Disappointment had my heart sinking, but his words also sparked anger. I wasn't sure if it was because he had struck a nerve, his words hitting too close to the thoughts that spurred my demand, or if it was because he was implying I would treat our child differently.

My eyes narrowed on him. I brought my hands down and pushed against his chest, making his eyebrow rise in question.

He retreated back slightly and looked down on the mess he had created of me. I suddenly felt too exposed.

"Nea," he sighed as his hands dropped to hold me still by the hips as I struggled against him in unjustified anger.

When his soft grip did nothing to calm me and stop my struggling, his hold tightened, forcing me down into the bed.

"Nea," he repeated, demanding my attention. "I want to. Trust me, I want to. I want to one day see you playing with our children, laughing and smiling like one yourself, but I don't want them to ever have the chance to doubt our love for them. I don't want there to even be a chance for anyone to twist the circumstance around their conception and used it against us."

His words had my anger deflating. My shoulders caved in on me as embarrassment replaced it. The thought of having the circumstance we were in currently used against us in the future hadn't crossed my mind. It wouldn't matter what intentions I had or didn't have. To everyone else, it would look like a 'get out of being impregnated by the Demon King card.' Including said child themselve.

Ares hold loosened again once my anger fizzled out and I lay still beneath him. He raised his hand and softly placed it around my neck. The palm of his hand rested at the base of my throat as his fingers tightened. It was just slightly. Enough to make me aware of the control he held, but not enough to fear he was going to use it against me. I don't know why, but his warm palm felt grounding.

The controlling hold had me gasping softly. My eyes widened a fraction when the action sent a direct bolt of need to my lower regions that were still sensitive. I was sure Ares could see the effect his hold was having. The slight, smug raise of his brow when I felt my face heat was all I needed to know.

He stroked his thumb down the side of my neck. I shivered. It surprised me how in tune he was with my body. He almost always knew what to do to calm me down and what would set me on fire.

"I didn't say no, little one. You will grow round with my child one day, but only when the greatest worry occupying your mind will be picking a name."

His gentle eyes took on a dangerous quality and his finger tightened further, making me squeeze my legs around him in return. I could feel him harden against me again.

Releasing my hip, he raised one of my legs over his shoulder as he positioned himself at my entrance once more. Lowering his lips down to mine, he spoke against them as he pushed in.

"But that doesn't mean we can't practice for when the time comes."

* * *

My eyes grew heavy as my finger absent-mindedly drew circles on Ares's sun-kissed skin. His body warmed my cheek where it rested on his chest as he carefully played with my hair, watchful of tangles. The repeated motion of him softly tugging at the strands had me sinking deeper into the contentment and satisfaction that bathed my body.

I never knew sex could be so... good. I was so used to it being used against me that I think I might have forgotten it was a way for two people to express their love and passion for one another. It turned out, Ares had a lot of passion.

And stamina.

He had kept me occupied through dinner and into the night, taking breaks to go retrieve snacks and water between rounds. Someone had knocked on the door and demanded we show for Dinner earlier, but lost in passion, we had ignored the irritated tone just like we had when Ryder had loudly announced his displeasure at being left out.

Through heavy eyes, I traced my fingers over faint scars that decorated Ares's body. They were old. I could see a few fresher ones, including the angry red scar where his blade had pierced through when he had stabbed him in the back with a poisoned blade, but the majority of the rest were old enough to have healed to a silvery finish.

I reached up tentatively towards his shoulder where the fresh scar lay. Hesitant, paused before beginning to trace slow circles around the wound, careful to avoid the still irritated skin that sat closest to the center.

Guilt stabbed at my heart. It was my fault he was hurt. I had distracted him at the sight of Ryder behind stabbed. He almost died protecting me as I screamed helplessly, doing nothing but making things worse.

My breath caught in my throat as a chilling thought had me swallowing in fear.

I was so lost in Ares and his touch that it didn't even cross my mind that if Cassius didnt know what we had just done, he would have when the two of us failed to show for dinner and he inquired about us from the others. What was going he going to do in return? My rash and selfish desires didn't leave room for me to think about the aftermath that would follow my actions. What if he decided to get rid of him for my insolence? If his brother could, what was stopping him from?

The thought had my heart pounding as my sleep-filled haze vanished. If Cassius was anything like his brother, he wouldn't be able to handle the humiliation of my revolt. He would put me in my place and use Ares as an example.

I would be responsible, just like I was for the red scar staring back at me.

I jumped when my hand was suddenly engulfed in Ares. I hadn't noticed that I had stopped drawing circles while getting lost in my thoughts.

"Stop. You are in no way responsible for the outcome of my decisions. Don't bear a burden that isn't yours to bear."

My eyes narrowed as I scoffed. Looking up at him, I discovered he had his peacefully shut. "Whose fault is it but mine that you were stabbed? It's my fault you were in danger. He was after me. I only made things worse by distracting you and letting him get the upper hand."

He shook his head. "No. If you want a source to blame, then blame me. I should have been more aware of my surroundings," he mumbled while fighting back a yawn.

I glowered at him. "I'm not blaming you for getting hurt while protecting me after I jumped into the path of danger."

He let out a sigh, his eyes still closed. Dropping his hand from my hair, he rested it on my bottom, pulling me closer against him. "Then blame Zev and that dragon, Jason."

The surprise over how comfortable he was grabbing me was quick to turn into an amused smile when I couldn't help the corners of my lips from lifting.

"Jaxon," I corrected.

"Hmm," he hummed absently. "Blame them, they're the ones that brought a threat you already escaped to you. If it wasn't for them, we'd be on earth, away from these fools and their obsessive delusions. You'd only have to deal with mine and the damn Kitsune's."

At the mention of Zev, I couldn't help but peek up at him curiously. I hesitated, wondering if I was in any position to ask the personal question burning at the tip of my tongue. I tried to convince myself to keep my mouth shut and go to sleep- to let him sleep- but I couldn't help the need to know. His revealing conversation with Zev before chaos had ensued had been playing in my mind on repeat off and on. More specifically a certain name they had mentioned.

Mira.

I knew from their words that they both despised her now, but I couldn't help the sting of unwanted jealousy that wormed its way into my heart at the thought of her with the twins, including the one I didn't want.

I chewed on my lip nervously. "Ares."

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something personal?"

"Always, little one," he answered without hesitation.

I could feel the rumble of his words through my cheek that was pressed against him. It helped me focus on how to word my question.

"Who's Mira?"

Ares's body grew rigid. I watched as his features, relaxed as sleep approached, hardened. A familiar muscle jumped in his cheek when he clenched his jaw. It loved to announce the emotions he loved to hide under his mask.

His eyes split open to look at me. I expected to find the same warm gold looking back at me, but I was surprised to see they had taken on a cold quality. I could see the lies he was constructing to tell me in them as they looked between mine.

Just because I didn't want to start things with lies and deception, didn't mean I could force Ares to be truthful too.

My heart sunk as his lips parted to share the lie he had settled on. A small sigh of disappointment left my lips as my eyes focused on his Adam's apple, waiting for it to move as he delivered that verbal projectile that was going to hit my heart and cause damage.

When he didn't speak for a few long moments, I glanced back at his face to find him looking at me with his lips pressed into a hard line. His brows were lowered over his eyes. Eyes that didn't look so cold anymore.

"She was a childhood friend. We grew up together practically since birth, always together since our parents were inseparable," he answered in truth. I couldn't help but blink in surprise that he had chosen to go against his first instinct.

He darted his eyes away from mine, but not before I could see guilt fill them at almost lying.

Reaching up, I cupped his cheek and brought turned him to face me. I gave him a hesitant but encouraging smile. Though it hurt that he had considered lying to me, it felt better than he had chosen against it. I wasn't going to hold something he hadn't done against him.

"She met Zev first," he continued. He focused his eyes on my lips, glancing up every so often to ensure I could see the truth reflected in his eyes as he spoke.

"Since I was a dirty secret, no one was supposed to know if my existence including Mira, but that didn't stop Zev from bringing her along to see me once he trusted her enough. She was closer to him than me since she was able to see him more often." He looked up, his reassuring smile uneasy. "I liked her, but not like Zev did. I saw her as a friend, a sister, but I guess she didn't feel the same way. She saw me as a threat."

He sighed. His hand moved from my butt to rest on my hip where he began to trace random patterns with his fingertips.

"A few months before everything went to shit, Zev had asked me for advice on confessing his feeling for Mira. I told him to take his time and consider it carefully before telling her anything. He loved her. It would have destroyed him if the friendship they had was ruined because she didn't return his feelings."

"Going against my suggestion, he couldn't stop himself from confessing later that week. She accepted happily and things were great between the three of us, but that all came to an end when Zev shared with her that he had come to me for advice and I had told him to take it slow and carefully."

He shook his head. "I should have known the moment I felt a shift in the way she treated me." He quietly laughed at himself mockingly. "I had everything destroyed looking out for him. She took my caution as a threat. She wanted to be queen and she suddenly believed I stood in her way, so she devised a plan to make sure that Zev would never seek me out again."

He grew silent as he became lost in the past, staring off straight ahead.

"What did she do?" I asked quietly when the silence continued.

"She lied." He looked back at me. "Just like I was considering lying to you. Sorry," he sheepishly apologized. "On the night of our seventeenth year, while I sat alone waiting for Zev to sneak me food from the feast in his celebration like every year, she apparently told lies about how I assaulted her and forced myself upon her, turning the one person I had against me."

My heart clenched at the pain and loneliness I could hear in his voice. Though he would never admit it, he loved Zev. It was why he hated him so much now. That kind of hate could only be born where love once existed.

He cleared his throat, trying to hide how his memories were affecting him. "Zev was the one shielding me from most of our father's brutality, promising to excel in training and academics as long as I was left alone. I hadn't realized how much he protected me until I no longer had him looking out for me." He once again cleared his throat before looking me in the eyes. "But that's all in the past," he said, forcing a smile like it would ease the pain of his past. "You do not need to worry about Mira. She's in the past."

With those words, Ares shifted his body, pulling me closer. "Sleep," he ordered. "Your body needs it after everything it's been though."

My heart sunk as I settled in under his arm, finding the most comfortable position. Not because I didn't believe him when he said I had nothing to worry about, but because of the annoying nudge I was feeling from our bond.

The one telling me to fix something that wasn't mine to fix. Something I wasn't even sure was fixable even if I wanted to.

I closed my eyes and turned into Ares's arms. Would it be selfish of me to ignore the craving I heard in his voice to have what he once did with his brother again?

I sighed, knowing the answer.