He wrapped his arms around me, tugging me to his chest and spinning me around in the air. "I thought I lost you. I thought I fucking lost you," he said into my neck. His breath was warming my mark and making it tingle.

"Call everyone home. All the trackers you have after me. They're not safe out there." I pulled away from him, staring down at all the open wounds he hadn't healed yet. It had been hours upon hours since I last heard his howl... and he hadn't had anyone treat him yet?

Though an alpha's wounds tended to heal quickly, deep wounds healed much slower than scrapes and bruises. His flesh was raw and red. There was blood all over my clothes, and lots of it.

"We killed all the Hounds, Aurora." He pulled away from me slightly, brushing his fingers against my cheek. "We're safe."

I pressed my lips together. "We're not safe. There are more of them still out there. Tony is out there too." And I was going to kill that mother fucker.

He grasped my hands, thumb brushing over my knuckles. "Then we'll go find them. Right now. Get rid of them for good, for everything that they've done to us." He stared at me, his eyes changing from brown to gold, growing wider and wider, searching all over my face. It was like he was in complete and utter disbelief that I was standing right in front of him, that he didn't lose me like he had lost his mother.

"Goddess, Aurora," he whispered, taking in all of me. "I-I thought I lost you. I thought I'd never see you again. I thought you were dead."

I tried my hardest to smile, but part of me hurt. Ares had refused to heal his wounds just to have some more time to find me. While I appreciated the commitment he had to find me, I didn't like how he didn't care about his health. If something had happened to me...

I grabbed his hand in mine and looked at all the other warriors. "No more fighting today. Call everyone back home. Nobody leaves the property and nobody enters it without permission."

Everyone gazed at Ares, waiting for orders. I thought Ares would agree with me, but he didn't say a single word. He just continued to stare at me in disbelief. I didn't know what to say to him. I had always seen him in control, had always seen him lead with such power and authority. Now Ares was lost for words.

Marcel walked out of the woods. "You heard our Luna." He nodded to the warriors. "Don't make her say it again."

My lips curled into a small smile, and I tugged Ares toward the hospital. "You're going to be healed," I said to him. He resisted only slightly. I could hear all his thoughts racing in his head, his wolves begging him to tell me that he was okay, that all he wanted to do was spend time with his mate. But I kept pulling him until he sat on a bed in the ER.

A doctor came into the room with utensils and a bottle of clear gel. "We had been trying to get him to come in all morning," she said to me. I stared at Ares who laid in the hospital bed, flexing when she started to clean the wound with alcohol.

"All morning?" I asked, knowing that it had been true. Ares didn't take care of himself when someone he loved was hurting. Charolette had mentioned it before--though I cut her off half-way through her sentence. He had hurt himself before, and this was another form of self-harm.

My gaze drifted from his face scrunched in pain to those deep wounds and my heart ached. After the doctor had cleaned the wounds, she put some gel right onto the exposed and raw flesh. "This will help him heal. It's a special gel for werewolves only." She began stitching every one of his wounds until they were closed.

"Time to get you cleaned off, Alpha," she said, standing by the door and gesturing to the dried blood and dirt on his body.

But before Ares could leave the room with her, I grabbed his hand. "I'll do it," I said. She gave me a warm smile, nodded her head, and left. I intertwined our fingers and walked home with him. He grabbed my hand tighter than usual and held it to his chest, as if he thought that when he let go I would disappear.

When we reached the packhouse, I pulled him into one of the spare bathrooms that had a bath and drew him one. "Get in."

"Only if you get in with me."

"No," I said, voice stern. "Get in the tub." He parted his lips to protest. "Now, Ares. Don't make me say it again." My voice was sharp, on the verge of an alpha command. He gazed at me for a few moments and pulled his shirt over his head.

After he pushed down his sweatpants, he stepped into the water. "Can I take a sho--"

"Sit."

He sat in the tub. I knelt outside of the bath, grabbed a soapy washcloth, and started to clean the blood off of him. Though he sat tensely in the tub, I ran the rag drag against every one of his taut muscles, washing away the blood.

And when the water had turned a darker shade, I started the drain and let more fresh water fill the tub. I sat on the edge and grabbed his arm, rubbing the cloth against his forearm and seeing all those tiny little scars that I hadn't noticed before.

They weren't scars from a physical battle but a mental one.

I pursed my lips together, trying not to burst out into tears. Ares was broken, more broken that I originally thought. He followed my gaze, and then pulled his arm away from me. "I'll do it."

"No," I said, tugging his arm back to me. I brushed the rag against it more gently and washed the blood from this morning's raid from it, and then I pressed my lips to his scars. "I love you."

I knew that it wouldn't make everything better. I knew I, alone, couldn't heal him. But... I could let him know that I would always be there for him, through the thick and the thin, through everything that might happen to him. I would always try to make him happy and make him smile, wash the blood off of him and love him with everything that I had.

His eyes widened and, suddenly, filled with tears. He grabbed my arm, his fingertips digging into my wrist until they turned white. "I-I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Aurora." His fingers slipped from my arm, and his body started to tremble. He shook his head, fear crossing his face, and started to sweat. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you."

"Oh, Ares," I whispered, trying to calm him down. Yet he didn't stop shaking. I could hear how quickly his heart was racing in his chest, could hear every single quick beat. I stripped my clothes and got into the tub with him, sitting behind him, pulling him into my lap, holding his head to my chest, running my hands through his hair. "Ares, it's okay. I'm here."

"I couldn't protect you."

"I'm here with you, Ares."

"I couldn't protect Mom either."

After ten minutes of listening to Ares trying to suppress his whimpers, he had stopped shaking. I held him tighter to my chest. He grabbed my hand and played with each finger. "I could protect her," he finally said. "I could but I didn't."

I didn't speak a word. I didn't know what to say and I wanted him to continue. I needed him to continue so I could know how he had hurt in the past.

"She... she was raped. Nineteen years ago, she was raped by a Hound," he said, voice cracking. "Our pack was raided by a herd of them. She told me to hide in the closet and not to come out, no matter what I heard or what I saw... I didn't know what was happening. I heard her screaming and crying and..." His chest heaved up and down. "I watched it happen through the closet door." He parted his lips to speak, but no words came out. "I..." His voice was quiet. "I was six."

I held him tighter, brushing my hand over his hair. Ares's mother was raped by Hounds... which was how Charolette was his half-sister.

"She had Charolette nine months later, but she wasn't happy. Not truly happy like she had always been. She tried to be happy with us." He cracked a small smile. "That picture at my dad's house was taken four days before she killed herself."

All of the sudden he tensed. "I found her... She was clutching the picture and the teddy bear that we keep in the toy room. I"--He let out a loud cry--"I didn't know she wanted to kill herself... I... I should've stopped it. I should've stopped it but I didn't. I didn't do it. It's all my fault."

He started to hyperventilate again, his body shaking uncontrollably. But I just held him tighter, tried to stop him from trembling, tried to show him that I was here for him. Tears streamed down his face and raced down his cheeks.

My heart ached. He held so much pain behind his godly exterior, so much hurt.

"Some days I can't handle it. I think about hurting myself again. I can't help it." His lips trembled. "It's really hard. Dealing with Ares and Mars is really hard. I don't want to lose anyone that close to me again." He clutched my hand tighter. "I don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me," I whispered into his ear.

"You keep me strong," he said, interlocking our fingers. He paused for a long moment, and then he said those three little words that made my heart tingle. "Mark me, Aurora."

My breath caught in my throat, my canines lengthening under my lips. He tilted his head and closed his eyes. "Please," he said so softly that I could barely hear him. "Please be mine forever."

My lips curled into a smile, then I gently grazed my teeth against his neck. "Ares," I said through the mindlink. "You're mine. And I'll do anything to protect you." And then I sunk my teeth into his neck.