I stood there in pure shock. Aurora had shifted faster than she normally could, her bones cracking, her screams piercing through the air for miles. She ripped the stone out of her own brother's neck and killed the man who had been tormenting her.

She laid there in a puddle of their blood, her body struggling to shift back into a human. But after a few moments, she shifted back and collapsed onto her brother's lifeless body. Tears streamed down her face. The Malavite stone rested in her fist. Dirt and blood and sweat were smeared on her torso.

Nobody knew what to do, including myself. Every single member of my pack just stood there and stared at her... until we heard the Hounds. My guards' voices sounded through the mindlink, before they were ruthlessly cut off. I shifted into my wolf, howling to the trees and letting everyone else know to prepare.

Elijah shifted next to Aurora, eyes glazing over to mindlink someone. I growled, staring deep into the woods. They were coming. They were coming, and again we weren't prepared. But this time, I wouldn't let Aurora out of my sight. I'd protect her with my life, because these Hounds wanted the stone, and now my mate had both halves of it.

For the second time in mere days, the forest turned into a pit of chaos. Hundreds of Hounds sprinted out from the forest, all running directly toward Aurora. I let Ares take control, knowing that though he thirsted for blood... he would not put Aurora in harm's way.

Even without the element of surprise, the Hounds seemed stronger than they were last time. And I couldn't make sense of it. They were rogues; They were mayhem; They should never be this strong. Something wasn't right with them... it never had been.

I sank my teeth and claws into as many of them as I could, trying to get rid of them before they became stronger and were undefeatable. But they kept closing in on us. Wolves were howling to the sky, in their final breath. My pack was falling; my people dying.

Marcel let out a piercing howl, shifting almost immediately back into his human. A Hound ran right at him about to kill him, when Elijah sprinted at the beast and knocked him down.

In the mere distance, I could hear more paws hitting the ground. Hundreds, if not thousands, and I shook my head. There couldn't be more. We would be dead if there we--

They appeared in the woods, and Elijah nodded his head to them and growled. His pack... they were here to fight. Everyone was here to fight the beasts. Slowly but surely, the Hounds began to back up. We pushed them further and further into the woods, but then I saw him.

From across the forest, I locked eyes with one of the many men I had hunted for my entire life. Three clawmark scars ran diagonally across his face, dragon-like tattoos on the side of his head, and those golden eyes, tinted with envy and wrath and pure chaos, that I stared at when Mom locked me in the closet over eighteen years ago.

I growled viciously and bared my teeth. Pain. Violence. An insatiable thirst to slaughter everyone in my wake. The only thing I could feel was rage, rattling my insides, begging me to end his life and my misery right now.

All Ares wanted to do was chase after him, rip out his throat, and finally feel closure for everything he had taken from me--Mom's sanity, Mom's happiness, Mom's life. She deserved to be avenged for her rape. She deserved more than fourteen years of misery in the ground. And I would kill him, shred him to pieces with my teeth, let rogues feast on his rotting flesh.

I wouldn't have another chance.

He wouldn't get to terrorize me anymore.

Aurora would be protected from any of his Hound attacks.

"Aurora," Ares said, hoping that she'd be okay with me chasing after him. There was a pain in his heart; we were torn between our life's passion and our entire life. I glanced down at my mate who was doubled over her brother's dead body. Her naked body was heaving back and forth, her head was on his chest, tears streamed down her cheeks.

If I stayed, I might never see him again; I might never get this chance. But... if I chased after him, then I might never see Aurora again. The Hounds would try to kill her to get the stone. They would try to take her from me.

And nobody would take away my Aurora again.

I let out another warning growl, standing in front of my mate and killing any and all the Hounds who tried to get close to her. My claws dug into fur like it was mere fabric. My teeth latched into throat after throat, tearing them out like it was nothing. All while I watched that Hound run deep into the forest like the coward he was.

When our pack had either killed the Hounds or chased them off the property, I gazed at my mate, trying so damn hard not to chase after them. Aurora didn't need that kind of stress right now.

The strong and unyielding expression that she had given me the first night I met her was gone, completely lost in all her grief. I could feel every ounce of her pain, could feel her heart breaking into tiny pieces, and I prayed to the Moon Goddess that this wouldn't break her. I didn't want her to feel the way I felt every day. I didn't want her to ever feel bad about what she had to do.

I approached her slowly, head down, and brushed my forehead against hers, wanting her to know that I was here for her. She lifted a trembling hand and pushed me away, trying to hold back her cries.

Mars and Ares both felt hurt, but... she was the one hurting right now. It couldn't be about us. She had killed her own brother to save him from the Hounds.

The stone glistened in her hand, falling from her open palm to the grass beside her. I backed a few feet away from her and stared at the Malavite Stone, the one stone that caused this whole mess.

And I made the second hardest decision of my entires life: After what Aurora did... if she wanted to use that stone on herself, I would let her.

My heart ached, just thinking that I could save Charolette... but Aurora had made a sacrifice that I would never be able to make. She was stronger than I ever hoped to be and she deserved to be able to shift without pain.

I laid on my stomach, resting my head on the ground and stared at my mate. Marcel walked up next to me and bowed his head to his luna, sitting and waiting with me. And then, one by one, the rest of the pack followed suit, bowing their heads and showing respect.