Artemis

10

Jaxon

I never knew I could fall in love so quickly. I didn't fall in love when I saw her playing the piano, when I saw her dipping her feet in the tide pools, no, I fell in love the moment I caught her scent. The moment I saw her violet eyes, hell even the moment I rejected her, I knew I fell in love.

Not my brightest moment, but still.

I couldn't let what happened to my father happen to me. I couldn't fall in love with this human, and have her get killed because of who I was. Even if I didn't think she was human at the time, I still would've rejected her. Call it cowardly, stupid, selfish, but I would do anything within my power to protect her.

I looked down at her in her large king bed, the moonlight flashing over her light skin. She was such a contrast to me, her pale skin to my tan, her soft edges to my rough. Her curly and wild hair splaying out around her like some fucking angel, and goddess did it fit.

"So beautiful..." I murmured as I swooped my head low, placing a kiss right at the hollow base of her throat.

"If you keep up like that big bad wolf, we aren't going to last long." Her words were barely above a whisper, but it still sent shocks and tingles straight through my spine.

I chuckled against her skin, my heart racing as I felt her shiver under my breath. Goddess, what she does to me.

"I'm sorry, again. For everything I mean," another kiss on her neck. "Rejecting you was the stupidest thing I could have ever done," another kiss. "I thought I was protecting you in some way, but in reality I was hurting you worse."

"Oh shut up Alpha." She teased me, my wolf practically purring like a little kitten in delight. "I'll be honest, I'm not over it. It hurts, this deep hollowness in the center of my chest. I feel it at the most random of times, when you look at another female or when you don't give me attention. It's stupid, I kno-"

"It isn't stupid, it's the bond. I practically wanted to rip that human apart the other day at school." I was met with her chuckles, as beautiful as they may be, I was confused nonetheless.

"He's gay Jaxon." Goddess, the way she spoke my name sent entrails of delight all throughout my body until I couldn't think. At almost the same exact time, I was beyond relieved.

I swooped down and kissed her, filling her mouth with my tongue and swept around until there wasn't any part of her I didn't explore. Her smell drifted over my as I kissed her, Sage and a million other earthy scents, along with something sweet; not as tooth achingly sweet like vanilla, but not as tart as Lemon.

I moved along her jawbone, drifting down her neck until I reached the section her artery sat at in the crook of her neck. I placed open mouth kisses all along her skin, her soft moans igniting a flame deep within my chest that spread all over every inch in my body. I licked over the spot that would bare my mark one day, my canines elongating all on their own fashion.

"Jaxon, no." I shut my eyes tight, breathing in to try and reel in my wolf.

Mark her, mate her, she is OURS.

"I'm sorry, my wolf –" She pressed her fingers against my lips, my mouth opening up and sucking in her thumb she had placed against my bottom lip. Her breath hitched at the intimate yet incredibly sexual action, her pupils dilating just the slightest.

I could barely see her through the darkness surrounding us, the bare light of the Moon illuminating her extreme beauty, right here in her bed sheets. I released her thumb, watching as she pulled away her shaking hand to trail her thumb over the shape of my lips.

"Listen, I have to travel to Mount Olympus, and find the passage to Olympus itself." I nodded, watching her eyes look at me.

"Okay, and I will go with you." She shook her head at me, my wolf immediately screaming deep within my head.

Don't let her leave, she is ours, OURS. Protect mate, love mate, keep mate within our bed and never let her leave.

I sighed internally at my wolves rambling, blocking him out as much as I could. "It's dangerous, I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt. Plus, I'm not sure how the gods would reacts to seeing me with a werewolf. Especially Zeus, or you would know him as Jupiter, his Roman counterpart."

I grimaced as I remember the tale of King Lycaon (the origin of the word Lycanthrope) who offended the gods by serving human meat to them at dinner. Jupiter punished this transgression by transforming Lycaon into a werewolf. In his werewolf form, he could continue his abomination of eating human flesh with less offense.

"It wouldn't just be me going, I'm sure Riley and Mona would love to come with us." I quickly opened my link to Riley, asking him whether he and Mona would like to accompany us.

Fucking of course! Mona would have my head if we let you lot go without us.

I chuckled, nodding back to the lying Angel next to me. "Riley said he and Mona would love to go, so if you really don't want us going, you get break it to Mona."

I watched her eyes widen comically, her head shaking as she narrowed her eyes to me. "That's blackmail."

I leaned down and placed another kiss on her lips, shrugging my broad shoulders over her. "Sucks babe."

I kissed her again on her lips, savoring the taste of the forest that she somehow gave me. I looked over her, my eyes searching through hers. For what, I'm not exactly sure, but I could just feel my heart swelling and growing like the fucking Grinch deep within my chest.

Laying in this bed, surrounded by stranger walls in a home I had just allow myself to sleep in, I felt more at home than I ever had in the pack house. All because of her.

I was in love, and I was a fool to ever believe I could let her go.