Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine

by Banks, Catherine

  Matt ran to me and picked me up in his arms. “What are you doing?” I asked in shock.

  “I was wrong. We can’t hide you. We need to run,” Matt said as he ran from the bedroom down the stairs. He was talking so quickly that his British accent was making it difficult for me to understand him. “Achilles, they’re coming for her.”

  Achilles looked at me in shock for a moment before answering, “Let me take her. I can fly her up away from them.”

  Matt shook his head. “No, Ares doesn’t want you touching her. Just follow us. I need to get her away from here.”

  Achilles opened his mouth to argue, but the front door splintered as someone ran through it. A short black man stood in the doorway glaring at us. “Give me the girl and we’ll leave you alone,” he said slowly.

  Matt growled. “Not a chance, dhampir.”

  Achilles’ body began to glow and then he shot blue fireballs from his hands at the dhampir. The dhampir ran to the right to avoid the fire and Matt ran through the door and out of the house. Ten men were running towards us from the tree line. I spotted Ares across the town, fighting with a vampire. It surprised me that Ares was still in man form, but the vampire didn’t look like he was giving Ares too much trouble. Ares turned his head, noticing me and started running towards us.

  Matt ran towards the heart of the town. Ares caught up to us and yelled, “What are you doing?! Why did you bring her out here?!”

  Matt didn’t look at Ares as he ran towards the castle in the center of the town. “They’re coming for her, Ares. They were swarming the house. I couldn’t keep her there. She’ll be safer away from the edges of the forest where they’re coming from.”

  Ares ran beside us as Matt ran into the castle and into a room that had no windows and only one door. Matt set me down in the back corner. “Stay here,” he said sternly.

  Ares smiled at me and then they both ran out of the room, leaving me alone. I knew it was stupid, but I was worried about Ares. Just the thought of him being hurt or killed brought tears to my eyes. The sounds of fighting were still loud, but I couldn’t figure out who was winning.

  Why was my life so crazy now? It felt like years had passed since I was with my little human pack of Bret and Billy and their friends. I gasped as I realized why Darren had allowed me and Bret to be alone all that time and sleep in the same bed together. He knew that I wouldn’t have wanted to mate with Bret, that he was just a packmate to me. It made sense that I had craved physical contact even if it was from humans since I was by nature a pack animal. It would have been a lot easier on me if I’d known all of that back then though.

  “What do we have here?” asked a female voice. I turned and looked at the doorway where an ugly woman with black hair and dark brown skin stood smiling at me. “Now, why would they hide a girl in this room? You must be special for them to want to protect you.”

  “Leave if you value your life,” I said angrily. I stood up with my back to the wall.

  She laughed. “You don’t scare me, girl. I bet you’re the one all this commotion is over, aren’t you?” She walked slowly towards me, her fingers elongating into six inch daggers.

  Fear started to consume me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The words came out weak instead of strong as I’d hoped.

  “I can’t believe your mate would leave you unguarded like this. He must be overly cocky to think you’d be safe.” She stopped twenty feet away from me and closed her eyes. Her face shifted and the ugly woman turned into a hideous monster with fangs and a distorted face. “I’m hungry, let’s finish this.”

  She jumped at me and I shot a purple fireball at her. I only had a moment to enjoy the color of the fireball, which matched my eyes, before she jumped to the side, my fireball only grazing her. She dropped to the ground and smacked the spot where the fire had caught on her clothes. She extinguished the fire, screamed in rage and charged at me. I lobed ball after ball of fire at her as she ran towards me, but she dodged them all. The daggers of her right hand jammed into my side making me scream in pain.

  “You were never meant to live. It’s sad your mate chose you because now he’ll have to deal with your death!” She jammed her other set of dagger-fingers into my stomach and smiled as I screamed.

  My skin began glowing brighter and brighter, until the vampire hissed and pulled her daggers from me. The anger I’d been holding in since I’d met Ares boiled to the top and spilled over. My skin began glowing white and all logical thoughts left my mind. Kill. Kill the vampire. Lunging at the vampire I grabbed onto her shirt and rode her body down to the ground. My right hand became covered in fire. The vampire screamed, “Please! Mercy!”

  “You weren’t going to give me mercy, so you shall receive none.” The words came from my mouth and it was as though my wolf and I became one in that instant. No longer was it my wolf and me, but it was me and the animal instincts, urges, and thoughts, together. In one swift motion I plunged my fire covered hand into her chest and ripped her heart out. She screamed long and loud as I held her heart in my hand. The sounds were annoying.

  I repositioned myself so that I was sitting above her head to get into a better spot. The heart had begun to blister from the fire in my hand with long black smears around it. With one quick squeeze of my hand the heart turned to ash and sifted to the floor beside the vampire’s head. Her scream turned into a high pitched shriek. Ares appeared in the doorway and stared at me in shock as I picked her head up off the floor, gave one violent twist, and tore her head from her body.

  The screaming stopped and my anger dissipated. I dropped the head onto the ground, turned and vomited.

  “It’s alright, Artemis. Everything’s alright now,” Ares said softly as he stroked my hair.

  I looked at my hands, expecting them to be covered in blood, but surprisingly they were clean. My wounds however were still open and blood was pouring from them, staining my white dress. “Ares, my wounds,” I whispered as I started to faint.

  Ares picked me up and ran. I was fading in and out of consciousness, closer to out than in. Ares kept talking to me, “Artemis, Sunshine, stay awake.”

  “I am awake. I’m awake and in pain. Where did you go?” I asked.

  “I was protecting the front entrance to the castle. Matt was supposed to be protecting the back,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Is he hurt?”

  Ares shook his head. “He’s not dead at least. I would have felt it if he had died.”

  Our house came into view as did Koda and Achilles. Ares set me on the porch and a beautiful blonde haired, blue eyed woman stepped out of the house wearing an apron. “What’s happened?” She asked.

  Ares ripped my dress off and everyone gasped. The woman knelt down beside me and started wiping the blood off of my stomach and side. “You’re going to be alright. She didn’t hit any vital organs and they’re already beginning to heal.”

  Ares held my hand as she started chanting in a different language. “You did well against the vampire. I’m proud of you,” he said softly.

  His compliment made me smile. “Thanks.”

  The woman stopped and sat back on her heels, a bead of sweat rolling down her face. “She’s fine, Ares. Your anger is becoming too much, please calm down,” she whispered.

  Ares took a deep breath and kissed my forehead. “I’m sorry, Gwen.”

  Gwen smiled. “I’ve never seen you so worried over a female before, or so gentle. She must be your mate.”

  Ares nodded his head and picked me up in his arms. “She is. Thank you again for your services, Gwen.”

  Gwen bowed her head. “Anytime, Prince.”

  Ares carried me into the house, up the stairs and to the bathroom. He set me down on the toilet seat and then turned on the shower. I watched him as he silently moved about the bathroom. He was bothered about something. My wounds were almost fully healed now, so I stood up and walked to Ares, who was standing beside the now warm water of the shower.

  He tur
ned to look at me and I saw the tears in his eyes. “Ares, what is it?” I asked as I wiped the tears from his face and kissed each cheek.

  He wrapped his arms around me and exhaled loudly. “I almost lost you again.”

  “Ares, I wasn’t that close to dying. You heard Gwen, she missed the vital organs. Look, the wounds are already sealed.” I grabbed his hand and placed it on my stomach where one of the wounds had been.

  He ran his fingertip over the small pink scar that was quickly disappearing. “I’m sorry I failed you,” he said softly.

  “You didn’t fail me. You were protecting one entrance while Matt was supposed to be protecting the other. How could you have known something would happen to Matt?” I pulled his shirt off over his head and kissed his chest. “Help me wash,” I said as seductively as I could.

  A smile lifted the right corner of his mouth and he unbuttoned his pants. “Alright.”

  I turned away from him and stepped underneath the water. The warm water felt good on my skin and helped erase the shock that was trying to set in. Ares began scrubbing my body with a soap bar, paying special attention to the blood on my stomach and side. He kissed my neck and turned me around underneath the water to rinse off.

  For once, I wasn’t overcome by my hormones and my desire to sleep with him, but instead the touch and caring fulfilled my needs. It was amazing to be loved like this. I hoped it never ended. He turned me around to face him and kissed my lips softly. “I love you, Artemis.”

  I kissed his lips and then rested my head against his chest. “I love you too.” Ares wrapped his arms around me and sighed happily.

  “Excuse me.” a female said softly.

  My hackles, figuratively, rose and I turned to the doorway, snarling. The young girl flinched and took a step back. “Sorry,” I said softly.

  Ares grabbed two towels and wrapped his around his waist. I wrapped mine around my body. “What is it, Lauren?” Ares asked in a soft voice.

  “Darius wishes to speak to you, immediately,” she said in a soft voice. Her strawberry blonde hair was naturally curly and hid her face from my view.

  “I’ll put pants on and be down in a moment. Wait downstairs for me,” Ares said. Lauren curtsied and then rushed out of the room. Ares whispered, “She seems innocent, but she’s been Darius’ assistant for twenty years. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was as cunning as he is.”

  I adjusted my towel. “I’m glad you’re the one that has to deal with all of the political crap. I couldn’t even stand listening to people in town debating about the presidential elections. Boring.”

  Matt walked in and smiled at us. “Who’s boring?”

  Ares blurred as he moved from the shower to the door in an instant to grab Matt around the throat. “Where did you go? You were supposed to be protecting the back entrance!” Ares yelled.

  Matt’s lip twitched for a moment as though he were thinking about snarling and then he whined. “Sorry. I saw two vampires attacking a child and so I went to help, but then got ambushed.” He looked towards me and asked, “Did something happen?”

  Ares released Matt’s throat. “Artemis was attacked.”

  Matt looked at me with an almost sad look on his face. “Are you alright?” Was he sad I was attacked or that I survived?

  I nodded my head. “I’m fine.”

  Matt smiled. “Good.”

  Ares looked at Matt a moment longer before yelling, “Koda!” Koda ran into the bathroom and looked at our faces. Ares looked at me. “Koda, guard Artemis.”

  Koda nodded his head and Matt walked out of the room with Ares. “What happened?” Koda asked.

  “Nothing,” I said as I walked to the closet to change.

  Koda leaned against the doorframe while I changed clothes. “Achilles said you used your sidhe powers to fight the vampire.”

  I looked up at him in shock. “How did he know that?”

  Koda smiled. “We can feel magic from those of our kind when they’re being used in significant enough quantities. He said it’s been a long time since he felt such a large pull.”

  “Well, she was trying to kill me,” I said defensively as I buttoned my pants.

  “Ares is having Victor come here to speak with Darius and Ares about this attack. They swear that it wasn’t a sanctioned attack and that they had no idea it was going to happen.”

  I looked at Koda’s tight face. “You don’t believe them?”

  Koda smiled. “I believe Victor, but I’m not sure about Maurice.”

  Matt’s attitude and response still bothered me, so I decided to tell Koda. After I’d finished Koda sighed. “I’ve been noticing it too,” he said quietly, “something’s bothering him, but I’m not sure what it is.”

  “Do you think he lied about why he stopped guarding the back entrance?” That part was bothering me the worst. I couldn’t explain why, but I knew he was lying about why he left.

  Koda sighed and ran a hand through his Mohawk which I noticed wasn’t gelled up for once. “I don’t know. I’ll have to speak to Ares about it.” He looked at my face for a moment before sighing. “Come on, you should lie down. You’ve had a lot happen to you."

  I laughed and climbed onto the bed. “I never thought my life would be so crazy.”

  Koda laid down beside me and rubbed my back. “Don’t worry, things will calm down and we’ll be able to show you the good side of life as a werewolf.”

  “I can’t wait for that day,” I mumbled as I relaxed and took comfort in Koda’s touch. “Thank you,” I whispered as I started to lose consciousness.

  “For what?” he asked.

  “For being you.”

  “Artemis?”

  “Night Koda.”

  ~~~

  Chapter Five

  The sun rose earlier than I wanted, but waking up to Ares’ arms wrapped around me definitely made it better.

  “Morning, Sunshine,” Ares whispered against my neck.

  I shivered and asked, “Can’t we sleep in?”

  Ares chuckled and nipped my ear. “We need to go on a hunt. Come on. Everyone is waiting for you.”

  I groaned and rolled over until my face was pressed against Ares’. “I think we should stay in bed all day.” I opened my eyes and stared at the handsome man looking at me. “You’re too handsome for me,” I sighed longingly.

  Ares kissed my lips and rolled us over until he was lying on top of me. “Achilles left a couple minutes ago. He won’t be able to tell that we’ve mated if we do it before the hunt.”

  He started kissing his way down my neck and it took all of my willpower to form conscious thoughts. “Ares, I thought you said Koda and Matt were waiting?”

  “They can wait a little longer.” He growled as he tried to work my shirt up.

  “Ares, I know you don’t like Achilles, but it really isn’t fair. What if the situation was flipped and he’d claimed me first. What would you want him to do?”

  Ares groaned and pressed his forehead against mine. “Fine, but we need to figure out a solution soon. It’s torment to be near you and not be able to mate with you.”

  I kissed his cheek softly. “I know. It’s hard for me too, but we’ll figure something out.”

  I climbed out from under Ares and hopped down from the bed. It took my body a moment to change, but it was painless when I finally took my wolf form.

  Matt and Koda yelled through my head. HURRY UP!

  I jogged down the stairs and opened my mouth in a wolf-grin at the two giant wolves sitting on the porch. Morning.

  Ares walked out in front of me. Come on, let’s hunt. I need to kill something.

  I giggled, but the strange wheezing sound that came out of my wolf throat bothered me too much to continue. Ares glared at me with a tight mouth. That’ll teach you to laugh at me.

  Ares jogged away from the house and the rest of us followed behind him as he led us into the forest. We jogged for twenty minutes before smelling another animal. I twitched my nose in frustration. What is i
t? I couldn’t figure out what animal I was smelling.

  Deer. Ares said. He tilted his head to the right then turned to face in that direction. There.

  We all turned slowly and stared at the herd of deer two hundred yards away. A ten point buck stood a little to the side of the herd. My mouth instantly started watering. Ares snorted softly and Matt and Koda took off at a run. I started to follow, but Ares blocked my path. Watch. You need to learn how to take down a buck first.

  Matt snapped at the buck’s heels and Koda grabbed onto the distracted buck’s throat. In only a few seconds they’d killed the buck. Ares trotted over and started eating. I sat down beside Matt and Koda who were sitting a few feet away.

  Ares finished and looked at us. Artemis eats next. Matt growled and Ares growled back, his lips pulling up in a menacing snarl. I’m alpha. I decide when my mate eats. She eats after me. You and Koda decide who eats after that.

  Matt stopped growling and then snorted in irritation. I trotted forward and took a bite out of the deer. It’s delicious! It took only a minute for me to fill up on the deer. I licked my muzzle clean and trotted over to Ares who was licking one of his paws clean. That was great.

  Ares licked my cheek. Glad you like it.

  Matt whined. There’s another herd up ahead.

  Ares nodded his head once. Let’s go. This time, I take down the buck.

  Koda, Matt and Ares took off running before I could react. I watched as Ares ran, his muscles stretching and his fur pressed against his body. The buck lifted his head from the grass he was eating and then Ares was on him. I walked slowly towards the rest of my pack and laid down in a sunny spot a few yards away from the dead buck. That was great. I said quietly as Ares ate.

  Koda snorted. You’re easily impressed.

  Ares finished eating and nodded at me.

  I’m full. Thanks. I lifted my lips in a grin and rolled on to my back so the sun could warm my stomach. We should have done this sooner.

  Ares laid down, placing his head on top of my stomach. I’ll make sure we take more time to hunt together.

  Matt walked towards us and I felt uneasy, not wanting to be on my back anymore. I rolled over and sat up next to Ares. Matt looked at me quizzically, but didn’t say anything as he sat down and waited for Koda to finish.