The God of War - Editing
Who Are You?

Max’s POV

It was late afternoon, and she was lying on my bed, fragile and small. My scent was engulfing her now, healing her. The little wolf had not moved or made a sound for two days. Ares has been ignoring me since he could feel her beating heart again. Of course, he demanded I bring her to our room. But I would have done it even if he had said nothing.

Why could I not have sensed her pain before? I was fighting the mate bond so hard, numbing my feelings, that I did not see how much she was suffering.

I was sitting on the sofa facing her. Everything was a mess because of me. Ares only gave me back control a few hours ago. He was in full control for two days, acting like a beast I had never seen before. He hurt many warriors, Terry, doctor Paul, my father, and everyone who tried to approach his mate. He did not care that they were there to help. He only said he knew what had to be done and took over, not giving me any room to stop him.

She moved and finally opened her eyes. Same grey eyes I thought I would never see again. I had only one question for her. “Why?” Without looking at me, she said. “I needed the pain to stop.” I moved to the bed and sat beside her, but she did not look at me. “I have been feeling it for far too long now. Since I was a pup.”

I felt a pang in my heart at her words and thought Ares would be back to try to comfort her as a mate would, but he just sat there, and I was confused about his behaviour. A lonely tear fell from her eye. She took a deep breath and closed them. After a few minutes, she opened them again and looked at me with shining pink eyes sparkling like diamonds. They were beautiful.

She smiled. That was the first time I had seen her smiling. “Hello, handsome.”

“Ares, what is going on?” No help from him. He was quiet. She got up and walked around my room, looking everywhere. I frowned and asked. “Who are you?” She looked at me with her skinny face and looked at her wrists. They had healed.

“I have been living here for nearly two months, and you should have known it since my arrival, Max. But to show you I am not like you and have manners.” She offered her hand for me to shake and smiled. “I am Aphrodite, your mate. But I don’t need to say that to you, do I, Max? You already knew it.”

My shock was long gone, and I growled lowly at her for the disrespect. I was an Alpha. “Don’t like when your mate calls you out on your bullshit, do you?” She laughed at me.

“Now, we don’t have time for chit-chat. I took over because Jules was hurting and didn’t want to live any longer. I will keep her numb in my mind till I heal her body and soul. Thanks to Ares, I am stronger.”

She walked downstairs like she knew where to go. Without any ceremony, she opened the back entrance and spoke. “Let’s go outside.”

“Ares, please, talk to me.” Nothing. I got only silence from him, only sitting in my mind playing good pup. The pack house had so many warriors inside and around it, everybody on high alert, and I knew Terry must have done that while Ares was in control, he did not want any pups to get hurt in case Ares acted up again.

Aphrodite smiled at everybody who crossed her sight, and they looked into my eyes, relieved that they were no longer glowing yellow. I could feel my pack members’ questions about the skinny girl, and just like that, Ares shut their connection, and I could feel only Aphrodite again.

We had been walking for a while now, and I did not think it would be good for her to walk that much. She was so fragile. “Are you sure you are ok with walking this much? I can carry you if you tell me where you want to go.”

“Yes, I am wonderful. But don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to put your arms around me.” She looked at me and winked. “Now we are here.” We had stopped at an empty clearing. “I need to shift. I will heal Julie’s body faster in wolf form. I was allowed to shift only twice since my arrival. I have been locked for too long inside her mind. Her body is fragile and will take as much as the first shift.”

I looked into her pink eyes. “Ok.”

“I need you to help me.” I knew what she was asking, and I closed my eyes to have a chat with Ares. He had to do it and decided to be mute for the first time in his life. I felt her touching my hands, and the sparks were flying everywhere with that magical feeling.

“No, Max. Ares had already accepted Jules and me before he even looked at us at the Woodland Pack. I am marked now. Of course, you still have a way of rejecting me. You are fighting it so hard that you can kill us both. But now it’s not the time to discuss it. Jules needs us to work together. I need your help. Ares won’t help you with this.”

I did not want Julie to die. And Aphrodite was right. We had not mated and completed the mate bond yet, I still had time to reject her. I would do anything to help Julie heal. She was innocent. Alpha John would understand that the Alliance would have to wait a little longer. Once Julie was healthy, I would say the words to her and get this over with.

“You are right. You can feel I never meant to hurt Julie. I didn’t want to get attached to her. Just those three days during her heat were enough to show me how strong the bond would get if I let it.” Aphrodite threw her head back and laughed hard. Her laugh was the best thing I had ever heard.

“Oh, handsome, and you think Ares is the difficult one. Now. Enough with that because I am hungry. Remember, you are alone on this. I am marked. You can shift later if you like. Now we can mindlink.”

She was very short, and my shirt fit her like a dress. We wolves have no problem with nudity like humans, but I felt I needed to respect her. I looked away when she started taking everything off. “Don’t! You need to look!” She said sharply.

She stepped forward, fully naked in front of me. And I could see that she was skin and bones again, with all bones sticking out like the first time I saw her.

Now with the outside light, I could see all the scars and marks when she turned around. I focused on her neck. I wanted to see what my mark would look like on her. But many scars covered it. I looked at her with sad eyes and felt I needed to explain my reasons.

“I hadn’t accepted you because of your flaws. Because I don’t think you are beautiful. I am not like that. I wouldn’t do that to you. I was waiting for you to be better for me to talk to you.” I growled. “Whoever did this to you will be punished. I will make sure of it.”

She stepped back and looked at me. “Jules will have to open up to you because she was hurting years before my arrival. I can’t tell you that. But she was getting better till you decided to mate several times with another she-wolf that isn’t good enough even to scrub my floor. You stopped visiting us. The way her body looks now, you did this.”

I knew exactly when everything started, but I only cared about myself. I needed to take her from my mind. She got down on all fours and started the shift. She screamed from the pain, and I crouched down closer to her. It was instinct. I could do everything without Ares.

I put my hands on her back, concentrating on her pain. I knew it was too much for her body to take. She was weak, and my job was to help with the pain. “Easy there, little wolf. I am here with you.” Her bones started to break, and the sound was too loud. As an Alpha was my job to help the pups when they got their wolves at the age of fourteen. I had seen thousands of first shifts since I was a pup, which never sounded like that.

“You will be ok, little one. Concentrate on your wolf form. Come on, Aphrodite, you have an Alpha’s mark, concentrate on it. It will help.” The bones were getting in place, but when her canines started to appear, she screamed so loud that I was sure everybody in the territory heard.

The shift took longer than usual, and I was trying to take as much pain as possible. After a few more minutes, it was complete, and I was staring at a magnificent white wolf.

I smiled, looking at her. “You are beautiful.” She was a small but stunning wolf. I petted her, and her fur was so soft that she did not seem skinny. Usually, our wolves follow our shape. She looked normal, and I was glad.

Aphrodite was lying on the ground, panting, tired from the shift. I shifted to my massive black wolf and concentrated on the bond to open our mindlink.

I nuzzled her neck and bit her ears, showing her that she could not die on me. “How are you feeling, little one?” She was quiet. Right, she said she was hungry. Food might help her. I need to hunt. I ran inside the woods but was highly alert in case a threat approached her. My pack had never seen her before and could attack.

I ran after a fox and caught it quickly. The little one will be impressed with my speed. I laughed but remembered I was there only to help, not to get attached.

I fed her with my mouth, and I did not know what Ares was trying to do, but I knew he would hate me later for not doing it to her first.

Everything was so easy with her. I was there feeding her like a mate would when they were sick, and I felt joy pouring into my veins.

“Thank you, handsome.” I finally heard her tired voice in my head after I finished feeding her. “I’m glad you are alive. Ares would never speak to me again if you had died from the shift.”

I bit her ears a few times in a playful way, and she laughed. She fell asleep, and I shifted back, put my clothes on, and carried her to the pack house. We stayed there for a while. It was already dark, and I could hear the chatter from the dining hall.

Of course, Terry was there waiting for us in the main hall. He saw me and approached us. “Oww! Her wolf is gorgeous.” He went to pet her head, and I growled in a warning. He moved back and looked into my eyes to see if Ares had retaken control. When he figured out it was me, he looked puzzled.

Aphrodite has nearly healed thanks to Ares and will help Julie recover and feel happy again to start their destined work in the Blue Moon pack. Leave your comments below.