Come Here, Kitten (God of War Book 1), стр. 50
“Yes,” I said.
“I’m fine,” Elijah said curtly before Mr. Barrett could apologize. “I just need a pair of glasses.”
“Give me a second. Let me see what I can do.” He grabbed Elijah’s broken glasses and disappeared into the back.
“I wanted to talk to you about the stone …” Elijah said while he was gone. He glanced around at the other people in the pharmacy and lowered his voice. “I’m working on finding the other half.”
“The other half?” I whispered.
The other half could do so much for me. After all these years, I might be able to shift completely and without pain.
“I think I have a lead, but I need to double-check first. And … I can’t tell you in public, especially not here.”
Within a few moments, Mr. Barrett came back out with a pair of prescription glasses in his hand and gave them to Elijah. “This is what I can do for now. Free of charge,” he said.
Elijah put the glasses on and thanked him.
Mr. Barrett hiked his briefcase back up onto his shoulder and walked out from behind the counter. “Let me know if there’s anything else you need, Aurora. You can find me and Charolette just down the street from the pack house. Second house on the left, bright blue shutters. You can’t miss it.”
Before Mr. Barrett left the pharmacy, he leaned closer to me. “And, Aurora, Ares is … harsh at times, I know. He just loves too much. And …” He paused. “Look, all I’m trying to say is … give him a chance. He’s had it rough after his mother passed.”
I watched as he walked out the door and frowned at him. Something had sounded so sad in his voice, and I thought about how much I’d hurt after Jeremy was murdered.
Elijah placed a hand on my shoulder. “Well, I should get going too.”
“I’m going to find someone to drive you,” I said.
Ares would flip again if I left without warning. So, I looked around, found Marcel standing under the blue Pick-Up sign at the pharmacy counter, and walked his way.
When he saw me, he leaned against the counter, raised a single brow, and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you want?”
“You are going to give Elijah a ride back to his pack.”
“Does it look like I’m a servant?” Marcel asked, his bright silver locks in his face.
“I don’t care what you are. You’re going to take Elijah home because I told you to.”
Elijah tugged on my shoulder. “I can get home myself, Roar.”
“Roar? Is that your little nickname?” Marcel taunted and tugged on a strand of my brown hair. “Do you roar for Ares instead of purring like he wants you to?”
Feeling all the rage, turmoil, hurt, and betrayal from the last twenty-four hours inside of me, I punched Marcel right in the nose and watched the blood spurt out of it. “Do you bleed out of your nose, or do you bleed out of your nose, asshole? Take him home.”
A pharmacist walked up to the counter, scanned an item, and handed it to Marcel. “Pickup for Charolette Barrett.”
Marcel snatched the prescription from her and stuffed it into his pocket. “Come on, Elijah,” he said and then glanced at me. “And don’t fucking tell anyone about”—he nodded toward the counter with a clenched jaw—“this.”
After Marcel stormed out of the pharmacy, Elijah and I followed him to his parked car down the road. Elijah pulled me into a hug, thanked me out loud, and whispered that we would chat soon about the stone.
I watched them speed away and walked back to Ares’s pack house. All I could think about the whole way home was what I would say to Ares when I saw him. Though Elijah’s scars would heal within a couple days because he was an alpha, my scars would take longer.
Marking me without my consent, charging after me, standing over me with such cruelty—it wasn’t something that I could get past just because Ares was damaged.
Chapter 28
Aurora
When I finally made it to the pack house, I braced myself for Ares and opened the front door. But I couldn’t find him. He wasn’t in our bedroom, wasn’t in the kitchen, and wasn’t even in his office. I walked around aimlessly, trying to listen for his breathing.
I wanted to love him. I really did, but what had happened between us made it so much harder.
On the bright side, he hadn’t belittled me like I’d thought he would. He hadn’t ripped me piece by piece. He hadn’t even acted like everyone else did when they heard I couldn’t shift. He’d treated me like an equal when the hounds attacked. He’d treated me like I had wanted so many people to treat me.
The door to Ruffles’s room was ajar, and my eyes widened. Goddess, this cat. If she had gotten out and was walking all over his clothes—
I peeked my head inside to see Mars lying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, stroking Ruffles’s fur. I could tell it was him by the way he was gentle with her, not aggressive and daunting. She lay across his body, purring loudly. Ruffles meowed in response and head-butted his palm with her head.
“Do you think she will forgive me?” Mars softly asked from inside the room.
My heart softened when I saw them together. Had he known about Ruffles the whole time? Wasn’t he—
Mars sneezed, his whole body jerking in the air. Ruffles curled her claws into his chest and clung to him, as if he was the most magical man in the world. And then he continued to pet her.
“Do you think she hates me?” he asked.
“Meow.”
“Have you seen her wolf before?”
“Meow.”
“Is she beautiful?”
“Meow.”
“Did she—” He tensed sharply. “Did you just fart?” He scrunched his nose. “We need to get you off of those chips. Damn.”
“Meow.”
I stifled