I frowned. “Fine, but after this I’m taking a walk with whichever person I choose as my guard.”
Ares smiled. “As you wish.”
I felt my face relax from its frown and spread to a look of shock. “You know the movie Princess Bride?”
Ares smiled. “Of course. Who doesn’t?”
Koda called from behind the bathroom door, “Rodents of unusual size? I don’t think they exist.”
I smiled. “Koda.”
Koda peeked out from the bathroom. “You rang?”
I inhaled and spoke quickly so I wouldn’t lose my nerve, “I forgive you and Matt for ganging up on me since I am a new pack member, but if it happens again don’t expect me to be so willing to forgive you.”
Koda smiled and ran from the bathroom to me. He picked me up in a big bear hug, squeezing the air from my lungs and kissing my cheek repeatedly. He set me down then nodded his head. “You’ll do great here.”
I scoffed and Ares frowned down at me. “So you’ll forgive them, but not me?”
I shrugged. “I expect more of the alpha as anyone would.” His face deepened to sadness and I couldn’t stand to see that look on his face. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. “I forgive you.”
He shook his head. “No you’re right. I should’ve had more control than that. I would’ve never stopped a dominance fight before and I don’t know why I stopped yours. And turning on you was extremely unacceptable. Such an indiscretion would have resulted in a punishment that would have lasted many days.”
I kissed his lips softly and whispered, “We all make mistakes. I’m sure I’ll make a ton in the first years with you. Besides wolf pups are always getting scolded in the wild, so it’s only natural for us to make mistakes.”
He finally smiled and kissed my lips back. “You’re a fascinating person, Artemis. I’m more than lucky to have you as my match.”
I pulled away from him so he wouldn’t see my blush and walked over to Victor who was sitting at a desk on the far wall by the fireplace. I sat down on the fireplace and looked up at him. He smiled at me, set his pencil down and spoke with a voice filled with a fluid French accent, “’ow may I ’elp you mon papillon?’
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It’s my new pet name for you.”
“Okay, well I need to talk to you about something that happened in the ceremony and it’s something no one else can hear.”
His eyes widened with understanding and he nodded his head, speaking without the French accent again. “Francois and Jean Pierre, go and make certain that there are no ears to hear nearby.” Francois and Jean Pierre hurried out of the room together. Victor repositioned his chair so that he was facing me and smiled. “How are you feeling?”
I shrugged. “Overwhelmed, but I’m just trying to deal with it one part at a time.”
He nodded his head thoughtfully. “So, you are over the shock of being told you are a werewolf?”
I nodded my head. “I can’t change what I am and there is no sense in dwelling on something that I cannot change. I am still upset that I am something else besides werewolf and do not know though.”
“Ares only keeps from you what will harm you. He cares very much for your safety.”
I blushed and looked down. “I know.”
Victor leaned forward and whispered, “And how are you feeling about your alpha?”
I sighed and whispered back, “Honestly it’s really weird. I understand him being my alpha and that I am his match, but it seems wrong to feel so strongly for him. And the whole mate thing is just too much to think about so I try not to.”
Victor tapped his chin thoughtfully. “So, you feel strongly for him and believe you should not because you have only known him a few days?” I nodded my head and Victor smiled. “That is easily fixed. No one will judge you for your feelings towards him because legend tells that a matched pair is instantly in love. Besides, who would argue that being in love is a bad thing?”
“My father.”
Victor hissed. “Your father is a stupid man. Forget him. He would put such vile concepts into your head. Sweet papillon, your feelings are just that, your feelings. Do not let others decide how you should feel. If you hate Ares, then hate him and tell him. But if you love Ares, then love him and tell him. Love is a wonderful thing, little déesse. Do not waste it.”
I sighed. “Are you going to tell me what the last thing you called me means?”
“Déesse means Goddess. If I wanted to be more accurate I would call you déesse lunaire.”
I smiled. “Moon Goddess, right?” He nodded his head. “Most languages have a few words that sound similar. I figured lunaire was like lunar.”
Victor nodded his head happily. “Perhaps I will teach you some French.”
Ares scoffed from behind us. “No thank you.”
I jumped at his voice, not realizing he was standing there. I stared at Victor’s chest and asked, “How long have you been standing there?”
He replied, “When you asked what the last thing he called you meant. Why? Were you talking about me?”
I looked up at him with my smart ass remark on the tip of my tongue and froze. His face was openly fearful and sad. “We were talking about you, but nothing you need to worry about. Actually Victor was helping me.”
Ares looked at Victor suspiciously. “Are you trying to stake a claim?”
Victor put a hand to his chest with his mouth open in an O shape trying to look innocent and shocked. “Moi?! Of course not!”
Ares snarled. “Because if you are, then I’ll be forced to fight you.”
Victor laughed softly. “You have been away too long mon ami. I would never think of trying to do such a thing. She is yours as you are hers and I would not dream of interfering.”
Ares sighed obviously relieved and smiled. “Thank you. I do not want to imagine how difficult it would be to kill you.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “It would be impossible because you wouldn’t be able to do it.”
I waved my hands at them. “Enough. Let’s not discuss something that won’t happen.”
Ares stood a little ways from us to make a triangle of our group. Jean Pierre and Francois walked in and bowed. “All is clear,” they said in unison.
Victor nodded his head. “Good, now you and the wolf twins go monitor so new ears do not wander close.” Francois and Jean Pierre bowed again and walked out of the room. Koda and Matt bowed to Victor then to Ares and walked out. Victor turned to me and smiled. “Now, begin from the beginning.”
I inhaled and described to him the way the king had looked when every bit of new information hit him and the final look that I swore was hostility. Victor nodded his head as I spoke and then sighed when I finished. I whispered, “If I’m wrong then I’m wrong, but that’s how I felt and what I saw.”
Victor shook his head. “You are not wrong per se, but if this is true then it is a bad thing indeed.”
Ares groaned. “So you think she’s right?”
Victor nodded his head. “He has been searching for a way to increase his power. I think we should heed this as a warning to keep Artemis guarded at all times.”
Ares frowned and I could see his anger building. “Do you think he will try something?”
Victor rubbed his temples. “I don’t know. I don’t think he would risk a full out assault for her because the wolves are still important to us. But he hasn’t been king for so many years because he’s stupid. He’s a smart man. He might try something discreetly.”
Ares nodded his head and reached his hand out towards me. I swallowed quickly, knowing that as soon as I touched him his power would wash over me. I slowly reached out and took his hand and then frowned. Nothing happened. He smiled at me. “I can control my powers when I think about it.”
I smiled and looked at the ground. “I’m sorry.”
He tilted my chin up and looked into my eyes with such a serious face that I couldn’t turn away. “I will protect you
. You know that, right?” I nodded my head and his anger began to build again. “No one will take you from me.”
I whispered, “Damn, and here I thought I was going to get an out.”
A small smirk tilted up one corner of his mouth. “Even if you ran of your own free will, I would find you. You’re mine.”
I put a hand on each side of his neck just below his chin and pulled him down to me. “And you are mine.” I stood on tiptoe and kissed his lips hard. He responded by putting one hand on the back of my head and one around my waist to pull me against him. Our kiss deepened until I heard Victor clear his throat. I had forgotten he was even there. I blushed and pulled away. “Sorry Victor.”
Victor laughed. “Do not apologize. You did nothing wrong. I will be leaving to my room now. Jean Pierre and Francois will come to you in the morning, Ares.” He stood up beside me.
Ares frowned. “We need to discuss our plan…”
Victor waved his hand interrupting Ares. “Later. I am tired and need rest. Tomorrow, let your guards take Artemis out to enjoy the town, and we will discuss business then.” Victor bent down and kissed my cheek softly. “Good night mon papillon. May your dreams be as sweet as you are.” He left the room in the floating gait vampires had.
Koda and Matt came back in the room smiling at us. I asked, “I take it that I don’t get to take a walk tonight?”
Ares shook his head and kissed my lips softly. “Not tonight, sweetheart.” He dropped my hand slowly and walked to the bathroom. The click of the lock echoed in the still room.
Koda scoffed, breaking the silence. “What pissed him off?”
I walked over to the bed and bent down to get inside my bag. “Someone wants me and he is afraid that they might attack you to get me.” I grabbed my favorite pair of pajama pants that were covered in pictures of a wolf staring at you with the line, “Bark Off” under his feet. I reached farther in and grabbed the night shirt that matched it. I started to undress to put them on when I remembered Koda and Matt. I sighed. I’ll have to get used to indecent exposure eventually. I stripped my jeans and t-shirt off and put the pajamas on. When I turned around Koda and Matt were staring at me in shock. I frowned. “What?”
Matt smiled. “You changed in front of us?”
I shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”
Ares walked out of the bathroom and frowned at us. “What’s going on?”
Koda pointed at me. “She changed in front of us.”
Ares frowned. “You changed clothes in front of them?”
I shrugged. “I’ll be naked a lot in front of them if I keep changing to my wolf form and besides I had a bra and underwear on and was facing away from them.”
I folded the dress and set it on the bedside table to return to Madeleine. Ares was speaking quietly to Koda and Matt so I hopped up on the bed and pulled one of the pillows down to lay my head on. I felt the bed move, but stayed staring at the bedroom door. Koda stood in front of me and waved his hands at me. “Move over bed hog.”
I frowned. “What?”
He sighed. “We’re a pack and a pack sleeps together. We did it last night. Now move over.”
I smiled. “So this must have looked really awkward when it was just the three of you?”
Ares nodded his head. “Yes, there were many questions floating around.”
I backed up on the bed until I touched someone’s body and repositioned my head on my pillow. Koda took his shirt off and climbed onto the bed facing away from me. I felt someone at my feet and sat up to see Matt along the bottom of the bed. I frowned. “Why does Matt always have to sleep down there?”
Koda turned his head and body so he could see me. “It’s a pecking order thing.”
I shook my head. “Come on. At least trade every night.”
Koda frowned. “You don’t want me to sleep beside you?” Ares growled softly and Koda shook his head. “You know what I meant Ares.”
“It has nothing to do with who it is, it’s just not fair that he has to sleep at our feet all the time. Tonight you can sleep here Koda, but tomorrow Matt gets to sleep up here.”
Ares asked, “Are you going to try to make me sleep at the foot of the bed too?”
I shrugged. “Why shouldn’t you? We’re all a pack, right? And that means that your pack mates wouldn’t try to make a move on me anyway. Right? So then you should be a gracious alpha and sleep at the foot of the bed every third night.”
Ares frowned and Matt laughed. “Oh I love this’n.”
I smiled at him and rolled over to face Ares for a second. “Am I overstepping boundaries?”
Ares kissed my lips softly. “Definitely, but for you, I will concede this issue to you. We will rotate sleeping patterns, except for you. You must stay at the center of us.”
I frowned. “Because you’re worried about someone trying to get me?”
Koda leaned over us. “It’s a lot harder to take someone from the center of the pile than the outside.”
I sighed and nodded my head. “Fine.” I kissed Ares’ lips one more time and rolled over to lie on my back. Ares and Koda spooned themselves to me and Matt wrapped himself around us all. The heat started to become too much, but I quickly fell asleep to the sound of my pack’s breathing.
~~~~
Chapter Ten
As Victor had instructed, Ares left early the next morning to strategize with Victor and the twin vampires while Koda and Matt took me out to explore Paris. We took a limo from the mansion to the heart of the town nearest the Eiffel Tower. It was a three hour drive from the winery, so we walked everywhere once in town. The shops were cute and I bought a few souvenir shirts with the money I had taken from Darren. We also ate at a lovely outside diner. Koda ordered snails just so we could look at them. As we walked from the diner towards the Eiffel Tower, I felt someone watching us and looked around, but there were too many people looking at us for me to be certain. My purple eyes didn’t help our tourist looks, but Matt spoke fluent French so we were left alone and didn’t have to ask for directions. I moved closer to Koda when I still felt the threatening presence nearby. Koda looked down at me with the smile he had had on all day, but quickly vanished into a frown when he saw my face. “What’s wrong?”
I whispered, “Someone’s watching us.”
Koda looked around and smiled. “There are many people watching us.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s…it’s like I can taste their aggression, their threat.”
Matt sniffed the air and sighed. “There are too many bloodsuckers living in this city for me to be certain, but I can sense a little of the aggression she is speaking of.”
Koda rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe we should go back.”
I groaned. “Dammit. And we’re so close.” I looked longingly up at the Eiffel Tower and sighed. “Alright, let’s go back.”
We turned around and started down the road towards the other town we had started from. Matt pulled out a cell phone and spoke quickly in French. He whispered, “The driver is still at the town waiting for us.”
I nodded my head and tried to breathe slower. We turned down another road which was nearly deserted and walked faster. We were almost to the end when three people stepped into the alley, blocking our path. Koda pushed me behind him and Matt pressed himself against my back. Koda asked, “What do you want?” I peeked around Koda’s arm so I could see what was happening.
The three men continued to walk towards us and I watched their feet, but they didn’t float like the vampires. The man in the center spoke in a deep voice, “You know what we want. Just hand her over and no one dies.”
Koda growled. “You’re pack! You can’t betray us!”
The man shrugged. “The leeches pay higher, and besides, after we kill you no one will know what happened.”
Koda took a step forward and I grabbed his hand. He spun around and stared at me in shock. “Koda, please don’t. I don’t want you to die.”
Koda snarled. “If I let them take you I
might as well die! You are my pack and what they will do to you will make you wish you were dead.”
The man laughed deeply. “Oh, we’ll be extra nice to the little pup. Won’t we men?”
The other men nodded their heads, smiling wickedly. I swallowed hard and stepped back into Matt’s arms. Koda stepped forward and exhaled. The two men, who hadn’t spoken, ran forward and started attacking Koda. Koda dodged and countered their attacks faster than I could keep track of. Grunts and cracking sounds made me cringe and hope Koda was alright. I watched in amazement as Koda grabbed the smallest man and threw him at the man who had spoken originally. The impact was as loud as a car crash, as their bodies slammed to the ground. Koda grabbed the last man’s throat and squeezed tight.
I started to move forward to stop him, but Matt put his arm around my chest and whispered, “This is the only way. Either we kill them now, or Ares will order us to kill them later. They have admitted to trying to kidnap you, the Prince’s mate. It is unacceptable.”
I watched in horror as Koda dug his fingers in and ripped out the front of the man’s throat, exposing bone. The man fell to the ground convulsing and the other men stared in shock. Koda reached into his pocket and pulled out a long black bag. He opened the bag to expose a silver stake inside. Making sure not to touch it himself, he drove the stake into the convulsing man’s body then yanked it back out. The body stopped twitching and his veins turned black. The two men who had been watching started to get up, but Matt let me go and ran over to them. He grabbed them by their throats and mimicked the attack Koda had done reaching into his own pocket to take out a similar black bag. I stared in shock at the three dead men with their throats ripped out, holes in their chests and black veins lying in the alley. Koda and Matt took out black handkerchiefs and wiped the blood off their stakes. When done, they carefully closed the bags and put them back in their pockets.
Song of The Moon Artemis Lupine Page 25
