Come Here, Kitten (God of War Book 1), стр. 25

His eyes clouded with gold, his jaw twitched violently. “And?”

In the distance, the forest cleared, and I could see the silver-haired man with that arrogantly youthful look stretched across his face. I parted my lips and then smacked them shut. I could handle that asshole myself and didn’t need Ares blowing this up. I didn’t need to be treated like a baby, and I didn’t need more attention put on me.

I’d handled things by myself back home; I’d handle them here.

“Now, Aurora.” His voice was stiff, as if he wasn’t going to let this go anytime soon.

After sighing deeply, I dismissively waved my hand. “He just said that you do this all the time, that I was another one of your trophies to add to your collection of whores …”

I gazed around the party, locking eyes with the silver-haired freak. He had the damn audacity to wink at me.

And when he did, I said, Fuck it.

“He even told me that your sister was one of them.”

Visibly shaking with fury in his eyes, Ares released my shoulder, stormed right up to the man, and grabbed him by the throat. “This silver-haired asshole, Aurora?” Ares asked, his voice eerily calm.

A deafening silence fell upon the forest. Nobody said a word. Nobody laughed. Even the pups stopped playing. Everyone stared at the three of us, even Charolette.

I parted my lips, adrenaline pumping through my veins. “Yes.”

Ares growled viciously at the man and hurled him across the yard so hard that when the man hit a tree, the tree itself cracked.

Before he had a chance to move, Ares grabbed him by the throat yet again. “You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here.”

Eyes overtaken by darkness, the vein pulsing violently in his neck, large canines glistening with saliva, Ares gazed around his pack. “Let him be a fucking example to everyone here. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how high you rank in my pack. If you don’t respect your luna, I’ll hang you by your fucking toes, latch my fingers into your pathetic throat, and watch the blood pool out of you, ounce by fucking ounce until you’re lying in my prison. Dead.”

My eyes widened. Oh dear Moon Goddess.

“Does everyone understand?”

“Yes, Alpha,” his pack said in complete unison.

Ares glared at Mr. Silver Hair, held the man by his throat, and squeezed tighter. “Now, apologize to my mate, Marcel.”

Marcel grabbed Ares’s hand, desperately trying to claw his way out of the grip of a god, and looked at me, face reddening by the second. He parted his lips, but no words came out.

“Say it.” Ares tossed him to the ground like he was a piece of trash. “Or I will kill you right now.”

Marcel rolled onto his hands and knees, staring at the dirt and gasping for breath. “I’m sorry, Luna.”

Ares growled again. “Look at her when you apologize. She’s your luna, and she’s an alpha. Respect her like you respect me.”

Respect me? My eyes widened even more, and I gulped. Never in a million years had I expected Ares to tell everyone that I wasn’t just his mate, but that I was also his equal—that my alpha abilities weren’t to be ignored just because we were fated to be together—or to demand respect for me.

I stared at him, my heart racing. Yes, he was crazy. Yes, he was even fucking psychotic at times. But he was nothing like any man before. Nothing like Tony, who had known about Mom’s plan to sell me out and gone along with it because he couldn’t become an alpha any other way. Nothing like the guys back home.

Ares was a whole new level of man. Ares was a god.

Marcel gazed up at me, looking me dead in the eye, jaw clenched. “I’m sorry, Luna.”

“I’m done with this shit. Party’s over.” Ares snatched my hand and tugged me toward the pack house. “If you wish to meet my mate, you can come to the pack house tomorrow.”