"Onyx, I can explain-"

Terror floods my body as I look at the Blood Alpha, who's badly beaten and bloody, slumped in the corner of one of the cells. He's chained to the wall tightly in silver restraints.

"Do you realize what you've done?" I hiss in fear. "The Blood Luna will kill us all!"

"Onyx, it's the only way!" Finn grabs my hands, his eyes pleading. "The Moon Goddess has promised that if we find a way to hold Ares until the eclipse is over, she'll grant us our protected lands."

"In case if you didn't notice, that's not Ares!" I yell.

Finn shakes his head slowly. "She will come for mate. We told her to surrender herself or..."

"Or what! You'll kill him? Finn, this isn't right," I speak slowly. "And Ares will come. And she will kill us all for taking her mate."

I wasn't necessarily a fan of Cain, but he had been kind to me while visiting Blue Moon. He certainly didn't deserve to die.

Finn grabs the side of my face. "Onyx, I promise everything will be fine. I have help, you don't have to do a single thing. Just let us handle this."

"You're crazy," I hiss. "Let Cain go right now. You will bring Hell on our doorstep if you don't."

"Onyx, please," Finn begs. "You have to understand why I'm doing this! We only have to hold him for tomorrow. Once Ares surrenders herself, and after the eclipse is over, we'll have Dean wipe their memories and we'll let them go. Nobody has to get hurt."

I gesture to Cain. "He already did! Finn, please," I say calmly, my eyes pleading for him to understand how bad of an idea this is. "Please, let him go. If you don't, you might as well start digging our graves right now."

Finn shakes his head. "I can't, Onyx. For us, for our pups, for our future."

"You're fucking crazy," I tell him. "I'm letting the Blood Alpha go before Ares finds out we stole him."

I go to the cell, but it's locked. "Finn, give me the keys," I say calmly, but I'm shaking in fear.

Finn looks at me, his eyes wide.

I try to drain the life from outside of the prison, but the cement walls are too thick and I can't. And then I attack my husband.

I swing at him, but he's fast, too fast and too much stronger than me. He easily holds my wrists with one of his hands, and I hear his keys jingle.

No, no, no.

He gently pushes me towards the cell, and when I whip my head around to look at him in terror, his eyes are conflicted, apologetic.

I struggle in his grasp, but it's like iron as he opens the cell and nudges me in before releasing me and closing the gate behind me.

He locks me in the cell with the Blood Alpha.

"Finn," I whisper in disbelief.

Finn looks at me guilty, his face full of remorse. "I'm so sorry, my love. I can't have you trying to free him. Not until the eclipse is over. I promise, Onyx, everything will be okay. He's chained up, he won't be able to hurt you in there."

"Finn," I say calmly, even though I feel anything but. "You're not thinking clearly. You have to let us out."

A tear slips out of the corner of Finn's eyes. "I'm so sorry," He whispers, his voice cracking.

And he turns around and leaves me alone with the Blood Alpha.

***

I pace around the cell as much as I can, careful to avoid the Blood Alpha, who watches me curiously. I thought he was unconscious when Finn and I were arguing, but once I was in the cell, his eyes opened.

I go to the gate of the cell and reach my hands out to try tugging on it, even though the bars look thick.

"Don't," Cain warns me, his voice quiet.

I ignore him and pull on the bars, and instantly, searing pain fills my hands. I cry out in pain.

"It's made out of silver," Cain states, no inflection in his voice.

I glare at him. "Obviously."

Cain sighs. "I tried to warn you."

I ignore him, hitting the walls of the cell to no avail. Without my magic, I'm useless.

"Who was that?" Cain asks curiously. He doesn't seem bothered by the fact that all of his limbs are wrapped in silver chains, even though I can smell burnt flesh.

"My mate," I spit out.

Cain's eyes flash in realization, and I think for a minute he may try telling me that Thane is my mate, but he doesn't.

"Your mate locked you in a prison cell with a dangerous Alpha?" He asks in shock.

I glare at him. "Didn't you whip your mate? Seems like you're not in the position to judge him."

Cain wisely doesn't respond.

I sigh, sitting against the wall of the cell, as far away from Cain as I can, even though he can't move much. Strangely, I wasn't scared of him. I didn't think he would hurt me.

Ares, however...

"Ares will slaughter everyone involved," Cain plainly states, echoing my thoughts.

"I know," I whisper.

"Can't you use your magic to get us out?" Cain asks, probably remembering that I have black magic from the time I used it to hurt his mate.

I want to throttle him. "Don't you think I've already tried that?" I snap. "I can't drain anything outside of this fucking room."

There's always small life forms that I could drain the energy from, bugs, microorganisms, but not enough for me to have enough magic to get us out.

Cain looks at me inquisitively. "You're different now."

"Really? You're just as annoying as I remember," I hiss, not really sure why I'm trying to poke the bear. What can I say? Being locked in a cell by your mate puts you in a foul mood.

Cain looks at me in appraisal. "I didn't say it was bad."

I ignore him for the next few hours, but I can't tell how much time has gone by. There's no window in the cell, and I was sure that soon enough, the eclipse would occur.

Which means Ares is already on her warpath.

Finn returns a few hours later, bringing food for Cain and I. Cain tears through his food, eating all of it immediately, and I can't get over how calm he seems to be about being imprisoned.

"Eat, Onyx," Finn pleads when I don't touch the food.

"I will when you let me out of here!" I yell, and he flinches.

He looks heartbroken. "Only a few more hours, my love."

Tears spill out of my eyes. "Finn, please."

"I hope you'll forgive me for this someday," He whispers painfully before leaving again.

None of us would live long enough to see that day. Especially since Ares is coming.

I sit back against the wall for the next few hours. Cain dozes off, completely relaxed. And why wouldn't he be? He knows just as well as I do that Ares is capable of tearing all of us apart without a second thought.

When he wakes up, he looks momentarily confused before remembering all that occurred.

"Why does Ares want to kill the Moon Goddess?" I ask him curiously. Might as well get some answers before I die.

Cain's gaze turns pained for the first time, despite his burning flesh and multiple wounds. "She was promised pups if she does."

I snort. "Killing a god seems an extreme price to pay for that."

A shadow falls over Cain's face. "You don't know Ares. There's nothing she wouldn't do for a pup of her own. No line she wouldn't cross. Nobody she wouldn't slaughter."

"Does it bother you?" I ask curiously. "That your mate is a cruel monster who kills people just because she can?"

Cain shrugs. "Not particularly."

I snarl at him, and his eyes soften as he looks at me for some reason.

"For the record, I have tried to get her to stop killing rogues," He says quietly after a few moments.

I doubted that, though I didn't know what he would have to gain from lying about that.

"Seriously. I only support killing rogues if they cross into my territory," He states. "I've told her not to."

"Something tells me that if you wanted to stop her from doing something, you would be able to," I retort.

Cain blinks twice. And then erupts into laughter.

"Oh, young wolf," Cain shakes his head once he stops laughing. "You have so much left to learn."

I glare at him, reminded of Ares' words the night she tried to kill Grey. There's a lot you don't understand.

"Why did she kill Brenna?" I ask suddenly, and Cain's eyes flash in recognition. "She had already submitted. There was no reason for her to do that."

"Because she wanted to," Cain says, and I notice that his voice raised slightly at the end.

"You're lying," I narrow my eyes.

Cain sighs. "Young wolf, you do not want to know. Trust me on this."

Something in his voice makes me hesitate. But not enough to stop me. "Tell me."

Cain stares at me. "The she-wolf suffered a fatal wound to her neck during the fight. She was about one more minute away from dying after she submitted."

"I-I don't get it," I stammer out. Brenna was bleeding a lot from her neck, but she was alive, she-

"We heard her heartbeat slowing down. Your weak hearing abilities wouldn't have been able to detect it, but we did. Ares killed the she-wolf so that you wouldn't have to live with knowing you killed someone. Ares knew you couldn't handle it," He tells me.

I shake my head slowly. "I- Ares... she wouldn't..."

Cain gives me a look I don't recognize. "She's not as unfeeling as she makes herself out to be."

"She's still a sociopath," I tell him. Anyone who kills as much as she does has serious issues. I wondered what happened to her to make her that way.

Cain sighs. "I know."

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