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Chapter 3

AURORA

Long after we’d killed those hounds, I clutched the silver dagger to my chest and walked onto our property with Ares. The fog had almost instantly cleared, but still, my mind was clouded with so many questions. Were hounds created from the flesh and blood of innocent wolves? Was that what Jeremy had wanted me to find out? He had said that the hounds were out for some kind of divine revenge, but … this was more than I’d expected.

And what about Mom? Mere days ago, I’d laid her to rest behind her old pack house while hundreds of her pack wolves looked on. The hounds had cold-heartedly dug her up from the ground, brought her down into that cavern, and made her a monster. What would I tell my old packmates?

The hounds were raising an army of undead wolves for a battle, which seemed to be against us for some reason.

Ruffles rubbed her face against my neck, her soft fur only slightly calming me. Townsmen and women whispered to each other as we walked with the hound almost lifelessly dragging behind us. Warriors scrambled to prepare a prison cell.

We needed to understand what this was all about before that army could attack us again because an attack by a pack of hounds that large would undoubtedly destroy this entire pack. Ares might be the god of war who thirsted for the blood of his enemies, but our pack wasn’t zombie-hounds strong. Not yet at least.

When we walked by the training field, Marcel made announcements to the warriors, waved everyone off for the morning, and jogged over to us. Charlotte sat on a small hill with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face as she glared at Marcel. Although I didn’t know what they were fighting about this time, it was probably—definitely—about the Malavite Stone.

With his foot, Ares kicked the prison door open before the guards could get it for us. The hound smacked against each wooden step that Ares descended and howled in pain through his snout.

Marcel followed us down the stairs. “What’s with the one arm? You do that to him, Roar?”

Ares growled at Marcel for nicknaming me and pivoted on his heel to posture over his strongest warrior. Since we’d left the cave earlier, Ares had been on edge and ready to slaughter anyone who stepped on his bad side. The smallest remark would set that man off.

Swinging open a cell door, Ares hurled the hound into the chamber next to Dad. Dad decided not to acknowledge my existence as he scraped his nails against the hard stone floor, sending a shiver down my back.

I tried to ignore him. Ruffles brushed her fur against my calf and waved her gray tail back and forth, watching with magically wide eyes as Ares snapped the cage’s lock. Purring as if she thought it was the sexiest thing in the world, Ruffles rubbed against his ankle.

Ares relaxed just a bit. “We have a problem.”

Marcel leaned back against the stone wall and crossed his big arms over each other, his greasy silver hair falling into his face. “We have a lot of problems,” he grunted and nodded toward the cage Liam sat in. “Like, when you finally let me kill him, who will become the next beta? How will you convince Charolette to use the fucking stone? How are we going to find

Charolette’s father?”

Ares growled, “That hound did nothing to father her.”

Ruffles meowed at me to pick her up. When I grabbed her, she did her infamous look someone up and down and then looked away gaze, giving Marcel a sassy attitude, as she did with almost everyone who wasn’t Ares.

“The hounds are raising their army, one dead wolf at a time,” I said with a breath.

Marcel furrowed his brows, creasing his forehead. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The hounds—”

“What is your damn problem, Marcel?” Charlotte shrieked, storming down the creaky wooden stairs. Gaze fixed on Marcel and thin arms crossed over her chest, she turned her body toward Ares. “You want to know what he said to me during practice? He said—”

Ares growled to silence her, the sound echoing through the small red-lit dungeon. “The only thing I want to know is when you’re having your surgery,” he said to her.

Everyone in the room fell into a deafening silence; even the mice that Ruffles liked chasing around at night didn’t squeak.

Fuming with anger, Charolette balled her hands into fists and stormed back up the stairs. Liam glanced at her departing figure through the cell bars. When she slammed the door, unused cuffs and torture equipment were attached to the ceiling by silver chains clattered against the side stone wall.

Though I wanted to ask her why she didn’t want the surgery done, I couldn’t get myself to follow her.

I’d asked her about twenty times to have the surgery to insert the stone in her spine, and I was tired of hearing the words, “No, I don’t want it.”

Strongly against using any sort of divine rock in her back, she either had already accepted her death or just really wanted to piss off her brother. It was important for her to live, but it was even more important to protect this whole pack from an unavoidable war that could kill us all.

Ares stepped toward the exit and sighed. “Can you talk to her?” he asked me.

Ruffles meowed in response for me, hopped out of my hold, and walked up the stairs. I rolled my eyes at her more dramatic than usual ass and followed her toward the heavy stone door.

“You should call a meeting with the other alphas in the region. We need more than our pack for this war,” I shouted before I left the prison.

After shoving the door open, Ruffles and I hurried after Charlotte. “Wait up!”

“Please don’t try to convince me, Aurora. I’ve made up my mind. I just need someone to support my decision,” she said, refusing to turn around.

Once I caught up to her, Ruffles looked at her and meowed.

“Stop it, Ruffles,” I said down to her. I grabbed Charolette’s hand. “Why are you against it? I talked to Elijah and his doctor. They’re willing to do it to help you get better.”

Charlotte stared at me with a blank face. “Why don’t you use the stone to shift more easily? I don’t need it. It won’t even help me,” she said as if she already knew the outcome. “Ares looked for that thing for years when I told him not to. I don’t want it.”

“It might help you,” I said, desperate for her to consider using the stone. If Ares lost his sister after losing his mother, he might just break. And I honestly wanted Charolette to be able to live a worry-free life. “You might be able to grow older with Marcel and have pups and—”

She gagged and scrunched her nose. “Marcel? Are you serious? I would never date him. He’s a man-whore; he fucks anything with a freaking pulse.” She looked at her socks, stained with dirt from practice, and

clenched her jaw. “It’s not like he wants me anyway.”

“Oh, come on. I know you two are mates.”

A breeze blew slightly, making the first withering leaves of autumn break off the trees and fall to the ground. Ruffles ran ahead to swat at the brown leaves with her paw and then jumped on them, listening to the crunch.

Charlotte snapped her head toward me. “Did he tell you that? He’s such a—”

“No,” I assured. “He didn’t tell me anything. I can just tell.”

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