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047 | SALT IN THE WOUND
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56
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Alpha Ares 048 | BIG BLUE
I was about to knock on the door to my parents’ office when I heard voices. I didn’t know what made my fist still a hair’s breadth from the wood, but I froze at the sound of that familiar, deep, honey-and-gravel voice.Etta had eventually tired and gone home. Needing a distraction and some reassurance, I’d come to find Ares. I couldn’t stop thinking about her going back to her empty house, but she’d insisted – quite bluntly, which had made the knot of emotion in my chest ease ever so slightly – that she wanted to eat dinner alone.“It’s hard for me, Big Blue,” Ares was saying, and his use of my dad’s nickname sent a jolt of shock through me. It was too familial for a man like Alpha Ares.“As it is for Haile.” There was a hint of sympathy to Dad’s tone, but not half so much as if Ares were part of Blue Moon. Or even if he hadn’t tried to kill me.“I know. Of course it is. And I… I haven’t always made things easy for her.”“I’ll level with you, Ares, from one Alpha to another.” I could
Alpha Ares 049 | A GLIMPSE OF HIS SOUL
I stared at one of the lush green plants in its terracotta pot, my mouth moving over silent words that kept getting lodged in my throat. Nothing about this room had changed, from the heaps of messy parchment on my dad’s desk to the organised piles on my mum’s, but I felt too still, too awkward, as I shifted my weight on the sofa. Like I belonged in this room, but not in this time. Dad had eyed me knowingly as he’d left, shoving his feet into his sandals and shaking his head at me fondly before he’d slipped out – no doubt to find Mum and tell her that he’d caught me eavesdropping. Well… He had been the one giving the Alpha of our enemy pack a free therapy session, so we both had things to answer for. I picked at my cuticles and waited for Ares to say something. My gaze darted from the plant to the wooden shelves, to the coffee table with two fresh mugs of tea on it, both untouched. Ares had had plenty to say before, so…“How much did you hear?”Even though I’d been waiting for him to
Alpha Ares 050 | BEGIN ANEW
Ares told me everything. As night fell around us, he had bared his soul to me. The darkness and the light in him merged, a heady jumble of duty and respect and fear, until I could no longer pick apart the good from the bad. There was just him and I, sat with a slim gap between us, and I –I had closed it.All I had ever wanted was his honesty.And, in the two months that had passed since, I felt as though we had begun anew. There were no secrets between us – well, except for one, which I would take with me to the grave. I wasn’t sure why I had kept my parents’ plan from him, but something had stopped me from being wholly honest with him. I had been overwhelmed in that moment, in the face of his blunt truth, and it had suddenly felt so irrelevant. So small. So small, in fact, that it had been all but forgotten. It had not been an immediate fix. Trusting Ares was still hard at times, but with every day that passed I believed in what he'd said a little more. His actions aligned with hi
Alpha Ares 051 | WINTER
The scream rang out, crisp and clear. Without stopping to think I hauled on Ares’s hand and yanked him towards the sound. It was not hard to find the source of the noise. A group of Omegas were clustered around an open door, their hands clapped over their mouths to hold back their cries.“There was no wood for her fire last night,” sobbed a young woman from just inside the room. “I told her to stay with me, but she told me to stop fussing. Stars–”“What’s going on here?” Ares’s voice lanced through the noise and silenced it immediately, save for the wet, sticking breaths of the Omegas.“She died!” wailed the woman, digging her nails into her palms. “My grandmother. From the cold…” she dissolved into sobs. Ares and I pushed past her. The room was much like the hovel I had been put in when I’d first arrived at Winterpaw. It was windowless, with a single bed, complete with a lumpy mattress, one thin blanket, and one thin pillow, and a decaying dresser at the foot of the bed. There was
Alpha Ares 052 | THE HAND THAT REACHES
“Max,” I hissed, grabbing his wrist and yanking him into step beside me. I pointed with my other hand, proud to see that my finger did not tremble.“Shit,” he breathed. “Okay. Oh–”“Hello?” I called, cutting him off. “Can you hear us?”The fingers twitched, but there was no change.“They can’t be alive, Haile. That snow… It could have been on top of them for hours.”I ignored him. “Click your fingers if you can hear us.”Slowly, shaking violently, the fingers clicked.Max’s eyes went wide. “Okay. Okay. Okay.”“It will be,” I said, dropping his wrist, “if we get them out of there. Come on.”I grabbed the hand sticking out of the snow. It was frozen, and the fingers were stiff as I bent them around my palm. Max shifted into his roan wolf form and started to dig, flinging sheets of ice and compacted snow up into the grey sky. I tightened my hold on the frozen hand, willing my fragile warmth to pool into their skin. “We’ll get you out,” I said, with more confidence than I felt. “You’ll b
Alpha Ares 053 | THE FIRST WARRIOR WOLF
“Me?” I arched an eyebrow at her, forcing my face to remain otherwise cool and expressionless. Her bared teeth were making me uneasy, but I held her cold stare nonetheless. I would bow to no-one – least of all a woman who would be dead if not for me.She sat up straighter, a grunt of effort straining from her throat. The grimace on her lips faded, her mouth drooping down slowly as she searched my eyes for – something. I narrowed them back at her, and a tiny, hardened part of me wondered if I should’ve left her in the snow.Things had been okay. For months, I’d had only to deal with the problems that Winterpaw had always faced. There had been no attacks, no murderous plots, no nothing. I had the horrible feeling that that was all about to change with whatever came out of her mouth next.She pushed back thin, blonde hair that had stuck to the sides of her pallid face. “Yes. I am here for you.”“How convenient,” drawled Ares. I could feel the tension radiating from his frame from where I
Alpha Ares 054 | BLIZZARD
“It’s too dangerous, Haile. You can’t go.”“I have to, Ares. It’s my pack. My family.” I ran my hands through my hair, helpless in the face of what Aliana had told us. I leant hard against the windowsill, digging my palms into the cold rock and focusing on the dull spike of pain the rough surface caused. Outside, the blizzard was so thick I could barely see the mountains beyond. Six Warrior Wolves. Six.And I only knew the identity of one of them.“If the cold doesn’t kill you, then one of Greyhide’s wolves will.”“They can’t be out there. Not in this snow storm.”“They’re used to the harsh winters here. You aren’t.” His tone left no room for argument. He sighed as he crossed the room, winding his arms around my waist and pressing a soft kiss to my temple. “You know I would go with you if it were possible. But to make the journey to Blue Moon now… It’s suicide.”My throat worked on a swallow. And then, slowly, I nodded. I didn’t like it, but Ares was telling the truth. But… “But wha
Alpha Ares 055 | HAILE AND ARES
“No,” Ares said flatly. He crossed his arms over his chest, and I was sure he did it just to distract me with his muscles. It wouldn’t work this time, though.“But why not?” I jutted my chin out, aware that I looked – and sounded – like a child, but unable to stop the petulance wheedling into my tone. “It makes sense, Ares.” I fixed my gaze on the fireplace behind him, letting the embers of it fuel my own fire.“Do you have no sense of self preservation?” He laughed, but it was cold and unamused. “Aliana has literally said that Greyhide Canyon are out to kill you. Whether we can trust her or not, that is too much of a risk to take. So no, Haile – you can’t run home to Blue Moon and gather up an army.”I huffed, annoyed at being spoken down to. “I understand the risk.”“I can’t lose you!” he roared, crowding into my space, but his touch was gentle, so gentle, as he cupped my cheeks with his large, warm hands. His bottom lip quivered and his chin dimpled, and he swallowed hard before sp
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Alpha Ares 141 | EPILOGUE
One year later I smoothed my hands down over my thick cloak. Nerves swarmed in my belly: not the dizzying kind that made me feel faint, but the sort that cast a hazy glow over everything as I walked along the winding woodland pathway. Torches flickered every few feet; orange roses of light bloomed across the mossy, dew-damp earth beneath my boots. “Nervous?” asked Dad. “A little.” I worried my bottom lip between my teeth. “It’s silly, I know. There’s nothing to be nervous about. I’ve been his Luna for the last year – longer, really – but this feels…” I trailed off, unsure how to word exactly how it felt. Official? Real? “It’s been such a long time coming, sweetheart.” “Yeah. Part of me wishes we’d done this straight after the battle, but it made sense to wait until the pack was remade.” Unable to help myself, a grin pushed hard at my cheeks. Everything looked beautiful today, I thought, the pine trees bottle-green beneath the golden setting sun. Everything was glazed with the
Alpha Ares 140 | COME TOGETHER
As everyone took their seats, Ares and I remained standing. I clutched at his hand: it was a physical reminder to everyone there that we were joined, that Winterpaw Warrior and Blue Moon were enemies no longer.I glanced at Ares, letting him take the lead. He swallowed, straightened his shoulders, and then smiled hesitantly around at everyone. The expression looked strange, uncertain, and it took me a moment to realise why. Ares never smiled at people when he addressed them. He led through fear and control. Not anymore, it seemed. My heart swelled.“Thank you all for coming,” he said, projecting his voice clearly and confidently across the room. “Luna Sienna and Alpha Rodriguez, of the Firepaw Pack.” He inclined his head at the dark-skinned woman my dad had been talking to before, and the bald-headed, well-muscled man sat beside her. They were both older than us by about fifteen years.The Alpha and Luna of the Storm Guardian Pack were older still, well into their fifties, their face
Alpha Ares 139 | KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
Ares had given Dad the nicest of the Warrior Wolves’ cabins to stay in. When we arrived, Ares’s arm still latched securely around my waist as it had been every single step of the way, I saw two other familiar faces peering out at us through the window, their creased faces crinkling with smiles so wide I half feared their tissue paper skin might tear.The wind whipped between the cabins, making my eyes and cheeks sting. Dawn had long since settled across the horizon, pale pink fading into the usual white-grey cloud cover. Everything looked strange out here, unreal in a way I couldn’t quite process. I clutched at Ares, suddenly apprehensive as dad moved to let us in.My nerves dissolved as soon as set foot inside. We were both pulled into an embrace on all sides, many arms winding around us and holding us close.“You did it,” Nana Baspy whispered.I scoffed and, after another long moment, I pulled away. “I don’t think I can take any of the credit, Nana. I wasn’t even conscious for half
Alpha Ares 138 | SURRENDER AND SACRIFICE
The world shattered. For a time, it was nothing more than a series of fragmented images and distant, distorted sounds. I heard screaming, felt the tell-tale burning in my throat, but I couldn’t connect the noise to me. I was weightless, without a body, and then there was nothing but silent darkness.Words I couldn’t understand split apart the quiet. “It’s the other packs,” someone said excitedly. I recognised the voice, familiar enough but not someone I was close to. A hazy, half-formed image of a missing hand and foot beneath determined eyes and wispy blonde hair floated just out of reach, and I gave up trying to identify the mystery voice as they spoke. “Firepaw and Storm Guardian. They made it just in time. We did it! We survived.”No, we didn’t, I thought bitterly. Not all of us.“It’s not over yet.” That growl, gravel and honey – that was Ares. Something in me settled. But why had he shifted into his human body? That thought, along with all my others, drifted away, becoming nothi
Alpha Ares 137 | BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAIN
We were all so focused on Aliana that none of us heard the quiet tap-tap-tap of claws pacing the stone hallways of the Pack House behind us.And then Scillian smiled. Behind him, the Sable Stalker Alpha and Luna smirked, too, a cruel hook of their lips that made my blood boil; off to the side slightly, Bloodpelt Prowler’s Alpha grinned toothily. They were all so smug, so sure of themselves. So sure that they’d won.“What is this?” Dad asked flatly.“Oh, this?” Scillian brightened impossibly further as he gestured to Aliana. “A game.”“You wouldn’t hurt your own daughter.” Dad sounded less convinced about that than he had a minute ago. “Let her go, and let the battle recommence.”“My daughter is a traitor. And, worse than that: she was running from a fight.” Scillian scoffed. I watched his face closely as he walked, every stride slow and purposeful, towards Aliana. He caressed her cheek, but I looked beyond that. I searched out his eyes through the snowfall, and I found only adoration
Alpha Ares 136 | THE END OF US
I knew, deep down, that this was my last hurrah. I knew, deep down, that if it were not, I would’ve let the pain and the shock hold me back from fighting one last time. My body was weak, but I would not succumb to its needs. This was no ordinary battle, and I had never been one to give up.I felt the pain and let it make me stronger. Adrenaline surged through my veins. I would fight by my mate’s side, and I would try to make it mean something. That was all I could do, now.We neared the Pack House. The tension surrounding it was thick with foreboding; the stillness of the battlefield was somehow worse than when the air had been metallic with spilled blood and the snow melting from the heat of the felled bodies upon it. Now, fresh snow dusted the blood soaked fur of the dead, masking the worst of the atrocities that had been marked upon the land in stark pools of red.Everything was calm. Everything was quiet. Some dark premonition made the back of my neck crawl with the sense that, at
Alpha Ares 135 | BE AMONGST THE STARS
I was numb, inside and out, as I watched. My mind struggled to break free of the overwhelming melancholy, the agony so strong that the only way I could deal with it was to feel nothing at all.The cold helped. A bitter wind whipped between the boulders, sending snowflakes into a flurry. They turned my vision blurry: everything was black and white and grey again, as it had been in the time before Ares. Everything, that was, except for the blood.And there was so much blood.It was start against the pale backdrop of the mist and snow. A physical mark of violence, marring the purity of the white beneath. And, atop its own puddle of red, sat my ear. I shuddered every time my gaze drifted over it; it was the sort of thing I didn’t want to look at but also couldn’t look away from. It was grotesque, torn at a ragged angle, the flesh pink within – My lip curled. It looked so alien to me now, that missing piece of me. I couldn’t imagine how I looked, bloodied and battered, one ear gone. A sn
Alpha Ares 134 | HAUNTED
Claws ripped into me on both sides. I flung Elena off easily enough; she was so small that, even exhausted as I was from hours of adrenaline-fuelled fighting, it didn’t take much effort on my part to dislodge her. Distantly, I heard her pull herself to her paws again. But in this fight, both physically and in the heart of it, she didn’t matter. This was between Etta and I.I winced as Etta’s claws ripped free of my fur and flesh. Blood spat from the wound, hitting the snow and melting the ice surrounding it. I wrenched myself backwards, darting behind the nearest boulder and peering out around it. ‘Why are you doing this?’ I asked – no, I begged.‘I promised myself.’ Her mental voice was nothing like the one I remembered. Etta was often sarcastic and teasing, but there had been a warmth beneath even her cruellest of jokes that had dissipated after Damon’s death. ‘After you left, and after the attacks began. I had to do something for him.’‘Damon and I were friends.’ I edged backwards
Alpha Ares 133 | ON THE WINGS OF FATE
I’d made my choice when Ares mindlinked me. He sounded weak and weary, but very much alive. My heart leapt at the familiar sound of his voice, of gravel and honey, loosening the knot that had been pulling my chest taut ever since the battle had begun.‘I had to run, beautiful. There were too many of them, but I managed to get away.’That was all I needed to hear. I turned and shifted into my wolf form, preparing to race across the empty stretch of battlefield that had been left behind the attacking armies as they approached.‘Are you okay?’ I asked. There was one other thing I needed to hear, it turned out.‘I’m fine.’ I was pretty sure he was lying, but if he was well enough to lie then I didn’t have to worry about my mate too much. ‘Are you? What happened with Nazte?’‘Nothing. It was weird.’ I fell forwards, landing on paws and snapping my jaws. ‘He wanted to know how Cendres was. We just… Talked.’The cabin’s front door banged open behind me. I twisted around, catching sight of Na
