My heart leapt in my chest at the mere mention of having his teeth sink deep into my neck, of him claiming me, of the great and powerful Ares being mine. But we couldn't do this. Not now. I placed my hands on his chest and lightly pushed him away. "No."

He tensed and pulled away from me, brows drawn together. His eyes fought to stay their natural human color and eventually surrendered to their golden suns. "No? You don't want me to mark you?"

It was the hardest decision that I ever made, but I couldn't be too attached to him. He still didn't know about my stone. Getting too attached would only lead to heartbreak. "No, not yet."

He swallowed hard, Mars breaking through Ares's shield. "Do you want to mark me?" he asked, softly, taking my hands in his. "I want you to mark me. I want to be yours."

Mine. The God of War wanted to be mine without knowing who I was. The woman who had the one thing that he killed hundreds for.

"Not yet, Mars." I brushed my fingers against his stubble. Moon Goddess, he looked so terribly sad that I didn't want to mark him. "I want to get to know you. I want you to know me."

Sure, it was a lie. A lie to stall. A lie because I wasn't strong enough to tell him the truth. And I hated myself for it.

After giving me his best half-smile, he grabbed my hands and tugged me off of the bed. Still soaking wet and dressed only in our towels, he brought me to the kitchen and sat me on the counter. "I wanted to run with you tonight. Your wolf and mine in our forest, but with the Hound attacks, I didn't want to risk it. So..." He opened the closet which must've had ten bags of Ruffles chips inside of it--all different kinds. "I'm going to make you dinner."

"Why are there so many bags of chips in your closet?" I asked, arching a brow.

He cracked a smirk. "I saw that you had them in your backpack and wanted to have a snack that you enjoyed here."

I pressed my lips together, trying to suppress a smile. My heart warmed at the thought. If he only knew that it wasn't me who enjoyed those chips, but Ruffles. She'd go through all those bags within the next month, if he didn't hide them well. I needed to keep them away from her. She had a nose stronger than mine sometime--she'd sniff them, find a way out of her room, and chew right through the plastic.

"What're you going to cook for me?" I asked, kicking my feet back and forth.

He shut the pantry door and opened the freezer. "What're you feeling?" He pulled out a steak that would feed five people and a box of frozen pretzels. "Steak or pretzels with cheese?"

"You're going to cook me pretzels with cheese for our first meal together?" I asked, arching a brow and smiling. His cheeks tinted the lightest shade of pink, and my heart raced. I never thought I'd see the Ares blush. "Let's have the pretzels."

"We can have the steak if you want. I'm just--"

"No," I said, hopping off of the counter and grabbing the box of pretzels from him. "I want the pretzels, but on one conditions." I poked a finger into his bare chest and stared up into his soft, inviting eyes. "As long as you promise not to lick the cheese off of me when we're finished."

"Licking cheese off of your body? You got some pretty weird kinks there, Kitten." His lip curled into a smirk. "But I can't keep that promise to you. I'd lick anything off your body, sprinkle some salt on you." He gazed at the directions to cook the pretzels. "Bake you on 425 degrees until your golden brown."

I playfully bumped my shoulder against his, letting the tingles rushing through my body. Why hadn't anyone told me about this side of Ares? The softer side, the side that may or may not have had a pretzel kink. "I'll be waiting in your bedroom for our five-star meal."

Just when I was about to leave the kitchen, he said, "Aurora, don't leave this house."

"You sound like my mom." I walked down the hall toward Ruffles's new bedroom to set it up for her. I wanted her to be comfortable, which meant making the bed smell like me and bringing her favorite pillow so she could lie on it.

"Aurora, if you leave, I'll hunt your cute little ass down and--"

"I'm not going anywhere, Ares." Not yet.

I grabbed the pillow from my suitcase, dressed myself in one of Mars's shirts, and walked to Ruffles room. Perched on a heap of Ares's clothes which were lying on the bed, Ruffles sat and smiled at me like she was a queen. I shut the door behind me, eyes widening. "Ruffles?! Charolette brought you home, already?"

Oh, gosh, she probably heard Mars and I in his bedroom and didn't want to disturb us.

Her litter box was set in the corner of the room, and there were three different toys on the ground. A ball with a bell inside of it, a stuffed wolf that she nearly tore through already with her teeth, and a laser pointer. A small food bowl was filled on the ground near the door.

Ruffles stood up and arched her back to stretch, her little booty in the air. "Meow." She walked over to me and brushed herself against my leg.

I knelt down and frowned at her, petting her head just where she liked it. She rubbed her face against mine and purred some more. "I'm glad you're okay too, girl. That Hound was scary, but you did so good." When I stopped petting her, she bit my finger sashayed back over to Mars's clothes to lie on them. I placed her pillow on the center of the bed and plopped her right onto it.

Almost immediately she stood back up and walked to his clothes. "Ruffles, I know that he smells good, but he's allergic to you." I put her on the pillow again, and she did the exact same thing--but this time she bit the pillow, took it in her mouth, and dragged it to Mars clothes, laying it right on top, hopping onto it, plopping right down.

"Kitten," Mars called.

I gazed at the door and crouched down to Ruffles' level. "This isn't over. I'm taking his clothes away from you tomorrow," I said. She closed her eyes in her fuck-you attitude and turned her head toward the window.

"Coming!" I shouted, hurrying to his bedroom. He was lying on the bed in a pair of grey sweatpants and a plate of warm pretzels and hot cheese on his lap. I crawled onto the bed with him and grabbed a pretzel.

"Five-star worthy?" he asked, brow cocked.

"Hmm..." I dipped the pretzel into the cheese and stuffed it into my mouth. "4.5."

"4.5?" He sat up and grabbed another one. "What if I feed it to you?"

I arched a brow, sounding more and more like Mom every minute."Are you going to say choo-choo when you feed it to me too--"

He stuffed it into my mouth and pressed my lips together. "Choo-choo, Kitten."

I chewed my food and playfully slapped his chest. "What's wrong with you?"

"A lot of things," he said, cracking a smile. He placed the pretzels between us and turned onto his side to face me. Unlike earlier when he tore through the entire pack of Hounds in the woods with the vicious look in his eyes, he gave me a soft, innocent expression. "Which do you want to hear about first?"

My wolf purred for him, wanting him, needing him. "Tell me about all of it, Ares." I rested my head on his pillow, pushed a strand of hair from his face, and smiled at him. He paused for a moment, lips parting and pressing back together. "What goes on in that head of yours?"

"Bad things, Aurora. Bad... bad things."

"Am I one of them?" I asked.

He brushed a finger under my chin and lifted my face to meet his. "You're all of them."