A/N: it's long, and please don't hate me because the ending. I didn't mean it to be this long, just kinda happened haha. Also, please remember she's essentially human in the fact she doesn't heal like wolves do without making a salve, and also, I have a huge flare for dramatics, hence the ending. I stayed up till 3:30 am writing this with work i the morning, I'm insanely sleep deprived and I'm rambling. Oh whale
***
I sucked on my teeth as I stood in front of my empty fridge, the rumbling stomachs of wolves heard loud and clear behind me. Usually I would just conjure up some food, but the fact I wasn't alone really caused a dilemma for me.
"Sorry guys, looks like we'll have to order pizza or something." I wrinkled my nose as I shut the fridge, turning around and walking the short distance to the island in my kitchen.
Jaxon quickly stood and strode over to my fridge, talking as he walked. "There had to be something in here for us to munch on at least."
"Wait!" He opened the door and blanched at my bare fridge, the shelves only holding a few bottles of water and a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Really, water and whiskey?" He turned back to me, the stifled laughter of Riley earning a glare from me and his mate.
"I haven't gotten around to grocery shopping, okay?" He rolled his eyes, shutting the door and walking to where his keys sat on the cabinet.
"You've been here for a few weeks Art, how can you not have gone grocery shopping?" I glared as Mona spoke, her eyes widening when she realized what she said.
"Come on, were going shopping." Jaxon said, shushing my protests as he strode out of my house.
"Wait! We don't have to go shopping, the project isn't done-"
"It's almost done Artemis, we just have to put our names on it." Riley piped up, earning an eye roll from me.
"But, still! I can't force you guys to go grocery shopping with me." Jaxon huffed out a breath, his body turning and moving so he stood before me.
His steel grey eyes stared straight into my violet ones, moving and searching for something, before a light tinge of pink erupted across his cheekbones. "I'm sorry, truly. I want to start over, can we?"
I raised my eyebrows at him, looking over his shoulder to Mona and Riley. Riley was practically begging me to say yes with his eyes, while Mona shrugged to me. I honestly don't know, I don't know what I want to do. I bit my lip as I looked down to my feet, before looking back up to his hopeful eyes.
"I don't know, I, uh, can I think about this?" He nodded to me before he held up his car keys and jingled them, plastering on a big grin.
"Let's go grocery shopping."
-
"You can't get into the buggy!"
"Oh shut up and move it!" I scrambled into the buggy and grinned, Jaxon's huge smile practically melting my insides as he looked at me.
"Jaxon, tell her no." He rolled his eyes as he situated himself towards the back of the buggy, a mischievous smile gracing his beautiful lips.
I did not just think that.
"Wanna go for a spin?" He asked me, his eyes twinkling as I nodded frantically.
He left a protesting Mona and a chuckling Riley at the entrance to the mostly empty grocery store, pushing me past a few aisles before opening up to a big open aisle.
"Ready?" I nodded as he began to push, walking quickly before escalating to running. He lifted himself up and let the cart drift, speeding down the aisle as I screamed with laughter. My hair flew around me as I looked around, making eye contact with a wide smiled Jaxon.
My heart was racing as I stared at him, his eyes suddenly turning ten years younger right before my own. I swore he must be able to hear my racing heart, I could practically feel it in my throats as we slid to a stop at the end of the aisle.
"One more time." He looked down at me after he straightened up, his eyes glittering and shining as he grinned. I smiled and nodded as he spun us around, looking down at me with an expression, an emotion, that I couldn't come close to naming. I suddenly felt warm, my blood rushing through my veins and my bones inflaming right under my skin.
He rushed forward and jumped as the buggy spun, the wind blowing my hair around as I laughed a huge boisterous laugh. It was like slow motion, like a stupid romcom movie with perfect lighting and some indie band playing in the background. His shaggy hair was flying around his head as he leaned over and was a foot away from my face, but it felt like inches.
I wanted to close the distance and slam my lips onto his, kiss him until he couldn't breath and my lips were red and swollen. I wanted so badly to love him, to let him love me. But call me stupid, call me an idiot or a stubborn asshole, I couldn't get over the fact he rejected me. It was a wound to my heart, a bullet hole right in my chest.
We came to a stop and he looked down at me as he straightened up his back, his eyes boring into me and seeing every crevice in my soul. I felt naked, even with layers of clothes to protect me from the cold wind outside. I inched closer, my fingers itching to touch his skin and get it over with, just so later on I could run my hands through his hair without any objections.
"Guys!" I jolted at Rileys voice, pushing myself back to the edge of the buggy, farthest away from Jaxon. I cursed myself, looking up to Jaxon's fallen face as they rounded the corner and found us.
"We going grocery shopping or not?" Mona asked, making me force a smile onto my face as I stood in the shaky buggy before hoping out. I smiled and adjusted my crouch I had landed in before making my way to the produce department, smiling back at the group behind me.
"Come on slow pokes!"
-
I sat at my piano, hours after the grocery store. I had fought Jaxon against paying for the groceries, but he was a stubborn asshole and made Mona distract me while he slid his black credit card. I could help the nervous feeling I got when he came around me, the way my skin tingled when ever he was within three feet.
It was the bond, and I was selfish, but I wanted it gone.
I sat at my books for hours trying to find something to completely eradicate it, but I had no luck. I felt stupid and naive to think he would ever love me if the bond wasn't there, but the bond was incredibly strong and still intact, since I didn't formally reject him back.
I didn't know whether to do it or not, but I had even heard stories that the rejection won't go through. The Goddess herself decides whether or not the rejection has merit, and I highly doubt she'd let ours through.
I pulled my lip in between my teeth as I heard the rustling of the wolves surrounding my house, the smell of pine and rain just as it hits the ground practically attacking my senses. They had been on patrol, and it seems Jaxon has enlisted my home in a new loop for them to watch over.
I began to press the keys on the piano, Brahms Lullaby passing through my arms, down my wrists to my fingers. Electricity began to fly through the oxygen surrounding me, notes flying out of my piano keys and into the wind I created.
A loud thud sounded, a smile coming to my face as my spell worked. It wrapped itself around the victim, submerging itself into its ears until it was the single sound vibrating through the ear drum. They fell asleep almost instantaneously, sleeping for hours upon end, or until the sun rose and Apollo himself woke them from their slumber.
I grinned and quickly changed into leggings and a grey tight tunic, before taking a black cloak off my closet hangers and dropping it over my shoulders. I cocked the hood up and over my curly hair, loading my body with the occasional dagger and a single gun. I needed to know just how bad the Rogues in this area was, and what better way than to go hunting?
I quickly made my way into the forest, climbing up the highest and thickest tree I could find. I leapt from branch to branch, feeling more like a monkey than a witch as I made my way around the perimeter. I finally stopped once I saw a fire right at the edge, my body pressed against the thick trunk as I tried to not create any sounds.
"We need to attack soon, the hunters are bound to be on our trail and if we take out this pack then they'll shift their attention somewhere else." A gruff voice spoke, my nose wrinkling at his idiotic idea.
Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought it was a stupid plan, because another voice spoke out soon after. His voice was sharp, like the clanking of glass jars or the scraping of forks against plates.
"That's a stupid idea, we need to either move on or take out this pack so we can venture father in their territory."
I wrung my fingers together before spreading them out, palm facing down over their heads. A storm quickly rolled in as I picked up the wind, the moonlight cutting through the dense and dark cloud looming overhead. I grit my teeth as I jumped down, landing in a crouch right before them.
One was a bit fatter, with a balding head and a beefy sort of face. The other was entirely too skinny, a long hook nose and thin greasy brown hair. The fatter one jumped up almost immediately and growled at me, my head cocking to the side as the other sat there and watched us.
"Who the fuck are you!?" He growled through gritted yellow teeth, sharpened to a point like actual wolves.
"Should I be asking you that, Rogues?" I watched as they tried to sniff the air as discreetly as possible, their confusion evident in both of their eyes.
"You're a human, not a hunter and not a wolf. Why are you hear and how the hell do you know of us?" I grinned as I pushed my sleeves up, revealing the many runes gracing my skin; as well as pulling my hair away from my ears, showing the pointed cartilages every witch had.
Every witch has some form of elven in their lineage, and how prominent it was in ones DNA meant how powerful that witch was. Since mine was so prominent, along with the close connection I had to Selene, it was obvious I had powers beyond even my own fathomable thoughts.
"Witch." The skinny one hissed as he finally stood, coming to a halt right next to his partner. "Why are you hunting us, shouldn't you be slaughtering this pack?"
I grit my teeth at how bad of a name most witches had, immediately conjuring a ball of electricity in the palm of my hand. "No, I'm going to slaughter you instead."
I thrust the ball of light straight to the larger ones chest, burning a hole dead in the center. The other took my distraction and shifted as he pounced on me, latching his claws onto my chest and dragging downwards.
It was obvious just how malnourished he was, his wolf having patches of hair gone and ribs sticking out even in this form. I gasped at the sudden pain, gripping my hands around his neck before throwing him off. His back hit a thick oak with a loud crack, splitting the wood in half as his body slammed onto the forest floor.
I stalked up to him as menacingly possible with the pain radiating down my torso, picking him up by his throats again. "Shift!"
He whined under me, stupidly snapping his jaws at my face. I grit my teeth and slammed him against an opposite tree, not hard enough the crack the bark but hard enough to force a whine of pain out of his snout.
"Submit and fucking shit or I will slowly kill you." I sneered out right in his eyes, showing him just how pissed I was. I was loosing blood and didn't have Lemon Balm nor Feverfew at home, so I just had to hope Mona would answer her phone and have some at the pack garden.
He shifted under my grip, his body already turning purple from the assault. He stared at me with wide eyes, my own violet ones staring at him with such rage he flinched back. "Why are Hunters chasing you?"
"We killed half their compound two weeks ago." I took in a breath, my eyebrows furrowing.
"Just you and meathook back there?" I was confused, I had taken both of them down in a matter of seconds, how could they have taken an entire compound?
"No, our Rogue pack." My eyes widened, I had heard of this Rogue pack. They had been caught working with Hunters, why did they slaughter their compound?
"I thought you were all working with the Hunters, what changed?"
"One of the Rogues ended up being mates with a Hunter. They were found out, and while the wolves were okay with it, the Hunters were definitely not." I nodded before squeezing my eyes shut, already feeling the world spin slightly as I lost more blood than I probably should.
"I'm sorry." I spoke it more to my own mother and father, than to the Rogue before me. I quickly snapped his neck and let his body crumple to the moss covered floor, shutting my eyes in both remorse and pain.
I dragged myself away from their makeshift campsite, staggering the entire way home. I walked past the knocked out wolves, who were resting against trees no more than fifty feet from my home. I walked into my home and shut the windows I had propped open, fumbling through he house as I tried to keep my eyes open.
I tugged off my shirt and winced at the long claw marks, my hand slapping against my kitchen table as I blindly tried to find my phone. I finally gripped it and slid it to unlock it, pressing on Mona's phone number.
Since it was almost three am, she didn't answer the first time, nor the second time, nor even the third. She finally picked up on the fourth ring, her groggy voice crackling over the speaker.
"Hello?"
"Mona?" My voice was breathless, my own skin burning from the inside out. I heard rustling on the other side, a grunt of pain leaving my lips as I tried to not completely collapse.
"Artemis? What's going on?"
"Rogues, I need Lemon Balm and Feverfew. Please tell me the pack garden has them, please I –" I bit back a cry of pain as I heard even more rustling, the sound of a door shutting sounding through the speaker.
"Yes yes, I'm on my way with it. Get out the book with a recipe, I'll make it as soon as I get there. Should I bring Jax-"
"No! He can't find out, please. I don't want him hating me, I can't have him hating me." I cried out in pain again as I took the book out from the shelf, my legs going out and my body toppling onto the hardwood floor.
"Art? Art! Oh god, I'm bringing Riley, I'm sorry Artemis." I squeezed my eyes shut, laying on the floor as blood trickled down my torso.
"Pain, Mona. So much pain."