Olympian Blood

Chapter 14

Artemis

When we reached the dining room there were quite a number of people surrounding the table. The food hadn't been placed on the table yet so everyone was talking amongst themselves. 

I caught sight of Athena talking with Ezra. I'm slightly surprised she didn't want to show us her outfit today, but then again I think she just wanted to make sure she got a seat next to Ezra this time. 

Looking around the rest of the table I could see a familiar couple sitting towards the end of the table. It was Meredith and Gerald, Serena's and Franco's parents. I could see Meredith talking the woman beside her ear off. The woman looked bored and annoyed, there was a man sitting beside her massaging her hand almost on instinct, as he was involved in another conversation with none other than the Alpha himself. 

I felt my body visibly tense when he stopped his conversation and stared at me from the head of the table. I thought I saw his eyes change for a moment before he closed them and took a deep breath. 

Apollo gave my hand a squeeze and went to sit in empty seat next to Serena. 

Surveying my options on the available seats left, I decided that I wanted to be as far from the Aaron as possible so the corner seat next to him was a no go. With there being only two other seats open, I sat next to Athena just two seats down from the Alphas gaze. 

As I sat down I pinched Athena's arm grabbing her attention from Ezra. She turned to look at me with a joyful but concerned look in her eyes. 

"You look beautiful. I'm glad you were able to get all of that mud out of your hair, it looks as enchanting as always." I said offering her a smile. 

"Thanks, Art," she said squeezing my hand from under the table. 

I could feel a pair of eyes staring at me and the way Athena's eyes glanced behind me confirmed it. 

I decided to ignore it. Instead, I focused on the person in front of me, I realized it was the woman that was bored form Meredith's consistent chatter. She was looking down at the empty plate in front of her as if the food would just magically appear at some point. 

She shifted her eyes up to me and all I saw behind them was pain. Those were the eyes of a person ready to give up. I've seen those eyes before, ones that not too long ago looked back at me in the mirror. 

Analyzing her appearance I noticed that she was in a wheelchair. I now understood why she was in so much pain. She must feel so powerless right now. And her wolf...no one should go through what she's experiencing.

I was pulled from my thoughts when the food began to be placed on the table. Everything looked amazing, but maybe I was a bit bias considering I missed breakfast and lunch. Just about anything looked appealing right now. 

There was a clank, grabbing everyone's attention to the head of the table, it was silent so the Alpha could speak. 

"Hello everyone!" Aaron said with happiness oozing from his voice. 

"I just wanted to host this dinner to celebrate my return while to also welcome the Angelos Siblings into our pack!" He said gesturing to us. 

I swallowed my pride and decided against correcting him. 

"They have agreed to help us put an end to this war and for that I am grateful," Aaron said with a small bow before sitting back down. 

Claps were heard around the table while I just went with an acknowledging nod. I quickly joined everyone else and prepared my plate before digging in.