She was changing my life for the better, and I owed her everything for that.
Chapter 35
Aurora
I didn’t know exactly where Marcel lived, so I parked his car in front of Mr. Barrett’s house to give Charolette his car keys.
Mr. Barrett answered the door with a huge smile. “Aurora!” He nodded back to the pack house down the road. “Mars just left. He seemed worried about you.”
“Oh, I just wanted to give these to Charolette.” I handed him the keys. “Good night, Mr. Barrett.”
“Hey, wait a minute. I have something for you.” He stuffed the keys into his pocket, jogged back into the house, and came back with a container filled with the biggest slice of cheesecake I had ever seen. “Whatever you said to Mars before you left, tell him again. I haven’t seen that boy smile like that since his mother was around.”
My heart warmed in my chest, and I couldn’t help the grin that broke out onto my face at the thought of making Mars happy. Butterflies erupted all over my body. So, this was what it was like to feel loved, to love someone and their family all the same.
After saying my good-byes, I walked down the walkway. Some chatter drifted out from the upstairs window, and I glanced up at it. The light was on in one of the rooms, and Charolette stood in the middle of her bedroom without her wig and with a huge grin on her face.
She spun slightly, and I smiled up at her. She must be so comfortable with Liam. I wondered how—
Marcel sat on the edge of her bed, grinning at her with a smile that I had never seen before. He watched her spin, grabbed her waist, and pulled her toward him, resting his chin against her chest and staring up at her.
Before they could see me snooping, I hurried toward the pack house. Charolette and Marcel seemed like they were mates. I didn’t know if Mars knew about them, but I wasn’t one to tell secrets. But why did they act so cold to each other? I didn’t know that either.
When I opened the door, he was passed out on the leather couch with Ruffles on his chest. They were both sleeping so peacefully that I didn’t want to wake them. I grabbed a velvet blanket from our room and draped it over his torso, deciding on taking a shower before I broke the bad news to Ares.
Just after I covered him and Ruffles with the blanket, he snatched my wrist. “Where the hell are you going?” Ares asked, eyes still closed but his grip harsh. “I want my mate to lie with me, right here …” He patted Ruffles. “Right on my chest.”
My lips curled into a smirk, and I sat at the edge of the couch, pushing some thick brown hair off his forehead. Well, I guessed that shower would have to wait. “I need to talk to you, Ares.”
“Tell me you love me first.” He slowly opened his eyes, body jerking up when he sneezed. Ruffles jumped off of him, and Ares pulled me on top of him, so my chest was against his. “I want to hear you say it again.”
When I’d first said it, I hadn’t thought I’d be saying it again so soon. Yet here I was, on top of my mate, who was begging me to tell him that I loved him again and again and again, like a sweet melody that he wanted to fall asleep to.
I brushed my fingers against his cheek and watched the moonlight bounce off his golden eyes. “I love you.”
He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly to his chest, and rolled us over, so he was on top of me. He pressed his hardness against my core, his biceps flexing next to me, his hazelnut scent such an intoxicating aroma. I breathed him into me, relaxing under his fingers.
“Ares”—I lightly pushed him away—“I have to tell you something about the stone.”
He pulled away and then sat up. “What did you find?”
“Tony has been meeting with a hound. Elijah thinks that he knows something.”
Ares’s jaw twitched, his eyes turning a darker, harsher gold. “Tony, as in the fuckup who came on to you after I told him not to?” He growled under his breath. “I should’ve killed the fucking pup when I had the chance.”
I pressed my hands against his chest to calm him down. “You can’t kill him. If he knows something, you have to let me try to get it out of him.”
“He’s going to try to come save you from me again.”
My eyes widened. Had Marcel told him about—
“Yes,” Ares said, cutting me off. “He told me that stupid fucking prick thought he’d sweep you off your fucking feet when I raided Elijah’s pack.” He balled his hands into tight fists. “I should’ve killed him already.”
“He will lead us to the stone,” I said, trying to calm him down. “Please, let’s go to my mother’s pack tomorrow … let me talk to him before you think about killing him.” I squeezed his hands. “He’s our only chance of finding the damn thing.”
He growled. “He won’t talk to you.”
“Yes, he will.”
“He wants to fuck you, Aurora. He wants to take what’s mine.”
He stared down at me, so territorial. And if I said that it didn’t turn me all the way on, I’d be lying. It was a hunger to prove his worth, an innate instinct to demonstrate his dominance. It was raw, real, and recklessly ravaging. And I loved the feeling of his arms wrapping harder around me, tugging me to his body, claiming me.
“If he even touches me, you can snap his neck,” I said, feeling his heart racing beneath my fingers. “But let me talk to
