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125 | TOO LATE TO TURN BACK
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Alpha Ares 126 | THE SIEGE OF WINTERPAW
With a groan, the last door was bolted shut.“Well,” said Cendres, wiping his hands on his trouser legs, “that was anticlimactic.”And then there was a thump.And a thud.And another.And more – tens more, hundreds more. Claws scrabbled at the wood, at the rock, at the stone, and menacing howls filled the air. They seeped through the cracks in the mountain: a song of death and the promise of bloodshed.“You spoke too soon, Cen,” I called down to him as I sprinted up the stairs, hunting for a window to look out from. Any low down enough to be broken through had been hastily boarded up, but some on the higher levels of the Pack House had been left open as vantage points.Ares was hot on my heels, though I could hear the laboured pants interspersing his breaths and I could feel the flare of residual pain from his wounds.A shout bellowed up from below. “Give me my daughter, Ares!” cried Scillian. “She would never side with you. Never. Especially not when death would be her only reward!”
Alpha Ares 127 | A MOTHER'S LOVE
I leant against the countertop, feigning nonchalance to hide the frantic beating of my heart. I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, the black strands catching in the low light. I felt like the world was closing in around me – which, to be fair, it sort of literally was. Even in the kitchen I could hear the constant scrape of claws against wood and stone. It was only a matter of time before they broke in. No amount of positive thinking could change the reality of that.It didn’t take long for the silence to become stifling. “You wanted to talk to me?” I pressed, moving to grab my coffee mug and internally berating myself for leaving it in the dining hall with Ares. I needed something to do with my hands.Mum’s bright blue eyes were unusually wide and soft, almost doe-like in their appearance rather than tight and shrewd. “I want to make things right between us,” she said, taking a half-step closer to me before she thought better of it and stopped.I folded my arms over my chest. “So
Alpha Ares 128 | STRAIGHT ON ‘TIL MORNING
I ran to Ares, shifting mid-stride with Mum hot on my heels. I had to reach him. We’d made only one promise to each other: fight together, die together. I wouldn’t break that promise. I wouldn’t.The hallways were loud with the sounds of growls and the meaty thud of bodies hitting the hard, stone floor. Yips and barks and pained moans were a symphony of agony, undercutting the harsh slice of claws and the silence that followed the mewls of pain. I pushed on, surging around the corner and coming out behind a firm line of Winterpaw Warrior wolves, their bodies packed tight as they held back the oncoming force of Greyhide Canyon’s allied armies. There was no sense to anything; I could barely process up or down or left or right. It was hot and the air was thick with the metallic taste of blood. My nostrils flared, scenting sweat and musk and death. I forced myself between the wall of furred bodies, dodging blows coming on all sides.‘On your left!’ Mum shouted into my mind.I turned. A w
Alpha Ares 129 | BEYOND AND WITHIN
‘We have to get the front door shut,’ I mindlinked to Ares, my jaw locked in a snarl as I shoved and clawed at the wolves surging towards the entrance to the Winterpaw Warrior Pack House. ‘There aren’t enough of us to fight a battle on two fronts.’I couldn’t feel the cold I knew must accompany the snow swirling through the air. We were so tightly packed, funnel-necked as we forced our way outside, bloodied and bruised and sweaty.‘I didn’t think they’d turn on us,’ Ares muttered, more than to himself than to me. ‘Not so soon, anyway. I thought we had a chance–’‘Don’t panic about it.’ I forced my mental voice to sound stronger than I felt. ‘All we can do is deal with what we’ve got. We still have a chance, Ares. We just need to buy Annia and Aliana some more time.’‘You’re right.’I looked around for him, but I’d lost him to the battle. My heart beat loudly in my chest. I could still hear him; he was okay. He had to be.‘Always am,’ I teased – and a tail smacked me around the head, m
Alpha Ares 130 | AN HONOURABLE DEATH
I moved without thought, flying blindly into the fray. Claws sliced at my sides and rump as I flung myself across the compressed battlefield, reaching the wolf a second too late.But Ares didn’t. He blocked the attack, turning on a sixpence and bringing up his back paws to smash into the wolf’s jaw. It howled, and the howl became a quiet keening as it stumbled back, blood spurting from the hollow above it’s shadowed eyes.I fell forwards, the momentum sending me straight into Ares’s path. I knocked into him; he swung around blindly, his teeth angled right at my throat.‘It’s me!’ I yelled into his mind. ‘Ares, don’t!’‘Haile?’ He pulled up short, his teeth just grazing the prone fur of my neck. ‘Haile! Fuck! I almost–’I cut him off, my eyes going wide. ‘Behind you!’He twisted, spotting the swipe of claws, co-ordinated with the ring of teeth, just before they tore into his backside. ‘We have to get out of here,’ I grunted to him. ‘Winterpaw have turned. We need to find a way back i
Alpha Ares 131 | LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
Ares shifted into his human form immediately, not once glancing back at the remaining wolves circling us. He strode towards Scillian, his eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched, and without thinking I shifted too, following him into the fray.As we crossed the last of the distance, I realised that the wolves surrounded us had stilled. Anger rose in me, scalding my chest and stinging the back of my throat. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my expression neutral as we neared them. Ares wasn’t faring so well; he glared at Scillian with pure, unadulterated hatred burning in his bright blue eyes.But it wasn’t Scillian that I looked at. It was Aliana. She looked different like this, the wispy curls of her blonde hair somehow appearing less innocent, less delicate, than they had before. Everything about her had hardened, from her round pale eyes to the gaunt cut of her bones. Rather than frail or malnourished, she looked like a sharpened spear ready to strike.‘Where’s Annia?’ I mindlinked to Ares
Alpha Ares 132 | LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD
There was a beat of silence. One single, solitary beat – first filled with panic, followed by any and all halfway logical steps we could take to escape this situation. I thought through them, considering every angle we had and measuring up the likelihood of each option working.And then – of course – Ares leapt at Scillian. He shifted in mid-air, black fur sprouting down his back and claws reaching for Scillian’s face. My knees locked. I could only stare on in horror as my mate flung himself across the snow, only to smack into Scillian’s huge wolf form. Dark fur speckled with grey split his skin; as they stumbled back, shoved by the force of Ares’s leap, they rolled hard into the side of the nearest Warrior Wolf’s cabin.It was hard to tell the two apart as they tussled, their fur so similar in shade, the snowflakes dotting Ares’s fur in a way similar to the patches of grey on Scillian’s. Movement off to the side snagged my gaze; I turned just in time to see Aliana darting behind the
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
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Alpha Ares 141 | EPILOGUE
Alpha Ares 140 | COME TOGETHER
Alpha Ares 139 | KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
Alpha Ares 138 | SURRENDER AND SACRIFICE
Alpha Ares 137 | BATTLE OF THE MOUNTAIN
Alpha Ares 136 | THE END OF US
Alpha Ares 135 | BE AMONGST THE STARS
Alpha Ares 134 | HAUNTED
Alpha Ares 133 | ON THE WINGS OF FATE
