Taming the Wolf Prince (Re-uploading Edited Chapters)

Chapter 16 A God's Woes (Part 2)

Second chapter uploaded in batch sorry for reupload, please make sure you've read the previous first!

"I knew it!" she snapped. "I knew there was some sort of connection between you and I - why else would you show me your true form!"

Apollo's composure was eerily calm despite the growling Earth.

"Winter." He called her name very gently. "Do you understand the technical mechanics of a mate bond?"

The question caught her off guard. She glared at him. "I suppose you are about to tell me?"

He ran his hand across her skin before slowly dragging his hand away, an almost warped kind of delicacy resonating in his touch.

"As her... what the Lupine would call mate, Artemis' soul belongs to me. In return, my soul belongs to her. However...There is a slight complication in our unique scenario. It is very difficult to kill a god. Not impossible, but still needlessly complicated - even now, as dead as she is, every so often she chooses to incarnate into a young woman. A young woman which is now dubbed the Maiden. I should add that her reasons for this are far beyond me; in this manner, I know as little as you."

She made a feeble attempt at escape but she was worse off than a mouse in a cat's cradle. Noting her struggle, the vines turned to ashes on his command; she wondered if he'd even realised he'd done it before now. The thought didn't ease her. Apollo clearly had tremendous power he wasn't in control of when emotional.

As he sat next to her he leaned over her and his golden hair spilled over his face as he leaned in to breathe a rugged whisper, "have you felt the pain of nearly having an entire soul ripped from yours? Imagine that, but a thousand times worse. Imagine you are immortal. I want you to imagine that your partner for eternity has died and the equally eternal pain that comes from having your soul ripped from his in an endless cycle of reincarnation."

His eye widened as an unhinged kind of fire seethed the iris, and the light shinning from his skin stained with a bloody red. She couldn't help but whimper. That was a nightmare -- a literal living nightmare. Even Apollo gave a shaky breath in her ear, shuddering. He sat for a moment, simply panting. From the corner of her eye she watched his features contort as if he too was affected by his own words, arms gripping his sides in a protective huddle.

She couldn't bear what he was describing. She'd had a taste of what it was like to nearly lose Tamer. Witnessing Apollo like this was like witnessing her own greatest fear.

"Apollo-"

He flinched when she spoke, appearing to have forgotten she was there. He composed himself with a shake of his head but the tremble in his voice was still prominent.

"If you think that sounds bad, wait until you hear the rest. I haven't even begun to shed light on the worst part yet."

It was torture just to listen to him. She wasn't sure if she could take any more.

"What could possibly be worse than that?"

"You, Winter." The air around them began to boil as Apollo looked down on her, catching her in such a seething gaze it felt like her soul was catching fire. "You are the worst part. Can you even begin to imagine what it feels like when even a fragment of your loved one's soul is reborn? The turmoil, the confusion at falling inlove with someone else, then the inevitable pain you feel when it belongs to that of a mortal and they die?" A quieter, more vulnerable tone softened his voice. "It hurts, Winter. Immediately, as if bound by contract, you feel for them. You cannot help it. When you have a wound in your heart this big, you will do anything to heal it. But like I told you earlier, you are not Artemis. Nor were the countless other Maidens before you. As long as even a fragment of Artemis' soul lives, I am bound to her for eternity. As long as she continues to incarnate, I cannot heal and my constant Hell repeats without an end in sight."