Elijah sat in a turquoise booth near the back of the Pink Moon Tavern, sipping on a Moscow Mule. He looked at me, then at Marcel as we walked down the aisle to him, brow raising in curiosity.

I slid into the booth, my fists clenching. "What did the Hound look like?" I asked, almost immediately, not bothering to chit-chat. Elijah's gaze lingered on Marcel for a moment longer, and I said, "Don't worry about him."

He took a deep breath. "Black hair, piercing grey eyes."

"And Tony was meeting with him?" My brows furrowed. "About what?"

"My warrior told me she couldn't hear their conversation that well. But said she heard them mention the stone more than once and that Orien was approaching."

"That fucking prick knows where the stone is?" Marcel asked, palms slamming against the table top. Elijah's Mule sloshed over the side of his cup, spilling onto the wood.

I rolled my eyes. So much for emotionless reactions. I wiped a napkin over the spilt drink. "Orien?" What the hell was that?

Elijah just shook his head as if he didn't know what she was talking about either. "I have no idea. This meeting was the first that I know about. She said they seemed friendly though." He brushed his knuckles against his black eye. The swelling from Ares's beating had gone down a bit, but the color was still deep.

This time, I slammed my fists down on the table. "How could Tony do this to you? He knew exactly how Ares would react to hearing about the stone and..." I pressed my lips together. I thought that he was different. We had spent so many nights together, so many sinful nights, and he had never acted like this before. Maybe he was always this way, always out to hurt everyone, always out for power.

"We need a plan," Elijah said.

"A plan?" Marcel growled. "Why don't we go to your fucking mother's house and torture the sonavabitch, until he tells us where that stone is?"

I gnawed on the inside of my cheek, Ares's familiar aura washing over me. I felt it sweltering inside of me, begging for me to let the darkness in. Mars wanted the stone, but Ares... he wanted the person who had it to hurt. He always wanted someone to hurt.

Once he found out that Tony had information on it, he would do exactly as Marcel suggested: run on Mom's pack, capture Tony, and torture him. If anyone had a problem with it, he would kill them.

No. Questions. Asked.

Part of me didn't mind Tony dying anymore, and I didn't give a single fuck about what he did to my asshole of a mother. She deserved it more than Tony did, giving up her own daughter because she didn't think I was strong enough to lead the pack... when Ares--the strongest alpha in the entire world--thought that I was strong enough to lead his pack with him, despite my disability.

"Tony would rather die, then to tell Ares anything." Elijah sipped his drink and raised his brows at me. "You know that's true."

I nodded my head. "I need to talk to him beforehand, try to get anything I can out of him. He will be tortured for days and not say a single word." I gulped. It was true. Tony had a tolerance for pain, both physical and emotional. Everytime I had seen him fight--besides the time Ares raided our pack--he was scary. And, I mean, beyond terrifying. During the Hound attack, I had never seen him tear out so many throats, then swallow them like a fucking psychopath.

"I will tell Ares tonight," I said to Elijah. "We will run on my mother's pack early tomorrow morning. I will talk to Tony despite Ares demanding me not to speak a single word to him. I--"

Marcel's phone buzzed on the table, and he flipped it over. He sat up tall, pupils dilating. "I have to go." He tossed me the keys to his car. "Bring it back."

"You're going to run home?" I asked, brows furrowing.

"It's not like you can," he said.

The words came out lighthearted and shouldn't have hurt as much as they did. I didn't think that he knew about me yet. I told Ares and Charolette to keep it a secret because I wasn't ready for the entire pack to know just yet. I still felt like I needed to prove myself... but--My heart stopped for a moment.

Marcel furrowed his brows as if he didn't know why I was frowning at him. "Ares would have my ass if I let you run out in Hound Territory."

I took a deep breath and nodded my head, a smile appearing on my face. Okay, good, Ares didn't tell him yet. He was just terrified of Ares, as he should be.

Marcel left the tavern, then his wolf disappeared into the woods, carrying his clothes and phone in his mouth. I turned back to Elijah and grabbed his hand. "What will you do?" I asked.

"What my pack does best," he said, lips curling into a smirk. "Find information. Study Tony. Figure out who has the stone." He grasped my hand tighter in his, smiling over at me. "Ares is taking good care of you still?"

I nodded my head, thinking about earlier at his father's house when I told him that I loved him. The words had come out so quickly, yet so naturally. I had barely known the man, but I already knew that I couldn't wait to spend my entire life with him. I couldn't wait for him to tell me more about his demons, more about his happiness, more about his mother.

"You have that spark in your eye," he said, lips curling into a smirk. "The same one that Jeremy always used to have." He paused for a moment, staring deeper at me. "You love him, don't you?"

My cheeks flushed. I had never felt this way before about anyone except Jeremy and maybe Dad. Everyone in my previous pack loved me and I loved them... but they had always treated me differently. They didn't love who I really was; they didn't see me for me; they didn't see or feel the pain I went through during each shift. They saw the fake me.

Ares had seen the real Aurora, and he had loved every moment of her.

I just hoped that it would stay that way.

"When Jeremy first told me he loved me, he brought me to that cave in the north. It was the middle of a snowstorm, twelve degrees fahrenheit. We slept there that night in the freezing fucking cold, had frozen beer, and Goddess it was the best night of my life." He gazed out the window, staring toward the direction of the cave.

"Have you been back?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not since he died. Heard it was taken over by Hounds."

I frowned and brushed my thumb against his, hoping that the motion would lighten the mood. "I have a question to ask you," I said.

He nodded at me, taking another sip of his drink. "What?"

"When we find that stone, I need your doctor to implant it into Ares's sister," I said. He took his hand out of mine, a wildly angry expression crossing his face, and he opened his mouth to say no, but I cut him off. "She has cancer and is going to die within the next year. He has tried everything to find it."

"Aurora..." he said. "I want to find that stone for you. So you can shift and be whole again."

"Then... you really won't like this request," I started, grasping his hand again and squeezing it tightly. "If one half of the stone doesn't cure her, I need you to remove mine."

"No," he said, shaking his back and forth. "I'm not doing that. I'm not going to risk your life for hers. I don't even know her, and I promised Jeremy that I'd keep you safe."

"Please," I begged. "She means everything to her."

"Did Ares put you up to this?" he asked, jaw clenched.

I shook my head. "No. No, he's against it. He doesn't want me to sacrifice my quality of life for her... but... she's everything to him. And I want to see her healthy and happy. Promise me that you'll do it. Please."

He paused for a long moment, a grim expression crossing and staying on his face. "I don't like this, Aurora."

"But you will do it," I said, hopeful. He tilted his head downward a few inches, and my heart leapt in my chest. I held out my pinky. "Promise me that you won't tell, Ares. He would hate me for it."

He grasped my pinky in his. "I promise."