Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE

A res didn't move from where he'd been standing for at least five minutes. Didn't move. Didn't speak. Simply breathed. His wolf had begun to break his restraints, and his nails had lengthened in his pockets, slashing holes in them. He'd need to have them repaired. His fangs had extended as well as the sight of River, but he'd forced them to stop. He'd scared her enough for one day.

As he watched through the door, he fought every instinct that told him to take her and make her his. Her perfume swirled around him like a boa, constricting his chest and crushing it inward.

Somehow, her scent had grown exponentially more robust in the hours he'd been away. Probably because she hadn't taken blockers. Blockers no longer mattered anyway since she was his, and he'd make damn sure everyone knew it.

His wolf snarled and clawed to be released, but Ares refused. He wouldn't lose control again. No matter how much his wolf wanted her. No matter how much he wanted her. He wasn't going to let it happen again. He wouldn't be one of those Lycans. He was trying to make peace with the shifters, not alienate them further.

Zeke walked up to Ares and held out a glass. Ares took it without removing his eyes from where River soaked in the hot tub alongside her sister. Her silvery hair fanned out over the patio tile like a bridal veil as she stared up at the stars, pointing and smiling.

Ares downed the liquid in one quick fiery burst. Zeke looked at his glass and handed it to Ares while taking the first one from Ares' hand.

Ares gulped down the liquid again, letting it burn through his gut, but he barely noticed it next to the fire already smoldering inside.

"What should I order for dinner?" Zeke asked.

Ares shook his head. "I'll eat in my suite. I only stopped by to grab a suit and to…" To what? To see if River had changed? To see if she was ready to bond with him? "To grab a suit," he finished.

Zeke stood next to Ares and watched the two women. Ares' wolf snarled.

The two women splashed each other. River dunked Bianca, and when she jumped back up, River's breasts bobbed up and down, making Ares' pants tighten as his arousal struck him like a wrecking ball.

Zeke chuckled as Bianca surfaced, and Ares' wolf almost lashed out at him for watching the women.

"What are you looking at? Ares asked.

Zeke coughed. "Uh… my mate and my soon-to-be sister-in-law."

A moment passed as the words rattled around Ares's brain, calming his wolf.

"Why?" asked Zeke. "What are you looking at?"

Ares glanced at Zeke. A smile played across his lips.

"I'm looking at my mate. And my soon-to-be sister-in-law." Despite himself, Ares snorted, and so did Zeke.

"So, will we be related?" Zeke asked.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"On whether you want to be pulled deeper into the crapstorm of my family."

Zeke snorted and turned back to the sliding glass door. "Actually, I think I'm okay. Taking on Cherry as a mother-in-law is all I can handle for now."

Ares groaned. Cherry would be his mother-in-law, too. "I don't blame you. To be honest, I'd rather deal with my crap than have to deal with Cherry again."

Zeke snickered. "Do you think she will warm up to us?"

Ares cocked an eyebrow. "Do feral house cats ever warm up to lions?"

Zeke thought for a moment. "Sorry, are we the feral house cats or the lions?"

"No clue."

The women stood from the hot tub and toweled off. That was Ares's cue.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Take care of them for me."

Zeke inclined his head. "With my life."

Ares clapped Zeke on the shoulder. With his wolf howling, Ares went to gather a few things for the night and following day.

And then… he'd go for a jog. A long, leg burning, heart pounding, keep going till his legs gave out jog. One meant to drop him into bed and forget all about the fact that his Omega, River, lay in a bed a hundred feet from him.

* * *

When River reentered the suite, Ares no longer stood staring at her and Bianca. She'd gone out to the hot tub to relax, but from the moment Ares had made his presence known, she'd been able to do anything but. Her wolf stood on high alert, clocking his every movement and wanting only to be closer to him.

But River refused to look at him, hoping he'd grow bored and leave. Which he apparently had because when she'd gotten out of the water and dried off, he'd been gone.

Now, sitting at the dinner table with Bianca and Zeke, listening to them chatter about mating ceremony details, River couldn't do anything more than push her food around her plate and continually glance sideways at the empty chair where Ares should be.

After twenty minutes, River couldn't take any more. "When will Ares be back?" she blurted, interrupting Bianca.

Zeke looked at her. "Ares is gone for the night. I'm sorry."

River's body flushed with heat. "For the night? You mean with another female?"

"No. Not at all." Zeke's eyes widened. "I mean, he only stopped by to pack a few things. That's all."

"Pack a few things?" She didn't understand.

"Ares has gotten another suite across the hall. He thought you would prefer to have your own space."

A chill rained down on River. Her own space? They hadn't been together for two days, and already he'd had enough of her. River laid down her fork and took a long sip of her wine. Conflict rooted in her breast. Wasn't that what she wanted? Him to reject her and let her go? Or did she? She couldn't deny the attraction between their wolves, nor her attraction to him in general. He was the most handsome man she'd ever met. But at the same time, she had a life in New York, and she liked being able to do what she wanted.

And yet… She'd always hoped for a fated mate. Always hoped to find someone who looked at her the way Strider did at her mom. Someone who became her whole world. Someone to love and protect her against everything. The kind of connection that could never break. With someone who would never leave her. Someone all her own.

River stood. "I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired."

Bianca stood. "Do you want company?"

River shook her head. "You and Zeke need time together. Besides, if you are coming to Canada with me, we'll see more of each other from now on. Enough that you'll get sick of me." River forced a smile, but the words hurt more than she could say.

"Never River. I love that we'll be together again." Bianca stepped to River, but Zeke gripped her wrist, and Bianca sat back in her chair.

"River. It may not be my place, but I need to tell you. Ares may be overbearing and aggressive, but he is also loyal and kind-hearted. If he weren't, I never would have agreed to be turned by him or to work with him. I understand the bond isn't what you want, but you shouldn't let that get in the way of the happiness you can have with your fated mate."

Now, what the hell did she say?

She nodded to Zeke, turned, and shuffled to the bedroom. The blanket still lay on the floor where Ares had slept the night before. She walked to it without knowing why and lay down on it, pulling his scent into her nostrils. Every muscle relaxed, and within minutes, she fell asleep.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Highness, she is curled in a ball on the floor in the makeshift bed you made, asleep."

Ares paced his suite. He didn't want to be away from River working on business all day, and now, back at the hotel, his wolf demanded to check on her.

The marathon had not weakened Ares's wolf or what he wanted. In a weird way, it made his wolf more agitated since all he wanted was for River to run with him. He wanted nothing more than to take her home to his estate and explore the woods surrounding his house with her. Okay, there was one thing he wanted to be doing more. He wanted to wrap around her naked in his bed.

Stop!

"Go look," said Zeke. "I'm not lying to you. When you weren't at dinner, she didn't eat."

"Perhaps she wasn't hungry."

"Then why did she keep looking at your vacant seat? And why did she ask about you?"

Ares didn't want to get his hopes up. Couldn't get his hopes up. He needed to lock it all down. Everything inside him screamed for him to go to her. Every instinct his feral wolf had was to take, claim, mate, rut. But he couldn't. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done. It took more willpower than he knew he had not to take her, but if he did, she would never be his. And most likely, Cherry would sneak into his house one night and cut his throat.

"Keeping away from her isn't going to make this any better," Theo offered.

Ares regarded his men. "But it will keep her safe."

"From you?" Theo asked.

Ares nodded. "I can't control my wolf around her. Her scent. Her taste. The urges in me… I understand why that rogue bit her. It's horrible, but I do understand."

"You have to learn to control it," said Theo.

Ares growled.

"I've known you longer than anyone," Theo said. "And I get it. You are the heir to the Lycan throne and the biggest badass of all of us. You are used to getting whatever you want when you want it. But that's gonna change now."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you have a mate. Having a mate isn't about what you always want but what they want. Right now, you want what your wolf wants. It's what all of us want when we find our mate. But you must think with your human head and not your Lycan instinct. River isn't like other Omegas. She isn't going to roll over and play submissive. She wasn't raised that way. You have to be slow with her, gentle. Let her get to know you."

Ares rubbed his hands over his face. He'd never let a woman in before. His men knew him because they'd been through hell together on multiple occasions. But he'd only ever entertained women for one thing, and it wasn't to get to know him.

He hissed out a harsh breath. But for some reason, he wanted her to. To learn everything about him. To bandage up the broken parts and make the decent parts better. He wanted… her.

Ares opened his suite door and stopped. Vanessa stood, hand raised, ready to knock.

"What are you doing here?" Ares had seen little of her the last two days, and it surprised him how much he liked it when she wasn't around.

Vanessa was the best assistant he'd ever had but a terrible friend with benefits. As has been made apparent in the less than three minutes she and River had spent in the elevator together. He'd not missed her at all over the past two days. Not driving in the car. Not sitting next to him at his meetings. Not listening to her make phone calls for him and schmooze people, nothing. None of it. And in that moment, looking at her standing at his door, he understood why. There wasn't any drama that came along with her just being her.

"I asked what you needed," said Ares.

She pulled a bottle of wine from behind her back. "I overheard the guys saying you got your own suite, so I came to see if you wanted some company." The flippant way she said it grated his nerves.

"I'm on my way to the other suite right now. I only moved over here as a courtesy to my mate because her sister has been staying with her for the last day or so."

A smile twisted the corner of her mouth. “Do you have any idea what new position you want me in when we return to Montreal?"

His wolf's hackles raised, and he snarled.

Ares choked back the scathing retort he had for her and instead said, "I might be opening an office in Europe. If I do, I'll need to send someone to head it up I can trust. And they will certainly need an assistant, especially one as fluent in as many languages as you are. You put a lot of work into all those courses. Time to put them to use."

Her mouth fell open. "Europe? You… you want to send me to Europe?"

"You always said you wanted to go. This would be the perfect opportunity. Travel. Pay. And it would be hard for your home pack Alpha to reach you there. Unfortunately, with you not being my assistant, I won't be able to guarantee your safety from him."

Her cheeks flushed. "Why? Why are you doing this to me, Ares? Five years. I've been loyal to you for five years and-"

"And you knew when you started this would happen. I didn't lie to you or lead you on, Vanessa. I always told you I was searching for my mate. I searched every chance I got. I told you before you climbed into my bed for the first time this was friends with benefits, nothing more. You agreed to it. As a matter of fact, we signed a contract to avoid any misunderstanding. Do you need me to print you a copy?"

"I thought you'd change your mind. Stop looking. Choose me."

"What did I ever do to give you that impression? When did I ever talk with you about my hopes, my dreams? What I wanted from the future? Name one time you ever spent the night in my bed or I in yours. When have we ever gone to dinner that wasn't a meeting? When have we ever attended an event that wasn't for business? When have we ever seen a movie together? Or walked in the park? Or go for a run in the woods?"

She swallowed hard. "Never."

"That's right. Not once in five years. So please tell me what I did to make you think we were anything more than what we originally agreed to be?"

Anger blazed behind her green eyes. Fair enough. Let her be angry. If she'd started crying, he'd never have believed it. The anger, though, was all her.

"When will you admit the only reason you ever took this job was for the protection it offered you and the status and the perks? You don't want me. You want my title. You want my money. You want the power. I've known from the first day you came to work. And those things made you an acceptable assistant. But those same things meant you would never be my mate."

Ares padded softly across the hall and tapped his keycard on the lock of the suite without waiting for Vanessa to say anything more. It beeped and turned green, and he pressed open the door. He stood for a moment and breathed River in. Shutting his eyes, he let the feelings wash over him. His wolf stood, but Ares shoved him down.

No. Not this time . Not again. He would not let his wolf take over.

Ares turned left, walked past where his men sat and headed for the bedroom. His bare feet clapped against the cold marble floor, but his temperature remained hot as ever, especially knowing he would see her.

He walked up to the door and stopped. He reached for the knob, half believing it would be locked, but when he tried the newly replaced handle, it turned downward. Ares swung the door in lightly and peered into the darkened room. His heartbeat kicked up as he searched the bed for her, but she wasn't there. His gaze drifted to the floor, and sure enough, down where he'd slept the night before, she lay curled into the blankets, her head on the pillow he'd used.

For the first time, he felt something different for her. He didn't want to take her; he wanted to protect her, wrap her tighter in those blankets, pull her into him, and keep her from what she was about to be thrust into—his family problems—Lycan problems.

Ares slid down the doorjamb to the floor and watched her. For more than an hour, he took in the rise and fall of her chest and the sound of her light snores.

* * *

River snuggled into the blankets and pillow that smelled of Ares. Her hips ached from sleeping on the floor, but it didn't deter her from refusing to move. His scent soothed her wolf and her as well. She didn't know how she felt about that.

Her stomach growled. What time was it? Definitely early morning since not a speck of light peeked into the room yet. Her stomach growled again. Dang. If she got up, would anyone notice? Was there anyone still in the suite? There had to be at least one someone, but where did they sleep? She hoped they didn't sleep on the couch. That wouldn't be fair. Ares' bodyguards needed sleep. Did they take shifts? So many unanswered questions.

River stretched as the ache in her stomach grew worse. She couldn't sleep until she'd eaten. Pulling one of the blankets closer around herself, she stood. As she drew closer to the door, she stopped. The door was open, but she had shut it. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she recognized the outline of someone sitting in the doorway's threshold, their back against the door jamb and their legs outstretched.

Lachlan? Or Zeke? A scent tickled her nose. Ares.

Why the hell was Ares sleeping in the doorway? Her heart squeezed. She didn't want to wake him, but at the same time, she didn't want him spending the night sitting. She chewed her lip, then crossed to him and shook his shoulder.

"Ares."

His eyes flew open, and he stood before she blinked. He scanned the room, then his gaze landed on her, and his posture relaxed.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I just… Sleeping like that didn't look comfortable, so I wanted to…" To what? Did she want to invite him in? To tell him to leave? She had no idea.

"I'm sorry I woke you," he said. "I didn't mean to."

She shook her head. "It wasn't you. I wanted something to eat."

"You're hungry? What do you want? I can wake my chef and-"

"No. No. Please don't. I don't need anything fancy. I didn't eat much at dinner, so I thought I'd grab a snack."

He nodded. "We always keep the kitchen stocked."

River brushed the hair from her face and tried to flatten it as she followed him down the hall and through the dining area. Ares flipped on the light in the kitchen, and River looked into the living room, happy not to find any of the bodyguards there. A door on the other side of the living room opened, and Theo walked out.

"Need anything, Boss?"

Ares shook his head. "We're fine, thanks. Go back to bed. We have an early morning."

Theo nodded and closed the door again.

"You don't need to help me if you have an early morning," said River. "I can find something."

Ares opened the cupboards. "We have ramen, cereal, crappy canned spaghetti, crackers." He opened the next one. "Or, if you want something better, we have microwave popcorn, coffee, hot chocolate, mac and cheese, soup, and…" He pulled out a small jar and showed it to her. "Caviar?"

River couldn't help but chuckle. "Wow, that's quite the variety."

"You'd think a group of college guys lived here from the cabinet stock."

"Now I see why you have a chef."

He nodded and put the jar back. "Let me check the fridge."

"That's okay, I'll do the popcorn."

"You have to eat more than popcorn."

"I will at breakfast, but that'll hold me."

He looked like he might argue, but instead, he nodded, pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn, and tossed it in the microwave.

As the microwave did its thing, the two looked at each other. The air between them grew uncomfortable, and River glanced away.

"So… why did you sleep in the doorway?"

"I didn't mean to. I only… came to check on you."

He wasn't saying something, but she refused to pry.

The popcorn beeped, and Ares pulled it from the microwave and poured it into a bowl.

He prodded the bowl toward her. "Do you want a drink?"

She nodded and popped a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

He opened the fridge.

"Soda, please."

"What kind?"

"Whatever."

He pulled a soda and a beer from the fridge and handed her the soda.

"Do you like those?" she asked.

Ares inspected the beer. "Not particularly."

"Then why do you drink it?"

He regarded her for a moment.

"What I mean is, most humans drink them to get buzzed or drunk, but a shifter has to drink a ton of them to do that, and I assume a Lycan would have to drink even more. So, why drink it if you don't like the taste?"

He set the beer on the counter. "Honestly, I have no idea."

She chuckled as he opened the fridge and pulled out a sparkling water instead.

"Interesting choice."

Ares' eyebrows slammed together. "Why?"

"You don't seem like a sparkling water guy."

"I don't like plain water, and soda is too sweet, but I like the carbonation and fruit flavor, so…"

Something about his choice intrigued her.

She shoved more popcorn into her mouth. "Beach or woods?

He sipped his bottle of water and then cocked his head to the side in such a cute way it made River want to kiss his nose. Where the hell had that come from?

"Would you rather go to the beach or camp in the woods?" she said.

"Uh… beach? What about you?"

"The beach because I've never been before. But I do sunburn easily, so probably not."

"I'll make sure you are covered from head to toe in sunscreen," he said.

Thoughts of Ares's skilled hands rubbing lotion all over her body made her tingle. She took a long swig of her soda as her cheeks heated.

"Play or movie?" she asked.

A slight smile played across his lips. "Play. I love the theater. What about you?"

"I'd have to say movie because I've never been to a play."

"But you live in New York."

"I haven't taken the time to do things most people do since moving here. First school, then work and making my art."

"If we were going to be in town longer, I'd take you to one."

River's stomach flipped at the thought of leaving in a few days to return to Ares' compound. Leaving her life and everything in it.

"We'll go next time we are in town," he said. "I'll check my calendar. When I travel back, we'll go to two or three."

She threw him a smile. When? A month? Six? She picked at the popcorn.

"Renaissance or modern art?" he asked.

His question caught her by surprise. "Well, that's a tricky one. My favorite is DaVinci, but I am also a huge Dali fan. I happen to be a huge fan of Tim Burton as well. And Hayao Miyazaki."

"Burton isn't an artist."

"Isn't he? Have you seen his work? It's incredible. Only an artist could have made A Nightmare Before Christmas ."

Ares nodded. "Agreed."

"What about you?"

"Honestly, I don't know much about contemporary artists."

"Well, we'll have to remedy that. You can take me to the theater, and I'll take you to my favorite art museums."

Ares smiled. "It's a date."

"Okay. When?"

"When what?"

"When can we do it?"

"Uh… Well, I need to-"

"Check your calendar to find out when we are coming back. Right. I forgot."

Ares' mouth opened and closed again.

Damn, River. Why do you have to be such a bitch?

"I should head to bed." Ares gulped down his water and tossed the bottle into the trash with the beer he didn't open.

"Ares?" River said as he walked away.

He stopped but didn't turn back.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I…I don't mean to be like this. I don't, I just… This is all so much."

Ares sucked in a breath and strode back to her. Quick but gentle, he raked his hands into her hair and kissed her. It wasn't forceful. It wasn't needy. Just a soft caress of lips like a lover would give to his beloved. Then his lips planted on her forehead, and he kissed her a second time before he withdrew.

Without a word, he turned and left. River's wolf whined at the loss, and River shivered as goosebumps pebbled her skin. As she stared at the spot he'd stood moments before, she wanted nothing more than for him to come back and kiss her again.