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059 | GRAVEL AND HONEY
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Alpha Ares 060 | A BOY AND A MAN
And then a wolf leapt at me.It was a blur of pale fur against the snow, crouching low, well beneath my eye line. Before I could move to help the boy, a head butted into my chest and I was sent stumbling backwards.I snarled; without thinking I dove back into the fray, knocking the pale wolf to its knees and taking a chunk out of its neck. It bared its teeth at me, but I couldn’t look past the dark patch on its neck.Dark, like a slick oil spill. Dark, but not red. In the dusk-light everything was painted in shades of grey, and I was overwhelmed with panic for a split second that Ares was gone. That I was cursed to see the world in black and white again. That the colour in my life had faded, torn from me along with my heart.But the sky was purple, and Ares was growling as he slashed at the two wolves circling him, and I had lost precious time to my worry.The pale wolf took its chance, snapping its teeth and clipping my ear. I spun, disorientated, and it grabbed my throat between its
Alpha Ares 061 | RACE AGAINST TIME
“Ares?” Panic made my throat tight. I grabbed at his shoulders, trying to pull him upright. “Ares? Ares, wake up!”The man snorted at me. “He’s fine.”I rounded on him. “He doesn’t look fine to me!”“Some Alpha.” A smirk pulled at his lips. “Can’t even take on two wolves.”He did that for me, I thought, his words hammering against my skull. He threatened you. I had to give in.I staggered back to Ares’s side. The man was not worth my attention. Not now. I hauled Ares upright, checked his pulse, checked his breathing; all the while the man mocked me, his laughter tart and cruel. My bones felt hollow, empty, as I made sure Ares was all right, as though the snow had wormed its way inside me. My heart was another matter – it was burning, fury and agony aflame in my chest.“Get him up,” said the man, his voice bored. Two of his wolves, his friends, were dead, and he sounded bored? I bit back a shudder and stared at Ares, begging him to wake up with gentle touches and silent, screaming wor
Alpha Ares 062 | THE GREYHIDE CANYON PACK
Ares and I were left alone after the Medic had checked him over. I’d felt numb throughout, staring blankly at the deep, oozing marks slicing down Ares’s chest. He was yet to wake, and I was helpless to do anything but wait by his side until he did.I’d tried the door six times. I knew it was locked. It didn’t stop me from getting up and trying it a seventh. We were only here because Ares needed to rest and heal, but I didn't like feeling trapped regardless.With a sigh, I slumped back onto the end of his bed. I curled my legs beneath me; I’d heard young wolves in Blue Moon call it sitting “criss-cross apple sauce,” and remembering that faint sound, of girlish laughter and high-pitched voices, made me smile. It faded as I looked around the room, re-assessing it for the hundredth time since we’d been brought here.There wasn’t much to look at. Redwood planks made up the walls, and a few makeshift cots unfurled down the length of one. Only one bed had a frame – the one Ares had been plac
Alpha Ares 063 | ALPHA BLARE
Alpha Blare stepped forwards. Without greeting us, he worked his way around the sconces, lighting the torches in the room. Only then did he step back, and at last I could make something from the shapes of his face.I had never seen Alpha Blare before, save for on the battlefield in his wolf form. My parents had always dealt with him whenever the need arose, although the last occurrence had been years prior. Mostly, they communicated through letters.His appearance was of no great shock to me, though. Like most of the wolves inhabiting the eastern stretch of Erandos, he was pale in both skin and hair, which was long, draping down well below his shoulders; but his eyes were brown – a rare sight amongst the snow. His face looked unaccustomed to smiling, drawn from harsh lines that did not soften, not even as he looked upon Ares’s crumpled body in the bed. It aged him; I knew from my parents and my ravenous study of the packs of Erandos, the ones I had thought I would one day have to know
Alpha Ares 064 | COLISEUM
There was a high-pitched ringing in my ear. It crackled and buzzed over the ever-present sound of a distant ocean, making my head feel fuzzy – fuzzier than it already did. I squeezed my eyes shut tighter. I did not want to be awake. I did not know why, but I did know that.My mouth tasted stale. I worked my tongue over the backs of my teeth, wrinkling my nose at the fur there that spoke of a long, too-deep sleep. My brow furrowed. Where was I? Why had I been sleeping? It felt like months, years, even, since I had slept so soundly, without even dreams piercing the veil of oblivion.My bones felt stiff. They creaked, like rusted hinges, as I stretched out my long limbs. My muscles ached, and it was only then that I realised how cold I was. That was why my body felt all wrong – my hands were numb, my feet were frozen, and my skin felt like ice stretched too thin over my bones.I was hit with fear. It overwhelmed me; I did not want to open my eyes. The dread that filled me was so potent I
Alpha Ares 065 | FIGHT ME
“Nothing?” My voice trembled. “There has to be something we can do.”“Look around.” Unlike mine, his voice was firm, unwavering in its despair. No – it was thick with acceptance, tragic and terrible. “The only door is locked. No doubt there are wolves waiting behind it, waiting to kill us if we don’t comply.” Ares sighed bitterly, and when he turned to look at me his eyes were full of agony. What scared me most of all, though, was the lack of fire in those familiar blue eyes; in fact, they were so cold, so distant, that I barely recognised them as his at all.“There is always a way out,” I said, my breath snagging in my chest. I wouldn’t give in. Not like this. Not to this pack, and their evil Alpha. “We just have to think about it logically–”“There is no logic here. You should never have followed me, Haile.”“But they would have killed you!”“But they wouldn’t have been able to hurt you.”I crumpled, sinking to the cold stone beside him. “We will get out of here,” I said. “I swear
Alpha Ares 066 | THE WOLVES DESCEND
Ares was crumpled on the snow-flecked stone. Blood seeped across the earth beneath him. His chest did not move. His eyes did not flicker.Was he… Dead?Panic flared, bright and heady. I stumbled forward, losing my wolf form as my emotions overwhelmed me. I barely saw Alpha Blare as he wiped his knife on Ares’s tattered clothing, though the knot of anger in my chest grew as he did so, somewhere subconscious beneath the waves of agony wracking through me.“Ares!” I screamed. My voice did not sound like my own; it was too ragged, too defeated. “Ares!”“I gave you a choice,” said Alpha Blare. “You failed to make one.”“I thought you wanted me dead,” I snarled, rounding on him, “not him.”Blare shrugged, his silver hair slipping over his shoulders. He was so callously casual. I focused on him, kept my anger burning, letting it heat me from within – Because if I didn’t, if I looked at Ares, I would break.“That was the plan, yes. But you made it too easy for me by following your mate here
Alpha Ares 067 | RUN
We could mindlink. It was dizzying, feeling the full force of Ares’s emotions slamming into me – and made more overwhelming still by the swarm of angry wolves converging on me.‘Run, Haile! Get out of here.’‘What about you?’ I mindlinked back to him, a spark of raw joy piercing through my fear. ‘I won’t leave you, Ares.’My eyes found his – still closed, his lashes still stark, dark, against his pallid cheeks. He looked… Dead. I gulped, turning in a tight circle as more wolves surrounded me. I had seconds to move – seconds until I was sealed in. None of them pounced, not yet, but I did not have long. ‘They think I’m dead. It was your idea, beautiful – to pretend. You have a chance. Take it! I’ll find you. I promise.’I made a choice.I ran.Claws and teeth caught my sides, but I barely felt the pain. It was an inconvenience, slowing me down, but it did not make me falter. I would not forsake Ares’s sacrifice… If that was even what it was. I had to hope it wasn’t.I shot through the
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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
