SEVEN

**ARTEMIS**
Three days had passed.
Three times the moon had cast its ghostly glow over the dew dripped forest.
Three nights empty of rest, three night I lay awake, thinking.

Three nights I wondered if he had thought of me.

Three times I had told myself no.

Few things had changed, the sun still rose in the east and set in the far west, then why did my world feel like it had been turned upside down?

My every waking thought was consumed by him and every piece of darkness that came with him.

I loved it.

I danced in that darkness, it only made my light shine brighter.

-But I hadn't escaped from him unfazed, a deep purple and black bruise had formed around my throat in the shape of his hands. The darkness had left its mark, and a vile one at that.

I struggled to talk, my voice came out hoarse and guttural, only a throaty whisper of what it once was.

Astoria said the pain would go, but that I shouldn't talk. She drowned me in herbs and ointments but still I couldn't sleep. When one pain ended another would start.

Slowly, over time, I learned to breath again. The pain began to faded, instead replaced by a dull throbbing ache in my chest.

I wanted to hate him, with every fibre of my being, and in some small way I did. Though that didn't stop my wolf from crying out for him at night, begging for him to show us just how dark he could be.

They say time heals all wounds but time only seemed to make mine hurt more.
He strangled me, I should hate him.
I do hate him.

But in that hate came a strange kind of lust for the dark side.

"Artemis." Astoria hissed, clicking her finger a few inches from my face. "Are you even listening?"

I rubbed my eyes and shook my head, hoping it would be enough to get rid of him, even if it was just for a moment.

"I said Lotan will be here soon, by that time I need for you to be gone."

I gave her a questioning look, my eyes asking what my voice could not.

"-Because... It's a private matter."

I had learned that a private matter with Astoria meant something enough to make Eros blush and turn tail.

Astoria and Lotan were not mates by any means. They had a different kind of relationship, one that was hushed and wrong.

They did not love one another, in fact I was almost sure they despised one another, though that didn't stop them from fucking for hours. Each time Astoria would force me out of the cabin, and when I would return things would be in varying states of disarray.

***

I had become accustomed to the near by woodland. Though this time I decided to venture further than I had before.

My wolf was nothing more than a flash of white against the autumnal rush of the forest.

I ran with a large grey T-shirt in my mouth, something I had needed last time when I ran into a few patrols and had to shift.

My face grew red to relive the moment. I didn't blame them, they were only doing their job and technically I wasn't part of Ismara. Yet.

Astoria said that I would be initiated soon, but that the trials were hard and many failed.

Cold water stabbed my paws as I ran through a thin stream. Flecks of the morning dew made my coat sparkle in the orange sun.
My wolf urged to go faster, to run. though it felt different to the usual excitement she push on me, this was something more along the lines of nerves. A horrid feeling lining the pit of my stomach.

I could hear what sounded like a waterfall not too far ahead. The sound of water slamming against rocks and stone, knocking the belly out of the air as it went.

As I came closer, the fall became clearer. A clear blue lake stretched out for what seemed like miles before it, white flat, plate like rocks climbed the side of the cliff face.

My wolf bristled slightly, though even she was confused as to why.
I shifted, laying the shirt I had been carrying to the side of a tree stump. A gentle breeze danced over my bare skin and carried with it the sounds of the woodland.
I could've sworn I'd heard a deep rumble come from the forest, so low it shook the very ground I stood upon. I turned but saw only thick trunked trees.

I stared into the water that was so clear I could see the lightly coloured pebbles that lined the bottom.
I began to walk in slowly, closing my eyes, letting the calm of the gentle tide wash over me. My hands glided over the surface of the water and I watched as the tiny motion caused a world of ripples.

I waded over to the waterfall, luckily the water wasn't too deep, it held just above my breasts. The sunlight lapped at my skin that seemed to almost glow under Helios's iridescent hand.

I stood beneath the fall for a long moment. Letting the cool water crash over me, and for a while I was peaceful.

The calm before the storm.

I ran my hands through my hair, throwing my head back in a lustful sigh. I hadn't felt this good in a while.

This time I was sure I had heard something. My head snapped in the direction of the forest and that was when I saw it.
A colossal wolf, as dark as the winter sky.

I gasped, rubbing my eyes in disbeliefs I stepped out from beneath the fall.

I tried to speak but the words that came out where a feeble whisper of what I wanted, still I knew that he had heard me.

"Who are you?-"

I didn't need to ask. Deep down I knew the answer.

I began to wade toward the beast, but the water seemed heavier than before. The wolf let out a thunderous growl, warning me not to come any closer.

-I should've listened.

"Wait." I croaked, my throat screaming out in protest as the great wolf turned, beginning to head north, up the hill that lead to the top of the cliff face. "Don't go!"

The faster I tried to move the slower I became, the river wrapped around my arms and legs, almost pulling me back into the mouth of the fall.

I struggled to the bank, roughly pulling on the large grey t-shirt than clung to my wet body.

The cold air stung and stabbed at my pale skin. Helios no longer leant me his hand, instead he laughed as Boreas spited me with his bitter cold winds.

I struggled after the bold wolf that seemed to effortlessly scale the steep hill, weaving between trees like a snake through grass.

"Come back!" I yelled. I whimpered, clutching my throat as my lungs were robbed of breath.

He stopped suddenly. Turning to nail me with his piercing blue eyes.

A shiver crawled over my skin, if looks could kill I would've died a thousand times over.

"Please." I begged.