Page 7

CHAPTER SIX

ARES

C herry gave Ares the information for the man who made River's suppression pills.

Apollo had tried to insist on going with Ares to interrogate the man, but Ares refused.

His brother still wasn't at full strength after having so much silver and wolfsbane pumped into him, and Ares was going to need Apollo at full strength for the battle to come.

It surprised Ares how worried he'd been about his twin over the last week.

So much had changed in so little time. But he couldn't focus on everything at the moment because thoughts of finding River consumed him.

Besides, Apollo had work in Montreal. Calls to Alphas.

Condolences given, and support secured. All the kinds of diplomatic stuff that Apollo was brilliant at, like their mother had been.

Ares was the hammer, Apollo was the glove, always had been.

Only now did Ares realize what an asset that could be, and would need to be in the future.

Titan hadn't gotten all those rogues to help him by sheer force.

Somehow, he'd gotten them with finesse. Finesse that Ares mostly lacked, amongst other things.

As Ares' wolf's mournful whine pierced through him, it wasn't merely a sound, but a visceral ache.

An echo of loss reverberating through his very soul.

The wolf's raw, primal sorrow clawed at Ares' heart with an unrelenting ferocity.

His breath caught as if the weight of the grief had physically struck him.

His hand pressed against his breastbone, as though it could somehow ease the hollow ache spreading there.

But no amount of pressure could muffle the truth that raged within him.

The weight of their failure to protect her bore down on him.

The memory of her cries haunted him. Her voice, desperate and tinged with pain, had been a dagger to his soul.

Ares clenched his fists, his nails biting into the armrests of his seat.

He still saw her face in those final moments before she was ripped away from them: wide eyes filled with terror, reaching for him, trusting him to save her.

But he hadn't.

His wolf growled low and guttural inside him, a sound drenched in self-loathing and fury. We should have done more. Ares' fists clenched. He hadn't just failed her; he had failed them all.

Guarding her had been their sole purpose, yet they had faltered in that crucial moment.

Every fiber of his being had been attuned to her presence since the day they bonded, her laughter like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, her touch grounding him when the world spiraled out of control.

She was everything, not just to him but to the wolf that shared his soul.

And now, emptiness took root where she should have been.

How could he safeguard his entire species when he couldn't even ensure the safety of his beloved mate? The thought sank like he'd swallowed a granite slab, cold and unrelenting. He let out a shuddering exhale, running a hand through his hair as if trying to pull himself together.

His mind flashed back to the elders' words during their last gathering. "You are our strongest warrior, Ares, the one who will lead us into a new era." The memory felt like mockery, a cruel joke. What kind of leader couldn't even protect his mate?

A mournful whine escaped his lips, not from his wolf but from somewhere deeper.

Ares opened his eyes, their usual stormy gray now tinged with an eerie golden glow as the wolf's presence surged to the surface. His breathing steadied as determination replaced despair.

"I'll find you," he vowed, trying to access the bond they shared, the white ribbon that connected them even across impossible distances. "I'll bring you back, or die trying."

The stewardess walked up next to him and took his empty whiskey glass. "We will be landing in thirty minutes, Mr. Wolvenguard."

Ares nodded without looking up.

"I've been told your car is already waiting to take you where you need to go."

Ares glanced out the window above the midwestern US. He'd only ever been to Chicago a few times, but he'd never once been to Indianapolis. The man he was looking for didn't know Ares was coming, and that was just fine. He didn't want the guy refusing to meet with him, or worse, running.

How he had not known about a suppressor chemist before now, he had no idea.

Probably because Lycans never used suppressors.

There was no point. But in that moment, Ares realized there were a lot of things he probably didn't know about the world he'd grown up in, especially when it came to shifters.

And that could not continue, particularly if Titan was gathering an army of them.

As soon as he had River back, he was going to need to meet with all the shifter Alphas.

Every single one. And if they didn't come, they'd be removed.

There were going to be changes made. And more than that, there was going to be a lot more involvement with the ruling of shifters as well as keeping an eye on what was going on in their entire kingdom, not just with the Lycans.