I didn't know what to do, so I did the first things that came to mind. Excused myself from the conversation, sped-walked back to the packhouse to find my phone, and dialed Elijah's number. It was saved under my emergency contacts, like Jeremy instructed me to do years ago before he was killed.

Ares wouldn't even give me a few moments to myself so I had to make this quick. I hid myself in Ruffles's room and bounced on my toes, listening to the ring. He answered on the second ring. "Aurora?"

"I can't talk for long. Ares is going to attack your pack tonight. Be prepared," I said. There was some shuffling in the house, and I glanced at the door. Ares was here, trying to find me, because I wasn't to leave his damn sight and I did.

"What do you mean? Why?"

"He's looking for the stone."

Elijah became deathly silent, as if Ares was there with him and he was trying to keep it quiet. "Aurora, you didn't tell him, did you?"

"No," I said, grasping the phone tighter. The shuffling became louder. I plastered myself to the wall and scooted down it. Ruffles walked over to me, brushing herself against my legs and showing me her butt. "But Ares knows. Someone must've found out, some way... Did you tell anyone? Anyone at all?"

"I hadn't spoken a word about it. I'll ask the doctor that performed the operatio--"

"Aurora!" Ares called throughout the house, his voice booming. I ushered Ruffles into the closet and shut the door in case he decided to come into the room. If he found out about the stone and about Ruffles, Moon Goddess... he'd do more than just kill me.

"Are you with Ares?" Elijah asked.

"Yes," I whispered. More footsteps.

"Listen to me carefully, Aurora." He took a deep breath. "Don't tell him about your stone. I don't care what he tries to do to me, but if he finds out that you have it, he will hurt you. He's been looking for that fucking thing for years, has killed so many people for it, and will not have a problem doing that to you."

I gulped and shut my eyes, inhaling Ares's strong scent. He had to be right outside the damn door. "Okay," I said. "I have to go." I slammed my finger on the end call button and stood up, my heart pounding. There were so many thoughts rushing through my head, I couldn't keep them straight.

Ares's scent was strong, but I couldn't hear a single sound. And I bet this was what it was like to be hunted by him. Not knowing where in the damn world he was, but knowing that he was close and that he would find you.

I hurried to the door to get out of Ruffles's room before he had a chance to find her. My fingers trembled as I tried to delete Elijah's call as quickly as I could, but Ares stood outside the door with his arms crossed over his chest and a disappointed look on his face.

"I told you not to leave my sight," he said.

I fumbled with my phone, trying to stuff it into my pocket. Think positive, Aurora. Think about last night when you were sharing pretzels and cheese, when you were up until 4am talking about life, when he told you that he wanted you forever.

Ares glanced at my pocket and furrowed his eyebrows. "Who were you talking to?"

I brushed past him and walked to our bedroom. "Nobody."

He clenched his jaw and followed me. "Who, Aurora?"

"Nobody," I said, stepping into the room and heading right for the bathroom to take a long shower. A shower so I could wash away all the dirt and sweat and lies.

Before I could pull the door open, he placed his hand on it, held it closed, and spun me around to face him. "Give me your phone." His eyes were a dangerous kind of gold, the kind that I had seen when he was about to rip Marcell's throat out the other day for disrespecting me.

"Why?" I asked, pressing my lips together and trying not to look suspicious.

"I will not ask again."

"No."

He reached for the pocket in my leggings. I grasped his wrist, trying to stop him. But after fumbling with each other for a few moments, he took the phone from me. I reached for it, clawed for it, hoping that it had magically deleted the call history itself, but he lifted my phone out of my reach.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I can't have even one bit of privacy with you. You won't let me shower alone, you won't let me out of your damn sight, now you want to look at my damn phone?"

He growled, reading the names in my recents.

"You're cr--"

"Don't finish your fucking sentence." He turned around to face me, eyes blazing. "Don't tell me I'm fucking crazy when you were talking to Elijah. Elijah out of all fucking people." He threw the phone to the ground and stepped closer to you, suddenly becoming deathly quiet. He didn't say anything for one, two, three long moments, and I was scared.

Fucking terrified.

After another few moments of pure silence, he closed his eyes. Hiding his anger behind some feign sadness. "I am enough for you, Kitten. Aren't I?" he asked, stepping toward me.

My heart pounded in my chest, and I stepped back. Moon Goddess, I didn't know what was happening anymore. Should I tell him about the stone? Yes, I needed to but not when he was looking at me like this, not when he was angry because it'd make him even angrier. "Yes," I said. "You are enough."

He placed his hand on my chest, right above my heart, his claws softly digging into my flesh. "Your heart's beating awfully fast. Are you lying to me, Aurora?"

Help me. Help me, please.

"No, you are enough for me." I held my breath, hoping that it'd calm my racing heart, hoping that something would calm my racing heart because I felt like it was about to explode by the way he was just staring at me with those golden, godly eyes.

He paused for a long moment, tilting his head, clenching his jaw, and touching my chest like he owned the heart inside. "You are lying to me," he said.

It wasn't a question this time. It was a statement.

His voice was laced with disappointment and sorrow, yet I could feel his wolf just under his skin about to come out to claim what was his. Because Ares didn't ask for permission, he took what was his.

"I'm not lying, Mars," I said, using his name to try to calm him down.

He growled loudly, stepping even closer to me and shoving me against his bedroom wall. Then he grasped my chin and held it tightly in his hand. "You didn't want me to mark you. You didn't want to mark me. You are talking to the man who knows exactly where the stone is and warning him that I'm coming to find it," he said, jaw twitching.

"I shouldn't have warned him." I placed my hands on his chest. "I'm sorry that he knows that you're coming for him now. I really am. It won't happen again."

He stepped even closer to me so he was pressing his body into mine. "Let me be clear, Aurora. I don't give a fuck that he knows I'm coming for the stone. He could prepare for war for months and I'd still run on his pack, rip each one of his warriors piece by piece, and take what is mine." He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear in a domineering manner. "I'm angry that you went behind my back to warn him."

My heart pounded even faster. All I wanted to do was to scream at him that it was me who wasn't enough for him, not the other way around. All I wanted was to tell him everything that had happened to me and hoped that he wouldn't kill me, but I couldn't open my mouth. My wolf whimpered, and I was getting so tired of hearing her whine about her mate not wanting her but I felt her pain. We didn't know what he'd do to us.

He growled, his canines emerging from under his lips. Moments... he was mere moments from marking me and making himself enough for me. "Tell me how I am not enough, so I can make sure I am."

I parted my lips, then closed them. What do I say to that?

His hand slid down my throat, and he snapped my head to the side--giving himself full access to my neck. He brushed his canines against my neck, and I shuddered. "Will this prove it to you?" he asked, canines just barely pricking my neck. I clenched, heat rushing to my core.

"Maybe this?" He pushed two fingers against my clit and rubbed gently. "Does this make me enough for you?" His fingers moved in small, torturous circles. I grasped onto his wrist, my knees close to buckling already. I furrowed my brows and stared into his darkening eyes. "Or is it this?" He grasped my hand and placed it right on the front of his pants, letting me feel his hardness.

Lord, this was not how I expected today to go. I just wanted a nice, relaxing day.

"Answer me, Aurora." He brushed his lips against my ear, his breath warming my neck. "If you don't..." He chuckled lowly, and I shivered. "I'll keep you in this bedroom until I prove to you that I am."