My eyes widened. Mars—Ares, whoever he goddamn was—stood in front of Mom, his taut chest smeared with blood, his eyes as golden as the sun.
“Where is she?” Ares said through clenched teeth. “Where is Aurora?”
I froze behind the tree, my entire body tense. Anger and betrayal and so much hurt rushed through me. He must’ve followed my scent back through the forest, using my secret route. It was the only way he could’ve gotten on our property and caused this much damage this quickly.
He’d used me last night to get what he wanted—an unguarded entrance to my pack, an easy way to get past the warriors on patrol, for me to trust him. With that stupid-ass smirk and those stupid-ass eyes and that stupid-ass scent of hazelnut, he had manipulated me, and I’d let him.
He let out another guttural growl and stepped closer to Mom. “I’m not going to ask again.”
I dug my fingers into the hard tree bark, peering from behind it and at my mate. Moon Goddess, even when he was angry he was ho—
I shook my head. Stop it, Aurora. That man is a violent, vicious animal.
He stepped even closer, and Tony moved in front of Mom to protect her. Ares let out a lifeless chuckle, lip curling into a snarl, and then grabbed Tony by the throat, his entire hand wrapping around Tony’s fragile neck.
“Release him,” Mom commanded, acting like Ares’s threats didn’t intimidate her. But she glanced nervously at Tony and then at Dad. And I knew she was afraid of losing the next beta of this pack. “And we can talk.”
Ares turned around with Tony in his hold, gazing through the forest. “Come out, Aurora. I know you’re watching.” He inhaled, and I swore his features softened for just a moment. “I have your precious Tony.”
I ground my teeth together and walked through the forest to the fight. I might not be good at fighting, but I cared about my pack. They would do anything to protect each other, and I would do anything to protect them.
When Mom saw me, she growled like she always did when she didn’t want me to listen in on her shitty alpha decisions. “Aurora, get back in the pack house.”
“Put him down,” I demanded, meeting Ares’s glowing golden gaze. “Now.”
Mars—Ares’s eyes danced with excitement as he glanced at Mom. “If you don’t have the stone and have absolutely no information on its whereabouts, there’s only one deal that I would ever accept.”
Mom stepped forward, regaining her composure, and tried to posture over him. “What?”
“Aurora.”
My eyes widened as a rush of adrenaline ran through my veins. “No. Absolutely not.” I shook my head, ignoring the pleas from my wolf. “I told you yesterday that I’m not interested.”
“You saw him yesterday?” Mom asked, brow cocked at me. “I told you not to go out.”
Ares chuckled. “She doesn’t listen,” he said, a smirk stretching across his face. “But I can fix that.”
His eyes were burning into mine, and my heart was racing even harder in my chest. It was an unspoken promise, a promise to bend me over his bed and fuck me until I listened to every word he said.
He thought he had control over me, but I knew how to put him in his place. I walked right up to him, standing in a puddle of wolf blood, and stared him right in those golden eyes. “If what you plan to do is anything like your performance last night, you’d never put me in my place.”
A growl ripped from his throat, and he tightened his grip on Tony’s neck. Tony grasped his wrists, his cheeks flushing red, but Ares didn’t even flinch.
“I was going easy on you last night, pup.” He turned to Mom, rage emanating off of him. “Aurora or your pack, Alpha. One way, I take Aurora and leave, never coming back to hurt your people. The other way, I kill everyone here and still take your daughter. Your choice.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at him. Who did he think he was, demanding an alpha as his own, personal war prize? Nobody in this pack would ever let that happen.
Dad looked at Mom, not saying a single word, and Mom refused to make eye contact with me.
Instead, she pushed back her shoulders and nodded her head. “Fine.”
My eyes widened, and I dropped my arms. Fine? What the hell did she mean by fine? She thought that this was fine? She was going to just give me away to my psychotic alpha mate?
I glared at her, about to call her every possible name in the book, but I held myself back. Now that Jeremy was gone, I was her only heir, and she was giving me away like I was nothing to her. My heart hurt, and I wanted to refuse to go with him, but by the look in her eye, I knew she wouldn’t budge. She’d tell me that this was best for the pack, that we couldn’t afford another loss.
Before his pack of bloodthirsty warriors, Ares stood like he was a fucking king, praised by every one of them. Then, he smirked, cocked a finger in my direction, and said, “Come here, Kitten.”
The words sounded so disgraceful. Disgraceful to my whole legacy. To my father, who claimed to have come from the strongest warrior family in all of the nations. To my mother, the first female alpha. To me, Ares’s stupid fucking mate.
My gaze shifted from Mom to Dad to Tony, who looked so desperate in Ares’s arms. He dangled there with Ares’s claws in his neck, his eyes on me and me only. He looked so pitiful. He looked less than a beta and more like a sorry-ass rogue, begging for forgiveness.
I didn’t know if I was angry with Mom for handing over the only heir to her pack, with Ares
