Aurora

I hurled my backpack over my shoulder, rolled two suitcases to my bedroom door, and frowned at the hot-pink pillow that Ruffles always slept on. She never lay anywhere else at night, except on my chest. It was full of fur, old, and raggedy, but it was hers. So, I grabbed it, wanting nothing more than to keep it forever and ever.

The suitcases were stuffed full of my clothes and essentials, the zippers stretching so much that they were bound to rip at any moment. I picked them up, one in each hand, and walked down the stairs, following Ares’s stupid fucking voice.

When he saw me, he grabbed the bags from my hands, his biceps flexing, and carried them the rest of the way to the car that he had bullied Mom into giving him since his pack had run here.

“I could’ve done that myself,” I said, gently setting my backpack down in the backseat and unzipping it a few inches. 

“I know,” he said, shoving the bags into the trunk. “Is this all your stuff?”

I pressed my lips together, glancing up at my window, where Ruffles usually sat, and frowned. “Yes.” 

I pushed past him to the passenger seat, but he caught my wrist. My skin tingled, my heart racing faster than I wanted it to. And I cursed the Moon Goddess. Ares didn’t deserve how my wolf felt toward him. He was a no-good, psychotic alpha who had been destroying the lands for a stone he knew nothing about.

“And the cat?”

I growled and snatched my hand away. “She’s sitting on my bed, wondering why my asshole of a mate isn’t letting me take her.”

Mom walked toward me, stretching out her arms to hug me. I glared at her and walked to Dad instead, enveloping him in a halfhearted hug. After Jeremy had died, he had been the only one to give me a chance, letting me read his books about the War of the Lycans, where a vicious group of hounds were defeated by our warrior family—but that defeat didn’t last long as the hounds have started to torment these lands once again.

Dad rested his chin on my head, caressing my hair with his hand. “Don’t hate your mother. She’s … doing what she thinks is best,” he said. 

But even his plea didn’t change my mind. What kind of person traded their daughter to someone known for his blatant destruction, for his vicious killings, for evil? A bad mother and an even worse alpha.

I rested my head on his chest and expected Ares to break us up, to tell me that it was enough and we had to go, but he waited patiently by the passenger door.

Dad kissed my forehead. “Stay strong, A,” he said, and somehow, I felt even worse. 

What kind of warrior would let his mate trade his only daughter? Not any kind of warrior he used to tell me stories about when I was just a pup.

“I’ll take care of Ruffles for you,” Dad said in my ear before pulling away.

I forced a smile and bit back the angry tears. “You don’t have to.” I walked to Ares, brushing right past Mom and Tony, who was glaring at my mate.

“Aurora,” Tony said.

“Don’t,” Ares snapped. 

He pushed me into the car and slammed the door, a growl ripping from his throat the moment he turned back to Tony. They exchanged a few harsh words, and I stared at them through the car window, not listening to a word they said.

So much testosterone. I could only imagine what it was going to be like at Ares’s pack. All the rumors had told me that Ares’s pack was just like him—ruthless, cruel, and heartless. The Moon Goddess and I both knew that I wouldn’t be able to handle everyone thinking with their instincts rather than their brains.

I blew out a deep breath and tapped my fingers on my knee. Who knew how many hours of hell I’d be in the car with the god of war? It was going to be a fucking nightmare. Ignoring him the whole time, listening to his breathing, smelling that damn good scent of hazelnut.

Ares walked to his door and scooted into his seat. Then, without turning back, he started the car and drove out of the driveway and off of my property. I watched my pack disappear in the rearview mirror and didn’t see an ounce of guilt on Mom’s face.

Trees whizzed past us, their leaves rustling together in the wind. I frowned, wanting nothing more than to run through that forest again, to let my wolf free the way I used to before I was hurt, to feel the wind in my fur, to be happy with Jeremy.

Miles ahead, the clouds turned from cotton white to an ominous gray, looming over Sanguine Wilds. I wondered how Jeremy was as he ran with the wolves up in the clouds. He’d always loved the thunderous storms, rain beating down on the leaves, watching the lightning strike trees from our hideout cave deep in the forest.

Was he happy? Would he have exchanged me for his pack? 

Tears welled up in my eyes, yet I didn’t let them fall. Jeremy would never have done that. He’d have stood up and fought or traded his life for mine. I balled my hands into fists. Goddess, I missed him.

Ares turned to me, one hand on the steering wheel, the other inching closer and closer to my thigh. 

“Don’t even think about it,” I said through clenched teeth.

We came to a Stop sign, the road splitting off into two directions. Ares turned right into the fog. Tilted slightly and adorned with large bite marks, a silver stake was stuck into the ground to my right with a sign attached to it, labeled Hound Territory. I tensed and sat up in my seat, gaze flickering across the forest to catch any signs of rogues.

“Talk to me,” Ares said.

“No,” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the windshield. 

Leaves blew wildly around us, and little droplets of rain started hitting against the glass. Out of all the ways Ares could go to get back to his property, why’d he take the rogue route?

“Kitten …”

“What?” I snapped, fear and fury rushing through me. “What do you want me to say to you? That you’re a dick for making me leave my family? That I think you’re a complete idiot for destroying packs just for power? That I would rather be at home, continuing my comfortable life without you?”

Okay, that last one was a bit harsh and totally untrue. After last night and earlier in my bedroom, I was more than glad that I had met him. My wolf hadn’t been this excited since Jeremy was alive. She was doing flips in my stomach, jumping up and down, running around in circles, like his scent was some kind of wolf-nip.

She was happy, but part of me wished he weren’t my mate. He was an aggressive asshole who killed people for power, and I didn’t want to lead that kind of life. But now that I was being thrust into that lifestyle of pure violence, I had no other choice.

He growled, his knuckles whitening on the steering wheel. “You know nothing about me,” he said. “Nothing about the reasons I do what I do.”

“I know that you plucked me right out of my home because you wanted me for yourself. I know that you used me to gain access to my pack. I know that you—”

Someone ran right out into the deserted street, and Ares slammed on the brakes, sending me forward. My seat belt cut into my collarbone, and I groaned. 

“I know that you’re completely senseless,” I said under my breath.

He gazed at me for a moment, looking me up and down, and then turned back to the woman in front of us. She knelt in the middle of the street, clutching her neck. Blood seeped through her fingers and drenched her raggedy red hair. The woman glanced up through the fog lights at me, and I immediately recognized her as a rogue. Her hair was wild, her stench putrid, her skin cut up with scars only a rogue would have.

Ares parked the car, and my eyes widened. 

“What are you doing?” I asked, clutching my seat belt. 

Nobody should ever stop in Hound Territory, not even for an easy-to-kill rogue. Hounds used rogues as bait. Though a type of rogue themselves, hounds were more vicious, stronger, and so much more violent. They didn’t give a damn about anyone.

Ares opened his door. “Stay here.”

I undid my seat belt. “Are you crazy?” I asked, grabbing his forearm. “This is Hound Territory, and you want to go out there to help a rogue you know nothing about. Hounds could be chasing her for all you know.”

“Are you afraid of the hounds?” he asked me, lips curling into the smallest of smirks.

I growled and released his wrist. Fine, if he wanted to go out there and lose his shifting abilities like I’d lost mine to the hounds, I would get a front row seat. I didn’t care anymore. I’d drive off as soon as they attacked him.

“Stay here,” Ares said sternly, a bloodthirsty look crossing his face. There it was again—that look of a god.

He closed the door and approached the woman, saying something to her that I couldn’t quite hear. She shook her head and wiped tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. She motioned to the forest and crouched down, grasping her stomach. Moon Goddess, this was going to take longer than I wanted.

What was supposed to be a few hours’ drive was going to turn into an even longer one.

After glancing around the forest once more to make sure it was clear, I grabbed my backpack from the backseat and unzipped it. Inside, two black eyes gazed up at me, and it meowed. I smiled and pulled Ruffles out along with a bag of Ruffles chips.

She rubbed against me, like she always did when she wanted food or knew I was worried. 

“Sorry, girl.” 

I tore open the chips, and she stuffed her head in the bag, munching on one. Her cute little crunches made me smile and relax back into the seat. 

“My mate didn’t want me to bring you … but I wouldn’t leave you behind.” 

She hopped onto the driver’s seat, placed her two paws on the steering wheel, and stared at the scene in front of us with a single chip in her mouth.

My gaze fell on Ares, who was walking into the woods alone while the woman just stood on the two yellow lines in the middle of the road. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. Moon Goddess, he shouldn’t be going out there. He should be in here, with me, where he would be safe.

After a few minutes, Ares emerged with a young pup on his hip. The pup was crying, his hair disheveled. The woman fell to her knees and reached up for the boy, unable to hold back her emotions. Ares placed the boy in her arms.

Ruffles glanced over at me and meowed.

Ares gave the woman a breathtaking smile and handed her the child. 

My eyes widened slightly, and I nodded my head to Ruffles. “I know, girl. I know.”

She meowed again and swatted my knee. I looked down at her to see her staring at my passenger window. And just as I looked over, something smashed into the side of the car, the glass shattering all over my lap.

I screamed and scurried away from the window, my heart hammering inside my chest. Two black eyes of a hound stared right at me.