It was all nonsense I didn’t listen to because I wasn’t going to let her tell me how to treat my mate.
All I needed was the answer to one question and one question only. “Why wasn’t Aurora on the battlefield this morning?”
Alpha Theia and her mate, Theron, glanced at each other. An eerie silence erupted throughout the entire forest, and some of the wolves from her pack stared over at us, waiting for her response.
My gaze drifted from Theia to Theron. Though Theron was from one of the greatest warrior families, he looked so weak, so exhausted after a short battle. Letting his mate do all the talking. Having no say in any decisions she made. It was pitiful.
Theia stepped forward and pressed her lips together, dark hair blowing in the breeze, showing me all the scars on her neck and shoulders from years of fighting. “We wanted to protect her from you,” she said strongly, but her gaze faltered.
Shame.
Written on her face. Etched into every one of her wrinkles. Shown in her slouched shoulders. Yet she tried to hide it behind her commanding alpha tone, behind her strong eyes. It was pathetic how disgraceful she was, how she could barter a smart and fierce alpha without a second thought.
“Then, why’d you trade her to me so willingly?” I asked. When neither she nor her mate answered, I growled. “Why’d you not wake her when the battle began? Why didn’t you tell her she would be your pawn? She’s a warrior and an alpha. She should’ve known everything going on in this pack, not just the things you want her to know.”
I didn’t know how Aurora was treated here, but things were about to change for her. And I’d be the one to change them.
Chapter 9
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
