Sunlight flooded through my window. Ruffles was lying on my chest licking my face, her breath smelling suspiciously like potato chips. I sank into my sheets and sighed. Stupid Mars. Stupid Aurora for giving into Mars so easily. Stupid feelings for my stupid mate.

I shifted in the bed, hoping Ruffles would hop off, then cracked the window. In the distance, I could hear a pack of wolves growling. Practice didn't start for another hour. What--

A single wolf scurried through the woods toward the direction of the hospital, a trail of blood following him. My eyes widened. "Mom?" I asked, running through the house. "Mom!"

Everything was silent, and my heart dropped in my chest. Mom was right, Alpha Ares was here sooner rather than later. I could just feel it.

I raced through the woods, making sure to stay hidden in the trees. Mom knew that he was here, but she didn't even bother waking me up so I could help fight. I could just picture her shaking her head at Dad and saying, "He'll take her first. She's the weakest link."

After a few miles of sprinting, I stopped. The stench of blood was beyond anything I had ever smelt before. Wave after wave hit me, and I crouched behind a tree, scrunching my nose.

Through the woods, I watched the warriors fight. Wolf on wolf. Teeth on teeth. Claws on claws. Flesh and fur being torn off. Blood spewing everywhere. My pack howling for Mom to do something.

And Alpha Ares, the largest wolf of them all with his thick midnight black fur, in the center of it all, circling Mom like she was some sort of prey.

My heart raced, and I thought up the best plan that I could think of at the moment. Surprise attack Ares when he clamped down on Mom's neck, just when he thought he had conquered another pack.

But Mom ruined that when she suddenly growled and shifted into her human. "Stop," she commanded. "We have a proposition," she said. "One that you won't pass up."

Alpha Ares growled. His other wolves stopped their attacks and bowed their heads to him. He scanned the warrior wolves from my pack as if he was looking for someone. Then he shifted to his human, and my eyes widened.

Mars--Ares, whoever he goddamn was--stood in front of Mom, his taut chest smeared with blood. "Where is she?" Ares said. And Mom might not have known it, but I knew that he was talking about me. "Where is Aurora?"

All I could think about was how he used me last night to get what he wanted: entrance to my pack, an easy way to get past the guards, 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. Then left me while I was asleep in the woods.

He growled again, the sound echoing through the forest, and stepped closer to Mom. "I'm not going to ask again."

I teetered back and forth from one foot to the other. Moon Goddess, even when he was angry he was hot. I shook my head. Stop it, Aurora.

He stepped even closer, and Tony stepped in front of Mom to protect her. Ares let out a lifeless chuckle, lip curling into a snarl, then grabbed Tony. His hand wrapped around Tony's fragile neck, like it was nothing.

My heart pounded in my chest. 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.

"Release him," Mom commanded, acting like Ares's threats didn't intimidate her. But she glanced nervously at Tony, then at Dad. 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 and taunting me. "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 grounded my teeth together and walked through the forest to the fight. When Mom saw me, she growled. "Aurora, get back in the packhouse."

"Put him down," I said, meeting that glowing golden gaze. "Now."

"There's only one deal that I would ever accept," Ares said, gazing at me.

Mom stepped forward, regaining her composure and trying to posture over him. "What is that?" she asked.

"Aurora."

My eyes widened. "No. Absolutely not." I shook my head. "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, 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 like he said that he would.

He was smirking at me, thinking that he had control over me. So I walked right up to him, stared him directly in the eye, and said, "If what you plan to do is anything like your performance last night, you'd never put me in my place."

His grip on Tony's neck tightened, and Tony's cheeks tinted a deeper red. "I was going easy on you last night, pup." He turned to Mom. "Aurora or your pack, Alpha." He pressed his lips together. "One way I take Aurora and leave, never coming back to hurt your people. The other way, I kill everyone here and still take Aurora. Your choice."

Dad looked at Mom, and Mom didn't make eye contact with me. Instead she nodded her head. "Fine."

My eyes widened. Fine? Fine? Fine? Fine? She thought that this was fine? She was going to just give me away to my psychotic alpha mate?

I stared at her--glared at her. I was her only heir, and she gave me away like I was nothing.

Ares just chuckled.

Before his pack of blood-thirsty warriors, he stood like he was a fucking king, praised by every one of them. Then he cocked a finger in my direction, smirked, and said, "Come here, Kitten."

The words sounded so disgraceful. Disgraceful to my whole legacy, to my father--the strongest warrior in all of the nations, to my mother--the smartest alpha during her reign, to me--his stupid fucking mate.

My gaze shifted from Mom to Dad to Tony who looked so desperate in Ares's arms. He was dangling there, Ares's claws in his neck, gaze on me and me only.

I didn't know if I was angry at Mom for handing over the only heir to her pack, at him for making me cum last night, or at myself for actually believing that his name was Mars. So damn stupid I was.

But, for my pack, I clenched my teeth together and stormed to Ares, ripping Tony from him. "You're an asshole," I said.

He chuckled lowly, drew his fingers up the side of my neck, and grasped my chin in his hand like he had done last night, making me look into those golden eyes. "And you're mine, Kitten." He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. "All mine."