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 (8 page)

BOOK: Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine
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“Stop it. Both of you! I chose this and none
of you could have stopped me. Stop fighting!” The words came out
loud and strong, like a drill sergeant ordering their cadets. I
looked from one angry set of eyes to another and noticed that both
had a split lip, but no other damage seemed present. “Please, don’t
fight.”

Ares growled and stormed out of the house,
walking towards the forest. Matt jogged after him silently.
Achilles walked away from me and towards the room he was staying
in. My legs started to give and only my arm reaching out and
hitting the wall saved me. Koda rushed forward and picked me up.
“Artemis?”

“I messed up, didn’t I?” I asked in a small
voice.

Koda nuzzled my cheek. “They’re just
worried.” Koda shut the front door and walked up the stairs,
keeping a tight grip on me.

“Are you mad at me too?”

He kept looking straight ahead, avoiding
looking at my face. “I don’t think you should have accepted her
challenge and I’m worried about the consequences. I am not mad at
you though. Just worried.”

“Is she that strong?” I asked nervously.

Koda nodded his head. “She’s one of the
strongest females.” He set me down and pushed me towards the
bathroom. “Go take a shower. I’ll keep guard.”

I groaned as I started walking towards the
shower. “It’s ridiculous that I have a guard. I’m capable of
protecting myself. I’m not a helpless female in need of a big man
to protect me all of the time.” Sure, sometimes it was nice to have
backup, like when vampires and dhampirs attack, but I can hold my
own.

“Complaining won’t change anything. No
matter what you say, Ares is going to keep a guard on you.”

The shower head groaned for a minute before
turning on. My body suddenly felt very cold and the steam rising
from the shower head was more than inviting. “Do you think Ares is
going to come back?” I asked as I stepped into the shower and
relaxed under the hot water.

“He’ll come back. He’s just blowing off some
steam.” Koda assured me.

I quickly showered and then blow dried my
hair. Outside, a large crash sounded, making me jump. Koda rushed
over and picked me up in his arms.

“Put me down, Koda. Why do you guys always
pick me up and carry me? I’m not an invalid.”

Koda set me on my feet and frowned down at
me. “We pick you up because, as you’re aware, touch helps soothe us
when we’re feeling upset. Plus, it’s more effective to pick you up
and hold you while we run somewhere to protect you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I
said softly.

Koda kissed my cheek. “It’s alright. I
forgive you. It was probably just Ares knocking over a tree
anyways. Come on, we better get dressed so we can start
training.”

“Training? For what?”

He turned to me and all of the humor that
usually lit Koda’s eyes was gone, leaving them a dull blue. “You
have to train for your fight. I won’t lose my packmate just because
we were mad at you and didn’t train you properly.”

I followed Koda to the room and quickly
dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He dressed in only a pair of sweats
and shook his head at me when I reached for shoes. “I need to teach
you some tricks about changing to your wolf form. Put some sweats
on instead.”

“Ares didn’t buy me any sweats,” I
whispered, feeling Ares’ absence like a weight on my shoulders.

Koda handed me a pair of his sweats. “Cinch
the string as tight as it will go on your waist and then roll the
waistband so the legs are shorter for you.”

I did as he suggested and then followed him
back down the stairs. As we opened the front door to leave,
Achilles walked out of his room. “Where are you going?”

“I’m taking her to the woods to do some
training.” Koda answered.

Achilles was frowning hard, but only a faint
line creased his perfect brow. “I’ll accompany you.”

Koda looked like he wanted to object, but
shrugged instead and pushed me towards the door. “Come on. We’ve
only got three days to train you.”

The three of us walked in silence through
the woods. I felt nervous, but I knew Koda wouldn’t hurt me.
Although, I wasn’t sure of Achilles’ intentions, but I doubted he
would hurt me either. Koda led us to a small circular clearing
filled with grass and wild flowers. It was beautiful and yet I
could smell dried blood on the ground. “This is our training
field,” Koda explained to me. He walked to the center of the
clearing and motioned at me to come towards him. “I want you to
attack me, but do not use your sidhe powers, or change to your
complete wolf form.”

I nodded my head in understanding and walked
to stand a few feet away from him. I took two deep cleansing
breaths before moving forward as fast as I could and punching at
Koda. He spun around me and in an instant had an arm wrapped around
my throat and was choking me. “You’re too slow. You need to move
faster. You also need to pay more attention to your opponent. As
soon as you see me moving to go behind you, you should turn.
Again.”

For the next few hours Koda drilled me again
and again. He then started teaching me how to properly hit and kick
and then how to use my elbows. My body was sore and I was dripping
with sweat when he said, “Now I’m going to teach you to
half-shift.”

Achilles stood up from the spot in the grass
where he had been sitting. “She’s not ready for that.”

Koda ignored Achilles and in a blink of an
eye his body changed from Koda the man to Koda the man-wolf. His
body was bulkier, but he could still walk on two legs, his hands
were now paws and his entire body was covered in short fur. His
face was more wolfish with a slight snout instead of just a nose
and fangs in his mouth. It took him two tries before he could speak
and when he did it sounded more like a growl than a human voice.
“This is the best form to take when fighting because you have the
benefits of the wolf body while still being able to move on two
legs. It’s difficult to maintain though and so most of us prefer to
simply take wolf form.” He changed back to his human shape and
leaned forward a little. “I need to practice more often. I’m
getting rusty.” He shook his entire body, like a dog flinging off
water and waved his hand at me. “Your turn.”

“How do I take that shape instead of my wolf
shape?” I asked. Usually I just closed my eyes and let the wolf
side of me take over to become wolf, or pictured my human self to
become human.

“You just focus on keeping half your body
human.”

My body began to tingle all over in
anticipation of changing.
Okay, only change part way.
I felt
my bones shifting and then opened my eyes, but I was on all fours
and, after wagging my tail realized, a complete wolf.

Koda shrugged. “We’ll keep working on it.
It’s hard to do.”

I changed back and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Koda smiled. “Don’t be. Only a few are able
to master this technique. Come on, let’s get you some food.”

Achilles followed behind us as we walked
back to the house. Why had he come? He hadn’t talked except when he
thought I wasn’t ready to learn the half-shift. Was he just worried
about me? Was he spying on me? I shook my head and ignored all of
the questions. I wouldn’t know unless I asked, but I didn’t want
to. He still unnerved me in that weird good way and it bothered
me.

Ares was standing on the front porch with
Matt when we came up. He looked at my sweat covered body and ripped
sweats and then at Koda’s ripped sweats. “What were you doing?”

Koda smiled sweetly at Ares. “Nothing.”

Ares frowned at Koda, but didn’t press him
further. I walked past him, knowing he was still mad and continued
to the kitchen where Koda had already taken out three steaks. I sat
down on one of the stools at the island and laid my face on the
cold tile. “I’m sore.”

Koda laughed. “Good.”

I whispered, “Am I supposed to keep what we
do a secret from Ares?”

Koda shook his head. “No, I just like irking
him.”

Ares walked in and looked from me to Koda.
“What are you two whispering about?”

Koda turned on the stove top and put oil in
a pan. “How I should prepare the meat.”

Ares rolled his eyes. “You’re the worst liar
I know.”

The closeness of Ares, but lack of touch
made my skin itch. It’d been hours since we’d had physical contact
and I needed it bad. My arm started to reach out towards him, but I
quickly pulled it back and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to push
him if he was mad at me.

He sat down beside me and when I opened my
eyes, I found his head lying on the island next to me. “Are you
feeling alright?” he asked.

“Tired,” I whispered as a lump formed in my
throat. The sight of his handsome face still sent butterflies
whirling in my stomach.

He frowned for a second and then exhaled
loudly before putting one of his arms around my shoulders. “Aw.
Much better. Wasn’t your skin tingling?”

“As if one thousand ants were crawling on
it,” I said honestly.

He moved his face closer to mine. “Then why
didn’t you touch me?”

I closed my eyes before answering. “You’re
mad at me. I didn’t want to make you angrier by trying to touch
you. I was letting you decide when we touched again.”

He kissed my nose, shocking me and making me
open my eyes. “Artemis, if you need to touch me, then touch me. If
you need me to hug you, then tell me. No matter how mad at you I
may be I don’t want you to suffer.”

My shoulders relaxed and after scooting my
stool closer to his, I rubbed my cheek against his. “Thank
you.”

Koda cleared his throat. I pulled away from
Ares and took the plate Koda was holding out to me. Koda sat on the
stool across the island from me and ate his food in silence,
keeping his gaze down. Ares handed me a knife and fork and I
quickly cut up the meat. Ares put his arm around my waist and I ate
with my two favorite men. I tried to offer Ares a piece of the
steak, but he just shook his head.

When the steak was gone, I leaned against
Ares and sighed in contentment. “I love you both.” Ares kissed the
top of my head and Koda smiled at me. “Where’s Matt?” I asked
curiously.

Ares exhaled. “With a female I believe. He
asked for leave and since I don’t need to go anywhere and as you’re
aware I don’t
actually
need a guard, I let him go.”

Koda shook his head. “Something’s not right
with him. He’s been different since we came back from the vampires’
place.”

Ares nodded his head. “I know. I’ve been
trying to figure out what’s different, but I don’t know.”

“Ares?”

“Hm.”

“How’d you get the name ‘God of War’?” I
asked. I’d been wondering about it since the men who had kidnapped
me for the vampire queen had discussed it.

I smelled Achilles as he walked to stand by
the kitchen entrance. Ares shrugged and then said, “I was a good
warrior and because of my genetics to the humans I appeared as a
god.”

Achilles scoffed from the doorway. “You
withhold much from her. Why?”

Ares growled. “Go away
sidhe
.” He
said “sidhe” with such malice that it made me pull away from
him.

Achilles was rubbing his temples. “This
hatred you have towards me is ill seeded. It was not my fault.”

Ares stood up and growled louder. “It
was
your fault! You could have prevented it! Instead you sat
by and let it happen!” Ares had gone from irritated to ready to
kill in two seconds.

“What happened?” I asked softly.

Ares shook his head and turned away. “I
won’t discuss it.” He held out his hand towards me. I looked at him
for a moment before realizing that he was playing a power game with
Achilles. He wanted me to put my hand in his so Achilles got the
hint that I was Ares’ and Achilles couldn’t do anything about
it.

“Ares, why do you hide so much from me? I’m
your mate.” I whispered the words so that he wouldn’t take them as
a challenge.

His eyes glistened as though covered with a
film of unshed tears. “This is not a topic I wish to discuss. Maybe
at some point I will talk with you about it, but not now and not
while
he
is here.”

“You’re just as stubborn as father,”
Achilles said angrily.

Ares spun around and glared at Achilles,
baring his teeth. “I have NO father!” Spinning on his heel, Ares
marched out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs. I looked at
Achilles apologetically and rushed up the stairs to the room where
I found Ares staring out the window at the woods. “I’m sorry
Artemis. That was childish of me,” he said quietly.

I wrapped my arms around him from behind and
lay my head against his back. “Achilles does an excellent job of
upsetting you.”

Ares laughed softly and turned around to hug
me. “That he does. So, what were you and Koda really doing?”

“Koda’s training me,” I answered
honestly.

Ares grip tightened and his words came out
clipped. “So. You’re still going forward with the challenge?” I
nodded my head. “You could die, you know this?” I nodded my head
again. He pushed me back gently and looked at my face. “Why then?
Why are you doing this?”

“I have to prove myself, Ares. Since I’ve
met you, you all have been fighting for me and protecting me. It’s
time that I protect myself and prove to the rest of the pack that
I’m not helpless.”

Ares relaxed his grip and sighed loudly.
“You could have just battled someone. You didn’t have to do a fight
to the death that would result in forcing a new mate on me if you
lose.”

“She challenged me, Ares. I couldn’t refuse.
Would you have refused if it were a man challenging you for
me?”

Ares laughed softly. “No, I suppose I
wouldn’t have, but then again I’m a veteran at fighting. You
aren’t.”

I rubbed my sore shoulders. “I know.”

BOOK: Kiss of a Star Artemis Lupine
2.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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