Read Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine Online

Authors: Catherine Banks

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Vampires, #Adult, #Fantasy, #Magic, #Witches, #werewolves, #teen, #fairy, #Fairies, #Fae, #YA, #young, #sidhe, #dhampir, #ares, #artemis, #lupine

Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine (6 page)

BOOK: Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine
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“Why?” I asked.

Achilles smiled. “Yes, why don’t you tell
her?”

Ares shook his head. “I don’t want to
discuss it right now. It’s painful enough that you’re here and
trying to steal my mate from me.”

“I’m not stealing her! She was mine before
she was yours!” Achilles said angrily.

I stepped between them and held up my hands.
“Stop bickering!” They both stared at me in shock as I groaned.
“You’re both acting like two spoiled kids fighting over a toy. I’m
NOT A TOY! I have feelings and opinions and my opinion is that I
don’t know how I feel about Achilles. What I do know is that if we
are honestly discussing the issues he has with us then we need to
be fair. Achilles, you have to understand that because of our bond
I need the physical contact with Ares. Now, can you two not try to
fight each other and just…” I stopped talking as a wave of fear
rolled over me. I turned away from the men and ran towards the
window that looked out over the forest behind the village. Dark
shapes ran between the trees one hundred or so yards out. “Ares!” I
said urgently.

Ares ran to my side and looked out the
window. He growled loudly. “Koda, warn the town. Achilles protect
the house. Matt, protect the village,” Ares ordered. The men didn’t
hesitate. Each one ran to do his job.

I looked at Ares. “What are we going to
do?”

He picked me up in his arms. “We’re going to
hide and keep you safe.”

I shook my head. “No! Ares, the town needs
you to help protect them. You’re the Prince for a reason!”

Ares turned his head so I couldn’t look at
his face. “I can’t.”

“What? Why not?” I asked, confused.

“I can’t…I can’t lose you again,” he said
softly.

I turned his face to look at mine. “Ares,
you have to protect the children. I can fight.”

Ares shook his head. “No. You can’t fight. I
won’t let you be taken from me again!” He kissed my cheek and laid
his head against mine.

“Ares,” I whispered. “You have a duty to
protect your village. Let Koda protect me, or Matt, or even
Achilles.”

Ares growled. “Not Achilles.”

Matt ran up the stairs. “There’s a group of
twenty dhampirs and ten vampires surrounding the village. I smelled
ogres too, but haven’t seen them. What do you want us to do? Do we
try to talk to them?”

Ares looked at me and sighed. “Matt, guard
Artemis. I’ll go.” I kissed Ares’ cheek and smiled. Ares looked at
Matt. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

Matt nodded his head and held out his arms.
“I swear.”

Ares set me in Matt’s arms and walked
towards the bedroom door. “I love you, Ares,” I said softly.

Ares turned around and smiled. “I love you
too.” He disappeared from my sight and I heard the front door open
and close.

Matt set me down on my feet. “We’re going to
stay in here. Achilles will keep them from coming in the downstairs
and if you’re here by the bathroom I can keep them away from you if
they get to the second story.”

“So, you want me to hide in the bathroom?” I
asked in shock.

Matt nodded his head. “My job is to keep you
safe and keeping you in this room where they have the least access
to you is the best way to do that.”

“I can fight, Matt,” I said angrily.

Matt smiled. “I know, Love, but I need you
safe more than I need to help your ego today. Just stay there and
hide if I tell you to.”

I groaned, but walked to the bathroom
doorway and sat down. “I hope none of the children get hurt. Why
would dhampirs and vampires be attacking us if we’re allies?”

Matt shook his head. “I’m not sure.” He
turned away from me to look out the window nearest him. His answer
seemed off, like he was hiding something.

Snarling, growling, and screaming, slowly
filled the air. Matt paced from one window to the other as the
sounds of fighting grew closer and closer to us. A window shattered
downstairs.

I started to get up, but Achilles called up
to us, “It’s fine. He’s dead.”

Matt continued his pacing. He suddenly
stopped and cussed. “Shit. Achilles! They’re swarming towards
us!”

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 turned 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.”

BOOK: Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine
11.73Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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