Come Here, Kitten (God of War Book 1), стр. 24

“You’re psychotic,” I said. I pressed my lips together and stared at him.

Why the hell was he laughing? What was so funny about this? He surely hadn’t been laughing when Tony was coming on to me. Why was he laughing when she came on to him?

“Crazy, just like the rumors say.”

He placed his hands on his hips, chuckled slowing, and stepped closer to me. “Kitten,” he said, head tilted to the side and a smirk on his face, “Charolette, that blonde that I was with, is my sister.”

His sister?

My eyes widened.

Fuck, he had to be lying. But the lighthearted expression on his face told me that this was the truth, that though he was great at deceiving, this wasn’t a lie. Charolette was his sister. I’d gotten fired up for no reason at all, shown him that I actually cared about him like that.

I fanned my burning cheeks, staring down at my shoes in embarrassment. I could hear Jeremy’s voice in the back of my mind, telling me that assuming always made an ass out of people and that I was the biggest ass here. In that big-brother kind of way.

Mars stepped closer to me, one foot between mine, hips pressing into my side. He dipped his head, resting his forehead against mine, and drew a finger up the column of my neck to my chin. “I never thought you’d be so influenced by those rumors. From what I’ve heard, Alpha Aurora always thinks through everything before she acts,” he whispered.

There was a sudden ease between us.

He gently brushed his thumb against my jaw. “Tell me, Kitten, was that little outburst of yours a subtle plea for me to mark you? So everyone knows that you’re mine?” He brushed his nose up the side of my neck, and I shivered. “Or maybe you want to mark me? So everyone knows I’m yours?”

I paused.

“Yours, Kitten.” Mars tilted his head to the side, baring his neck and giving me permission to sink my canines into it and claim him as my mate.

My wolf went wild, clawing at my insides to let her out, to claim our mate, to make him ours. But I couldn’t … I … not when I was hiding the biggest secret of the century from him.

All I could do was stare at it, my heart racing fast, my canines lengthening just slightly. Aching to mark him. Desperate to connect to someone, deeper than I ever had with Tony. I just wanted someone to love me for me.

He grabbed my hand and placed it right on his neck. His pulse raced, and my wolf purred. She wanted all of the wolves here to know that he was hers. Nobody else’s.

Mine.

“This is all yours,” he murmured, moving my hand down his shoulder, down his taut chest, down his abdomen to the front of his pants. “Every part of me. The good, the bad, the big.”

I stifled a laugh and nearly cracked a smile. Moon Goddess, I didn’t know how I’d survive here. One moment, he was fury; the next, he was peace. One moment, the infamous Alpha Ares. The next, Mars, the man I’d met at the lake. It was like a switch that he could turn on and off when he wanted, when his wolf craved violence or when his wolf craved me.

“Mark me, Kitten,” he said boldly, but there was desperation in his voice.

The same type of desperation I’d felt every day in my pack, when I needed to prove myself, when I needed someone’s reassurance that I was good enough.

As quickly as I’d heard his desperation, it was gone. And for a moment, I wondered if I’d ever heard it at all because the Mars and Ares I’d seen so far didn’t need any type of reassurance. He was a self-serving asshole who did what he wanted for power, for land, for women, and for himself.

He dug his nose into my hair and inhaled. “Sink those small canines into my flesh, let your claws dig into my back, purr for me.” He brushed his fingers down the sides of my body, hovering them over the front of my pants.

I swallowed, trying hard to control my wolf. Marking his neck looked too inviting to pass up. But I couldn’t give in to him. Not yet. Not until I knew the real reason he needed that stone. I wasn’t going to be deceived, nor was I going to be used.

My lips grazed against his ear, and it took everything inside of me to hold myself back. “Maybe tonight. Depends if you’re a good boy or not.”

He growled lowly, digging a single finger into my abdomen and drawing it all the way up my body until he reached my chin. “Kitten, you don’t like good boys.” He smirked down at me, his golden eyes as bright as the sun. “You like them rough and dirty and bad, just for you.”

We hadn’t even known each other but for three days, and he already knew me so fucking well. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to hide all my secrets from him. A few days? Weeks? Was that how much longer I had to live?

After gathering up all the strength that I had left, I pushed him off of me. “That’s what you think.” I shrugged my shoulders and began walking back through the woods toward the pack house. Green brush grazed against my shins. I stepped over a couple tree branches, looking around the forest and trying to get used to my surroundings.

Mars chuckled and grabbed my shoulder. “Wrong way.” After turning me around and leading me in the opposite direction, he gripped my shoulder tightly. “Now …” he started, any softness in Mars’s voice disappearing. And suddenly, the enraged Ares returned. “Who told you that I brought you home as a trophy?”

“Some guy with long silver hair.”

He growled, the guttural sound echoing through the forest. “What did he say to you?”

“That I was a trophy to