I wanted her to admit that this was her blunder, that she was the reason I couldn’t shift, that she had made the senseless decision to fight a group of hounds, knowing we wouldn’t win. Not me. It was a surprise attack, yes. But we could’ve easily retreated to the pack house, made sure all the pups were safe, and come up with a damn plan before we attacked them back.
But Mom never took the blame.
She shook her head. “You can’t lead this pack the way that we need to be led,” she said with so much finality that I almost believed it.
My heart hurt, and all I could feel was pain. Pain from all the years I’d tried to suppress thoughts of Jeremy’s death.
She stared at me with the blankest expression. “And I’m not letting anyone else in this pack die.”
“So, you decide to never see your daughter, just like you won’t ever see your son again?” I asked, my voice cracking.
Hold back the tears, Aurora. Don’t let her see how weak she’s made you.
She snatched my chin in her hand, squeezing it roughly. Though she had grabbed me in the same place Ares had, her touch felt nothing like his. It felt so … mean. “Sacrifices need to be made to ensure this pack’s survival. Don’t make me feel bad for this decision, Aurora. If I thought he would hurt you, I wouldn’t have agreed to it.” Lie. “From his possessiveness, the second he laid eyes on you, I knew that you were his mate. With him, you’ll at least be safe. He’s one of the strongest alphas around.”
I glared at her through teary eyes. “Leave.”
She pressed her lips together, turned on her heel, and walked right out of the room, shutting the door behind her. I growled and let one single tear fall. Then, I sucked it up and continued packing for hell because nobody would save me from this. Dad was too much of a wimp to stop her. Tony wasn’t strong enough. And the rest of the pack … some of them refused to even talk to me anymore when I trained with them.
I grasped Jeremy’s shirt in my hands. Jeremy’s jersey, stained with dirt from his high school football days, had been the only thing getting me through these past few years. I wanted to double over it and scream at the top of my lungs for him to come back, so all of this would be better, but I’d learned to hide that weak side of me.
A few moments later, my door reopened, but I didn’t bother turning around.
“Leave me alone,” I said, continuing to place my clothes into my suitcase.
Mom had pissed me off one too many times. I couldn’t handle another minute of listening to her bullshit. I couldn’t do anything about being weak or not being able to shift easily. If it wasn’t for—
I shook my head and refused to even think about that day or the harrowing days that followed.
The door closed, and I inhaled a whiff of Ruffles’s cat litter mixed with—
I turned around, nostrils flaring. Ares stood by the door, gaze traveling around the room so slowly. He had found some clothes that looked like Tony’s, yet they were a size too small for him. They hugged his tanned biceps, his shoulders, his chest.
Moon Goddess, why have you given me such a delicious asshole of a mate?
When his gaze met mine, he gave me an adorably crooked smile, his lip curling a bit wider to the right than the left. It made him look real, like he wasn’t just a divine creature created by the Moon Goddess herself.
“Not what I was expecting.”
“You think I was expecting for my mate to show up at my pack as the alpha who’s been murdering everyone in this part of Sanguine Wilds?”
“Someone’s cranky.” He walked into my room, glancing around at all the photos of my picture-perfect family. We hadn’t taken any new ones since Jeremy died.
“Don’t talk to me like we’re friends,” I said, turning back around but watching him intently out of the corner of my eye, just to make sure he didn’t touch anything that he wasn’t supposed to. Definitely not because he was leaving his sweet hazelnut scent all over the room and it was driving me wild. “Because we’re not.”
He walked back around my bed toward me and stepped close. Though he wasn’t touching me, I felt his body heat against my backside. Teasing me. Taunting me even. “How do you want me to talk to you?” He brushed his nose against my hair and inhaled deeply. “As the woman that I’m going to take to my bed and devour until she’s trembling in my hands tonight or as the pitiful alpha traded by her mother?”
“If you think I’m going to sleep with you, you’re crazy.”
“I am?” he whispered into my ear, fingertips lightly brushing against my hips.
“Yes,” I said, tingles running up and down my sides. My wolf purred. “You are.”
One of his hands trailed down the side of my body, and he grasped my chin in his other. “I’m not crazy, Kitten.” He brushed his thumb against my bottom lip, and I parted them slightly. “Unless you want me to be.”
When his fingers barely grazed against the front of my pants, I shuddered against him. My pussy tightened, and I tried to calm my wolf, who was raging inside of me, who wanted nothing more than to let him be crazy with me.
Bend me over the bed and take me right there. Force my legs apart and press his tongue against my clit as I squirmed against him. Whisper all those dirty, filthy words into my ear, making me wetter for him. Hell, I
