𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐒✔️

FORTYTWO|SUNLIGHT

ARTEMIS

I sat in Theos' chair, drinking in the last remaining scents of him. It was soothing in a way, knowing that though he may be miles away, a part of him was still here.

Maybe he left because he felt it coming, the heat, that is.

It was only now I began to feel it's ebbing embrace warm the depths of my chest. Just starting to simmer below the ashes, not quiet hot enough yet to burn.

And when it burned it would scorch, and Theos evidently desired no part in that fire.

So instead he left me, just like he should've left Flick. He had already made one mistake in the chemically induced lust of heat, goddess forbid he made another.

Well.. that and his wolf would he on edge from the packs joined heat anyways, one mere whiff of Flicks scent blown down wind and his wolf would be driven wild with rage, tearing through anything and anyone in his path to get to her. To kill her.

Maybe he should've stayed, though the child may be innocent the mother had committed enough sins for the both of them.

I knew it was heartless of me to with death to a child, an unborn innocent. But no matter how I tried I couldn't force any feelings of sympathy or forgiveness.

As the day progressed I assumed that the pack houses empty countenance was due to herds of women and children alike were being herded like cattle to the safety of the bunkers, locked away from Lucifers unholy grasp of sin and seduction, only the mated remained above.

It was all too late by the time I heard Carmens cries for Dalia.

When I first heard her, she sounded as though she were dying, like an animal in great pain.

She staggered towards me, grasping into my shoulders with clawed hands. "Have you seen her!"

"Seen who?" I frowned.

"Dalia!" She cried. "She's missing!"

"Shit." I grunted, "It's okay, we'll find her."

Unless we found her within the next five minutes we would all be in serious trouble, the last of the females had been rounded up and now the halls were empty. Shouts of mates pleasure already began to echo from behind the walls.

It wasn't safe for any unmated to be around at this time, let alone a defenceless child, wolves in heat weren't just driven wild with lust, especially between males many fights would break out, skin torn from flesh and bone and blood spilled on once pristine white walls. A brother would turn on another brother without a second thought over a female in heat. Any sense or morality was stamped out beneath frantic feet.

"You carry on checking the first floor, I'll head upstairs and look-"

"I've already looked everywhere!" She said exasperatedly, throwing her hands in the air. "I've checked everywhere! She isn't here."

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of my stomach, and this time I was certain that it wasn't because of the heat.

"Shit." I cursed as it dawned on me that the child was out there, alone and probably confused, wondering the grounds that crawled with bloodthirsty beasts.

"In that case," I began, already speed walking to the door with Carmen hot on my heels. "You take the south and the west, I'll take the north and the east. But watch out, you don't know who or what could be out."

She nodded, turning to search her half of the grounds but I caught her wrist, "Wait. If you don't find her in an hour turn back."

Even an hour was cutting it beyond fine. Even now, it was already probably too late, but still we et off in our separate directions all the same.

As I walked, I kept the setting sun upon my shoulder, letting it's glossy glow cast my pale skin in shimmering gold. The hour was warm and snug, but would soon be dark and uninviting.

As the time passed, the only sound was my increasingly desperate footfalls against the forest floor, and the occasional song bird crying goodnight to the land. had been more than hour? Probably? But still the last peak of sun edged out from behind bronzed baked clouds.

I knew where I was, and where I was headed. To the place where I had first met Theos, I headed up the steep trek to the tree that his wolf had first taken me. Where his name joined Mare's, forever etched into the rough bark.

The slope was steeper than I had remembered it, the rocks far more vicious and the blinding sun in my eye far less forgiving. It was just at that setting point, where it let out its last final rays, all that pent up rage released in its fiery force before it was smothered in the blackness of the cloak of the night.

I lifted my arm to shield myself from its piercing glow, and in doing so I was alerted to a something dark moving not far off on my right.

I jolted back, behind a thick trunked tree so that I was no longer blinded by the light, at the same time turning to protect myself from whatever may be lurking amongst the wood.

Nothing. Not so much as a Hare.

Not a single sign of life stirred within the forest, it was deadly silent. A strange feeling of unease fell over me, as now even the songbirds had ceased.

I was about to dismiss my sight as the blinding sun causing me to see things, that was until a callused hand slid over my mouth, silencing the screams that came moments later, and a strong arm wrapped tightly around my waist..

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