“What are you thinking?” Jackson asked.
“I think I might be hungry,” I said, realizing that it was true. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d felt hunger.
Jackson grinned. “You know, I am, too. For some reason, I wasn’t until now. Did that have something to do with your forest?”
I grinned. “The forest puts someone in a state of stasis—forever content.” The moment the words passed my lips, I no longer felt like smiling. Stasis, the word brought me no joy.
“Do you like pizza?” he asked.
Though the definitions flooded my mind, I had no reference point to understand what it would taste like, so I just said, “I love it.”
Chapter Eleven
Artemis
The moment I stepped out of Jackson’s personal vehicle, the unmistakable notes of a lyre greeted me. Even though night had fallen, the area around Jackson’s “pack house” was illuminated like it was caught in an eternal dusk. Small lanterns pushed up around the meadow floor, lighting upon the evenly shorn grass and the base of a few interspersed trees.
Jackson looked up from where he was holding a stack of thin, wide boxes that held our pizzas. The aroma of the food wafted through the warm night air, giving me a burst of nostalgia for the similar smelling apmhiphontes cakes citizens of Athens used to leave for me on festival days. Jackson lifted his chin. “Everything okay?”
“Yes.” I nodded, turning in the direction of the lyre music. “I’m just appreciating the song.”
“You’re in luck tonight--my neighbors usually blast house techno.” Lifting out the pizzas, he shut the door to his truck and came around. His eyes widened and lips parted. “Oh, uh, it’s like this electronic music that is very repetitive.”
The definition that flooded my mind for the word “electronic” didn’t make any logical sense to me when applied to the creation of music, so I just nodded. “I’m going to go on a walk to gather my thoughts.”
Jackson took a step toward me, so close that the warm air from the pizza wafted over my face and made my mouth water. “I’ll go with you if you want,” he said before his gaze dropped to the food containers in his hands and then back up to me. “Just let me set these down.”
“Not right now, mortal,” I said with a smile. “I need to gather my thoughts alone. I’ll be in soon to eat . . . pizza.” I hoped that I pronounced the word right. Judging by the absence of thinly veiled amusement in Jackson’s expression, I must have.
“All right. See you inside.” He nodded and turned toward the house but immediately spun back. “There are video cameras around the property, but I’ll have Jamie turn off the ones in the yard, so you’ll have some privacy.” He started to turn again before looking back once more. “The ones around the perimeter will still be on.”
“Thank you,” I said, happy that I now knew what a video camera was and could understand fully what he was telling me.
I waited until Jackson entered his front door before walking into the small clearing around the house. Following the plucking lyre music, I wandered over to where a small oak spread its branches. My brother Apollo grinned down from the branch lowest to the ground.
Even in the deep shadows under the tree, Apollo seemed to glow, as if a light shone only on him. We looked very alike in our faces and complexions, but he was nearly twice my girth and had a wealth of golden hair on top of his head. He smiled at me while both of his hands moved over a golden lyre nestled in his lap. His tune was upbeat and jaunty, one fit for dancing to. Looking over from where he perched on the branch, he lifted his chin and sang in his clear, melodic tenor, “Did you really think that you could get away . . . with visiting my oracle today . . . without my hearing that you’re back to stay.”
“Back for the day,” I said as I climbed up to sit beside him.
One of his golden brows rose, and though his look was reproachful, I could see the humor in his umber eyes. He continued to play as we both sat there, looking out at the white and red lights of vehicles passing. Eventually, he spoke. “Most of the pantheon are placing bets on how long it will take you to break your vow with this werewolf, Jackson Hunter.”
“What was your wager?” I asked while curling my legs under me.
His dark gaze slid over. “I didn’t make one.”
I gave him a look that I hoped conveyed how much I believed his ridiculous claim.
His mouth twisted. “I already lost.”
“It hasn’t even been two full days since I met Jackson.”
“By my count, it’s been quite a number of centuries of drudgery plus two days with an irresistible werewolf who considers you his mate,” Apollo challenged as his fingers worked faster on the strings. “That seems to amount to a different sum to me, and this is a very changed world you’ve entered, my dear sister.”
“I’ve come to understand that . . . wait just a moment.” I slipped off the branch, crossed a few paces and turned toward my twin brother. “If you just heard that I left the oracle, how did all of the pantheon have time to make this bet? Furthermore, how did you have time to already lose?” I was ready to be very offended.
“Your maidens hunted me down in Tokyo to tell me that you’d left,” he said with a shrug. “And then we crossed through your forest, stopped in Olympus to place my wager, and then headed to Los Angeles. That was when I got the call from my prophet. Your maiden Misandria was already here, attempting to track down your location. We used her information and Christina’s prophecy to figure out where Jackson Hunter lives.”
All around the clearing, shadows separated from the house and yard. My maidens had long ago learned to hunt in silence, but this was impressive even for them. Likely, the light swooshing sound of personal vehicles passing nearby discombobulated my senses more than I knew. Twenty of my maidens stood there. Algea stood forefront with Misandria standing a few feet behind her. Both looked straight at me, their expressions hard. All my maidens wore their knee-length chitons with their bows strapped to their backs. I’d only spent a day in the modern world, but even after so short a time, their clothing seemed strange before the contemporary looking landscape.
“What have I done to offend you, Algea?” I asked.
“You plan to sully yourself and your vows with that man,” Misandria called, speaking out of turn.
I looked to my beloved human friend. She stood ramrod straight with her hands clenched at her sides. Her lower lip shook, and I could see so much hurt in her crestfallen expression. Guilt hit me in the stomach like a physical blow.
Beside me, my brother began plucking his lyre. Obviously, the great Apollo believed that this was a moment that needed musical accompaniment.
As hard as the words were to say, I owed them honesty. “I haven’t made my decision yet.”
“Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and the moon, daughter of Zeus and Leto, will never return to her forest refuge.” Apollo’s words had the ring of prophecy, and the crestfallen expressions that fell over my maiden’s faces confirmed that they heard the prophecy in Apollo’s words as well.
Misandria broke away from the maidens and ran through the yard, her dark hair flowing out behind her.
“Wait,” I called as I raced after, but she ignored me. I grabbed for her, but she was too fast. At the edge of the embankment, she leapt. In the glow of the moonlight, I saw her land at the base of the sediment cliff, roll with her landing, and jump back to her feet. I was about to chase after her when a hand wrapped gently around my shoulder.
“What would you even say to her if you caught her?”
I turned to find Algea standing beside me. She’d pulled her moss hair back in a way that somewhat disguised that it wasn’t human hair, but there was no disguising her tree bark skin. She frowned, and fissures cracked around her eyes and across her brow.
I turned back to Misandria to see her sprinting up the road, dodging traffic as she went. Clearing my throat, I mumbled, “I was going to apologize.”
“Do not apol
ogize for wanting a better life. You have lived for us for centuries, perhaps it is time that you started to live for yourself.”
“I was considering breaking my vow—I never once pondered staying away from the forest.” My heart fluttered like a bird, trying to escape my ribcage.
“You weren’t contemplating it, yet.” Algea sighed. “Obviously, you will.”
“My brother’s prophecies are vague and misleading at best.” Even as I said the words, I knew that this prophecy left very little room for interpretation. I cleared my throat. “I have not made up my mind on whether I will stay any duration at all in the mortal world. What if it is a mistake to be here at all?”
“You should make mistakes. That is what living is all about, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure that I would know. You’re not . . . angry with me?”
She closed her eyes. “My heart is breaking at the thought of losing you. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to be happy.”
“You’re not losing me—I have no plans to stay away.”
She brushed back my hair with rough fingers. “Perhaps you should plan for it, regardless, goddess. If you want me to lead them, I will. I’ve always felt the freedom to leave and chose to stay, as have all your maidens—you should have this choice, too.”
As anathema as the idea of leaving my forest forever was, the thought of Algea taking over for me didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to. Algea had been a leader among dryads before she sought refuge in the forest and had almost immediately rose to the position of my first maiden. She was the person I trusted most in this world. “You have always been my sister in all but blood,” I told her. “If I somehow chose to leave the forest, there is no one who I would entrust this sacred duty to but you.”
“Then I will protect the forest if you do not return.”
“If that happens, I will never pay you the disrespect of taking the reign back unless you ask me to.”
“And she never will ask you to,” my brother said as he stepped up beside us.
Algea bowed low and immediately excused herself, seeming in quite a hurry to be away from my brother, and I could guess why.
He raised his hand to his lyre and turned his head slowly to watch Algea march away. She didn’t look back at him, not once.
“Of all the women to fall in love with . . . ” I whispered when I knew that my first maiden was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear me.
“I am an artist, dear sister. It’s almost a requirement that I toil in emotional agony. Do you think that she’ll let me hunt with her when you’re no longer there?” His tone was flippant, but there was a tension in his voice that hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.
To try to coax him out of his strange mood, I teased, “Not if you’re mooning after her.”
He gave me a look and lifted his sandy brows. “I am the sun god. You are the moon goddess, in charge of mooning and such. And, I have never said a romantic word to her.”
“You wrote a ballad to her beauty and summoned all nine of your muses to sing it to her.” I raised my eyes to the sky, as if I was trying to summon patience with my obtuse brother, when I was truly just trying to brighten his mood. Sighing, I turned back to him. “I will return to the forest when my task is over.”
He shook his head slowly in a way that plainly said that I wouldn’t. “I cannot see your future clearly, but I do not see you returning.” His dark gaze cut over to me. “I really hope that means that you will not be returning because you have fallen in love with this werewolf and chosen to stay. I really hope it means that. Perhaps it would be best if I stayed with you on this hunt to lend my bow.”
“No,” I said, flatly. “The legend on how I defeated the Nemean Lion will not include the line, ‘and then her little brother shot the beast’.”
He gave me a smirk that looked a little forced. “But I think it’s about time I head in to meet your werewolf future lover.”
The thought of Jackson being my future lover sent a thrill of tingling nervousness through me, and I realized that no matter what came of this situation in the end, I wanted Jackson. I desired him in a way that broke all rules and vows. I must truly be my father’s daughter after all.
When I didn’t respond, Apollo started walking toward the house.
“No, brother,” I called out, stopping him. Jackson and his pack will have to meet my family in stages, and you, my reprobate brother, will be one of the later stages. If I need you on this hunt, I swear to you that I will contact you.”
“If you wish.” He tilted his head. “But, I have a sudden urge to hunt this Nemean Lion myself. You’ve never been averse to a little sibling rivalry, have you sister?” He shrugged and vanished.
Chapter Twelve
Jackson
Sitting around a long, worn wooden table, I took a big bite of pizza. I’d gone a little overboard with the pizza choice. The moment I’d suggested it, I’d regretted my words. Just minutes after the Oracle of Los Angeles basically called me scum unworthy of being in the presence of the goddess let alone having her stay at my house, I’d suggested that her first meal out of her enchanted forest be pizza takeout. To compensate, I’d bought the most ridiculously expensive pizza in LA. It was Chicago-style, flavorful with spices on the sauce, cheese, and meats. Even the peppers and onions burst with flavor.
The expression on her face was worth the couple benjamins I’d paid for several pies.
The words Luca had said in our brief phone conversation outside the oracle’s house played through my mind once more, and I had to look away from the goddess. I should have told her; I knew I should have told her. But still, I knew I wasn’t going to.
Luca had sounded angry on the phone. “You’re never going to believe what happened,” he’d gritted out.
“Report,” I’d commanded, having no patience left in me.
“She came and left, and we didn’t see a fucking thing.”
“How do you know she was there?”
“She left a note,” the words dripped with fury.” It was on the windshield under the wiper. There was no scent trail anywhere around it. She must have driven up to the van, left the note, jumped into her car and left.”
“Did you have eyes on it?”
“No, Michael had gone to take a leak. He’d been gone for less than five minutes.”
“Luca, What did the note say?”
The phone had gone silent for a few seconds then, and I’d started to wonder if we’d disconnected when he said, “It said: I will trade you one goddess for twelve werewolves.”
“Is this your first time trying pizza?” Jamie asked Artemis, pulling me from my thoughts.
Artemis too seemed to startle, waking up from her piece of pizza to stare at him. Her gaze darted around as if she just noticed for the first time that werewolves surrounded her on all sides.
Guy had thankfully joined us; he sat subdued, munching slowly. When he noticed me looking, he gave me the slightest smile. I hoped it meant he’d regretted the dumbass move he’d almost made that morning.
Jamie leaned in toward Artemis’, his shock of blue hair falling to one side. “The pizza—is it your first time trying it?” he asked again with a huge smile on his lips, but he didn’t wait for her to answer before continuing. “You just seem fascinated with it. Um, I was wondering about your—well, I guess I’d say your family. Aren’t you guys living on Mount Olympus, because didn’t Jackson find you in the Santa Monica Mountains? Do you guys all live in the Santa Monica Mountains? Is it like the new Mount Olympus?”
Still holding up her slice, she shook her head. Pizza sauce dotted her chin as she brushed against it, but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Oh. So are all the myths true from all of the religions, or is it just the ancient Greeks? And—”
“Jamie, shut up,” Becca said, throwing a mushroom at him.
Artemis opened her mouth, looking like she was going to answer when my phone rang. All four of them turned worried expression
s on me.
“They’re closing up the zoo for the night,” Luca said when I answered it. “We haven’t seen another sign of her—but we’ll keep looking.”
“Are you checking the rooftops?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Good, stay at it.”
“She didn’t show,” I said to Artemis as I stowed my phone.
She set down her slice. “She probably spotted your men.”
“Perhaps, but I doubt it.”
Around the table, the other wolves ate in silence. They could hear both sides of the conversation with Luca and could make of it what they wanted. However, I knew they wouldn’t contradict me in front of Artemis. I just had to make sure that none of them could get me alone.
There was no way that I would tell any of them the contents of that note, least of all the goddess. My best guess would be that she would volunteer, and no good would come of playing right into this Nemean lion’s hands.
The moment Artemis finished her slice, I stood from the table. “I’m going to set you up in a room upstairs. You want to come up now or eat another slice?”
She eyed me cautiously but stood from the table. “I should sleep as well.”
I could feel everyone at the table glance at each other, but I ignored them. I wanted to take Artemis’ hand—I wanted to lead her straight to my room. But I didn’t do either. I could be good. I needed to be good.
Instead of leading her down the hallway toward my room, I led her the opposite direction toward one of the guest bedrooms. As I opened the door, I realized what a shitty excuse for a host I truly was. No one had used the room recently—or perhaps ever, and though it looked clean, it had a distinctly musty smell.
“You can’t sleep here,” I said, the moment I stepped inside. “I’m going to give you my room, and I’ll take this one.”
“Jackson.” She grabbed my arm. “I usually sleep on the forest floor or on the branch of an oak tree. You don’t need to worry about my comfort.”
The Virgin Goddess and the Alpha Page 11
