He growled under his breath, and I pulled the door open and walked out of the room. His dark golden eyes flickered down my body, and he followed after me, his fingers never leaving my hips.
Charolette and Liam sat at the dining table.
“Did Mars show you our old toy room?”
I nodded my head and smiled back at her, trying to hide my flushed cheeks. My phone buzzed on the table, and Elijah’s name popped up on the screen.
Elijah, finally!
“I have to take this,” I said to them, excusing myself from the room. “Elijah! Did you get my message?”
“Do you have time to talk?” he asked.
“Yes.” I walked back down the hallway. “Do you have any idea who might know where the stone is?”
He sighed deeply through his nose and then said, “I do, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Who?” I asked, heart racing.
“Tony.”
“You’re fucking kidding me,” I gritted out through my teeth, gripping the phone so tightly that my fingers hurt.
Tony?
All this fucking time, Tony had fucking known where the other half of the stone was. I could’ve been able to shift; I could’ve become the alpha that Mom always wanted me to be; I could’ve been happy.
But instead, that little shit had hidden this from me.
Mars stared at me from down the hall, his voice ringing through the mind link, asking me if everything was okay. I gave him a curt nod and stepped back into his old playroom, shutting the door behind me.
“I don’t think he has it,” Elijah said as I walked toward the window. “But since he told Ares I knew where the stone was, I have had warriors watching him.”
Balling my hand into a fist, I stared out into the night. Moonlight flooded in through the window and shimmered against Mr. Barrett’s pool, the water rippling in the wind. I rested my forehead against the window and growled. My wolf wanted to run right on Mom’s pack and kill Tony herself.
Why had he caused all this trouble? What was the point? To drive Ares insane? Maybe it wasn’t his plan at all, but Mom’s. Tony might’ve been strong like all alphas had to be, but that boy was stupid with a capital S.
“What makes you think he knows where it is?”
“He met with a hound.”
My chest tightened. A hound? Tony had met with the fucking hounds who had been trying to kill me for years since Jeremy’s death? The same hounds who had ripped him piece by fucking piece? I balled my hand tighter and let my claws cut through the skin on my palms.
“Have you seen him before?” I asked. “Was it the one from the attack that killed Jeremy?”
“My warriors didn’t get a good look.” Elijah paused. “Ares isn’t listening in, is he?”
I glanced back at the closed door, unable to think clearly. “No.”
“Meet me at Pink Moon Tavern, near the cave you and Jeremy used to run to when you were kids. I can tell you more there. Come without Ares. He thinks with his emotions too much. I need you to help me come up with a solid plan.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.” I ended the call and dialed Marcel’s number.
The Pink Moon Tavern was near Hound Territory, and I knew that Ares wouldn’t let me go alone. Hell, it’d be difficult to persuade him to let me go without him, but I needed to because Elijah was right. As soon as he heard that Tony might have the stone, he’d run on Mom’s pack without a clear thought in his mind. He’d go there for blood, and he’d get it, but he wouldn’t find the stone that way.
Marcel answered on the third ring. “What?”
“Marcel, I need you—”
“You’re not the only one who needs me at the moment, Princess.”
I heard a woman moan in the background and scrunched up my nose. “Are you fucking someone right now?” I shook my head. “Forget it. You need to pick me up outside Mr. Barrett’s house in two minutes.”
“I’m busy.”
“Two minutes, Marcel.”
After I hung up and shoved my phone into my dress pocket, I walked back down the hall to the dining table. I looked at Mars, who had a slice of some very delicious cheesecake in front of him, and nodded to the other room.
Brows furrowed together, hands holding my hips, he followed me. “What’s wrong, Kitten?”
I placed my hand on his chest, hoping to calm him down before he even got riled up. “I need to go meet with Elijah. It’s important … like stone-related important.”
Eyes darkening, I saw Ares for a moment. “He knows where it is, doesn’t he?” He dug his fingers into my hip bone. “I should’ve kept him here, should’ve gotten as much as I could out of him.”
I grasped his chin in my hand and forced him to look at me. “Settle down, please, Mars.” Before Ares appeared and decided things for himself. “I have to go. I promise that when I come home tonight, I will tell you everything that I know.”
“You can’t go alone. It’s not safe.”
“Marcel is going with me.”
“You asked Marcel to go?” he asked, canines emerging from under his lips. All I could see was hurt on his face.
I glanced out the window to see a car pull up to the side of the road.
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“Because you make irrational decisions sometimes.” I took a deep breath and hardened my stare. Nearly killing Elijah, chasing me out into the forest, the list went on and on and on, but I didn’t want to bring any specific instance up. I didn’t want him to feel bad for wanting to protect his sister because if I had another chance … I’d do anything to protect Jeremy.
After taking his face in my hands and bringing
