He tilted his head to the side, showing me his neck and giving me permission to sink my canines into his flesh and claim him as my mate. "Yours, Kitten." He grabbed my hand and placed it on his neck. I could feel his racing pulse, and my wolf purred. She wanted him. She wanted all of the wolves here to know that he was mine. Nobody else's. Mine.

"This is all yours," he said, moving my hand down his shoulders, down his taut chest, down his abdomen to the front of his pants. "Every part of me. The good, the bad, the big."

I nearly cracked a smile. Moon Goddess, I didn't know how I'd survive here. One moment he was fury, the next he was peace. One moment Ares, the next Mars. It was like a switch that he could turn on and off when he wanted, when his wolf craved violence or when his wolf craved me.

"Mark me, Kitten." He dug his nose into my hair near my ear. "Sink those small canines into my flesh, let your claws dig into my back, purr for me." He brushed his fingers down the sides of my body, hovering them over the front of my pants.

I swallowed hard. His neck looked too inviting to pass up. But I couldn't give into him. Not yet. Not until I knew the real reason he needed that stone. I wasn't going to be deceived, nor was I going to be used.

My lips grazed against his ear. "Maybe tonight. Depends if you're a good boy or not."

He growled lowly, digging a single finger into my abdomen and drawing it all the way up my body until he reached my chin. "Kitten, you don't like good boys." He smirked, his golden eyes like suns. "You like them rough and dirty and bad just for you."

I licked my lips, my core clenching. We hadn't even known each other for three days, and he already knew me so fucking well.

After gathering up all the strength that I had left, I pushed him off of me. "That's what you think." I shrugged my shoulders and began walking back through the woods toward the packhouse.

He chuckled and grabbed onto my shoulder. "Wrong way." He turned me around and led me in the opposite direction, his fingers rubbing soothing circles on my shoulder. "Now," he said lowly. Any softness at that moment disappeared, and the angry Ares returned so suddenly. He clenched his jaw, squeezing my shoulder tightly. "Who told you that I brought you home as a trophy?"

Green lush brush grazed against my shins. I stepped over a couple stray branches, looking down at my feet. Trying not to get angry. Trying not to end up as angry as he was. One of us needed to stay sane, and he was unstable. "Some guy with long silver hair."

He growled, the sound echoing through the forest. "What did he say to you?"

"That I was a trophy to you."

His eyes clouded with black, his jaw twitching violently, the look of overwhelming violence. "And?"

In the distance, the forest cleared. I could see the shapes of bodies through the fog. I parted my lips to speak, then shut them. I could handle that man myself and didn't need Ares handling any of this. I didn't need to be treated like a baby. I handled things by myself back home; I'd handle them here.

"Now, Aurora." His voice was stiff, his eyes moving back and forth, as if he was plotting the perfect murder.

Moon Goddess, he wasn't going to let this go. "He just said that you do this all the time, that I was another one of your trophies to add to your collection of whores..." I gazed around the party, locking eyes with the silver-haired freak. He gazed over at me and winked. You know what, fuck it. "He even told me that your sister was one of them."

He released my shoulder, visibly shaking and stormed right up to Mr. Silver Hair, grabbing him by the throat. "This silver haired asshole, Aurora?" Ares asked, his voice a chilling calm.

The talking stopped. The laughter stopped. Even the pups stopped running around. Everyone suddenly stared between the three of us, even Charolette. I parted my lips, adrenaline pumping through my veins. "Yes."

Ares growled lowly at the man and hurled him across the yard. The man hit a tree, and the tree itself cracked. Ares grabbed him by the throat again. "You're lucky I don't kill you right here," he said, lifting him off of the ground and squeezing him by the neck.

He gazed around, his eyes taken over by the darkness, the vein pulsing violently in his neck, his large canines against his lips. "Let him be a fucking example to everyone here. I don't care who you are. I don't care how highly you rank in my pack. If you don't respect your luna, I'll hang you by your fucking toes, latch my fingers into your pathetic throat, and watch the blood pool out of you, ounce by fucking ounce until you're lying in my prison. Dead."

My eyes widened. Oh dear Moon Goddess.

"Does everyone understand?"

"Yes, Alpha," everyone said in complete unison.

Ares glared at Silver Hair, held the man by his throat, and squeezed tighter. "Now, apologize to my mate, Marcell."

Marcell grabbed Ares's hand, desperately trying to claw his way out of the grip of a god. He looked at me, face reddening by the second.

Ares tossed him to the ground like he was a piece of trash. "Say it," he said. "Or I will kill you right now."

He stared at the ground, gasping for breath. "I'm sorry, Luna."

Ares growled again. "Look at her when you say it. She's my luna and she's an alpha. Respect her like you respect me."

My heart raced just from being in the presence of Ares. Yes, he was crazy. Yes, he was even fucking psychotic at times. But he was nothing like any man I had met. Nothing like Tony who sold me out just like my mother. Nothing like the guys back home.

Ares was a whole new level of man. Ares was a god.

Marcel gazed up at me, jaw clenched. "I'm sorry, Luna."

Ares grabbed my hand. "Party is over. If you wish to meet my mate, you will come to the packhouse tomorrow because I'm done with this shit." Then he tugged me toward the packhouse.