Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine

by Banks, Catherine

  Athena interrupted me to yell at Achilles. “You let Ares near her?!”

  Achilles held up his hand and said, “You’d better sit down.” Athena and Hera sat in a pair of chairs I hadn’t seen before. Achilles sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. “Where to begin?”

  Athena spoke through clenched teeth, “How about start at the part where Ares was near my daughter.”

  “Artemis met Ares before I had a chance to find her.”

  Hera looked at me. “Well, explain.”

  I folded my arms over my chest, feeling angry at their reaction of Ares and defensive of him. “I am not just Artemis of the Werewolves or Artemis, Darren’s daughter. I am Artemis Lupine, mate of Prince Ares of the Werewolves. I am Ares’ passt genau.”

  Athena wailed loudly and began crying. “No. No! It can’t be true.”

  Hera stood up and started towards me. Achilles stepped in her path and said, “You cannot kill her without killing me too. We’re bound, remember?”

  I looked up at Achilles’ back in shock. “What? What do you mean by that?”

  Hera stomped back to her chair and tried to console Athena. Achilles turned around and sighed. “I planned on telling you, but we haven’t had time. When you’re bound to someone if that person dies, then you die too.”

  “So if I die, you will die as well? Or if you die, then I die?” He nodded his head. “You’re a fool! You should have let me die! I’m not worth your life!” I yelled angrily. I wasn’t ready to be responsible for someone else’s life!

  Athena sighed. “We should have killed her when we were supposed to. No, I should have never fallen for Darren.”

  I spun around and glared at her. “Ares is a good man! You have no reason to hate him like this. He has been great to me. Better than any of you have been!”

  Athena stood up and glared back at me. “I will not allow my daughter to be mated with him.”

  My skin began glowing as I grew madder. “It’s not your decision!”

  “The hell it isn’t!”

  “You lost the power to make decisions when you left me!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

  She blinked at me a few times before stepping back and sighing. “I see the wolf is very present in you.”

  I gaped at her. “Just because I’m angry doesn’t mean it’s because of my wolf. You were just talking about how you should have killed me! What the hell is wrong with you people?!”

  Hera stood up and looked at me. “I will not allow you and Ares to bring another mixed blood into this world. Having two of you is bad enough. You will not be allowed to procreate.”

  My anger rose again and with it my sidhe powers. My wings popped out of my back and my skin glowed brighter than usual. I started to levitate off of the ground and said, “I’d like to see you try and stop us.”

  Hera’s body began glowing and she began levitating as well. “One son is not worth a pair of mixed bloods breeding!”

  I hadn’t even felt him approaching, but then he was just there. A warm presence in the cold room. “Enough!” Ares yelled.

  Hera spun around and glared at him. “You! Get the hell out of my Court!”

  She started towards him and I shot her in the back with a fireball. “Don’t you dare touch my mate!”

  Achilles moved next to me and took my hand in his. “Artemis, please calm down. You do not need to fight.”

  Ares rushed forward and had Achilles in the air by his throat before I’d even blinked. “You had better do some quick explaining Achilles,” Ares said through gritted teeth.

  Achilles nodded his head and Ares dropped him to the ground. Achilles rubbed his throat and whispered, “It was an emergency. Hera was the one attacking her in your meadow and she was sucking the life out of her. I only did it to save her.”

  Hera said, “I would have killed her if he hadn’t done it. In fact I’m still thinking about it.”

  Ares growled. “Unless you want a war with the werewolves, I suggest you wipe that idea from your mind.”

  “Ares,” I whispered.

  Ares turned to me and for the first time really looked at me. He walked forward and grabbed a strand of my purple hair, looked at my wings behind me and then ran a fingertip along one of my new vines. “I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but you’re even more beautiful now.”

  I released my sidhe powers and put my wings away and hugged him. He hugged me tightly and kissed my lips. “I’m sorry, Ares,” I said softly.

  He stroked my hair and shushed me. “None of this is your fault and we’ll deal with the predicament Achilles has put us into later.”

  Athena hissed, “Step away from my daughter.”

  Ares and I turned to face her and I said, “You don’t get to pick and choose when I’m your daughter. Either you want me dead or you don’t. You can’t keep changing sides.”

  Hera sighed. “We should have killed Ares when we had that slut abort their baby.”

  Ares growled and his eyes turned golden. I turned to Hera. “You killed one of his children?”

  Ares turned away from everyone as he tried to calm himself. Hera sat down in the chair again. “He seduced and mated with one of the sidhe women. Halfbreeds are not allowed, you and Ares are…exceptions, but we have strict rules for a reason. We made her abort the abomination before it had a chance to develop into,” she gestured at Ares, “this.”

  Koda, who I hadn’t noticed until then, rushed forward and began trying to console Ares. Ares shrugged him off and turned around. The pain he felt leaked over to me through our bond and it became too much for me. I could feel how much pain he was in and it summoned my rage.

  I ran forward and started attacking Hera. She was quick though and dodged my first punch and managed to get up out of the chair and to a more open area. I attacked her with all of the training I’d received for my fight with Natasha. I opened three cuts on Hera before she managed to land a hit on me. She stumbled backwards and before I could move to attack her again, Ares was in front of me and holding me. Achilles rushed forward and stood in front of Hera.

  “Artemis. Sunshine. Look at me,” Ares said loudly.

  I pushed against him, trying to get to Hera. I wanted more of her blood. More blood from the one hurting my mate.

  “Artemis, this is no longer a battle. You can’t save the baby, its dead. The mother has moved on and is happily mated to a new man. I’ve moved on and am happily mated to you. Please. Stop.”

  I stopped moving and looked up at him with tears in my eyes. “They killed your baby. They separated you from your mate.”

  He nodded his head. “Yes.”

  Tears leaked down my face. “They want to do it again.”

  He nodded his head. “I know.”

  I growled, the sound rumbling my chest. “I won’t let them.”

  Ares kissed my cheek. “I know.”

  His tenderness stole my rage and I sagged against him, letting him hold me up against his body. He kissed my forehead and rubbed my back slowly as tears leaked down my face from the emotions we were sharing.

  Ares and I regained our composure and turned back to Hera and Athena. I whispered, “You do not get to decide who we mate with. You do not get to decide if we breed or not. If you try to separate us, we’ll consider it an act of war against the werewolves. If we have children and you try to hurt them, we will consider it an assassination attempt and thus an act of war. Do I make myself clear?”

  Hera glared at me a moment before saying, “You’ve learned a lot in a short time. I understand your views. I’ve heard your statements.”

  Athena stood up and smoothed her dress down. “We’ll leave you alone now.” She turned and left with Hera without a second glance back at me.

  Ares rubbed my back and asked, “Want to stir up some gossip?”

  I looked up at his smiling face. The change of subject so quick it made my head spin. “What?”

  He tugged on my hand. “Come on. It’s been a century since I’ve been he
re. Let’s go walk around so you can see everything and people can have something new to gossip about.”

  I shook my head. “You always surprise me.”

  Ares laughed. “Oh, this is only the beginning, Sunshine.”

  Ares took my hand and lead me back through the castle hallways and then out a pair of large wooden doors. I’d expected a similar scene as the Dark Court, but the Light Court was different. Waterfalls, at least a hundred feet tall made a wall to the left. The waterfalls fell into a beautiful river that flowed through the center of the realm. Vines with beautiful flowers covered every building. The buildings seemed to be carved trees or trees grown into the shape of buildings.

  Ares whispered, “A few of the sidhe are gifted with nature abilities. They were able to charm the growing trees into the shapes of their buildings. The buildings, now being centuries old, are as sturdy as any rock fortress.”

  I sat down on a wooden bench and looked at Ares. “Who is your father?”

  Ares turned and looked at me in shock. “What?”

  I turned away from him and looked at the waterfall, suddenly nervous. “I know what you are.”

  “Oh.” Ares sat down beside me and sighed loudly. “Who told you?”

  “I figured it out by your name.”

  “I had planned on telling you later.”

  “Who is your father?” I asked again.

  “Zeus.”

  I looked up at him in shock and then laughed. “Of course! That’s why you and Achilles look so much alike! Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t put two and two together sooner.”

  Ares picked my hand up gently and rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. “Are you mad at me?”

  I closed my eyes as I enjoyed his simple touch. “Yes.”

  He bent and kissed my neck, nibbling lightly. “How about now?”

  I growled softly. “Yes.”

  Ares laughed and stood up, walking again. I caught up to him and linked hands. “Do you have any abilities?” I asked him as we continued to walk through the town.

  Ares sighed and looked up at the waterfall. “It was scandalous enough that Zeus bred with a werewolf female, but when his son showed no signs of power besides that of his wolf side, the sidhe couldn’t take it. I spent fifty years in the Dark and Light Courts only to be cast out after finding a mate who loved me even though I had no powers. I can’t blame her for following the Queen’s order. She would be terribly lonely in the human world and she would be especially sad to know that you were my true mate.”

  “How can I be your true mate if you already had a mate?”

  “We broke our mate bond a long time ago. Many years before your parents even met, so technically I had no mate.”

  “Was she beautiful?” I asked as I looked around at the gorgeous sidhe women walking around.

  Ares stopped me and turned me to face him. “There are many beautiful women in the world, Artemis, but none as beautiful and as wonderful as you.”

  “I have something I want to do, but I think you’re not going to like it.” I’d been thinking about it privately the past couple of days.

  “What is that?” he asked as he pushed my hair behind my ear.

  “Maurice wants to wipe out the humans. He wants them extinct. I can’t let that happen. There has to be some way for us to save them, or as many of them as we can.”

  “He’s not killing all of them. The humans are given a choice, be turned into a vampire or werewolf, be slaves, or be killed. The humans decide.”

  I stared at him in shock. “You do realize that most humans will simply choose death?”

  Ares shrugged. “It’s their choice.”

  “I can help them. If they see me and see that there are other races who aren’t bloodthirsty vampires, more will choose to live.”

  Ares stared at me for a few moments before sighing loudly. “Why do I get the feeling that you’ll do this with or without me?”

  I kissed his lips softly and whispered, “Because we’re getting to know each other better. I have to try to save as many as I can. Humans should be allowed to be free, not just slaves.”

  Ares nodded his head. “Alright. We’ll go to the places left in Europe and try to save as many as we can.”

  I hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. “I love you.”

  He laughed and hugged me back. “I love you too. Now come on let’s get back before Achilles has a brain hemorrhage from being separated from you.”

  I stopped him before he could take a step and whispered, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  Ares nodded his head. “Go on.”

  I let go of his hand and turned away from him, looking at the magnificent waterfalls. “I released Achilles’ powers with just a touch. He said it means I’m his destined mate.”

  Ares was eerily silent. I turned around and found him glaring down at the ground. His hands were clenched into fists and I could hear his teeth grinding against each other. “When did this happen?”

  “At your meadow, before you found us. I know you told me not to touch him, but I was just so mesmerized by his vines so I ran my fingertip along one and…”

  “Have you kissed him? Or mated with him?” he asked as he continued to stare at the ground.

  I rushed forward and picked Ares’ fists up in my hands and looked up into his face where I saw not anger, but fear. “No. Of course not, Ares. You’re my mate and I’d never cheat on you.”

  Ares teeth clenched again and he said, “He’s also your mate. You’re going to have the same impulses for him as you did for me. Will you fight it like you did me?”

  I collapsed against Ares and sobbed once. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.” I looked up at him and saw compassion now in his eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

  Ares smiled and then shook his head laughing. “No, I’m not going to be evil. If you need to touch him, then go ahead, but until Achilles and I talk, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do anything with him beyond that.”

  I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. “Okay. Ares, for what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

  Ares wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. “It’s worth a lot to me. Thank you.”

  We walked back in silence, enjoying the peace for once and being able to be in each others presence. We walked into Achilles’ room to find Hera, Achilles and Koda inside arguing vehemently.

  “What’s this about?” Ares asked.

  Achilles glared at Ares. “You agreed to help her?! How could you agree to a suicide mission? The humans are as likely to kill her as they are to listen to her!”

  “I’ll be beside her to protect her. No human will harm her with me there,” Ares said through gritted teeth.

  Achilles threw his hands up into the air.

  “Achilles, you have to understand why I want to…”

  The wall beside Ares and I exploded. Ares spun around and dropped to the ground, his body covering mine from the debris. Ares jumped back up and I stared in shock at wolves growling at us. Ares growled. “Stupid vampires.”

  Hera yelled, “Guards!” but there was no need because a battle was already under way in the hallways. Ares ran forward and grabbed one of the wolves by its neck, quickly snapping the spine and killing it. The body reverted to the vampires’ true form, with their scary face and six inch dagger fingers.

  Ares turned to Hera. “These are not werewolves. They’re vampires taking wolf form.”

  Hera nodded her head. “I witnessed your truth.”

  Ares smiled. “I’ll assist in your defense.”

  Hera sighed dramatically. “Very well.”

  Ares kissed my cheek and pushed me into Koda’s arms. “Take care of her.”

  Achilles and Ares ran side by side out the hole in the wall and began fighting with vampires and vampires in wolf form.

  ~~~

  Chapter Eight

  Watching Achilles and Ares fight side by side was an incredible turn on. I fought to control my hormones,
but it was difficult, especially since both were my destined mate.

  Koda tossed me on to the bed and shook his body. “I really wish you wouldn’t think about things like that when I’m touching you. I’d rather not get in trouble with Ares. Again.”

  I blushed and adjusted myself on the bed. “I’m sorry.”

  The fight was over relatively quickly, with the vampires stopping the wolf charade and fleeing. Ares came back into the room and I ran forward to hug him. He kissed my cheek and set me back down on the ground. “You shouldn’t worry so much, Artemis.”

  I sighed. “I know, but I can’t help it.”

  Achilles stopped near me and I reached out to lay my hand on his arm. Ares’ jaw clenched, but he stayed still. Achilles smiled at me in thanks then moved across the room to give Ares and I space.

  Hera asked, “Why would the vampires attack here?”

  “To start a war between the sidhe and werewolves of course,” answered Ares.

  Achilles folded his arms across his chest. “Surely they knew that there are connections within our races. They have to know that I would contact you to discuss this.”

  Ares rolled his eyes. “Because we are so fond of each other.”

  Achilles smiled. “Well, neither of us would have lied about something as serious as this. I could always tell when you were lying.”

  “Ares!” yelled a familiar voice.

  Ares pushed me to the side of him and we both stared in shock at a group of sidhe guards holding Matt between them.

  Ares started to growl and then caught himself. “Release my brother.”

  Erebus, one of the guards holding Matt, shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ares, but we can’t do that. We found him holding the portal open. He’s the one who let the vampires in and out.”

  Ares blinked a few times and then looked at Matt. “Is this true?”

  Matt growled. “All they wanted was her! All you had to do was just give her to them!”

  Ares took a step forward and asked, “Why would you betray me? What have I done worthy of your treachery?”

  “Did you really think I would stand by and watch you in mated bliss while I was forced to be your guard?” Matt said, “She’s nothing more than a mistake. She should have been put down. You should have put her down when you found her. You know what she will be capable of! Her being your match has blinded you. Love has blinded you!”