Chapter 12

Adrian nodded his head, and I arched my brow. First, that damn ho had been all over my man, and now, she was out on a hunt for another. Couldn’t even keep her men straight anymore. She needed some cat therapy or something.

“Lead me to his favorite alley,” I said, glancing around the town. I couldn’t remember where we had seen him last night.

We walked down the sidewalk against the searing wind, looped around the pharmacy, and snuck around some buildings to peer into a surprisingly clean alley made of bricks. Sure enough, Ruffles sat right on a green dumpster with her blue hat on, her little ass right up in the air, back arched —stretching. Adrian’s cat sat near the closest building with intent wide eyes, as if he were watching a stripper.

Oh, Moon Goddess. Who taught this damn cat to be such a slut?

I stifled a laugh and watched Ruffles parade around with that blue hat. She loved it so much that she wanted to show it off to other cats too. My mind wandered to Ares for a moment, heart clenching. Goddess, I couldn’t wait to tell him this. He’d be so proud.

“Pringle,” Adrian called behind me.

The Siamese cat glanced over as Ruffles continued to prance around on top of the dumpster. He stood on all fours, the silver bell on his neck jingling in the breeze.

“Pringle? That’s your cat’s name?”

“His nickname.” Adrian rubbed the back of his neck. “Used to get his head stuck in Pringles tubes when he was younger.”

My lips curled into a smile, and a giggle escaped my lips. Of course, Ruffles would go for someone named Pringle. Out of all the cats in the entire world, she would find someone who loved chips almost as much as she did.

After stifling another laugh, I cleared my throat. “Ruffles, what are you doing?”

She snapped her head in my direction, eyes wide in fear. She hopped off the dumpster, gray fur blowing in the wind, and rubbed herself against my shin, her tail sticking right up in the air. She stood between my legs and stared at Pringle.

Adrian nodded to Pringle. “Come on. Let’s walk your new girl home.”

Pringle took charge and walked ahead of us toward the pack house as if he knew exactly where he was going. Ruffles let him walk in front of her, prancing by my side and glaring at Pringle like she hadn’t just been trying to seduce him a couple of minutes ago.

“So,” I said, smiling at beams of moon through the trees. While hundreds of hounds were being raised from the dead, tonight was oddly quiet—too quiet. It frightened me. “What do you do?”

“I’m an engineer,” Adrian said. “Been working on this pack for a few years now.”

“You’re an engineer?” I asked, raising my brows. Though Ares commanded a huge and thriving pack, he had been focused on building an army, not so much on any other disciplines. “I haven’t met any here yet.”

Adrian nodded. “I’m probably one of the only ones you’ll find here.”

When we reached the pack house, I noticed our bedroom light on. The alpha meeting must’ve been over by now. Ruffles ran to the door, scratching at it for Ares to let her into the house, and I turned toward Adrian. “Can you build underground bunker-like tunnels?”

“I can design something like that, yes.”

“Good …”

This would be the perfect chance to get the same underground tunnels like the ones back home done here with improvements. Pack members would have a safe place to hide their pups when we were attacked by the hounds. And this time, I would make sure that all the pups would be saved. There would be entrances at all corners of this pack, so we wouldn’t lose anyone else.

“I have something that I want to discuss with you. Are you free tomorrow night?” I asked.

He scrolled through his phone calendar. “Yeah, anytime after four.

Here.” He handed me his phone. “Put your number in. We can meet at Pink Moon Tavern at seven.”

After typing in my number and handing him his phone back, I clapped my hands together, my stomach fluttering from excitement. “Perfect!”

Ares let out a guttural growl behind us and snatched the back of Adrian’s neck, lifting him. My eyes widened as Adrian dangled in the air.

Ares bared his canines. “Making plans without me, Kitten?”

“We were just …” Adrian grasped Ares’s hand as it tightened around his neck, his cheeks flushing a deep red.

Ares had Adrian a foot off the ground, his bicep flexing so hard to hold him in place that I thought the muscle would burst out of his T-shirt. He stood so stoic and strong with that infamous look of golden fury on his face, so godlike and divine under the moonlight.

“Ares, let go.” I tugged on his arm to pull him away or at least to loosen his grip on Adrian’s neck because a god could snap a mortal’s fragile neck so easily. “We weren’t doing anything.”

Ares yanked Adrian closer. “Planning a date with my mate and your luna?”

“We were … talking … about …” Adrian’s wolf tried to force him to shift to break out of the death hold, but Ares held him tighter and refused to let him move.

“About fucking what?” Ares said through his canines.

“Ares, stop,” I said through clenched teeth, pulling his arm harder.

After snarling one last time, he thrust Adrian against the nearest tree. “Listen to me.” He pinned Adrian and tightened his grip around his neck. “Aurora is mine. All mine. Nobody takes her away from me. And if you try it again, you’ll be sorry you did. Do I make myself clear?”

Adrian nodded furiously. When Ares let him go, Adrian fell onto his hands and knees, gasping for air. I hurried to make sure Adrian was okay, but Ares snatched my wrist before I could touch him and lifted me into the air.

“No.”

One single word.

One word that held so much power.

Ares dragged me to the front doors. I stared back at Adrian, who stumbled to his feet and leaned against the tree. He offered me a weak wave as if to say that he was okay, and Pringle jumped onto his shoulder. Before I could tell him good night, Ares shoved me into the pack house and slammed the doors behind us.

He shoved me to the wall by my throat. “I told you not to fucking push it, Aurora,” he growled into my ear, canines grazing against the mark on my neck.

My entire body shivered at the memory of Ares marking me in that spine-chillingly cold prison a couple of weeks ago.

“We didn’t do anything,” I said.

Jaw twitching, he glared at me with golden eyes and balled his free hand into a tight fist. I gathered all the damn sanity I had left and thought about swaying this in my favor. If Ares was mad … maybe I could get him angry enough to fuck me because I couldn’t wait any longer. I had been needy all damn night.

“Maybe if you weren’t such an overly possessive asshole, you’d be able to see this situation for what it was—nothing.”

He chuckled so menacingly that I clenched, and he brushed his fingers against my cheek. The touch was soft and inviting and such a facade because a moment later, he snatched my chin hard in his hand and stared down at me with dark, devilish eyes.

“Such an overly possessive asshole? If I were an asshole, I’d have you on your knees in front of Adrian as he watched me fuck this pretty mouth of yours.” He roughly pushed his thumb into my mouth. “But I spared you that embarrassment.”

“Embarrassment?” I asked brow arched hard.

He pushed his throbbing cock against my stomach. “You’re my luna and an alpha. I don’t want just anyone seeing how easily you submit to me … but it seems like you need a reminder,” he said into my ear, fingers brushing against my breast through my shirt. “Get on your knees.”

Moon Goddess, I needed it so fucking bad, and he knew it. He fucking knew it.

“Knees,” he said between clenched teeth.

“What makes you think I’d submit to you so easily—”

Before I could finish my sentence, he shoved me to my knees, pulled his hard cock out of his sweatpants, and rammed it into my mouth. My breath caught in the back of my throat as he slammed himself into me. I dug my fingers into his thighs, my eyes watering as he snatched my chin and the top of my head and pulled me toward him, making me take every inch of his cock down my throat.

“All of it, Kitten. I know you can do it.”