Song of The Moon Artemis Lupine

by Banks, Catherine

  I shrugged. “No worries.”

  Ares walked out of the pub and wrapped his arms around my waist. The feel of him holding me released all of the tension in my body. Ares asked, “So, have you told her your good news?”

  I frowned. “Um…no.”

  Ares started pouting. “Well that’s one way to hurt my feelings.”

  Jess gasped, “Are you pregnant?”

  I yelled, “Hell no!”

  Ares frowned. “What she meant to say is that we’re engaged.”

  Jess looked at my hands. “I don’t see a ring.”

  Ares sighed. “I told you to let me get you a ring.”

  “No you…”

  He pinched my stomach and smiled. “She was very worried about Darren finding out. But we’re eloping.”

  Jess frowned. “Eloping? I thought you said you haven’t been with him for very long?”

  Ares laughed. “We’ve known each other a while, but we’ve only be dating a little while. We’re family friends.”

  Jess smiled. “Oh. That’s cool. Well I hope you have fun. Maybe we’ll see each other again soon?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  I walked away from her and Ares followed me silently. Koda, Matt and Victor caught up with us when we were at the feed store. I stopped and turned around to glare at Ares. “What the hell was that?!”

  He frowned. “What?”

  I yelled in frustration, “Eloping?! What is it with you and making sure everyone knows I’m yours?! Can’t you just let me deal with them?! I mean its bad enough that I’m stuck with you…” I gasped. “Ares, I…I didn’t mean that.”

  He shook his head. “Yes you did. I’m sorry. That boy just set me off.”

  “We better get to the house. I’ve got a lot of hunting to do.” I said, happy for the subject change.

  Koda asked, “Hunting?”

  I smiled. “Come on.” Ares walked back with Matt and Koda talking quietly to them.

  Victor walked beside me and whispered, “You shouldn’t be so hard on him. He’s trying.”

  I scoffed. “So am I Victor. This isn’t easy.”

  Victor nodded his head. “Think how hard it is for him.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Ares is the second fiercest warrior of all of the werewolves in the world. He doesn’t bow to anyone except the King and now he’s got you to deal with. You’re pigheaded, strong willed and he’s been bending over backwards to try to make this easy on you when it’s tearing him up inside.”

  I stopped and stared at Victor. “How?”

  Victor sighed again. “Being tied or having a match requires almost constant touching in the first few months and most often requires you to seal the bond. You’re young and inexperienced so Ares isn’t pushing you, but you keep pushing him away and refusing to touch him and we all know you would refuse to seal the bond. It’s eating at his control. If we aren’t careful he could snap.”

  I frowned. “So, I’m causing him pain?”

  Victor nodded his head. “More pain than you could imagine.”

  Ares frowned when he saw us standing still. I whispered, “What do we have to do to seal it?”

  Victor smiled. “I’m sure you can figure that out.”

  I groaned. “No! No way Victor!”

  He shrugged. “Would it be so bad?”

  I watched Ares walking gracefully towards us and felt my lower body tighten. Ares stopped walking and stared at me in shock. I groaned and covered my eyes with my hands. “No, anything, but that. Not yet. Can’t we just cut each others palms and press them together or something?”

  Victor laughed quietly. “This is why he is giving you space, but just think about the pain you’re causing him. I’m not telling you to do it tonight, but it will need to be done soon. The sooner you seal your bond the safer you both will be.”

  Ares frowned. “What are you two talking about?”

  Victor smiled. “Nothing.”

  I shook my head and jogged towards my house. Headlights raced down the street towards me. I stopped jogging and the truck skid to a stop in front of me spraying gravel. Ares pulled me backwards and I sighed. “He wasn’t going to hit me.”

  Billy climbed out of the truck with Jake and Jeff. Ares shook his head. “We need to go.”

  I saw the seriousness on his face and wondered what was wrong. I looked at Jake and Jeff and noticed they were holding bats. I asked, “What are the bats for boys?”

  Jeff smiled. “In case things get out of hand.”

  I smiled. “Do I really scare you that much, Jeff?”

  He frowned. “What?”

  Jake, one of Bret’s other good friends laughed and tossed his bat into the truck bed. I smiled. “Thanks Jake.”

  Jake winked at me. “You ever need a change of men, call me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You know you couldn’t handle me.”

  He sighed. “Too true.”

  Ares frowned. “Is there something I don’t know about?”

  I shrugged. “Just that I’m too scary for the boys here to deal with.”

  Ares snorted and stroked my cheek. “Scary? Not hardly. Sexy? Definitely.”

  Billy asked, “Artemis what’s happened to you? This isn’t like you? Why are you with these scumbags?”

  I frowned. “Nothing’s happened to me. And they aren’t scumbags.”

  Billy rolled his eyes. “They are obviously much older than us and I’m sure Ares is really after your heart.”

  Ares snarled and I put my hand on his chest stopping him from moving forward.

  Jeff smiled. “Silenced by the bitch? Wow, that’s a new low.”

  I pointed at Jeff. “You! You sleazy jerk. You have no room to call me names. I’ve seen the girls you go out with and the diseases you give them. And I didn’t silence him. He is just letting me fight my own battle. And whatever Ares is after is none of your…”

  Jeff smiled. “So you’ve already given him what he wants. Interesting.”

  I snarled and leapt towards him. He swung at me with the bat and as I put my hands up to block it Ares moved forward grabbing the bat from Jeff’s hands. Jeff’s eyes bulged as Ares took the bat from him and tossed it into the truck. Ares pushed his finger into Jeff’s chest making him step backwards. “Just because she has better taste then to date you does not mean she’s given up anything, which, not that it’s your business, she hasn’t. If you ever try to lay a finger on her again, I’ll kill you.”

  Billy pointed at Ares. “And he’s better than me how?”

  I swung around and punched Billy in the face knocking him to the ground. “I’ll be leaving tomorrow and you’ll never see me again. So just shut up.” I turned to Jeff. “And do something useful with your life. Football is useless.”

  Victor frowned. “I like football.”

  I sighed. “Not now Victor.”

  We walked the rest of the way to my house and I stared up at the porch steps. This had been my strange, but cold home. The house used to be a place of fun, but now it only brought me sadness. I walked into the house and straight to the cupboard under the sink. I pulled out Darren’s hidden bottle of whiskey and took three giant gulps before Ares jerked it away from me. The burning of the liquor distracted me as I wiped my mouth. “What?”

  Ares snarled. “What are you doing?”

  I shrugged. “It’s not like I can get drunk easily.”

  Koda laughed. “No. Wait, how do you know that?”

  I smiled. “I drank with Billy and Jess and J.D. one night, but nothing happened. They were smashed, but I wasn’t.”

  Ares snarled. “Did he do anything?”

  I rolled my eyes. “No.”

  Victor opened the fridge and I watched in astonishment as he flipped a switch and a hidden compartment slid forward. Victor grabbed two bags of blood and closed the compartment again. Victor smiled at me. “It’s customary for werewolves to keep blood on hand in case a vampire comes to
visit.”

  I turned to Ares and asked, “So, now what?”

  He smiled. “We rest here tonight.”

  The desire to touch him started intensifying and I remembered Victor’s words that it hurt Ares more. I walked forward slowly and leaned my head against his shoulder. The pain receded and Ares sighed. I walked into the living room and sat down. “So, when you told Jess we were engaged you weren’t just being possessive were you?”

  Ares shook his head. “How many times do I have to tell you this? You and I are the perfect couple.”

  “I’m an eighteen year old girl tied to a man I barely know who likes to kill people.” I said irritably.

  Ares frowned. “I don’t like to kill people. It’s just necessary.”

  Koda snorted. “Unless it’s a sidhe, then you like it.”

  Ares snarled at him and I asked, “What’s a sidhe?”

  Ares sighed. “Another preternatural I do not want to discuss with you until necessary.”

  I frowned. “Why not?”

  He spoke in clipped words. “Because I refuse to. I refuse to acknowledge their existence. Now moving on, when we get to Victor’s place there are going to be other werewolves there. Don’t look at the alphas or betas in the eyes and you have to act submissive to them. The females are very aggressive towards each other, so for now, try not to make any contact with other females. You’re especially going to be a target.”

  I frowned. “Why me?”

  Koda smiled. “Because Ares was the hottest bachelor when we left. They’ve been drooling for him to come back and now you’ve taken him. So, they’ll try to kill you so that he’ll want them more.”

  I felt my jaw drop open and looked at Ares. He was gorgeous, but worth killing someone over? I tried to imagine him with another woman and a large growl ripped through my chest. My wolf stretched in my body and I pleaded for her to go to sleep. Ares stared at me in shock and I giggled in embarrassment. “Sorry, just testing a theory.” I sighed. Dammit I can’t be willing to even think about killing someone over a man. It’s so…true. Dammit. I barely know him and the thought of him with another woman makes me want to rip her head off!

  Ares smiled. “You have any questions?”

  I nodded my head. “Do you have alpha females?”

  Ares nodded his head. “We have ranks like the vampires. King, queen, prince, etcetera. To get to a place of high rank for werewolves we have to defeat the current person in that rank in a battle. Vampires are all about bloodlines and crap, but our method is that the strongest and most powerful are the rulers. Survival of the fittest at its best.”

  I asked, “Are werewolves like vampires, where they get stronger or more powerful the older they are?”

  Victor looked at me curiously. “I never told you that.”

  I smiled, “You can learn a lot from movies.”

  Ares nodded his head. “To a certain extent. Darren is very old, but not very powerful. It depends on your aura and abilities.”

  “But as a new werewolf, I’ll be pretty much helpless against older ones?” I concluded.

  Ares nodded his head and smiled. “That’s why you have me. No one will be able to defeat me to get to you.”

  “If I am ever going to gain the respect of anyone in the pack I have to fight my own battles!” I said angrily. Ares was frowning at me and I could tell he wanted to order me not to get into battles ever. I rubbed my eyes. “I think we’ve talked enough tonight. I have a lot to think about and I’m tired.” I started walking down the hallway to my room when I felt him behind me. “What Ares?”

  He laughed softly. “How’d you know it was me?”

  I shrugged and turned around to face him. “I can smell you. Plus you have a weird feeling about you, like I want to bow to you.” I groaned realizing I had said the last part out loud. “I didn’t mean that.”

  Ares smiled. “It’s normal for all wolves. As beta I have a lot of authority and it gives me a powerful aura.”

  I frowned remembering Darren discussing auras with me when I was younger. “Do you have an aggressive aura?”

  Ares frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I shrugged. “Darren said that people with aggressive auras are more likely to go on a rampage.”

  Ares shrugged back at me. “You can’t see your own aura so you’d have to ask someone else.”

  “Well I can’t see anyone’s aura.” I said. Ares smiled at me and put his hand against my face. I instantly started to lean into his hand and jerked back. “I don’t like that I’m like this.”

  Ares smiled. “What? That all you can think about is me touching you? I told you that you’re my passt genau. We are destined to be together, forever.”

  I frowned. “What if I don’t want to be with you forever?”

  His smile slipped away into a look so filled with rejection, that I instantly regretted my words. He asked softly, “Am I not pleasing you? Is there something you would like me to change?”

  I looked at his sculpted body and his handsome face and knew nothing needed to be changed. The girls I knew would do almost anything to be with a man like him. And here I was trying to throw it away before I even gave him a chance. I spoke softly. “It’s not that Ares. I’m just really overwhelmed by my feelings for you and the fact that I don’t know you. Maybe you could tone down on reminding me that I’m stuck…I mean that I’m supposed to be with you forever. I’ve never even had a boyfriend and to be told I’m destined to be with you seems like a sentence, not a blessing.”

  Ares nodded his head and smiled a little. “I’ll try. Just know that I’ll do anything for you. No matter the cost.”

  I smiled and nodded my head. My hands ached to touch him and I gave in, letting my body rush forward and hug him quickly. I pulled away before I kissed him and darted into my bedroom and on to my bed. I listened to all of the new sounds I could hear with my heightened senses and smiled as the sound of the creek at the other end of our property gurgled. I drifted in and out of consciousness, but couldn’t get the feeling that someone was going to attack me out of my head. I decided I needed sleep and even if I looked like a child, I would ask one of them to sleep in the room with me. I opened my door and screamed. Victor, Koda and Matt ran down the hallway then sighed in relief when they saw Ares sitting on the floor outside my door.

  Ares frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just didn’t want to be too far away.”

  I finally regained my composure. “It’s okay, you just startled me.” He looked at me as if waiting for me to continue and I looked at the ground. “Could you sleep in here tonight. I’m just…”

  Ares jumped up and smiled. “Of course. I would prefer it actually, but I didn’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

  I smiled at him and nodded my head. Victor winked at me making me blush. I walked to my bed and heard him close the door quietly. I quickly took my shoes off and climbed into bed closing my eyes. Ares climbed in behind me and I tensed. Not exactly what I had meant about sleeping in here. He put his arm around my stomach, but kept space between our bodies. As much as I wanted to object, it was comforting to have him with me. I pulled the blanket around me tighter then realized I was sweating.

  Ares whispered, “Having two werewolves in a bed at once usually makes blankets obsolete.” I nodded my head and kicked the blankets off. We settled in once again and my brain shut off. The sound of arguing woke me up. I opened my eyes and was instantly lost in Ares’ sky blue eyes. He smiled at me. “Good morning.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat at the realization that I had just technically slept with a man. Okay, okay, I know it’s not the same thing, but he was in my bed because I asked him to sleep with me. “Morning. Who’s fighting?”

  “They’re discussing politics. Nothing important.” He rubbed my back slowly with his hand. “Did you sleep well?” He rolled on to his back and I scooted over laying my head on his warm bare chest. I inhaled his now familiar smell and nodded my head. “Very well.�
��

  He asked, “Are you feeling better?”

  I sighed. “I’m realizing that being a werewolf isn’t as scary as I first thought. I’m still worried I could go on a killing spree…”

  Ares stroked my back with long even movements. “I won’t let you do that.”

  I smiled and looked up at his face. I had expected him to be smiling, but he was serious. He stared into my eyes with a desire I had never seen before and then I felt it. I reached up slowly, fearful of his reaction and ran my hand down his face. A small smiled played at the corners of his lips and I couldn’t hold myself back. I moved up on the bed and kissed him on the lips. The instant our lips connected fire shot through me and I moaned. Ares’ responding moan let me know that he was feeling the same thing. He kissed me back with a need of his own and wrapped his arms around me.

  I ran my hands over his chest as we kissed and felt my lower body tighten. I gasped and tried to pull away, but Ares had repositioned us so that he was lying on top of me. I ran my hands through his thick black hair and kissed him harder, grabbing a chunk of his hair in my hands and pulling him to me. He moaned again and thrust his tongue into my mouth. He kissed my lips once more than moved down my jaw to my neck. My breathing sped up and he smiled at me. The smile was perfect. Admiration, desire and happiness all in one. He kissed my lips one more time then jumped off me.

  I frowned. “Where are you going?”

  He smiled at me from the bedroom door. “I want you for your heart, not your body, but if I stay any longer with you kissing me like that, I don’t know if I can hold myself back.” He walked out of the room and my face erupted into a blush. I grumbled to myself as I changed clothes and went through my morning routine.

  I walked out into the living room and stared at the pile of dishes in the sink. I opened the fridge and growled. “What happened to all of the food?”

  Koda laughed. “You have three male werewolves in your house and you wonder where your food went? It’s in our stomachs!”

  I glared at him. “And you didn’t think to leave some for me!” Koda’s smile faded and I sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just hungry.” I tapped my foot then sighed. “Well I guess we’ll just have to go to the pub.”