by Emilia Rose
“Now.”
He tightened his hand around my throat, his tongue hitting my clit just where I liked it.
“Alpha!” I screamed it for him, my back arching hard, my fingers grasping the bedsheets. Wave after wave of pleasure was pumping through me, making me feel so good, so wanted, so needed that I never wanted to come down from this high.
Ares slid his fingers out of me and slapped my pussy again. “Good girl.”
I drew my legs together, unable to take any more pressure, and whined, “Ares, please.”
He pinned them against the mattress and buried his face back between my legs. “Tell me what I want to hear, Aurora.”
“Oh, Moon Goddess … Ares, you’re enough for me.” My toes curled, and I waited for him to flick his tongue against my clit, so I could unravel under him yet again, but he pulled himself away from me, his breath warming my pussy.
“I don’t believe you.” He slowed his fingers and tightened his grip around my neck. “Convince me, Kitten. Beg for me. Beg me to eat your tight, wet pussy. Beg me to thrust my fingers in and out of it. Beg me to make you come over and over and over until you’re trembling in my bed and begging me to stop.”
I raised my hips, scrambling and shuffling around to try to get him to touch me again. I was so close, so fucking close to just coming on command for him. “Please, Ares.”
He slapped my pussy hard. “I said, beg.”
“Please,” I whimpered, brows furrowing.
“Louder,” he said, fingers pressing against my entrance but not into me.
“Please.” I sounded desperate, and I was.
“I want everyone in this fucking pack to hear it.”
He pinched my nipple between two of his fingers, and my body jerked up.
“Please, Ares!” I cried.
He shoved his fingers inside of me, thrusting them wildly and sending me into a heaven of bliss. Tingles shot up and down my arms. Heat rushed to my core. I tightened on him, riding out my orgasm.
So many feelings raced through me. Rapture. Ecstasy. A want to submit.
After a few moments, I lay back against the pillows and sank into the sheets. My pussy was hurting—with both pleasure and pain. I could still feel his hand smacking down on my swollen clit. Time after time after time.
I expected Ares to storm out of the room, to slam the door so hard that it fell off its hinges, to lock himself in his office to cool down, but he rested his head on my bare chest.
For a moment, I thought he’d change back into Mars. But Mars would’ve drawn his fingers in circles on my hip bone. Ares just pressed them into my side, as if he were holding on for dear life.
“I shouldn’t have been rough with you, but I’m not going to apologize for it. I can’t control myself since I got to taste you last night.”
Last night when he’d claimed my body.
“I want to mark you.”
Ares had been close to doing it, not once, but twice now. He could have sunk his teeth into my neck and claimed me or ruined me far worse than he had already. But he’d controlled himself, which surprised me.
He continued to surprise me.
A part of me believed that if I told him about my stone, he wouldn’t hurt me. Mars would hold Ares back from destroying every inch of my body to find it. But … I needed to be sure. I couldn’t just tell him without preparing for the worst.
“And what does Mars want?” I asked, running my fingers through his hair.
“Mars wants you to be happy.” His voice was quiet. “He wants you to feel safe. He doesn’t like that you … called Elijah, but he knows that you were only contacting him because it is your job as an alpha to protect your allies.”
I sighed deeply. “I’m not an alpha anymore. Thanks to you.”
It was supposed to have come out lighthearted, but instead, it had come out harsh. It was a cruel reality for me though. Mom and Tony had just thrown me to the most vicious pack without caring that I had been training to be an alpha since Jeremy died. Everything had been taken away from me in a fraction of a second because of the hounds and then again because of Ares.
He pressed his lips to my chest. “You’re still an alpha, Aurora.” Pressed them to my neck. “You’re still strong.” Pressed them to my jaw. “And you’re still going to lead with me.” Pressed them right against my lips. “Because you’re mine.”
I grasped the sides of his head, breathing deeply, and brushed my fingers against his cheekbones. His beautiful eyes seemed to lead right into his soul, and I was taken aback. On the verge of tears. The emotions were almost too much.
“Ares,” I whispered, “would you ever hurt me?”
Ares—the man who’d do anything for that stone—looked me right in the eye with so much sincerity that I was tricked into believing anything that came out of his mouth. “No.”
No.
No, he wouldn’t hurt me now. Because he thought that I was innocent. Because he thought that I didn’t know where the stone was. Because he didn’t know that I had it.
I took a deep breath and hugged his head to my chest, unable to even look him in the eyes anymore.
I needed to be honest with him.
“I didn’t shift either times the rogues attacked because I’m terrified of them,” I said honestly. “They killed my brother.”
It was so hard to admit this to him. I had never said it aloud before. Not to Mom, especially after Jeremy’s death, because I wanted her to trust that I could handle them. Not to Jeremy’s gravestone because I didn’t want to seem like a weak alpha. Not to myself because I was ashamed.
When Ares turned to look up at me, I held him in place and squeezed my eyes shut. “Let me continue.” I gnawed on the inside of my lip. “I didn’t shift because my wolf—”
Someone banged on the door, and Ares ignored it, still pressing his fingers into my hip bone. The knock came again. When Ares didn’t even move for it, Liam peeked his head into the room.
Ares growled and pulled the blankets up my body. “What’re you doing, Liam?”
“The warriors are ready. If we want to get there before nightfall, for an attack at midnight, then we must leave now.”
Ares growled. “Leave us. I’ll be there in a moment.”
When Liam shut the door, Ares stood up from the bed and grasped my face in his hands. “You and your wolf are safe with me. The hounds won’t hurt you. Your wolf doesn’t have to be scared of anything.” He kissed me. “Tell her that when we get back, my wolf and she will run freely through the woods together under the moon. I’ll make sure to have the forest guarded.”
My heart hurt. I should’ve told him.
“I can’t wait to meet her.” He handed me some clothes from the dressers that he must’ve put away for me because I surely hadn’t planned on unpacking and staying here with him.
I pulled on the T-shirt and pants that he had given me and jumped off the bed, trying not to make eye contact with him.
It was getting harder and harder to tell him my secret. Every time that it came up, I either chickened out or was interrupted. Maybe it was the Moon Goddess telling me that now wasn’t the right time, that I should wait, that I should run when he tried to find that damn stone. It would be my only chance.
“Come here, Kitten.” Ares opened the door and held out his hand.
I wanted an us … but this secret was too big. And though he’d said he wouldn’t hurt me, I didn’t believe him. Not when the universe was set on me not telling him. Not when I knew he could destroy me in seconds. Not when I didn’t trust myself to stop him from ruining me.
“Ares, that’s not what I—”
“Ares,” Liam said from down the hall, hands stuffed into his pockets. “Marcel wants to know which group he’s commanding.”
Ares took my hand and walked with me to the front door.
Standing outside, Marcel was leaning against a running SUV with his arms crossed over his chest, smirking at a furious Charolette. “That’s not my fault, Princes
s.”
“It’s always your fault, Marcel.”
“Says the woman who—”
Ares growled, and they stopped bickering. He stepped forward and handed Marcel the keys to the car. “You’ll be escorting Charolette and Aurora.”
My eyes widened. So, now, I was going with them to watch Elijah get tortured to fucking death, ruining my chances of ever escaping? This wasn’t what I had planned. I was meant to—
“Again?” Marcel said with an overexaggerated sigh. “I did it last time.”
“Oh, come on!” Charolette said. “You’re going to make me sit in the car with that asshole again? I can’t stand another second of—”
“Ares, I can’t go with them. I thought you said you wouldn’t let me out of your sight.”
“Enough,” Ares said.
We all fell silent, and I cursed myself for what I had said. All I wanted was to get out of his sight for a few moments, so I could think about all of this logically. Figure out my best course of action when Ares found out about me. Maybe decide who would get Ruffles once I was dead.
“You’re all going. You”—he looked at Charolette—“nor you”—he looked at me—“are staying here alone, where I can’t get to you within a minute. And you’re definitely not running through Hound Territory with us. Marcel will drive you to Elijah’s and then will drive you back once he has given us what we need.”
Liam stepped forward, jaw clenched, and glared at Marcel. “You fucking touch her, and I will kill you.”
“Ooh, boyfriend is mad.” Marcel waved his hands in the air, acting scared. Then, he hopped into the car and slammed the door shut.
He watched through the window with an ugly scowl as Liam hugged Charolette to his chest and placed a kiss on her forehead. Charolette slid into the car.
“You’ll be safe with him,” Ares said to me one last time. “The only reason that you’re going with him is because I don’t leave Charolette—or you—here when I hunt. And”—he brushed his fingers up the side of my neck, making me shiver—“this pretty little neck of yours doesn’t have my mark. I’m not going to risk someone trying to take you while I’m gone.”
Chapter 22
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 bac
k 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.
