Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine (10 page)

I looked at his serious face in shock. He’d stay
with me even if I backed out of the fight? He knew I couldn’t do
that and keep face with the rest of the pack. He’d lose face as
well for having a coward mate. No, I couldn’t do that. “Ares, you
know I can’t back out.”

Koda whined. “Artemis, if you want, we’ll leave with
you. We’ll run and make up some story that will convince the others
we
had
to go.”

I rolled onto my back so I could look at each of
them. “Stop this. I’m not going to lose. Everything will be
fine.”

Ares and Koda nuzzled my neck and inhaled my scent
at the same time.

My heart felt as though it were tearing apart. Tears
trailed down my cheeks as I imagined life without my pack. Ares
kissed my cheeks and whispered in my ear, “Artemis, please
reconsider. I can’t bear to lose you.”

“I have to, Ares.” No matter how much I didn’t want
to lose Ares, I had to finish the fight. With my mind made up I
focused on the amount of training I’d had with them and felt sure I
would win.

Ares climbed out of bed and stretched. “I’m going to
make breakfast.” As he walked away, I noticed the tightness in his
shoulders and back. Matt followed Ares out of the bedroom. It
didn’t escape my notice that Matt had said nothing while Koda and
Ares had tried to convince me to stay safe.

Koda sat up and looked at me. “Artemis, if you think
you’re going to lose you can ask for mercy and she has to refrain
from killing you.”

“And then be forced to have no Ares and no pack? No,
I couldn’t do that. I’d rather die,” I answered truthfully.

Koda hugged me against him. “I can’t watch you die.
If you ask for mercy, I’ll leave Ares’ pack and join you. I know
I’m not Ares, but wouldn’t it be better than being dead?”

“You’d leave Ares’ pack to be my mate? To be the
mate of a worthless mixed blood?”

Koda pulled away from me and smiled. “You aren’t
worthless and I don’t care what bloodlines you have. I love you,
Artemis. You’re my pack mate and nothing will change that.”

I kissed his cheek and climbed out of bed, shocked
by his offer. “I’ll consider it if the need arises.” Though, we
both knew I wouldn’t. I couldn’t continue living if I wasn’t Ares’
mate. It would be like cutting out an organ.

We’d all chosen to sleep in shorts and shirts so I
didn’t need to change before I went downstairs in front of
Achilles. Ares and Achilles were both whispering angrily towards
each other when I walked into the kitchen, but I couldn’t hear what
they were saying.

Achilles looked at me with glistening eyes. “Good
morning, Artemis.”

I bowed my head at the neck towards him. “Good
morning, Achilles.”

Ares set a plate of bacon, eggs and toast in front
of me with a smile. I kissed his cheek and started eating. The men
milled around the house in silence while I ate, a sense of doom
clouding the air.

The time arrived and we set out for the fight. The
walk to the town center was filled with worry and sadness. In my
mind I was determined to win because I had finally found my pack,
my family. But in my body only worry and fear resided, causing my
hands to shake ever so slightly.

Ares squeezed my hand reassuringly and in an instant
my worry was swept away and replaced with the knowledge that Ares
loved me and no matter what, we’d always love each other.

Ares led us to a large grassy field where a
large square had been marked out with white paint. It looked as if
the entire town had turned out to watch my challenge, hundreds of
people surrounding the square. Even the king and queen were sitting
in chairs on the sidelines.

Koda stopped us at the sidelines and gave me
a hard hug, whispering into my ear, “Remember what I told you.”

Matt hugged me too and then both walked a
ways back in the crowd. Achilles looked at me with sparkling eyes
and softly glowing skin. The blue vines on his arms glittered like
sapphires. “Win this battle Artemis,” he said softly.

I nodded my head at him and he quickly moved
through the crowd. Ares rubbed his cheek against mine and inhaled
my scent. Without thinking about it, I’d inhaled his scent as well
and felt his unease within him. “I love you, Artemis. You’ll win. I
know you will.”

Ares took my hand again and walked with me
out to the center of the square where my opponent was waiting,
bouncing on the balls of her feet and swinging her arms around. She
smiled at Ares and then glared at me.

Ares raised his hand and the crowd silenced.
“Today we witness a challenge between Artemis and Natasha, to the
death. Winner earns the right to be mated to Ares, Prince of the
Werewolves.” The crowd gasped and began murmuring loudly. The Queen
stood up out of her chair, but the King put a hand on her arm and
she sat back down. Ares raised his hand again, silencing the crowd.
“No full changing will be allowed. Begin.”

My skin itched and my heartbeat tripled in
pace as I watched Ares walk to the sidelines, never looking back at
me. Natasha cracked her knuckles, bringing my attention to her.
“Let’s get this over with. I want to have your crap moved out of
the room by sunset.”

Her calm demeanor and cockiness made me
seethe. “The only thing you’ll be doing at sunset is paying the
ferryman.”

Her eyes widened in shock for a moment
before she recovered and charged at me. All thoughts shut off and I
went into battle mode. My wolf side took over, allowing me to use
instinct to avoid most of her attacks. Unfortunately, she was
faster than I’d thought and I was soon bleeding from my lip and a
cut above my eye.

I changed tactics and instead of being
defensive, I became offensive, jabbing, upper cutting and attacking
as fast as I could. I knew the crowd was cheering and booing, but
all I could hear was Natasha, my breathing, and the dull thud of
our fists hitting each other. My thoughts flickered to Ares and
Koda as I turned to dodge her fist and noticed them in the back of
the crowd, encircled by men restraining them. If I lost to Natasha,
I couldn’t stand to see her with Ares. I couldn’t bare to see Ares
with
any
other woman.

Natasha growled in frustration and changed
her hands into paws. She swung her right hand at my face and I
barely managed to dodge backwards, her claws slicing off a piece of
hair that had come out of my ponytail. She screamed with rage and
charged forward slicing first into my forearms and then into my
stomach. The wounds stung worse than I could have imagined. Natasha
punched me in the face, making me stumble backwards. She took
advantage of my imbalance and jumped on me, pinning my arms with
her knees and began pounding my face repeatedly. She snapped my
right wrist making me scream in pain and fight to stay in my human
form.

I was wrong, I couldn’t beat her. I should
have listened to Ares, but I hadn’t and now I’d lose everything.
I’d lose Ares and Koda. I’d lose my pack, my family. I’d lose my
life.

She growled loudly. “You’re nothing, but a
worthless half-breed! Your father should have killed you when you
were born as he’d promised to do. You don’t deserve Ares and I’ll
make sure to erase every memory of you he might possess. One night
with me and he won’t even remember your name.” She punctuated every
sentence with a blow to my head, but her words hurt me more than
any physical attack could.

Anger boiled inside of me and before
thoughts could form in my mind, I had exploded out from under her
and grabbed Natasha, holding her up in the air by her throat. “Ares
is mine,” I said with conviction.

Natasha kicked and scratched at me. “Put.
Me. Down.”

I squeezed her throat harder. “ARES IS MY
MATE!”

I didn’t want to kill her. I didn’t want to
kill anybody. I knew I had to end the fight, but I wanted to make
her submit. As I debated what to do, she jammed her claws into my
shoulder, making me drop her to the ground. I backed away from her,
but she ran forward, slamming into me, sending us head over heels
together. She ended up on top of me and pinned me to the ground.
“Your not meant to be the Beta’s mate. You’re too weak to be
his.”

She picked me up and threw me across the
square. I landed on my face and felt a rib crack. She was on me
again before I could roll over. She grabbed me by the hair and
stood me up before kicking me in the side. The force of her kick
knocked the wind out of me and broke another rib. She squatted down
next to me as I gasped for air and writhed in pain. “It’s time to
end this. It’s time to finish you and take you out of Ares’ life
once and for all.”

She turned my head and I found Ares at the
edge of the square being held back by four men. His eyes glowed
golden as he looked at me. Koda and Achilles were near Ares, but
both of them were also being held back by people. I reached out to
them and brushed their wolves’ energies with mine. My energy was
depleted and it was only a matter of minutes before I died, whether
by Natasha or the internal bleeding I could sense.

“I love you,” I whispered. Tears leaked out
of my eyes as I looked at the man I loved and my packmate.

Ares growled angrily and struggled against
the men holding him. “Artemis. No!” More men surrounded Ares and
Koda.

Natasha turned my face back and smiled.
“What a sweet goodbye.” Her claws pierced my stomach as she drove
them deep into my body.

I screamed in pain and thrashed against her,
pulling her hand out of me and smashing her nose with my fist. She
stumbled backwards in shock and I pounced on her. I couldn’t lose
Ares. I couldn’t die. Dammit, I couldn’t lose.

In a matter of seconds I had my arm around
her throat and my legs around her waist with my left hand pushing
her neck deeper into my arm. “Ask for mercy,” I whispered.

She nodded her head once and I released her,
collapsing on the ground myself. I rolled onto my back and
exhaled.

I’d won, but I could feel my life ending.
At least I’d won.
Natasha roared and jumped at me. I lifted
my hand up, summoning what little energy I had left and my sidhe
powers. A small fireball sped from my hand to her and disappeared
through her chest. She staggered for a minute, looking down at the
hole in her chest, before collapsing to the ground. Her lifeless
body lay next to me and I knew it was right that I’d won.

I took one more breath, whispered, “I love
you, Ares,” and then darkness consumed me.

* * *

The afterlife wasn’t what I’d expected.
First, I hadn’t expected to be woken in the afterlife by a slap in
the face. And second, I didn’t expect to find Ares and Achilles
sitting next to me.

“Artemis! Artemis, wake up!” Ares yelled at
me.

“You’re not dead. How can you be here?” I
asked.

“Artemis, you’re not dead,” Achilles said
through clenched teeth.

“My energy. It was drained,” I said
completely confused.

Ares put my hand against his face. “Yes, but
Achilles and I have been loaning you ours.”

The woozy feeling in my head disappeared and
I could feel my body. Everything hurt. Gwen, the healer, knelt
beside me. “Artemis, where does it hurt?”

“Everywhere,” I groaned.

She ran her hands along my body and then
cursed softly. “Ares, how much of your energy are you willing to
give up?”

Ares continued to stare at my face as he
spoke. “I’ll give everything.”

She stared at him in shock for a moment
before shaking her head. “I won’t kill you to save her, but that
won’t be necessary anyways because I’m sure the Sidhe Prince will
loan me some of his energy as well, since he’s already doing
it.”

Achilles nodded his head. “You can use as
much as you need.”

She looked quizzically at Achilles as he
stared at me. It unnerved me to see the same look on Achilles’ face
that Ares’ had on his face. She studied the two men a minute longer
and then shrugged. “Alright. Let’s get started.”

In ten minutes she’d healed all of my
wounds, including the internal bleeding and broken ribs. Her body
slumped forward and her face looked gray as she finished. “She
won’t have enough energy to do more than rest in bed for the next
few days. Keep her in bed as much as you can.”

Ares picked me up and cradled me against his
chest. “Thank you.”

Ares turned around and I saw Koda
unconscious on the ground. “Ares, what happened to Koda?” I asked
in shock.

Ares sighed. “You stopped breathing for a
minute and he went ballistic, flinging the men around him away and
trying to rush to you. I’d already gotten to you though and he was
so upset that he had started to change. Darius knocked him out.
He’ll be fine.”

Matt walked over and smiled at me. “Hey,
Love. Glad to see you’re doing better.” He picked Koda up and
started walking back towards the house.

Ares followed him, nuzzling my cheek with
his nose every few steps. Even though my body was healed, Gwen had
been right, I felt exhausted.

I closed my eyes as I relaxed in Ares’ arms.
I felt safe and protected with his arms around me. Just as I
started to doze off, I realized that I’d won. I’d beat Natasha and
kept Ares as my mate. I’d actually won. Ares hummed softly and
despite my attempts not to, I fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Three days of bed rest was causing me to go
insane. Ares wouldn’t even let me walk down the stairs. If I
started towards the stairs he would pick me up and carry me down
them, despite my protests.

My strength was finally back to normal as I
sat in front of Ares and Koda, trying to convince them to go on a
hunt. “Ares, come on. I need to get out of the house and I really
want to do something as a pack.”

Ares folded his arms across his chest and
answered without hesitation. “No.”