I screamed and sat upright. I looked around and realized I was safe in Bret’s bed. He opened one eye and looked at me sleepily. “Dream?” he asked with a yawn. I nodded my head. He pulled me back down and hugged me against him. “’S alright. I’m here.”
I relaxed against him and tried to shake off the bad feeling. I wasn’t sure I was alright. It was just a dream. Darren can’t become a wolf. That’s crazy. I nodded my head making myself firmly believe what I said and closed my eyes.
“Artemis. Artemis honey, wake up,” Bret whispered in my ear.
I groaned. “Five more minutes.”
He laughed softly. “Breakfast is ready.”
I inhaled and smelled bacon and eggs. I licked my lips hungrily and sat up. “Well let’s go!” I jumped out of the bed and jogged to the kitchen. I stopped in the entryway and gasped. “You cleaned?”
He walked past me and nodded his head smiling. “I knew it bothered you, so I cleaned.”
I looked around the immaculate kitchen and smiled. “It’s great Bret! I can’t believe you did such a good job. I’m impressed.”
He bowed at the waist and draped a hand towel across his arm. “A table, m’lady?” I curtsied and walked to the small dining table, where he pulled out a chair for me and I sat down in it. He laid the hand towel across my lap and pushed my seat in.
I inhaled the smell of the delicious looking food and licked my lips. He sat down across from me and nodded his head. I started shoveling food on to my plate and groaned in happiness when I saw the homemade waffles. I drowned all of my food in syrup and butter and started eating. I ate slowly enjoying the food and tasting everything in my mouth and chewing thoroughly. Darren sighed behind me and I growled. I turned around and he smiled at me. “Guess her eating your food slow means she likes it more than mine.”
Bret shrugged and I glared at him mouthing, “Traitor.” He rolled his eyes at me then smiled at Darren. “Come sit down. We just started eating.”
Darren sat down next to Bret and looked at my plate. “I can see that.”
I rolled my eyes at him and kept eating. Darren quietly spooned food on his plate while I started to eat my food faster. Bret cleared his throat. “The wolves were back again.”
Darren stopped moving and stared at me. “What happened?”
I ignored him and kept eating. Bret sighed again. “They were being aggressive to Billy and he shot at them, but he apparently missed. Well Artemis ran out and yelled at them to leave and the head one the?” Bret turned to me. “The alphy?”
I sighed and set my fork down. “The alpha. The alpha male took a step forward and tried to show dominance to me and I did it right back to him. He was contemplating what to do when his two pack mates nudged him and I swear to God he sighed.”
Darren frowned. “Sighed?
I nodded my head. “Yes, he sighed and then he snapped his teeth at me and they left.”
Darren groaned and put his head in his hands. “Oh, no. He snapped his teeth at you?” I nodded my head and he groaned again. “Shit! I knew this would happen one day, but why now. Dammit!”
I stared at him in shock. “What are you going on about?”
He looked up slowly at me and sighed. “Nothing.”
“Why are you being so secretive all of a sudden?” I asked angrily. Darren ignored me, eating more of his food. Apparently this was a battle I couldn’t win right now. “Fine, be that way. I’ll be leaving after I finish eating.” Bret started to eat faster and I waved my hand at him. “I’m going alone.”
He sighed. “You shouldn’t go alone with the wolves out.”
Darren scoffed. “She’ll be fine. They won’t hurt her.” We both stared at Darren and he shrugged. “She showed him she was dominant. If he wanted to hurt her, he would have done it then.”
I nodded my head. “He’s right Bret. Wolves aren’t smart enough to plan a later attack.” Darren scoffed again and rolled his eyes. He saw us looking at him and resumed eating. I shoveled the rest of my food into my mouth and walked to the plugged in cell phone. I waved at Bret and Darren. “I have a cell phone if you need to reach me. I’ll be back for lunch.” I handed Darren the piece of paper I had written the phone number on.
Darren frowned at my bandaged hand. “What happened to your hand?”
I pulled my hand away. “Nothing.”
I ran out of the house carrying the phone in my pocket. I ran through the town ignoring the younger boys’ calls and the stares of Billy and his group of friends. I knew by now he had told them what a freak I was for being able to communicate with the wolves. Boys are so dumb sometimes. I knew I would definitely have no friends when Bret left and that actually made me sad. I sighed and increased my speed, pushing my limits to get to the lake as fast as possible. I finally got to the lake, thankful to find no one there. It was too early in the morning for anyone to want to try to swim. I sat down on the dock at the very end so I could dangle my legs in the water. I took out the cell phone and the piece of paper with Koda’s number on it and took a deep cleansing breath. I quickly punched in the numbers and hit send.
The phone rang four times before someone answered. “Hello?”
I stopped breathing for a second then exhaled. “Koda?”
Koda sighed. “Artemis.”
I nodded my head then realized he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
He laughed. “Only four people have this number and two are with me and the other is a man so it kind of narrowed it down. What’s up? Are you alright?”
I sighed. “No, I need to ask you some questions.”
He was silent on the other end for a full two minutes before finally talking again. “Ask and I’ll see if I can answer or not.”
“Why am I dreaming about your friend?” I asked quickly before I lost my courage.
“What are you talking about?” He asked softly.
“I’ve been having these weird dreams and the man that was with you has been in them. I have had them for the past week and a half.”
He whispered, “Exactly how many days?”
I thought back to when I had the first one and answered, “Ten days.”
He groaned. “Shit. How do you know it was my friend and not just you dreaming about someone who looks like him?”
I asked, “Is his name Ares?”
Koda went silent again. I couldn’t even hear him breathing. His voice boomed back making me pull the receiver away from my ear. “What happened in the dreams?! Tell me every little detail!”
“Calm down,” I said into the phone.
He growled. “I don’t have time to be calm. Now answer my questions.” I quickly explained my dreams to him. He groaned softly. “Hold on one minute.”
“Alright,” I said with a sigh. He talked quietly away from the phone, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I heard a man with a thick British accent talking back to him, but still couldn’t understand what they were saying. I kicked my feet around in the water as I grew impatient.
Koda came back on. “Alright. I can’t really say anything to you except that they are just dreams.”
“Why are you being so secretive with me?”
“It’s your father’s fault. If he had told you about us, there wouldn’t be a problem. Shit, you would probably be with us right now.” I felt my breath whoosh out of my lungs and tried to think about what he had just said. Koda grunted. “Shit. That was too much information.”
I inhaled and asked, “Is your friend’s name Ares?”
Koda groaned. “Yes, that’s all I’m going to say though.”
I nodded my head. “Fine. Well I did have another dream last night as well.”
Koda sighed in exasperation. “Tell me.” I explained the dream about my father and he sighed again. “You’ve been in contact with wild wolves.”
It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyways. “Well, sort of. There was a group of three wolves at the lake and I swore one of them looked just like the wolf in my d
reams that turned into Ares and I just felt compelled to go to him. Well his other two pack mates pushed him away. Then this morning the same group of wolves were being aggressive and I showed the alpha a sign that I was dominant and he was debating what to do when his pack mates nudged him and I swear I heard him sigh. Then they left.”
Koda scoffed. “He sighed. You know it’s not very smart to show an alpha dominance when you aren’t.”
“What should I have done? Let him eat Bret’s friend?” I said defensively.
He laughed. “It might have been funny.”
“The asshole would have deserved it. He thought I was communicating with the wolves. How stupid is that?”
“Look Artemis. I can’t really tell you much and I’m sorry for that. I do have a feeling that we will be seeing you soon though.”
“I have two more questions.”
He groaned. “What?”
“Do you know what the white mist is and if it is going to come here?” I asked.
He exhaled. “You have to keep this completely secret. Even from you friend, okay?”
“Okay.”
He whispered quickly, “I do know what the mist is and I promise it will not come for your town and you will be perfectly safe. Consider the wolves and your dreams a good omen.”
I sighed as the heavy weight was lifted from my shoulders. “Okay. One more thing. Why does silver burn my skin?”
Koda spoke in another language fast and loud. I assumed he was cussing, but couldn’t be sure. “I can’t say anything. Just don’t touch silver. Did any of it get in your blood?”
“No, just burned my palm.”
“Good. Don’t worry Artemis. Soon you will be experiencing a lot of different things. I’ll see you soon.”
I yelled, “How soon?”
“A few weeks probably. We’ll find out for sure next week.”
“What happens next week?” I asked.
He laughed. “Can’t tell you. Bye Artemis.”
“Wait! Why did you know that we had to leave Tahoe and how did you get out okay?”
“Bye, Artemis,” he said again.
“Bye, Koda.” I pressed the end button and stared at the phone in my hand. Why was everyone so secretive? I hate secrets and surprises. I remembered that Koda had said they would be coming soon and felt butterflies flip around in my stomach at the thought of seeing Ares again. “Just what I need, a crush on some older guy who won’t be interested in me.” I walked slowly back home and didn’t care how late it was when I got there. It would only take me ten minutes at the most to get home anyway. Stupid small town.
I heard someone walking behind me and stopped and turned around. Billy stood smiling behind me. “What is it Billy?”
“I’m sorry I overreacted today,” he said softly.
I scoffed. “Right. Calling me the wolf whisperer was just a small overreaction.”
“I just said I was sorry.” He started to move closer to me and I held my hand up.
“I thought you said we couldn’t see each other anymore Billy? Why the change?”
He smiled. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to be away from you.”
I remembered what Bret had said about him being a horndog and asked, “Is it me or my body you don’t want to be away from?”
He stopped moving and the smile left his lips. “What’s that supposed to mean? I haven’t tried anything with you.”
I shrugged. “From what I’ve heard you think mostly with your smaller head and you’re just being nice today so you can pressure me tomorrow.”
Billy snarled. “That bastard will say anything to keep you to himself! I swear I am going to kick his white ass!” He started walking quickly down the road to Bret’s house. I knew I should stop him, but this was actually a fight I wanted to see. We arrived at Bret’s house quickly and Billy yelled from the yard, “Come out come out wherever you are! You pussy ass liar!”
I stared in shock at the angry Billy who was somehow more attractive now. Bret walked out of the house with no shirt on smiling. “Hey bro, what’s up?”
Billy shook his head. “Don’t call me bro! You tell Artemis the truth right now or I’m going to whip your ass!”
Bret shrugged smiling smugly. “I did tell her the truth! I’m better than you.”
Billy looked at me. “You didn’t tell me that part.”
I shrugged. “It didn’t seem important at the time.”
Billy turned around and glared at Bret again. “Tell her the truth!”
Bret smiled. “You aren’t better than me. That’s the truth.”
Billy charged up the steps and slammed into Bret, knocking him down on the ground. Billy was one of the strongest football players on the team. I had seem him bench pressing and couldn’t even add up all the weights that were on the bar. Billy started punching Bret in the face. Bret shoved Billy backwards and jumped up. Darren walked calmly out of the house and past the fighting boys to stand next to me. “What’s going on?”
“Not much. Bret said Billy was a horndog and that he is better and now they are fighting,” I said.
Darren smiled. “So, they’re fighting over you?”
I frowned and then thought about it. “Shit! Now you tell me!” I ran over to the boys and threw myself between them. Bret threw a punch that barely missed my face. “Hey!” I yelled as I ducked down. Bret at least had the decency to blush. “Look, I didn’t really think this through. Now stop fighting.”
Billy shook his head. “Not until he tells you the truth!”
“Fine. Artemis he isn’t a horndog. He’s a freaking spineless virgin!”
I stared at Bret in shock. “Why is that a bad thing? I’m a virgin.”
Bret’s face fell. “No, it’s different for girls.”
“You’re one too.” I said quietly, nervous of his answer.
Bret sighed. “No, I’m not.”
Billy smiled smugly. “He’s been telling you that so he had a better chance of screwing you.”
Bret punched at Billy and I kicked Bret in the shin. “We are done Bret!” I ran into the house and grabbed my bag. I walked out of the house furious and shaking with anger. “I should let my dad kick your ass!”
Darren smiled and waved bye to me. I walked away with Billy walking beside me silently. We got halfway through town and I stopped walking, turning to look at Billy. “Why didn’t you tell me about Bret?”
“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey Artemis, Bret’s really just trying to get in your pants, but he is lying to you to do it’?”
I smiled. “Yeah that would have worked.”
He scoffed. “Right, and then I wouldn’t have him as a friend anymore because I broke the guy code.”
I rolled my eyes. “The guy code. Stupid!” I realized I had no clue who Bret had slept with or anything. “Billy, who has Bret slept with?”
He cringed. “You sure you want me to answer that?”
I gasped. “Skanzilla! That’s why she is always hanging on him and hates me so bad. Because he’s been screwing her! That bastard!” I felt my body heating up more and groaned as I fell to the ground and started convulsing.
Billy held me down and whispered, “Breathe Artemis. Come on, stop the seizure.”
I gritted my teeth and focused on calming myself down. The twitching finally stopped and I exhaled. The doctors always thought I was lying when I told them that I could stop the seizures, but obviously they were wrong. I looked up at Billy and asked, “How’d you know?”
He smiled. “Bret told us in case he wasn’t there and you needed help.”
I smiled back at him. “Thanks. You can let me up now.”
He kissed my lips softly. “I don’t want to let you up.”
I suddenly felt pinned and my body started to heat up again. I thrashed against him, but he held me down. I screamed in anger and fear of being trapped and pushed against him lifting him up off the ground. TRAPPED! I fought with my mind to make it realize that I wasn’t trapped, but nothing wor
ked.
Darren appeared over the top of me and saw the fear in my eyes. “Billy get off of her!” Billy stepped away and Darren backed up too.
I sat up slowly and slowed my breathing down so I wouldn’t hyperventilate. Billy shook his head. “What happened?”
Darren rubbed the back of his neck, a mirror of Bret’s nervous habit. “She got scared and well…its hard to explain.”
“Sorry.” I said, embarrassed.
“Are you okay now?” Billy asked. I nodded my head and he smiled. “Good. Now let’s go.” I let him grab my hand and pull me up to a standing position. Once I had my balance I kissed his cheek. He smiled wider. “What was that for?”
I smiled back. “For being understanding about my…uh…stuff.”
He shrugged. “You’re too much of a catch to let a few minor things bother me.”
I started walking away with Billy when Darren cleared his throat. I turned around to glare at him. “What?”
“When will you be home?”
I shrugged. “Why do you care?”
He frowned and spoke in his ‘don’t talk back’ tone, “Artemis.”
I sighed. “Tonight. You and I have things to talk about anyway.”
He cringed. “What stuff?”
I smiled. “Things Koda and I were discussing.”
He growled. “What did he tell you?! And when did you talk to him?”
I shrugged and turned away, dragging Billy along with me. “Interesting things. Bye Darren.”
Billy walked with me as I skipped like an elementary school girl. “What was that about?”
I smiled and started walking instead of skipping. “Apparently my dad has been withholding information about my past so I have to make him sweat a little.” Darren and I had never been close. He provided for me and I never starved or anything like that, but he had never been emotionally open to me. I’d never felt loved by him. He didn’t act like he loved me. I’d always blamed it on my mother’s disappearance, but maybe it was more than that. I needed to get out of the town and away from Darren as soon as I could.
We arrived at Billy’s house to find J.D. and Jess sitting on the porch. Billy smiled at them. “What’s up guys?”
Jess and J.D. stared at us in shock for a second before smiling. Jess held up a bottle of whiskey. “We come bearing gifts.”
Song of The Moon Artemis Lupine Page 6