When I heard that a Hound killed one of my guards and ran rabid on my property, all I could think about was her. She was in that grocery store; she was near the Hound; she was in danger. Mars needed to save Aurora, and Ares needed to kill that fucking rogue. But when I found her standing on top of the rogue in her human form with a deep scratch down the side of her arm, stabbing him relentlessly in his neck, all I could feel was an intense anger.

She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have done that. I didn't want her to become like me, like Ares.

I stood, watching the doctor clean her arm with alcohol and wipe the blood away.

Two times. We had been attacked by Hounds two fucking times since I had been with her, and she didn't shift once. Moon Goddess, if I had lost her today--before I even had a chance to get to know her--because she didn't shift, I would've lost it. Ares would've taken full control, slaughtered every single Hound in that goddamn forest, slaughtered innocent people, slaughtered my people.

After she wrapped some gauze around her arm to stop the bleeding, I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the grocery store. Stars danced against the dark night sky, and all I wanted was to enjoy this night with her. Take her out to the lake, show her the waterfall, pull her under the water with me and admire her smile. Run free with her wolf.

I was even going to let her mark me tonight. When I mentioned it earlier and her small little body got all tense, I could barely contain myself. I hadn't felt like this ever.

But that couldn't happen because the Hounds seemed to be out of control these past two days. Hell, the Hounds seemed to be after her.

She snatched her arm away from me, but I grabbed it back, holding it close. "Why are the Hounds after you?"

For a split moment, she tensed. "They're not after me." She gazed at the ground in front of us and clenched her jaw. "They were never this violent before I met you."

"Well, they never dared attack me before, Aurora." I opened the packhouse door for her and followed her up the stairs.

"Well, that's not my fault, Ares."

I growled at the name, feeling him slowly awaken inside of me. I thought that I had suppressed Ares earlier after I found her in the grocery store, but he had just been waiting to scream at her for not shifting, for not protecting herself the way she was born to do. "Tomorrow you start training," I said. "With Marcell."

Her eyes widened. "What?! Are you serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. Marcell will train you to react how you need to react in that kind of situation."

"But you hate him. I hate him!"

Yes, it was true. I hated his fucking guts. But I couldn't let Aurora get hurt. I wouldn't be able to handle Charolette's death if it happened, I wouldn't be able to handle Aurora's too. Marcell could make her stronger. He was my best warrior and the greatest trainer on the team. He had pushed me to be better than I thought I could, had trained Ares relentlessly to make him unstoppable. But I wouldn't let her ever be alone with that asshole.

She stared up at me with a blazing green fire in her blue eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't need training. If you haven't noticed, I killed two Hounds within the last two days. I think I know how to defend myself."

I growled under my breath, letting the sound vibrate throughout the room and stepped toward her. "Then why didn't you shift, Aurora, huh?" Moon Goddess, did she not know how? How was it that she hadn't shifted once when there was a threat? Did her wolf not sense it? Or maybe she just didn't think she had to. "Those fucking Hounds will kill you. You're not strong enough to defeat them without your wolf."

Her brow arched hard. "Not strong enough?" She growled and met my glare with an intenser one, and all I wanted to do was shove her against the wall and take her right there. Those wide eyes. The pure heat radiating off of her. Her strength. It was everything that I had ever dreamed of having in a mate. "I am strong enough to defeat them."

I snatched her chin in my hand, squeezing roughly. "If you're strong enough, then push me away," I said. She shoved her hands right into my chest, but I didn't move. I stepped closer to her, growling. "Do it, Aurora." She shoved her hands right into me again, harder but not hard enough. "What're you waiting for?" I stepped closer to her pinning to the wall with just my arm. "Shove me away."

Ares took control, making me bare my teeth at my mate.

"Ares," she seethed. "Let me go. I don't have to prove shit to you."

My hand slipped around her throat, thumb brushing against her jaw. I pushed her head to the side and stepped closer to my mate, lips close to her ear. "Yes, you do." I breathed in her rich scent and felt her blood pumping inside of her neck. Such a fast beat. Such a beautiful neck that I could claim.

"You're mine, and it's my job to make sure nobody tries to take what's mine from me." I chuckled lowly in her ear, making her shiver. "You're oh-so-pretty Kitten. And there are far too many people who will try to take you away from me."

She clenched her jaw and shoved her hands back into my chest, but--instead of pulling them away--they curled into my skin. Claws in my flesh. Canines emerging under those plump lips. Her wolf and mine.

"And I will kill them," she said.

"Prove it to me, Aurora." My mind buzzed with every fucking thing that could've happened to her today. They could've killed her. They could've taken her away from me. They could've brought her back to their hideout, ripped off her clothes, and taken her dignity and replaced it with pure shame.

My hand tightened around her throat, and all I could see was black. Pure black.

"Prove to me that you wouldn't have let them pin you against the wall." I pushed her further into the wall, letting her squirm. "Prove to me that you wouldn't have let them press their lips to your throat." I inhaled deeply, her scent becoming overwhelming, and pressed my lips against the spot I would mark soon. "Prove to me that you wouldn't let them touch you like I do." I pushed my hand into her pants, drew a single finger down her fold, and relished in how wet she was for me.

It hadn't even been three fucking days yet, and here she was making me feel things that I had never felt before. An innate need to make her mine. A thirst to thrust myself inside of her and only her for the rest of my life. A hunger to show everyone how fucking strong my mate was, to make every other alpha jealous, to make all the whores that I had ever taken jealous, to make her my fucking goddess among these peasants.

She gulped, her breath so fucking close to my ear. "What if I don't want to prove it to you?" she asked.

Mars shivered, and even Ares paused for a long moment. He nor I knew how she could want someone like him. Someone so menacingly vicious. Someone so brutal.

"What if I want you to take me, Ares?" she asked, trying to taunt me. She knew the mere name brought out the beast. She knew not to call me that, but she did it anyway. She wanted him, us.

Ares growled and pressed her harder against the wall. I pressed my hard cock against her stomach, letting her feel where I would be later. That deep inside of her, tearing up her tight little pussy. "You want all of me, Kitten?" I asked against her ear. "I'll give you all of me."