Come Here, Kitten (God of War Book 1) Page 3

  Alpha Ares growled, his teeth dripping with sanguine-colored saliva. His warriors stopped their attacks and bowed their heads to him so quickly and so effortlessly that it scared me how much power that man had over feral animals. Ares scanned Mom’s warrior wolves as if he was searching for someone, and then he shifted to his human.

  My eyes widened. Mars—Ares, whoever he goddamn was—stood in front of Mom, his taut chest smeared with blood, his eyes as golden as the sun.

  “Where is she?” Ares said through clenched teeth. “Where is Aurora?”

  I froze behind the tree, my entire body tense. Anger and betrayal and so much hurt rushed through me. He must’ve followed my scent back through the forest, using my secret route. It was the only way he could’ve gotten on our property and caused this much damage this quickly.

  He’d used me last night to get what he wanted—an unguarded entrance to my pack, an easy way to get past the warriors on patrol, for me to trust him. With that stupid-ass smirk and those stupid-ass eyes and that stupid-ass scent of hazelnut, he had manipulated me, and I’d let him.

  He let out another guttural growl and stepped closer to Mom. “I’m not going to ask again.”

  I dug my fingers into the hard tree bark, peering from behind it and at my mate. Moon Goddess, even when he was angry he was ho—

  I shook my head. Stop it, Aurora. That man is a violent, vicious animal.

  He stepped even closer, and Tony moved in front of Mom to protect her. Ares let out a lifeless chuckle, lip curling into a snarl, and then grabbed Tony by the throat, his entire hand wrapping around Tony’s fragile neck.

  “Release him,” Mom commanded, acting like Ares’s threats didn’t intimidate her. But she glanced nervously at Tony and then at Dad. And I knew she was afraid of losing the next beta of this pack. “And we can talk.”

  Ares turned around with Tony in his hold, gazing through the forest. “Come out, Aurora. I know you’re watching.” He inhaled, and I swore his features softened for just a moment. “I have your precious Tony.”

  I ground my teeth together and walked through the forest to the fight. I might not be good at fighting, but I cared about my pack. They would do anything to protect each other, and I would do anything to protect them.

  When Mom saw me, she growled like she always did when she didn’t want me to listen in on her shitty alpha decisions. “Aurora, get back in the pack house.”

  “Put him down,” I demanded, meeting Ares’s glowing golden gaze. “Now.”

  Mars—Ares’s eyes danced with excitement as he glanced at Mom. “If you don’t have the stone and have absolutely no information on its whereabouts, there’s only one deal that I would ever accept.”

  Mom stepped forward, regaining her composure, and tried to posture over him. “What?”

  “Aurora.”

  My eyes widened as a rush of adrenaline ran through my veins. “No. Absolutely not.” I shook my head, ignoring the pleas from my wolf. “I told you yesterday that I’m not interested.”

  “You saw him yesterday?” Mom asked, brow cocked at me. “I told you not to go out.”

  Ares chuckled. “She doesn’t listen,” he said, a smirk stretching across his face. “But I can fix that.”

  His eyes were burning into mine, and my heart was racing even harder in my chest. It was an unspoken promise, a promise to bend me over his bed and fuck me until I listened to every word he said.

  He thought he had control over me, but I knew how to put him in his place. I walked right up to him, standing in a puddle of wolf blood, and stared him right in those golden eyes. “If what you plan to do is anything like your performance last night, you’d never put me in my place.”

  A growl ripped from his throat, and he tightened his grip on Tony’s neck. Tony grasped his wrists, his cheeks flushing red, but Ares didn’t even flinch.

  “I was going easy on you last night, pup.” He turned to Mom, rage emanating off of him. “Aurora or your pack, Alpha. One way, I take Aurora and leave, never coming back to hurt your people. The other way, I kill everyone here and still take your daughter. Your choice.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled at him. Who did he think he was, demanding an alpha as his own, personal war prize? Nobody in this pack would ever let that happen.

  Dad looked at Mom, not saying a single word, and Mom refused to make eye contact with me.

  Instead, she pushed back her shoulders and nodded her head. “Fine.”

  My eyes widened, and I dropped my arms. Fine? What the hell did she mean by fine? She thought that this was fine? She was going to just give me away to my psychotic alpha mate?

  I glared at her, about to call her every possible name in the book, but I held myself back. Now that Jeremy was gone, I was her only heir, and she was giving me away like I was nothing to her. My heart hurt, and I wanted to refuse to go with him, but by the look in her eye, I knew she wouldn’t budge. She’d tell me that this was best for the pack, that we couldn’t afford another loss.

  Before his pack of bloodthirsty warriors, Ares stood like he was a fucking king, praised by every one of them. Then, he smirked, cocked a finger in my direction, and said, “Come here, Kitten.”

  The words sounded so disgraceful. Disgraceful to my whole legacy. To my father, who claimed to have come from the strongest warrior family in all of the nations. To my mother, the first female alpha. To me, Ares’s stupid fucking mate.

  My gaze shifted from Mom to Dad to Tony, who looked so desperate in Ares’s arms. He dangled there with Ares’s claws in his neck, his eyes on me and me only. He looked so pitiful. He looked less than a beta and more like a sorry-ass rogue, begging for forgiveness.

  I didn’t know if I was angry with Mom for handing over the only heir to her pack, with Ares for using me last night, or with myself for actually believing that his name was Mars. I was such a damn fool.

  But for my pack, I clenched my teeth together and stormed to Ares, ripping Tony from him. “You’re a monster.”

  He chuckled lowly, drew his fingers up the side of my neck, and grasped my chin in his hand like he had done last night, making me look into those golden eyes. “And you’re mine, Kitten.” He roughly brushed his thumb over my bottom lip. “All mine.”

  Chapter 6

  Aurora

  I clenched my teeth together and ripped myself out of his grip. “Don’t you dare touch me like that again.” I crossed my arms. “Let’s get one thing straight. Just because I’m going with you doesn’t mean that you own me. And it sure as hell doesn’t mean that you”—I gazed around at his pack, who were all staring at me intently—“or any of you will disrespect me.”

  Gasping for air and clutching his neck, Tony stepped forward, as if he wanted another chance at fighting Ares.

  I turned on my heel to face him and pointed a sharp finger at him. “No,” I said, my voice coming out stronger than I’d expected it to with all the pent-up anger I was holding back. “War with Ares is over, just like our alpha”—I gave Mom the most bitter side-eye I could muster—“wanted it to be. Go get Ares clothes, so he doesn’t have to walk around here half-naked with his ugly ass.”

  Without another word, I stormed to the pack house, tracking someone’s blood throughout the entire forest. Ares growled behind me, and I growled back.

  Hit a nerve, did I?

  I’d hit a damn big nerve. Ares wasn’t ugly, but his heart and his soul were.

  “Aurora,” Mom called, following after me.

  I rolled my eyes and walked faster until I reached the pack house. I slammed the large wooden front door as hard as I could and hoped it hit her right in the face. It was childish, but at least I hadn’t sold her out to Ares just because I was afraid of him and at least I’d shouted for her before I went out to fight our enemy.

  After kicking off my bloody sneakers, I stormed up the stairs and threw my bedroom door open. Ruffles stared at me with wide eyes from my desk, gnawing on the plastic of a potato chip bag. I opened my close
t door, threw my suitcase onto my bed, and angrily unzipped it.

  Stupid. This is so stupid.

  She sold me out. Fucking sold me out.

  To Ares. To Mars. To whoever the fuck he is.

  I bet she did it because she doesn’t think I’m fit to become alpha.

  My bedroom door opened, and Mom walked into the room.

  “Aurora,” she said softly, rubbing her palms together and acting as if she were really sorry for doing what she had done. But she wasn’t.

  “Alpha,” I said, hurling my clothes into my suitcase. “Excuse my language, but I’m fucking busy, packing my fucking bags to leave this fucking pack.”

  She growled at me and snatched my arm, claws digging into my skin. “Do not speak to me like that. This was our only choice. He had us cornered. He would’ve killed everyone here without a second thought.”

  “There’s never only one choice,” I said, staring her right in the eye. “There’s always another way. You taught me that, but you seem to have forgotten about that since you got Jeremy killed.”

  She glared at me with glowing gold eyes and slapped me hard right across the face. I clutched my stinging cheek, my eyes wide. She’d just … she’d just—

  “Do not bring Jeremy up. This has nothing to do with him.”

  I was done with backing down from her. I was done with being treated like garbage.

  I stepped toward her. “It has everything to do with him, and you know it. Ever since that day, you’ve been terrified of losing your pack members. Ever since that day, you’ve lost your spark, you’ve lost your edge, you’ve been scared of being an alpha.”

  “He was your brother,” she said harshly. “Don’t talk to me like you know anything about losing a child or like you know anything about leading a pack. I’ve been preparing you for years to become an alpha like Jeremy was going to be, and you—” She stopped herself before she could finish the sentence.

  My heart raced. Shame. All I felt was shame. “What, Mom? What did I do?”

  She pursed her lips together and turned away. “Forget it, Aurora.”

  “No,” I said, heart tightening. “Tell me … tell me how I will never fill his shoes. Tell me how you’ve trained me for years, yet I’m still not good enough for you. Tell me that you’ve never thought that I’d be strong enough to lead this pack.”

  “Aurora, stop.”

  Tears filled my eyes to the brim, but I refused to let them fall. “Tell me, Mom.”

  Her chin quivered. “I never meant to make you feel that way.”

  “Well, you did.” I turned back to my suitcase and stared down at the contents from the past nineteen years.

  All the memories of Jeremy’s death flooded my mind, and I bit back the cries. Ever since that day, our family hadn’t been the same. We didn’t go out together, didn’t eat together, and didn’t fight together anymore. We were broken, and she was the one who had broken us.

  “Aurora,” she said softly. She placed her hand on my shoulder, but I pulled away from her. “You can’t even shift into your wolf.”

  “I can shift,” I whispered.

  My wolf whimpered inside of me, feeling defeated. She knew she couldn’t shift like we used to. She knew she was a disappointment to Mom and to this whole pack. If anyone found out, we’d be an easy target.

  “When are you going to admit it to yourself, Aurora?” she asked. “It takes you ten minutes to shift sometimes. Ten minutes, and all I hear is your wolf whimpering the entire time.”

  I stared down at my clothes, curling one of Jeremy’s old high school football jerseys in my fist. It was true. I hadn’t been able to shift easily since those hounds attacked us and my spine broke into a hundred pieces. “It’s not my fault,” I said, my voice raspy.

  I wanted her to admit that this was her blunder, that she was the reason I couldn’t shift, that she had made the senseless decision to fight a group of hounds, knowing we wouldn’t win. Not me. It was a surprise attack, yes. But we could’ve easily retreated to the pack house, made sure all the pups were safe, and come up with a damn plan before we attacked them back.

  But Mom never took the blame.

  She shook her head. “You can’t lead this pack the way that we need to be led,” she said with so much finality that I almost believed it.

  My heart hurt, and all I could feel was pain. Pain from all the years I’d tried to suppress thoughts of Jeremy’s death.

  She stared at me with the blankest expression. “And I’m not letting anyone else in this pack die.”

  “So, you decide to never see your daughter, just like you won’t ever see your son again?” I asked, my voice cracking.

  Hold back the tears, Aurora. Don’t let her see how weak she’s made you.

  She snatched my chin in her hand, squeezing it roughly. Though she had grabbed me in the same place Ares had, her touch felt nothing like his. It felt so … mean. “Sacrifices need to be made to ensure this pack’s survival. Don’t make me feel bad for this decision, Aurora. If I thought he would hurt you, I wouldn’t have agreed to it.” Lie. “From his possessiveness, the second he laid eyes on you, I knew that you were his mate. With him, you’ll at least be safe. He’s one of the strongest alphas around.”

  I glared at her through teary eyes. “Leave.”

  She pressed her lips together, turned on her heel, and walked right out of the room, shutting the door behind her. I growled and let one single tear fall. Then, I sucked it up and continued packing for hell because nobody would save me from this. Dad was too much of a wimp to stop her. Tony wasn’t strong enough. And the rest of the pack … some of them refused to even talk to me anymore when I trained with them.

  I grasped Jeremy’s shirt in my hands. Jeremy’s jersey, stained with dirt from his high school football days, had been the only thing getting me through these past few years. I wanted to double over it and scream at the top of my lungs for him to come back, so all of this would be better, but I’d learned to hide that weak side of me.

  A few moments later, my door reopened, but I didn’t bother turning around.

  “Leave me alone,” I said, continuing to place my clothes into my suitcase.

  Mom had pissed me off one too many times. I couldn’t handle another minute of listening to her bullshit. I couldn’t do anything about being weak or not being able to shift easily. If it wasn’t for—

  I shook my head and refused to even think about that day or the harrowing days that followed.

  The door closed, and I inhaled a whiff of Ruffles’s cat litter mixed with—

  I turned around, nostrils flaring. Ares stood by the door, gaze traveling around the room so slowly. He had found some clothes that looked like Tony’s, yet they were a size too small for him. They hugged his tanned biceps, his shoulders, his chest.

  Moon Goddess, why have you given me such a delicious asshole of a mate?

  When his gaze met mine, he gave me an adorably crooked smile, his lip curling a bit wider to the right than the left. It made him look real, like he wasn’t just a divine creature created by the Moon Goddess herself.

  “Not what I was expecting.”

  “You think I was expecting for my mate to show up at my pack as the alpha who’s been murdering everyone in this part of Sanguine Wilds?”

  “Someone’s cranky.” He walked into my room, glancing around at all the photos of my picture-perfect family. We hadn’t taken any new ones since Jeremy died.

  “Don’t talk to me like we’re friends,” I said, turning back around but watching him intently out of the corner of my eye, just to make sure he didn’t touch anything that he wasn’t supposed to. Definitely not because he was leaving his sweet hazelnut scent all over the room and it was driving me wild. “Because we’re not.”

  He walked back around my bed toward me and stepped close. Though he wasn’t touching me, I felt his body heat against my backside. Teasing me. Taunting me even. “How do you want me to talk to you?” He brushed his nose against my hair an
d inhaled deeply. “As the woman that I’m going to take to my bed and devour until she’s trembling in my hands tonight or as the pitiful alpha traded by her mother?”

  “If you think I’m going to sleep with you, you’re crazy.”

  “I am?” he whispered into my ear, fingertips lightly brushing against my hips.

  “Yes,” I said, tingles running up and down my sides. My wolf purred. “You are.”

  One of his hands trailed down the side of my body, and he grasped my chin in his other. “I’m not crazy, Kitten.” He brushed his thumb against my bottom lip, and I parted them slightly. “Unless you want me to be.”

  When his fingers barely grazed against the front of my pants, I shuddered against him. My pussy tightened, and I tried to calm my wolf, who was raging inside of me, who wanted nothing more than to let him be crazy with me.

  Bend me over the bed and take me right there. Force my legs apart and press his tongue against my clit as I squirmed against him. Whisper all those dirty, filthy words into my ear, making me wetter for him. Hell, I wanted to plunge my hand through his hair and tug on it so roughly until he knew he was mine.

  Control yourself, Aurora. Don’t give in to him that easily.

  I shook my head and stepped away from him. “I hardly know you.” But I wanted to know him.

  Ruffles hopped onto the bed and jumped into my suitcase, snuggling in all of my clothes and making sure her fur was on each piece. I opened my drawer and pulled out my more personal items, watching the smirk on Ares’s face widen.

  “You can get to know me,” he said, reaching out to brush his fingers against mine. “Fire off the questions, Kitten.”

  I arched a brow. Questions, questions, questions. I had so many questions for Ares. But I had one dire inquiry that I needed the answer to now. “What should I call you—Ares, Mars, or Asshole?”

  He chuckled. “Anything you’d like when we’re out in public.” He stepped closer to me, mere inches away, pushed a strand of hair behind my ear, and leaned down. “But when we’re alone, you can call me Alpha.”

  My breath caught in the back of my throat, and I clenched. Wetness pooled between my legs. His fingers dipped between my thighs, and he rubbed my clit gently. I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to get away from me, to tell him to fuck off, but I couldn’t form any words.