The world spun around my head but somehow, the only constant remained Ares' striking blue eyes that stared back at me with a thousand unspoken emotions.“Say something. Anything!” I yelled in my mind but no words could come out of my throat.My heart leapt out of my chest and did a number of backflips as I stared at his parted lips.After a while of induced dumbness, my tongue soon connected with my brain and I remembered how to speak.“I…”“Shhh,” he interrupted me with a shake of his head.His calloused palm stroked mine in a firm, yet gentle caress.“Don't feel pressured to say anything back. I'm not telling you all of this so I can get a reply from you right now. I'm just tired of running, and I'm ready to face anything that happens from now heads on. No woman has ever made me feel the way you do and I want you to know how special you are. We're not going to rush anything until you're totally ready,” he paused and darted his tongue out to wet his lips. My eyes followed his moveme

“Are you okay?” He asked in a small, concerned voice.I stared blankly at the piece of paper in my hands after having read its content more than once.His voice brought me back to reality and I couldn't help the laughter that broke out of my throat.It started as a sound between a sob and a chuckle but soon turned into a full-blown laughter.Ares stared at me with furrowed eyebrows, concern written all over his features.He was probably thinking I had gone crazy.It didn't help that my hair was disheveled and my eyes most likely looked like that of a raccoon from all the crying I'd been doing.But after reading the letter, that was the only reaction I could muster.Candice couldn't possibly have ‘ended it all because her sister was gone and there was nothing else worth living for’ like the letter had said.It was all crazy and didn't make any sense.Tears spilled out of the corners of my eyes and I wiped them away as my laughing fit boiled down to small chuckles.I turned to Ares agai

Ares' pov Morning rolled in painfully slow and the rays of sunlight filtered into the room through the curtains.I hadn't slept a wink all night.Not like I was complaining.I smiled down at the beauty in my arms, and I knew I would want to wake up to that sight every single day of my life.She stirred a bit and I was still wondering if I would seem creepy staring at her the way I was doing when she opened her eyes.My breath hitched like it always did when I looked into her honey eyes.Instead of the rebuke I was partly expecting for being a creep, her face broke into a smile, making me relax.“Good morning, baby,” I greeted and leaned down.Just before our lips could touch, she turned to the side, making me kiss her cheek instead.I pulled away with a frown.“Morning breath,” she answered my unasked question with a palm cupping her mouth.I arched an eyebrow and her loud laughter filled the room as I straddled her and started tickling her.“Stop…. please,” she said in-between laugh

I watched the retreating back of the very strange man as he walked out of the study.Strange because I could feel a shift in the air as soon as I entered the room.He was by no means an ordinary werewolf.“Who was that?” I pointed my thumb towards the door.“Just…business,” Ares said.His hesitation made me raise an eyebrow but I said nothing about it.“Why are you here?” He smoothly changed the subject.I had turned in the bed for hours, contemplating coming to see him or not. Now that I was there, I simply didn't have an answer to this question.My mouth opened and closed a few times as I tried to search for an answer that wouldn't make me look desperate, but there was absolutely none“I'll just leave,” I pointed towards the door and turned around.His strong arms gripped my waist a second later, pulling me into his back and I relaxed into his touch.“I didn't ask you to leave,” he whispered.His breath against my ear sent a chill down my spine and I struggled to steady my breath.“

The rest of the day had passed in a blur and a new day rolled in quickly.I had gotten up pretty early and slipped back to my room that now felt foreign to me while Ares was still asleep.He hadn't let me out of his sight all day and I needed to pack.We were supposed to leave the house today.Running away wasn't what I wanted to do, but I knew it was better to run and fight another day.I had learned that the hard way in my previous life.With a small sigh, I walked into the closet and pulled down a small suitcase.I didn't know how long we were going to be gone for, so I just packed the things I deemed necessary.I hadn't even gone halfway through when the door was roughly yanked open, making me jump.Ares stood there with wide eyes and disheveled hair, and confusion etched on my forehead at his state.“Ares….”I had barely even said his name when in two long strides, he reached me and wrapped his arms around me, knocking all the air out of me.He inhaled deeply and buried his head