Artemis' Gift

SIRIUS

She was fiery already this early in the morning. It almost made me smile. Almost. I could understand because, frankly, I hadn’t been nice to her. I hadn’t even tried once.

She was just human, so she should know her place. Right?

We all sat at the table, and I could feel her warmth so near. After another night of dreaming of her, it was hard to resist. I wanted to touch her, but a part of me was snarling.

I didn’t want a human. They were despicable. Yet…

She had such beautiful chestnut hair, and even if her light spring-green eyes were sending daggers my way, they were gorgeous.

My wolf was whining for a touch. It always felt so good when we touched her.

I clenched my hands into fists to avoid being tempted. I’d manage this whole breakfast without touching her. I had to.

She was drinking her glass of orange juice, while I exchanged the niceties with her mom, and then she suddenly choked on it.

I was about to pat her back when her brother beat me to it. Fucking Jacob.

She thanked him with a small smile and started blushing. It was a nice shade on her. Apparently, she was clumsy. Well, she was human after all.

“That’s why we need her in our sight always,” my wolf thought.

“Damn it.” He really wasn’t helpful.

That wasn’t the only thing I noticed about her. She had a cut on her lower lip.

What happened? Did Jacob do that? ~

It made me furrow my brows further as I imagined what he’d done to her so she’d get a cut on her lower lip.

My wolf was snarling at the pup. “Ours,” he said.

“Would you please shut the fuck up?” I growled at him, but as usual lately, he wasn’t giving a damn.

She chanced a glance my way and furrowed her brows. Yeah, I was glaring, but not at her. I didn’t want Jacob to touch her, even if he was her brother.

I gritted my teeth at my stupid reaction and focused back on Alpha Richard and his mate.

I needed to stop the thoughts running through my mind, and talking about the vampires would achieve just that.

“I thought about your vampire problem, and I think I can do something about it,” I said, trying to calm myself down and change the subject.

“That’s good news, Your Highness,” Luna Elizabeth said. “We never had any problems before, but they’ve become brazen lately.”

The human touched her throat nervously and kept on eating. I supposed she couldn’t forget her encounter with a vampire after all.

I hadn’t either. I was still very much worked up about it, and that was the problem.

I needed to assess this calmly because vampires were no small threat, even to a lycan. “Having her close would calm us,” ~my wolf reminded me. It was getting tiring.

“Yes. I’ll try talking with their leader, and if he refuses to stop, we’ll kill them,” I continued, my voice even. I was glad my inner turmoil didn’t show one bit.

“We can’t risk exposure because of them.”

“Yes. It would be bad if the humans knew. They’d surely panic,” Alpha Richard stated.

“They could get ideas in their shrewd little heads.” I nodded.

“Shrewd?” the human said, visibly furious.

I glared at her, and she glared right back. She stood up fast, earning herself a glare from Luna Elizabeth, who was visibly done with her daughter’s mood.

It made me smirk like a pup. The human would get an earful.

“I’m not hungry anymore. If you’ll excuse me, Your Highness. My shrewd little self needs some air,” the human said, glaring, not at all worried about her mother.

I liked that side of her, actually. She was very brave to stand in front of us and not display one bit of fear. As if I’d let anything happen to her anyway… Shit. ~

“Penelope,” Luna Elizabeth growled, standing up.

The human didn’t back down, even in front of her mother. Heh. She had guts to stand up to the luna. I chuckled and leaned back into my chair, enjoying the scene a bit too much.

“Sure. She may go if she can’t handle that much.” I smirked.

She glared at me and left the table without a second’s delay. She went upstairs, rustled up some things, and left the house with a bag full of supplies. Jacob sighed and looked at his father.

“I’ll go with her,” he said.

“Kyle is on his way,” Richard answered matter-of-factly.

“Why always him…?” Jacob mumbled.

Great. Another one who was looming over her. Damn human. I was sure she was letting all the males have it.

It annoyed me more than I thought, somehow, and my wolf snarled at me for even suggesting it.

No, he was sure that she was a virgin. We could smell it the first time we’d seen her in the woods.

“Where did she go?” I asked, curious. Although I hated to admit it, I truly wondered where she was.

“The lake. She likes to draw there,” Jacob answered with a dark glare.

Was he challenging me? I growled lowly, and he lowered his eyes. I was his king, and he was far from being able to challenge me. Especially over her. Damn it. ~

“King Sirius will go apologize to Penelope,” Stephen said suddenly.

WHAT? I whipped my head to him and glared, but he glared right back. ~How dare he do that?!~ ~

I calmed down and thought. I guessed he had a point, though. I was out of line. I was behaving like a pup. It wasn’t very fitting for a king, but she was making me crazy.

“Yes. You invited me, and I insulted her, so I’ll apologize,” I conceded.

“You should just lean into it, Your Majesty,” Alpha Richard said with a knowing smile.

“I’m sure you’ll like what she’s drawing right now,” Jacob said, his eyes still narrowed.

I looked at him, and I arched an eyebrow. So, he knew that she was drawing me. Huh.

I smiled but I didn’t smirk at him, so one point for me. I left the table to go to the lake. Time to apologize to the human.