ONYX✔️

Chapter 29

Go read the other chapters or whatever, doesn't really matter to me either way.

Dinner was awkward, to say in the least. I felt unnerved by the way visions of Ares holding the bloody heart continued to flash through my mind.

That is the Alpha that wolves cower at the mere mention of. I had seen glimpses of her visciousness before, but never so brutal. So... gruesome.

"So, when will you two lovebirds have your Mating Ceremony?" Axel asked casually, breaking the silence.

I looked at my plate, that was the last thing on my mind. "Soon," Thane answered shortly, and I was glad he didn't seem keen on talking about it.

"He's here," Ares suddenly says, standing up. Cain is by her side in an instant, wrapping his tattooed arms around her protectively. "Who's here?" He asked calmly, but I could sense his trepidation.

"The invisible fucker that attacked me in the woods," Ares hissed, and my heart almost dropped to the bottom of my stomach as Cain shouted, "THE WHAT?"

"The invisible rogue?" I question. No, no, no. It couldn't be. I hadn't seen him in months.

Ares sprints outside, all of us following her. I see her summon a whip, randomly lashing out. Suddenly, I see Greyson's body on the ground, deep cuts throughout his body.

"Ha! Got you, you stupid little son of a-" Ares begins to say, but my eyes meet his.

"Grey?" I whisper in disbelief.

"You know this clown?" Axel asks me in surprise.

I nod desperately. "He's my best friend, I-We were rogues together."

Thane's grip around my waste tightens as Cain calmly states, "If he harmed my mate, he will die."

My mouth drops open. "You can't kill him! He's basically my brother... You can't kill him... It was just a misunderstanding I'm sure." I promise.

Ares laughs, but it contains no humor and her eyes are pitch black, something I hadn't seen from her before, and to be honest, it rattled me. "He told me to rot in Hell, I don't think there's much to misconstrue about that."

I take a step towards Ares, to explain, to make amends. Cain shifts Ares behind him, and Lucas and Axel are instantly at his sides, their eyes blank. "Please, Ares. If you attacked him, then he was just defending himself. He wouldn't just attack you for no reason," I plead, begging her to see it from my point of view. Greyson had been my only friend for many years, my only confidant after my Grandmother died.

Ares raises an eyebrow, and I can see Greyson struggle in the whip's hold. "Actually, I was just minding my business when he stabbed me. Unprovoked, might I add. Oh, sorry, both times he stabbed me, unprovoked," Ares clarifies, and Cain snarls.

"It was not unprovoked," Grey roared. "You killed my mate."

My mouth dropped open. Greyson never mentioned that he had a mate, much less that she was dead. "Onyx, Ares isn't who you think she is. She's the Reaper!" Grey hissed.

I gasp as I look at Ares, who looks indifferent, bored almost. She was the wolf who rogues told horror stories about, the boogeyman parents used to scare their children into behaving.

And she had been under the same roof as me for the last month.

"Is... Is that true," I ask, hoping she denies his accusations. "You're the one who kills all of the rogues, innocent or not?"

Ares gives a half-hearted shrug, completely apathetic to the implications. "You saw her rip the heart out of the she-wolf that challenged you!" Grey insisted. "She has submitted, and the Reaper still ruthlessly slayed her. How can you be friends with someone like that?"