Chapter 26

Aurora wrapped her arms around me from behind and cradled my head. “Mars, stop. It’s just a bad dream,” Aurora said into my ear, pulling the hair off my sweaty forehead. She rocked us back and forth in our bed. “I’m here.”

Blinking my eyes open, I looked at the foot of the bed.

Nobody. No blood. No dead Aurora.

Realizing that I’d had the worst nightmare of my life, I squeezed her hand tightly, as if she would disappear if I didn’t. Her heart beat evenly against my back, her sweet scent drifting into my nostrils. She continued to rock us until I could finally breathe again.

“I’m here,” she whispered, kissing my neck. “I’ll always be here for you.”

I turned in her hold, cupped her jaw, and stroked my thumb against her cheek. “I’m sorry,” I said, desperate to hear her forgiveness. It had just been a dream, but it’d felt too real, too damn real.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” She stood, pulled me to my feet, and walked us to the bathroom. “A warm bath always calms you down. We can talk about your dream if you want.” She turned on the water and stopped it when the tub filled halfway. “Come on.”

Seconds away from a panic attack, I stood by the bathroom door with trembling fingers and a racing heart. I swallowed hard, stared between her and the bath, and pressed my lips together. I wanted to protect her from the truth—that Fenris was coming for her—but I needed to tell her everything.

I wasn’t strong enough to face this alone. Neither was Ares.

Aurora walked toward me in her Flaming Chariot nightshirt and grasped the waistband of my shorts to pull them down. She crouched down to the floor and grabbed for my sock. “Let me take these off you,” she said, stripping them off when I lifted my foot. After she removed both socks, she grasped my shaky hand and led me to the bath. “Get in.”

“You first.”

She glanced at me for a few moments and then stripped off her shirt and sat in the bath, scooching forward so I could sit behind her. For the briefest moment, I imagined her sitting in a tub of her blood similar to the pool of blood where she’d lain lifelessly inside my dream. I closed my eyes, shook my head, and sat behind her in the sudsy water.

Wrapping one arm around her waist, I took the soapy loofah from her and drew it across every inch of her bare chest. She leaned back, rested her head on my collarbone, and stared up at me, the ends of her brown hair wetting in the water.

After a moment, she frowned. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Trailing the loofah across her neck, I imagined scrubbing the blood off it and reminded myself it had been a nightmare and nothing more. It wasn’t real life, but it could be. It damn well could be one of these days.

Releasing the loofah from my grasp, I let it float in the tub and gently caressed Aurora’s skin. This woman was my mate. She was the only thing that mattered to me. I couldn’t let her continue to walk about the pack and through the forest without thinking about her safety.

She needed the stone. She’d be strong with the stone.

“Fenris is coming for you, Aurora,” I whispered.

A lump formed in my throat. The monsters that my therapist, Denise, had called anxiety and panic slithered up my spine like unwanted serpents. They weren’t so much monsters to me than they were part of my damn soul. I couldn’t remember a day in my life I had gone without them. It was almost as if they had been ingrained in me since the beginning of time, even before this lifetime.

She turned in the water and straddled my waist, tucking some hair behind my ear. “What do you mean?”

“My father told me at dinner. Our pack is cursed. Fenris is coming to take you away from me, and I can’t protect you.” I licked my dry lips and looked between us, ashamed that I couldn’t save her in my dream. “Just like

I couldn’t save my mother from his wrath.”

“He wants the stone,” she said. “He doesn’t want me.”

I pressed my lips together, so they wouldn’t tremble. I couldn’t stand losing this woman. She was everything to me. She gave me so much strength to get through the days. If I lost her, I’d fail at being a mate, a wolf, and an alpha.

Somehow, I felt like I’d had these thoughts before. Something inside of me knew and understood how much heartbreak the loss of Aurora would bring us like we had lost her before in a past life.

“He wants you, Aurora,” I whispered, holding her tightly. “We have to be careful. Please, be careful of me whenever you’re out. And … I need you to think about using the other half of the stone for your ty.

Charlotte won’t take it, so you have to.”

“But, Mars …”

“Just think about it, please.”

She nodded in agreement. “Okay.”

“You know that I would do anything for you, right?” I asked, placing my lips against her knuckles and offering her my best smile. “Anything I have to do to protect you, even sacrifice my—”

“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”

“I’m speaking the truth,” I said, wanting her to be ready for when the time came. I’d fight like hell before I let anyone kill me, but I’d fight even harder to make sure what had happened in my nightmare would never happen in real life.

Aurora was a queen, a damn goddess.

I glanced down to the unmarked side of her neck and let my canines lengthen under my lips. Ares had claimed her so viciously and violently, but now, it was my turn. I didn’t know when I’d have another chance like this. Forever wasn’t promised.

I’d thought I’d have eternity with Mom, but she was gone in the blink of an eye.

“Let me mark you,” I said quietly, pushing some hair behind her shoulder.

“You want to mark me?” She stared up at me with wide eyes. “I thought you wanted to wait until the Luna Ceremony.”

I inched closer to her and pushed more hair behind her shoulder, giving me a clear view of her beautiful, bare neck. Ares had kissed her there so many times last night and had left a red hickey right where we wanted to mark her.

“I don’t want to wait anymore.”

She brushed her fingers against my forearm and moved closer to me, the water sloshing over the edge of the tub. Orange sunlight flooded in through the window, and I inhaled her sweet scent, positioning my teeth at the base of her neck.

“I love you,” I murmured against her, and then I sank my canines into my mate.