I didn't know exactly where Marcel lived, so I parked in front of Ares's father's house to give Charolette his car keys. The front door was closed, so I knocked on it and a grinning Mr. Barrett answered. "Aurora!" He nodded back to the packhouse. "Ares just left. He's worried about you."

"Oh, I just wanted to give these to Charolette." I handed him the keys.

He stared down at them, then at Marcel's car parked in the driveway.

"Good night, Mr. Barrett."

"Hey, wait a minute," he said. He furrowed his brows at me. "Whatever you said to Ares before you left him earlier... tell him again. I haven't seen that boy smile like that since his mother was around."

My heart warmed in my chest. I couldn't help the grin that broke out onto my face. I hadn't felt this way about him before, and I loved it.

After Mr. Barrett handed me a container filled with the biggest slice of cheesecake I had ever seen, he closed the door and turned off the living room light. I held the container to my chest, butterflies erupting all over my body. So, this was what it was like to feel loved, to love someone and their family all the same.

Some chatter drifted out from the upstairs window, and I glanced up at it. The light was on in one of the rooms, and Charolette stood in the middle of her bedroom without her wig and a huge grin on her face.

She spun slightly, and I smiled up at her. She must be so comfortable with Liam. I wondered how--

Marcel sat on the edge of her bed, grinning at her with wide excited eyes and a smile that I had never seen before. I wanted to wait and watch them, unsure of what they were. Charolette and Liam looked as if they were dating, but Charolette and Marcel... they acted as if they were mates.

Before they could see me snooping, I hurried toward the packhouse. I didn't know if Ares knew about them, but I wasn't one to break secrets. So, I wouldn't say a thing to him about Marcel, especially if he kept my secret about Tony.

When I opened the door, Ares was passed out on the couch with Ruffles on his chest. They were both sleeping so peacefully that I didn't want to wake them. I grabbed a blanket from our room and draped it over his torso, deciding on a shower before I broke the bad news to Ares.

Just after I covered him and Ruffles with the blanket, he snatched my wrist. "Where are you going?" he asked, eyes still closed but grip harsh. "I want my mate to lie with me, right here..." He patted Ruffles. "Right on my chest."

My lips curled into a smirk, and I sat at the edge of the couch, pushing some hair off his forehead. "I need to talk to you, Ares."

"Tell me you love me first." He slowly opened his eyes, body jerking up when he sneezed. Ruffles jumped off of him, and Ares pulled me on top of him, so my chest was against his. "I want to hear you say it again."

My cheeks flushed red. When I had said it, I didn't think I'd be saying it again so soon. Yet, here I was, on top of my mate who was begging me to tell him that I loved him again and again and again, like a sweet melody that he wanted to fall asleep to.

I brushed my fingers against his cheek and watched the moonlight bounce off his golden eyes. "Mars, I love you."

He brushed his fingers through my hair. "What about Ares?" I could hear his heart racing in his chest, beating faster and faster and waiting for me to say it. Every second that went by, his smile widened.

"I love you too, Ares."

He curled his arms around me, hugging me tightly to his chest, and rolled us over on the couch so he was on top of me. His hardness pressed against my core, his biceps flexing next to me, his scent an intoxicating aroma. I breathed him into me, relaxing under his fingers. He brushed his teeth against the opposite unmarked side of my neck.

I shivered under his touch, then pushed him away from me. "Mars," I breathed. "I have to tell you something about the stone."

He paused for a moment, backing up to stare down at me. His teeth disappeared back into his mouth, and he tugged me to a seated position. "What did you find out?"

"Tony," I said, the name immediately making him tense. "He's been meeting with a Hound. Elijah thinks that he knows something."

Ares's jaw twitched, his eyes turning a darker, harsher color gold. "Tony as in the fuck-up who came onto you?" He growled under his breath. "I should've killed the fucking pup when I had the chance."

I pressed my hands into his chest. "You can't kill him. If he knows something, you have to let me try to get it out of him."

"He's going to try to take you away from me, sway you in his direction, try to come save you from me again."

My eyes widened. Did Marcel tell him about--

"Yes," Ares said, cutting me off. "He told me that that stupid fucking prick thought he'd sweep you off your fucking feet when I raided Elijah's pack." He balled his hands into tight fists. "I should've killed him already."

"He will lead us to the stone," I said, trying to calm him down. I needed him to get on board with the plan of me talking to him before he killed everything in his wake. "Please, we go to my mother's pack tomorrow... let me talk to him before you kill him." I squeezed his hands. "He's our only chance of finding the damn thing."

He growled lowly. "He won't talk to you."

"Yes, he will."

"He wants to fuck you, Aurora. He wants to fuck what's mine." He stared down at me, his whole aura so territorial. And if I said that it didn't turn me all the way on, I'd be lying. Goddess, I loved the way he looked at me when he thought someone would sweep me off my feet instead of him.

It was a hunger to prove his worth, an innate instinct to demonstrate his utter dominance. It was raw, real, and recklessly ravaging. And I loved the feeling of his arms wrapping harder around me, tugging me to his body, claiming me.

"If he even touches me, you can snap his neck." I pressed my palms to his chest, feeling his racing heart. "But let me talk to him tomorrow."

Ares paused for a long moment, eyes shifting back and forth between mine. Thinking. Analyzing. Accepting. "Fine," he said, jaw clenched. "But if he touches a single hair on your head, even if it's just his fingers grazing against you, I will rip his throat right out of his body as your whole pack watches, drench myself in his fucking blood, and challenge any of your mother's warrior who try to take you away from me."

"Deal," I said, lips curling into a smirk. "But whatever happens tomorrow, promise me this..." I gazed up into his eyes. "Please don't kill my dad. He doesn't deserve death."

Mars stared down at me. "I won't kill him, Kitten."

"I'm talking to Ares."

He closed his eyes, head tilting to the side, Ares appearing. His gaze drifted from my eyes to my lips to my mark. "I promise I won't kill him." He grabbed my jaw lightly in his hand, forcing me to look up at him. "But I can't promise the same with Tony or your mother. Given the chance--after you talk to them--I will kill them for what they've done."

I swallowed hard and nodded my head. I didn't expect anything less.

"We run at dawn."