Dawn

Chapter 8

Athena

It was cold waking up alone and I knew right away it was because sometime this morning, Ares had slipped out of bed. A part of me knew not to take it personally, but we had only just started to figure out all of this mates drama, and now that I am marked, there is nothing else to do.

Is he rethinking his decision to mark me? Is he reporting my existence?

I let out a shaky breath and try to calm down. There is no point in thinking about what could go wrong; it's a losing battle.

I decide it's time to get up, so I make my way to the bathroom. I stop at the mirror and admire the mark that Ares gave me last night–in that moment all my worries faded away and my wolf and I bask in the warmth of the mate bond. The mark was something I had never seen before; granted I had only ever seen a few mating marks, but most of them were all black and contained a wolf of some sort with a symbol denoting which pack your mate was in.

My mark was a collection of seven outlined circles, all in a horizontal row. Four of the circles were in red ink and the others were in black. I cocked my head to the side in curiosity.

What did the circles mean?

A small part of my wolf tried to break through, begging to partially shift with my ancestral magic. I had never doubted her before so I let her take over and as we stared into the mirror I understood why she wanted to shift.

There I stood, still in my human form with my red tribal tattoos, with my mating park proudly showing except unlike my human form, my ancestral form had four circles in black ink and the rest in red. It's like it flipped meaning with my wolf; a work of art.

I decide to shower off then grab a pair of Ares' sweatpants and t-shirt before I walk down the stairs to join everyone else.

"ETA around one this afternoon. Be prepared for a full council meeting as soon as we arrive; we need to discuss the recent attacks." I could hear Dominic's voice inside the kitchen, mumbling a few more words before I hear him click off his phone.

"Attacks?" I question as I walk into the kitchen and face Dominic who seems surprised to see me.

"Snooping now are we?" Dominic's lips tilt up in a smile and I can't help but laugh–seems like I might finally be making friends.

No, he's only being nice because of Ares' orders.

"I wasn't snooping! What's up with these attacks?" I question.

Dominic blows off a quick breath and looks to his right and left, I assume looking for Ares. "There was an attack last night so we are going to have to head back today." He pauses as he sees me gulp down the fear that is currently taking hold in my throat. We are going back to his pack today? Who am I to say I am? We all know I can't say that I am the Celosia alpha whose line just happened to survive the massacre that their ancestral alphas lead.

"Don't stress Athena, we have everything under control. For now, you are a guest of the Alpha's." I nod in acceptance even though a part of me still thinks of running away from all of this to keep Ares and myself safe. I could go back to my room and leave through the window.

Almost as if he senses my distress, Ares comes walking into the kitchen, looking at me with an expression I have never seen before. He almost looks like he's full of regret: for what, I'm not sure.

"Are you alright Ares?" I ask, hoping to get a little insight into what makes Ares tick.

"Yeah, I'm fine. We should be leaving soon. Can we talk in my room before we head out?" The expression soon leaves his face and is left with what looks to be pure adoration. I can feel a blush creeping up on my cheeks as I nod and he drags me forward back up the stairs. As he closes the door behind me I can't help but turn towards him and ask again, "Are you sure you are ok Ares. You seem off. Is this because of the attacks?"