territory looked.
I didn’t know how big Hella’s army really was, but the fog was thicker than I had ever seen it. By the looks of it, her army was two, or maybe three, times the size of ours. Hell, she could raise people from the fucking dead.
If she killed all the people in my pack, she could instantly use them against us. One of these days, she would use Mom against me, and I didn’t know if I would be able to handle that. How would I be able to kill Mom? How could I do that to my own family member?
One of the hellhounds closed his tired eyes, his snout falling as if he was dozing off. Knowing that I only had one fucking chance, I took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows to sneak over to him.
Halfway to the door, I heard footsteps. I hid behind a large bookcase and glanced over as Marcel followed Hella into the grand room. She had him on a leash—on a fucking leash—and dragged him along after her, forcing him to wear nothing but a look of shame.
My chest tightened, my canines lengthening. I wanted to kill her so badly.
Find Aurora, my wolf ordered again.
This time, I ignored him. This time, I had to ignore him.
Marcel grabbed the chains and stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Please, let up. The chains are burning my skin.”
Hella looked over at him in pure disgust and tugged on the chains harder to pull him closer, and then she smacked him hard across the cheek. He went flying to the floor, his muscles depleted of any energy. He looked tortured.
“I don’t give a fuck how you feel,” she growled. “Get up. You’re pathetic.”
From the chains, there were deep burn marks on his skin, so deep that I could see the reddened muscle and blood pouring down his forearms. He whimpered and stood. Every step that he took to follow her looked like it hurt worse and worse.
His wolf howled, desperate for someone to save him, desperate to see his mate again.
When they disappeared into another hallway, I stepped out from the darkness and glanced toward the sleeping hellhound at the doorway. I needed to get out of here. I needed to find Aurora.
I need to stop this.
Find mate now! my wolf called.
But I couldn’t listen to him anymore. I turned right around, and from the first step I took, I had a bad feeling that this wasn’t the right decision, but still, I headed back up the staircase and down the hallways toward Hella’s room.
Because an alpha didn’t leave anyone behind.
Marcel had been through everything with me since we were children. He had loved my sister so much that he decided to die for her. He had sacrificed everything for me so I could spend my life with my mate.
Leaving him didn’t sit well for me, for the god of war.
Tonight, we would end this.