On the way back to the packhouse, all I felt was anger, sadness, and guilt. I didn't know what I could do to be a better daughter. I didn't know what I could do to be a better alpha in their eyes. To them, I have been and I always will be weak... and that hurt me so damn much.

All I wanted was to crawl back into bed with Ares and cry my eyes out. These past few weeks had taken so much out of me, and I finally wanted to get some rest, even if it was just for a few moments.

When I opened the front door to our home, Ares gazed over the stair balcony at me with two pretzels in his hand. Salt coated the edges of them. "Do you have a minute?" he asked, sucking in his cheek as if he was... nervous. My eyes widened, and I nodded.

Ares was never nervous.

Something must be wrong, and, Goddess, I didn't know if I was ready for another terrible thing. I already had so much shit to deal with. Something else might tip me right over the edge.

He handed me the pretzel and nodded to the kitchen table. There was a bowl of hot cheese in the center that Ruffles was staring at from one of the chairs. Ares opened a bag of Ruffles chips for her and placed a couple at the edge of the table, so she could easily bat them off and munch on them.

After he pulled out a chair for me, I hesitantly sat, my heart racing faster than I thought it would. He sat next to me, staring between the table and the cheese, and I could hear how quickly his heart was racing.

"Ares?" I said softly, needing him to just come out with it. All this quietness was making me feel uneasy. "What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong..." He paused for a long time. "I've just been thinking."

I broke the pretzel into two pieces and dipped it into the bowl. There wasn't anything wrong. Don't get yourself all worked up, Aurora. I took a deep breath and gazed over into his soft brown eyes. "What've you been thinking about?"

"I've been thinking about those pups that you rescued from your mother's pack." He sighed deeply through his nose. "I know how much seeing my mom dead fucked me up, and I don't want those kids to end up like me."

My eyes widened, and I grasped his cheek from across the table, brushing my thumb over his slight stubble. "Ares, you're not fucked up. Having both Ares and Mars makes you... you."

"I know," he said quietly. "But it took me a long time to accept that Ares and Mars wouldn't ever be one again, that I'd always be like this..." He swallowed hard. "I... didn't have much of a support system after my mom died. Dad was... off in his own little world. The only person I really had to rely on was a family friend who's also a therapist in this pack."

I smiled at him. "You have me now."

He grasped my wrist and rubbed his thumb in small circles on it. "I know. But those kids... they don't know anyone here but themselves. I was thinking... about having them over once a week to talk about what happened or... to help them adjust to their lives here. Have June, the therapist who helped, come over too. Do you... think that's a good idea?"

My eyes widened even more at him. Goddess, he surprised me more and more every single day. "You want to have a support group for the pups?" My heart swelled with so much love for this man.

The big, bad alpha cared so much, for not only the people he loved but for people he barely even knew. All those rumors didn't do him justice. Ares commanded the strongest pack, had the most land, did so many things for himself... but he loved. Hard. And anyone who tried to get to know him... would understand that behind that violent man, there wasn't only hurt and damage but so much love.

Ares scratched the back of his head, the mere idea looking as if it was making him uncomfortable when I had said it out loud. "If you don't think it's a good idea, then we don't have to do it. I just thought--"

I placed my lips right on his and pulled him into a kiss. "Of course, I think it's a good idea. It just surprised me, coming from you." I held his chin in my hand, leaning my forehead against his. "And once I see how good you are with the pups..." I bit my lip softly and smiled. "Maybe I'll give you some."

He growled and snatched my jaw. "Oh, Kitten, don't tease me like that."

"Or what?" I asked. "What is my big, bad alpha going to do about it?"

"I didn't give a chance to eat my breakfast this morning." He inched closer, grazing his nose against mine. "I'll have to take you right here on our kitchen table."

"That's if..."

"If, what?" he asked, eyes shifting from brown to their gold.

"If you can catch me, Alpha."

I slipped under his arm and ran through the kitchen, hurried down the hallway, only to be caught by the wrist, thrust against the wall, and then pinned to it. Ares stared down at me, lips curled into a smirk. "Trying to run away from me again, Kitten?" he asked. "Remember what happened last time you tried that." He stepped closer to me, grinding his hips against the front of my pants. "You had my cum being pushed back up into your tight, little pussy."

I clenched and inhaled my mate's sweet scent. "I don't remember," I said with a teasing smile on my face. "Maybe you should enlighten me."

He chuckled deeply in my ear, wrapped his arms around my legs, and picked me into the air, walking with me to our bedroom. "I'd be more than happy to do that again."

Burying his face into my neck, he bit down softly on his mark, sucked the skin into his mouth and drew his tongue over each of the tiny little scars. I shivered in delight and tugged on his hair, my pussy clenching.

"Do you like when I toy with my mark?" he asked me, his stubble brushing against it. I wrapped my legs tighter around his waist and nodded against his shoulder. His breath warmed my neck. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled it back so I looked him right in the eye. "Use your words."

"Yes, Alpha."

He growled under his breath and tossed me onto the bed. I landed with a thumb, sinking into the blankets. After snatching my ankle in one of his hands, he pulled me to the edge of the bed, undid my jeans, and tugged them off me.

"Spread your legs for me, Kitten, like you did the first night we met."

A rush of heat warmed my core, and my cheeks flushed thinking back to the first night I met him. The orgasm after orgasm after orgasm that he had given me. I spread my legs and watched him dip his head between them, mouth immediately finding my clit.

"Do you remember how many times I made you cum?" he asked, parting my folds with his fingers to give himself better access, then sliding them down my slit to my entrance. They pressed against it, making the pressure in my core rise. When I didn't answer him, he stared up at me. "Seventeen times. Seventeen fucking times, and I'm ready to do it again."

He pushed his finger inside of me, just as he said it, and I clenched hard on him, my back arching, pleasure rolling through me. I grasped the bedsheets in my fists and moaned to the Moon Goddess, feeling like I could tip over the edge any minute.

"Think you still have it in you?" I asked, between raspy breaths.

He buckled his fingers, curling them right over my g-spot, and I came almost instantly, wave after wave of pleasure rolling right through me. "Don't sass me, Kitten. I can stay here all day and listen to those pretty, little moans of yours."