“It was one hound,” I said, brushing it off as if it were nothing, but my voice wavered.
Ares continued to glare at me with eyes so rageful and so hateful that I thought he would kick me out of the car right then and there for not protecting myself. And I didn’t know how to feel about that. Part of me thought that it would be great. I could go back to my pack—my pack that didn’t want me. The other part of me dreaded the mere thought of being without my mate, without Mars or Ares or whoever the hell he really was.
After a few moments, he gestured to the mother and child. “Get out of the car, so I can watch you.”
“I can watch myself.”
He clenched his jaw. “Now, get out of the fucking car. I’m not going to say it again.”
I grumbled to myself, trying not to touch the shattered glass sprinkled along the seat, and stepped out of the car. Some had cut into my leg, but I hid it well with my dark jeans. It didn’t need to be treated now. I’d deal with it later.
After Ares found a spare pair of pants in the back of the car, we approached the woman.
She turned to Ares, tears streaming down her face. “How can I repay you? I-I don’t have anything of value.”
“With information and by accepting membership into my pack, so we can keep you safe.”
My eyes widened. He was going to let her into his pack just like that? While I had sympathy for her and her son, she was still a rogue, and rogues were known for betraying, slaying, and murdering innocent wolves.
She fell to her knees. “Yes, of course. You’re my savior today. What kind of information do you need?”
“The Malavite Stone. Tell me all you know about it.”
I stiffened. I should’ve known he’d ask about that.
The Malavite Stone.
The stone he tore apart packs to find. The stone that could really make him a god with all its power.
The stone that I had inside of me.
After the hounds had attacked my pack, it had been used to heal me. Half of it was inside my back, keeping me alive. And the other half was with the hounds—lost forever.
The stone had powers that not many knew about. Healing properties. Strength properties. Power properties. Properties that hadn’t even been unlocked yet. It was the rarest gem in the entire world. Every alpha wanted to get their hands on it, but nobody knew where it was. Except Elijah—one of my closest allies—and me.
“I don’t have any information about the Malavite Stone,” the woman said, blood draining from her face. “As far as I know, it’s not even around here.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Ares said in his alpha tone, so frighteningly deep and stern.
My wolf purred, heat warming my core at how powerful he sounded. Damn mating bond.
She stepped back toward the woods. “I-I don’t know anything about it.” She snatched her son’s hand, tongue clicking against her teeth.
Her gaze was fixed on the ground, and I knew she was lying. Ares knew it too.
He snatched her chin hard. “Tell me,” he demanded. His voice was deadly quiet. “What do you know?” When she didn’t say anything, Ares gripped her chin tighter. “Tell me now before I have to make you.”
After parting her lips a few times and squeezing her son’s hand, she nodded. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I … the hounds have the stone … a man with a large scar down the side of his face rules over them. That’s as much as I know.”
He glared at her for a few minutes and then shoved her back and released her chin. Wow, what a total bipolar—
Ares’s beta and a few other warriors pulled behind our car. They sniffed out the forest around us, looking for other hounds but found none. When they returned, Ares instructed them to take the woman and her pup back to his pack and get them food, water, and shelter.
But something wasn’t sitting easy with me. This wasn’t the Ares I knew. All of the stories I had heard of Ares were about him being ruthless and cutthroat, killing anyone and everyone in his path without a care in the world. This was different, and I didn’t know how I felt.
Because Ares didn’t save people from disaster. He caused it.
Chapter 10
Aurora
Ares grabbed my hand and led me to Liam’s car, tossing my bags in the trunk. Liam and the others disappeared through the forest. And instead of asking Ares why they hadn’t just come with us, I pressed my lips together.
I didn’t want to speak to him and his annoying ass. He had gotten us into this mess by stopping in Hound Territory. All I wanted was to get away from here and go somewhere I could rest with Ruffles on my chest. Somewhere without interruption, without a mate claiming me, without feeling like shit because I’d almost gotten myself killed by not shifting.
Ares slid behind the wheel, started the car, and said, “I need to clean off.”
“Can’t you wait until we get to your pack house?”
“I’m covered in blood, and my property is hours away by car.”
I turned toward the window, hoping he wouldn’t suggest running back to his pack, and stared out at the darkness that suddenly engulfed the forest, swallowing the trees, refusing to let the moonlight hit the ground. It was eerie and terrifying, just like the night before the hound attack that had killed Jeremy.
“Well, whose fault is that?” I asked.
He growled lowly and continued driving until we finally made it out of Hound Territory. The first dirt road he found, he drove down, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.
“Great,” I said sarcastically. “Turn down a dark dirt road. What a good choice.”
“You
