When I thought that I had her figured out, she turned around and surprised me again and again. She was everything that both an alpha and luna needed to be: strong, sexy, caring, and smart as hell.

She knew that I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about the stone and helping my sister. And she knew that I'd do anything for Charolette because I couldn't bear to lose anyone else that I loved. But I knew she had brought me out here to try to convince me, to lighten the mood, to soften the swing when she went behind my back to take the stone out of herself with Elijah.

Yes, she was thinking about lying to me to help Charolette. And, yes, I had been listening to those thoughts all night, not being able to go to sleep because her mind was buzzing with too much noise.

Aurora walked next to me back to the packhouse, her head buried into the crook of my arm, her sweet scent drifting throughout the forest. Fog laid heavily in the air around us, the morning sun breaking through it just enough.

The thought of letting her do it crossed my mind, but I pushed it out almost as quickly as it had come. There had to be a different way. I couldn't let Aurora take the stone out of her to save Charolette. Aurora wouldn't be able to walk, nevermind shift. Though she'd be with me and I'd be sure to make her life the best it had ever been, I didn't want her to be bound to a wheelchair or to a bed for the rest of her life. My wolf couldn't handle seeing our mate not being able to shift; he really wouldn't be able to handle that.

When we returned to the packhouse, Aurora and I showered. "We still need to find the person who betrayed us," I said, grabbing a towel and tying it around my waist.

She hopped out of the shower, arching her brow at the one and only towel wrapped around me. Her hair was wet and plastered to her tits. "What'd you do with the other towel?" she asked.

My lips curled into a smile, and I shrugged my shoulders at her. "Guess you're going to have to walk around the house naked."

"And have one of your warriors come in and see me," she said, lips pressed together.

I growled at her and threw her my towel. "Go get dressed before I tear the damn towel off you and fuck you again."

"That wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?" She laughed and hurried into the bedroom. I pulled another towel out of the closet and dried myself off. Ever since she marked me, I had the undeniable urge to fuck her whenever, whereever... but we hadn't had much time to ourselves and we wouldn't until we found the wolf that betrayed us.

When I had dried off, I walked back into the room to find Aurora standing--half-naked--in front of Elijah who was at our bedroom door. I growled, curling my arm around my mate and pulling her out of sight from him. "What the hell are you doing in my packhouse?"

Aurora pulled a shirt over her head and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Ares, it's okay. I need to tell him about..." Her eyes glistened like they had last night. "About Jeremy."

Elijah's eyes widened. "About Jeremy? What about him?"

She shoved her way between us and grabbed Elijah's hands. "Jeremy is... alive."

Elijah tensed, eyes wide, and stepped back. "Don't fuck with me like that Aurora. It's not fucking funny. I watched him die." He shook his head. "He's not alive. He can't be."

"I saw him. He saved me during the attack. He's alive, Elijah."

"Why didn't he come see me or you?" he whispered, still in disbelief. I eyed their close contact, feeling Ares getting agitated inside of me. All he wanted to do was rip them apart, take Aurora back to bed, and fuck her senseless yet again, just to make sure she knew that she was mine, but I held myself back.

"The ston--"

"Ares!" someone yelled from down the hall. I took a deep breath through my nose and tugged a pair of jeans. Marcel appeared behind Elijah with his jaw clenched and his arms crossed over his chest. "Ares, I found the fucking rat."

I stepped beside Aurora and out of the room, jaw twitching and adrenaline pumping. Aurora and Elijah turned toward us, quietening down.

"Marcel!" Charolette shouted, stomping up the stairs. "What did you leav--" She turned the corner, saw me, and pressed her lips together. It was almost six in the morning. What were Marcel and Charolette doing together? Marcel flared his nostrils and clenched his jaw harder, not sparing her a glance.

"Who is the rat?" Aurora asked, breaking the silence.

Marcel's jaw twitched. "That fuckin' rogue you brought home from Hound territory, the one with the son."

"Oh, my goddess," Aurora said quietly. "That rogue is still here?" I could hear her heart racing and could feel her hurting. She wrapped her arms around herself, as if she was in pain. "This is all my fault. I can't believe it. I... this..." She stared up at me in tears. "Ares, I'm so sorry. I should've told you sooner." Her hands trembled slightly. "She's working with Tony... or at least she's in contact with him."

"Why didn't you tell me when you found this out, Aurora?" I asked, trying to tame Ares.

"I'm sorry. It slipped my mind. So much has happened, and I... I'm sorry. It's my fault."

I clenched my jaw, but then shook my head. "Still, it shouldn't matter. I have had Liam watching her since we got here. Even if she was working with Tony, she couldn't have known that something was going on unless someone close to us told her."

"Liam is watching her?" Charolette asked, brows furrowed together in confusion. "We went over to visit her the other day to welcome her to the pack, and he acted like he never met her."

"Yeah, but Liam was with you when I left Dad's house the other night," I said.

Charolette looked at Marcel, cheeks flushing pink. "No, he wasn't."

"That fuckin' sonavabitch," Marcel said, storming out of the room. I followed after him, jaw clenched. It couldn't be Liam. It couldn't. He had been the closest person to me since I became alpha; he was my second in command.

Marcel flung the front door open, nearly taking it off its hinges and sprinted through the forest out into the forest. Charolette stood in Ares's office in complete shock, rocking back and forth on her heels. "No... no, this can't be happening. Why would Liam do this? He's a good guy. He's our beta."

Well, it seemed like all betas were damn annoying, weren't they? First Jeremy and now Liam, Ares's most trusted man. I grabbed Charolette's hand and hurried through the woods, following the scent of my mate.

Elijah was following right by my side. "The Hounds didn't attack last night. They just camped out by my property. I didn't engage... but something isn't right," he said, his voice laced with concern. "They're planning something, something terrible, and I can't figure out what it is."

Someone growled deeper into the forest, and Charolette sprinted away from me, running faster than I had ever seen her run before. "Marcel," she said under her breath. And, though she loved Liam, her heart belonged to Marcel. It always had and it always will.

I grabbed Elijah's hand and pulled him even faster. "Did you see Tony?" I asked, brows drawn together. It wasn't like the Hounds to camp out near a pack and not attack it. "Or get any other information on him?"

"I haven't seen him, but I did hear that he was spotted with Hounds."

I pressed my lips together and cursed under my breath. What was his damn problem? Had he always been a traitor? Why did he abandon his own people? Did the Hounds promise him something? My stomach tightened. Maybe they promised him the stone. Maybe they had a leader and were more intelligent than I thought they really were. Maybe Tony knew about Jeremy being alive all this time.

The door to one of the few houses on this road was open, and suddenly Liam was thrown through the front window. He landed with a thud on the grass, completely naked and... hard. Elijah grabbed my hand and held me back in a protective manner, as Jeremy would've wanted and would've done.

Marcel leapt through the window, in his human form. He stalked around Liam who had stumbled to his feet. "Do you know how fucking much she loves you?" he shouted. Ares appeared at the front door, grasping onto Charolette's shoulders. The look on his face told me that he wanted to kill, slaughter, take Liam's head, but Marcel was already taking care of it.

Someone stepped past him--the rogue we had seen before--and Charolette lunged at her with tears in her eyes. Ares clenched his jaw hard and held Charolette back, putting space between the woman who was trying to button up her shirt and his sister.

Oh, my Goddess. Liam was cheating on her. Liam was fucking the rogue.

Marcel grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground, straddled his waist and rained down fists on his face. Blood was spewing everywhere. Bones were cracking. My heart was pounding in my chest. Liam tried helplessly to get Marcel off him, but Marcel wouldn't budge.

Liam's head was bouncing against the grass after every punch. "Do you know how fucking much she does for you and you repay by fucking the woman you were supposed to be watching? You're a fuckin'"--punch--"no good"--punch--"piece--of--shit." Liam's arms laid lifelessly by his side.

Marcel stood over him, his biceps swollen, his jaw twitching, his eyes pure gold. He pulled him up by his throat. "You're not getting off the hook that fuckin' easily."

I gazed at Ares who had that fire in his eyes again, that look of battle and bloodshed.

"Alpha Ares," someone said through the mindlink. Goddess, everything seemed to be happening at once in pure chaos.

I listened through the pack mindlink, as this was one of the first times I could listen through it, and hoped that though this guy sounded worried, there was nothing to worry about because we couldn't deal with another problem.

But I was wrong. So terribly, terribly wrong.

"There is a Hound at the border. Not showing signs of aggression, but he wants entry."

My eyes widened, and I turned to Elijah. "Jeremy is at the borders." I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the forest. Jeremy was indeed at the borders, but what I didn't know was that the Hounds were close behind.