I opened the door wider and leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed over my chest. Mars gazed over with wide eyes and scooted up the bed until he was resting against the headboard. And Ruffles … well, she sank her claws into his chest and moved with him, gazing over at me with that smug smirk on her face that said, He’s mine.
“You’ve known about Ruffles the entire time, haven’t you?” I asked.
Mars parted his lips to say something but then cracked a smile and brushed his palm against her back, making her fur wiggle. “Yeah.” His face scrunched together, and he sneezed again.
I grabbed Ruffles off of his chest and let her rest her head on my shoulder. She growled in my ear but relaxed after I scratched her head. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you’re allergic?” I asked.
With his shoulders slumped forward, he gazed down at the yellow blankets. “Because I wanted you to be happy.”
“But you’re allergic to her.”
“Yeah, but … I can deal with it. I couldn’t deal with not having you around, Aurora.”
A deep guilt washed over me for blindly believing all those rumors about him. Some of them were true, but I’d never heard about this softer side to him. I didn’t know how to feel. My wolf and I were both hesitant to trust him, but hearing my real name roll off of his tongue instead of his nickname for me hurt … a bit.
I needed to talk to Charolette about why Ares and Mars wanted the stone, but it was night now, and I didn’t want to disturb her or Mr. Barrett. So, I placed Ruffles down on Mars’s shirt that she had claimed with all of her fur and nodded to the forest. “You promised me that we’d go running in the forest when we got back.” I tugged my hair into a high ponytail and let Mars see Ares’s mark on my neck. “Have you changed your mind?”
He furrowed his brows. “But … I thought you couldn’t shift.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t run.” I started toward the door and threw him a small smile. “Have your guards in the forest. Let them watch me kick your ass, even in human form.”
Staying here would mean that he would want to talk about my shifting abilities, and I was fine with talking about it, but I needed to show him. Seeing it up close was different than just talking about it. Seeing it was real. Hearing it was real. Experiencing it was real.
We could talk about it all he wanted, but once he saw me try to shift … that was when I would know if what we had was genuine. If he could stay with me and still want me after that, then I could start to trust him.
And if he went batshit crazy on me, I could actually run away from him.
Mars broke out into a grin, his eyes lighting up with excitement. He followed me out the back door, humming and smiling to himself like a love-drunk idiot. We started through the forest in our human forms, and I tried to pump myself up for what I was about to do in front of him—shift.
For years, I hadn’t shifted in front of anyone. I would always go behind some trees or shift deep in the woods and try to hide myself. I didn’t want anyone to see how weak I truly was, but I needed Ares and Mars to see.
My wolf stirred inside of me, not wanting to even think about shifting. It hurt her worse than it hurt me.
While we ran much slower in our human forms compared to our wolf forms, he didn’t say a word about it. He continued to run next to me, his forearm brushing against mine every so often. I jumped over some twigs and ran around some other trees, and then I finally slowed when we approached a lake.
“Do you want to run in your wolf?” I asked, gnawing on the inside of my lip.
“No,” he said almost immediately. “This is fine.”
I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and tugged it over my head. Half of me felt like I had to show him how vulnerable my wolf truly was, but the other half really wanted to show him. I wanted to run with his wolf. I wanted him to see me for who I was. Nobody had accepted me like he had, especially not Mom and Dad.
Mars stayed quiet, watching me strip my pants. My breathing hitched, and I willed myself to gather all the strength I had. Fear ran through my veins.
“We are going to run in our wolves,” I said.
Eyes widening and flashing gold, Ares was slowly awakening. “No, Aurora … we can’t.”
“Don’t you want to see my wolf?” I asked.
He ran a hand through his hair. “Goddess, more than anything.”
“Then, I will shift.”
He clenched his jaw and growled. “Aurora, it will hurt you. I hurt you too much last night. I don’t want you to go through any more discomfort for me. Hell, you don’t ever have to shift again, if you don’t want to.” He tugged on my wrist. “Let’s continue running. There is a waterfall about a mile further into the forest.”
I pulled my hand away from his and rested it on his chest. “I have to show you this, Ares,” I said, hoping that if I said his name, he would awaken fully and take control. “I need you to see me for who I am.”
The moonlight bounced off the lake and onto his golden eyes. After searching my face for any hint of regret or resistance, he furrowed his brows. “Okay,” he said. “But if you need or want to stop, stop”—he grasped my hand so tightly—“please.”
I slid my bra straps down my shoulders and stared right at him. “You have to promise me that you’ll
