Koda and Matt came back in, 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?”
At the bed, I 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, snarling, 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 I’d worn earlier and set it on the bedside table to return to Madeleine. Ares spoke quietly to Koda and Matt so I hopped up on the bed and pulled one of the pillows down and snuggled in. I felt the bed move, but remained facing the bedroom door. Koda stood in front of me and waved his hands in a shooing motion. “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 lifted a brow. “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. 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. “Fine.” I kissed Ares’ lips one more time and rolled over onto 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 him 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 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 glared at me. “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 smiled 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 attacked 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, eyes wide. 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. The three dead men with their throats ripped out, holes in their chests and black veins, lay 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.
Koda walked back towards me and reached his hand out. I flinched away from him, and he smiled. “It’s alright. They’re dead now.”
I whispered, “You killed them. Why?”
Koda squatted down and stared into my face. “Artemis, they were going to kidnap you. Do you know what they would have done between the time they took you and the time they got you to whoever wanted you?”
I shook my head. “You didn’t have to kill them. Don’t you have werewolf prison or something?”
Koda shook his head. “We kill men who are this dangerous to our packs or they will just come out of prison even angrier than before. If I hadn’t killed them, they would have come back for you. They wouldn’t have stopped until they had you, or they were dead. I couldn’t let them have you.” He extended his hand to me again.
I frowned, but took his hand and let him lead me past the dead men. We were almost to the street when three more men stepped in our way, making us stop. I turned around and gasped. “Koda, there’s more behind us.” Koda turned to the three other men walking behind us. Matt came to stand beside me so that I was in the between him and Koda. I sniffed the air and frowned. “More wolves.”
The men held long hammers with silver heads as they walked towards us. I grabbed Koda’s arm and whispered, “I don’t want you to die for me.”
Koda shook his head. “I won’t let them take you, Artemis.”
I pleaded, “No! Please, Koda.”
Matt grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back against him as the six men circled around us. Koda frowned. “State your intent.”
The six men looked at each other for a few seconds until one of them finally stepped forward. He was tall and muscular and scary. A scar over his right eye made him look even tougher. “We are here for the girl.”
Koda shook his head. “Not going to happen.”
The man smiled. “We are here for the girl and your lives don’t matter. We will kill you and take her.”
Koda leapt forward and attacked the man. They punched and kicked, and I soon realized that Koda knew some type of martial arts. The other man, however, knew some as well. As Koda and the leader fought, the other five men moved forward. Matt started to attack them, but there were too many, and after a minute, three of them held Matt down. Koda punched the leader as hard as he could, knocking him back into Matt, but the leader had recovered and with one of the other men, they grabbed Koda and tackled him to the ground. The last man took his hammer and held it up as if ready to kill them with it. I ran forward and held my hands up in front of them. “Wait!”
The man put his hammer down and the leader asked, “What are you doing? Someone grab her.”
I turned to the leader and spoke in a voice barely audible to human ears, “If I go willingly, will you let them live?”
Koda thrashed on the ground. “No! Artemis! No!”
The leader frowned at me but nodded. “We will knock them out so they can’t follow us, but we won’t kill them.”
Koda got one guy off of him, but the leader pinned him down with a knee to his face. I cringed. “Please! Please don’t hurt them. I’ll go with you, but you have to promise that you will only knock them out and not kill them or hurt them severely.”
The leader turned to the other men and nodded. They all stood up, holding Koda and Matt who were trying to fight. Tears slipped down my face and I whispered, “Tell Ares that I’m sorry, but I can’t let you die.”
Matt shook his head. “No! Artemis, you don’t understand. You don’t know what they’ll do to you!”
I wiped at the tears on my face. “You’ll be alive and that’s all that matters.”
Koda snarled, and his body started to twitch. “If you do anything to her, I will find you all and kill you!”
The leader grinned. “We won’t harm a single hair on her head. Knock him out before he changes!”
The man that was left took out a small black object and walked up behind Koda. He swung the object and hit Koda in the lower back of the head knocking him out instantly. Koda’s body slumped forward and they lowered him to the ground. Matt trashed and snapped his teeth. “No! Artemis!”
I smiled. “You’ll be alright Matt. It’s a small price to pay to keep you alive.”
Matt began twitching, and the man hit him with the black object making Matt’s body go limp. They set him on the ground next to Koda and turned towards me. With all of their eyes on me, I suddenly realized that it may have been smarter to run, but it was too late. The leader grabbed my arm and led me from the alley towards a large black van with tinted windows. “Why do bad guys always drive vans to kidnap people?” I asked myself.
I looked back once at Koda and Matt and let the sobs come. They would live and that’s all that mattered. The leader opened the doors to the van, and I climbed inside. After everyone was in, they drove off in silence. I stared out the window, watching the scenery go by, and hoped I might remember how to get back. The leader who was sitting next to me, frowned. “Why did you come willingly? Did you believe they didn’t have a chance against us?”
My heart ached in my chest. “I don’t know if they could have taken you or not, but I don’t want their deaths on my hands. I’m not important enough to die for.”
The leader huffed and took out a black handkerchief. He held out the handkerchief to me. “Put it on.”
I folded it and wrapped it around my eyes and tied it so that I couldn’t see anything but darkness. I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes, hoping that whatever was in store for me wouldn’t be as bad as I imagined. We drove for hours in silence and then finally stopped. I heard the doors opening and closing and then the blindfold came off. The leader stood in front of me. “Come on. Bathroom break.”
I followed him out of the car and made sure not to make eye contact with any of the other men. They were all wolves and all dominant, which seemed wrong. We were at a gas station. I followed the leader to the side of the building and walked into the bathroom. I shut the door and sighed. What had I done? What are they going to do to me? I went to the bathroom then washed my hands in the sink. I stared at my reflection—at the stranger in the mirror and sighed. Would Ares think I betrayed him? Would he even try to find me? I pictured his furious face when Koda and Matt came back without me. Would he kill Koda and Matt? I clenched my jaw. No, he wouldn’t kill them because they had tried. Would he kill me if he found me? Tears brimmed in my eyes, and I quickly wiped them away. I inhaled deeply and walked out of the bathroom.
The leader asked, “Better?”
I nodded and followed him back to the van.
He climbed in beside me and frowned. “What are you feeling?”
I frowned back at him. “What?”
He shook his head. “I can’t understand your feelings. They’re mixed.”
I glared at him. “Why do you care?”
He sighed. “I know you must think the worst of us, but I swear that I will not harm you. We are just taking you to the leader.”
I frowned. “Who is the leader and why does he want me?”
He shrugged. “We aren’t told those things. We just get our money, a person, and instructions.”
I sighed. “Great.” Could the vampire king be the one kidnapping me? These guys wouldn’t have been told that though. “What’s your name?” I asked the leader.
He smiled. “Jesse.”
“And you’re a wolf?”
His lips thinned.
“Bitten wolf.”
I frowned. “A who?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t know the difference?”
I rubbed my temples. “I only found out that I was a werewolf a few days ago. I’m not really up on the details.”
He gasped at me. “How old are you?”
I sighed. Why did I have to go through this all the time? “I’m eighteen and didn’t change until after…yes, after my eighteenth birthday. I’m pretty sure I changed part way when Ares called me, but we aren’t sure.”
Two men up front gasped and spun around. “Ares!” they exclaimed in unison.
I frowned at them. “How did you know to get me and not know whose I am?”
Jesse blinked at me. “What do you mean whose you are?”
“You really should find out more information before you go on a mission. I’m Artemis Lupine, daughter of Darren, passt genau of Ares.” The van jerked to a stop and everyone stared at me in shock. I frowned. “Didn’t you figure out I was Ares’, when his two pack mates were with me?”
Jesse groaned. “Dammit, no wonder he got the better of me at first. Koda’s a freaking martial arts nut. Shit.”
The man in the front passenger seat asked, “What are we going to do Jesse? We can’t separate a match.”
Jesse snarled. “It’s done. We can’t just go hand her back to Ares and hope he doesn’t kill us. You know him, he’ll kill us before he asks questions. He didn’t get the nickname, ‘God of War’, for being a sweetheart.”
I asked, “Is he really that ruthless?”
Jesse smiled. “You do not understand the ways of the wolf yet. He is ruthless because he must be. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be Prince, and if all of us weren’t we wouldn’t be alive.” I sighed and Jesse frowned, “We’ll need to find a place for the night and figure this all out.”
I turned to him, hopeful. “If you take me back, I’ll make sure Ares doesn’t kill you.”
All of the men laughed. Jesse shook his head. “No. He won’t allow us to live after this.
“Then take me back close by, and I’ll walk. I’ll say I snuck out and they won’t have to know it was you. I don’t even know you guys so I won’t be able to tell them who you are.” I pleaded.
Artemis Lupine- The Complete Series Page 26