When I didn't answer him, he grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. "Take off your clothes."

I parted my lips, then smacked them back together. "Ares, I--"

"It wasn't a request." He released my chin and stepped back, watching me. "It was a command. You can follow commands, can't you Kitten?"

I gulped and glanced at my feet.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Look at me."

Jesus Christ. My pussy was pulsing already, and he hadn't even touched me. I was supposed to be afraid of him; I was supposed to be thinking of a way to stop him from going to Elijah's and killing him.

Without him having to ask me again, I took off my shirt and them my leggings. My nipples were hard and poking through the cupless sports bra.

"All of it," he said, gesturing to my bra and underwear. I growled and tore off my clothes, leaving them in a pile on the bed.

He glanced down at my body, taking all of me in, then stepped toward me, fingers hovering above my clit. "I bet you're clenching for me right now, aren't you?" he asked, staring into my eyes. "Thinking about my cock thrusting into your pussy, about your mate filling you with his cum again, about him making sure you know that you're his and his only."

I furrowed my brows, a wave of pleasure coursing through my body. I grasped onto his wrist, pulling it toward me. "Kitten, is that enough for you already?" he said in a degrading manner against my ear. "I haven't even started." His fingers brushed against my clit. He drew his fingernails up the center of my chest, then over my nipple. I whimpered and stared up at him, begging with my eyes for him to touch me more.

"You know, Kitten, Ares thinks a lot about claiming you... about taking you in the forest in the middle of the day and letting everyone for miles listen to you moan because of him. About taking you in the packhouse when everyone is downstairs and listening to you try to muffle those precious little whimpers of yours so nobody can hear you."

I furrowed my brows and whimpered, my pussy pulsing. "Ares, please."

"He thinks about ruining you for anyone else, about you kneeling for him when he comes home from war..." He grasped my hand and placed it on his cock. "About you taking his cock all the way down your throat again like you did the first night. He's thought way too long about throat fucking you until he finally makes you his perfect, little Kitten."

He pulled the hair out of my face, holding it back in his fist, and pulled me toward him. "Tell me," he said, growling under his breath. "Tell me, Aurora, do you need more than that?"

I pressed my lips together, trying to hold in my whimpers. All I wanted was for him to plunge himself inside of me like he did last night, but I didn't foresee that happening any time soon. Ares wanted to punish me for calling Elijah, and I didn't blame him.

Hell, I wanted something--anything--from him that would prove that he wouldn't hurt me. That--despite me going behind his back--he would love me for me, that he wouldn't hate me for my secret.

"That's not enough."

He growled, flipped me over, and tossed me onto the bed as if I weighed nothing. After crawling onto the bed with me and pushing me to the headboard, he took both of my thighs in his hand and spread them. Wide.

He pressed his tongue right to my pussy, flicking my clit with it. My body jerked up, and I drew my knees together. He forced my legs apart again and slapped my pussy hard. "Mine." He rested my thighs on his shoulders and stuck a finger inside of me, thrusting in and out as he ate me. I squirmed in his hold, trying to pull my knees together again, but he held them apart and slapped his palm against my clit again. "Mine," he growled.

His fingers moving in and out. His tongue flicking my clit. His stubble tickling my inner thighs. Heat rushed to my core. "Mars," I whispered.

"Alpha," he corrected.

My pussy tightened around his fingers, pleasure coursing through my body at the mere statement of dominance. He gripped my chin and moved it so I was staring down at him. "Alpha or Ares. Not Mars. Mars is gone."

He slid his hand to my throat and squeezed lightly. My pussy pulsed on his fingers, moments away from releasing on him.

"Say it, Aurora." His fingers moved faster inside of me, hitting my g-spot. Moments away. All he had to do was--"Now." His hand tightened around my throat, tongue flicking out to hit my clit once more.

Oh, Moon Goddess, I couldn't handle this.

"Alpha," I moaned.

"Good girl," he said, sliding his fingers out of me and slapping his hand hard against my pussy again, refusing to let me cum.

I drew my legs together, brows furrowed, and whined. "Ares, please."

He gripped my thighs, forcing my legs apart. "Tell me what I want to hear, Aurora." He pressed his lips to my clit again, and I clenched. I gripped his bedsheets in my fist and tugged up on them, trying to focus so I could just cum.

"Oh Moon Goddess... Ares, you're enough for me." My toes curled, and I waited for him to flick his tongue against my clit again so I could unravel under him, but he pulled himself away from me, his breath warming my pussy.

"I don't believe you." He slowed his fingers and tightened his grip around my neck. "Convince me, Kitten... Beg for me. Beg me to eat your tight, wet pussy. Beg me to thrust my fingers in and out of it. Beg me to make you cum over and over and over until you're trembling in my bed and begging me to stop."

I raised my hips, scrambling and shuffling around to try to get him to touch me again. I was so close, so fucking close to just cumming on command for him. "Please, Ares."

He slapped my pussy hard. "I said to beg."

"Please," I whimpered, brows furrowing.

"Louder," he said, fingers pressing against my entrance but not into me.

"Please, Ares." A wave of pleasure rushed to my core. I sounded desperate and I was.

"I want everyone in this fucking house to hear it."

He pinched my nipple between two of his fingers, and my chest jerked up. "Please, Ares!" I cried. He shoved his fingers inside of me, thrusting them wildly and sending me into a heaven of pleasure. Tingles shot up and down my arms. Heat rushed to my core. I clenched on him, riding out my orgasm.

So many feelings rushed through me. Pleasure. Ecstasy. A want to submit.

When I was finished, I laid back against the pillows and sunk into the sheets. My pussy was hurting--with both pleasure and pain. I could still feel his hand come smacking down on my sensitive, swollen clit. Time after time after time.

We sat in absolute silence for a few moments. Then he laid his head on my bare chest, drawing his finger in a circle on my hip bone where his fingers had been pressed earlier. "I'm sorry for being so rough with you," he said. "It's getting harder to control Ares around you, since last night."

Last night when he laid claim to my body.

"He just wants to mark you."

Ares wanted to mark me, the God of War himself wanted to mark me. He had been close to doing it, not once but twice now. He could have sunk his teeth into my neck. He could've claimed me. He could have ruined me far worse than he had already. But he controlled himself, which was not typical from him. At least not as the rumors had stated.

A part of me believed that if I told him about my stone, he wouldn't hurt me. Mars would hold Ares back from destroying every inch of my body to find it. But... I needed to be sure.

"And what does Mars want?" I asked, running my fingers through his hair.

"Mars wants you to be happy." His voice was quiet. "He wants you to feel safe. He doesn't like that you... called Elijah, but he knows that you were only contacting him because it is your job as an alpha to protect your allies."

"I'm not an alpha anymore. Thanks to you." I sighed deeply. It was supposed to come out light-hearted, but instead it came out harsh. It was a harsh reality for me though. Mom and Tony had just thrown me to the most vicious pack without a single care that I had been training for alpha-duties since Jeremy died. Everything was taken away from me in a fraction of a second because of the Hounds, and then again because of Ares.

He inched his lips up my body, pressing them to my chest. "You're still an alpha, Aurora." Pressing them to my neck. "You're still strong." Pressing them to my jaw. "And you're still going to lead with me." Pressing them to my lips. "Because you're mine."

I grasped the sides of his head, breathing deeply, and brushed my fingers against his cheekbones. His beautiful eyes seemed to lead right into his soul, and I was taken aback. On the verge of tears. The emotions were almost too much. "Mars," I asked quietly. "Would Ares ever hurt me?"

Instead of Mars, Ares--the man who'd do anything for that stone--looked me straight in the eye with so much sincerity that I would believe anything that came out of his mouth. He furrowed his brows, as if he was hurt that I would even ask him. "No."

No.

No, he wouldn't hurt me now. Because he thought that I was innocent. Because he thought that I didn't know where the stone was. Because he didn't know that I had it. I took a deep breath and hugged his head to my chest, unable to even look him in the eyes anymore.

I needed to be honest with him.

"I hadn't shifted either times the rogues attacked. I'm terrified of them," I said honestly. It was so hard to admit this to him. I had never said it aloud before. Not to Mom, especially after Jeremy's death, because I wanted her to trust that I could handle them. Not to Jeremy, because I didn't want to seem like a weak alpha. Not to myself, because I was ashamed.

He went to shift to gaze at me, but I held him to my chest and squeezed my eyes shut. "Let me continue, Mars." I gnawed on the inside of my lip. "I didn't shift because my wolf--"

Someone banged on the door, and Liam peeked his head into the room without Ares even answering him. Ares growled and pulled the blankets up my body. "What're you doing, Liam?"

"The warriors are ready. If we want to get there before nightfall, for an attack at midnight, then we must leave now." Liam gazed at him and only him with the blankest look on his face.

Ares growled. "Leave us. I'll be there in a moment."

When Liam shut the door, Ares stood up from the bed and cupped my face in his hands. "You and your wolf are safe with me. They Hounds won't hurt you. She doesn't have to be scared of anything." He placed a kiss on my lips. "Tell her that when we get back, my wolf and her will run freely through the woods together under the moon. I'll make sure to have the forest guarded." His smile widened, and he handed me some clothes. "I can't wait to meet her."