Artemis

Upon opening Aaron's door I was greeted with his goofy smiling face that made my heart quicken and my feet go numb.

He sat behind his messy desk waiting patiently for me to come in. I took the chance to look him over. His curls were falling down in his face, the black short-sleeved shirt he was wearing was slightly wrinkled, but as I trailed down his muscular arms I could see the ink drawings along his brown skin.

He had tattoos, a lot of them it seemed. Covering both of his arms were layers of tattoos I couldn't believe I never saw them before!

Had this been the first time seeing him with short sleeves?

"Hey Snow, are you gonna come in or continue to drool over me from afar?" Aaron said with amusement laced in his voice.

"Oh please I wasn't drooling I was observing," I said kicking the door closed.

"Well, whatever you call it come over here, I'm starving!" He said walking over to the red couch.

I rolled my eyes.

"You know you could always come and eat with everyone else at the table," I said walking over to the couch.

"Ha and miss this quality time with you? I would never!" He said as he took the tray away from me.

I shook my head and sat down.

"Well, you should start eating lunch then. You don't eat much as it is we don't need you passing out on us." I said grabbing my plate.

"Aww Snowflake are you worried about me?"

He moved closer to my face making me look into his eyes. My gaze traveled down to his lips his tongue brushed against them slightly, making my throat go dry. I caught myself having to reach for my glass of water.

I drank too fast and began coughing out all the water.

I felt Aarons hand patting my back and looking over at me.

Once I caught my breath I looked over to him to see the concern in his eyes.

I chuckled.

"Look who's worried now," I said with a smirk.

I expected him to say some cheeky remark like usual but instead, he looked serious.

"Hey be more careful. Drink slower next time." He said as he rubbed my back one last time before his warmth was gone.

I simply nodded my head.

We both fell into a comfortable silence as we ate tonight's dinner which was seafood pasta.

"So how was your day with Athena?" Aaron asked.

"It was fine I guess"

"Cool I've noticed you two don't really hang out as much as you guys do with Apollo is there a reason?"

"It's nothing really. I mean we're both just closer with Apollo rather than with each other. They were glued at the hip growing up. Apollo was the fun older sibling while I was the strict one. I had no time to play with her." I said with a shrug.

"Sounds like you had to mature fast."

"In ways, yeah."

"I know how you feel," He said smiling sadly.

"So how about you? What did you do today?" I asked finishing up my food.

He let out a stressful sigh that made me want to give him a hug.

Shaking away the thought I gave him a questioning look.

"Well, I've been picking out my best trackers to go out to search for the rouges while also finding some fighters to accompany them. Half of my afternoon was spent on the phone with the Royal Pack catching them up on the latest events and our plan. They think it's a good plan but a risky one. If the base of the Rogues is found they want to join us to take them down. So far there haven't been any attacks on the Royal family but some of their pack members have begun to fall ill. They've been contacting healers but they can't seem to find the root of the sickness nor a cure." He explained running his hands through his hair making some of his curls loosen.

"This sickness is running through his pack fast and taking out a lot of their fighters. He would like to attack the rogues sooner rather than later so they can have enough fighters and protection around their pack." Aaron said offering me his bowl.

"The symptoms... did he describe them to you?"I asked as I took the bowl from him shaking my head when I saw almost half of the pasta still there.

'Starving huh?'

"Umm yeah, he told me just to be on the lookout for it, the symptoms where fevers, intense muscle pains, skin rash, and vomiting." He said leaning on his knees.

I cringed at the thought of my suspicion.

I knew those symptoms.

"You know it is very rare for a werewolf to get sick. There are only a few conditions that will cause our body to put up a fight. Metal being the biggest threat." I said staring down at the empty bowl in my lap.

"Yeah I know but what are you suggesting? They're being poisoned somehow?" Aaron asked confused.

"I don't know. But it's no coincidence that their pack members are falling ill now. We mentioned before that there was a possibility of a traitor amongst the Royal Pack; for the Rogues to be able to get so close to their border undetected." I said turning my head to face Aaron.

"Yes, but they did a thorough interrogation with all of their pack members and came up empty."

"All pack members? How about official members in the ranks?" I asked suspiciously.

Aaron looked baffled.

"I wouldn't think they would see the need to, Snow. The Royal Pack is full of generations of warrior families that have protected the Royal family for centuries. They're the most trusted and loyal Pack that's why they are known to be the strongest. Anyone of them would lay down their own life to protect the Royal family." Aaron explained.

I chuckled.

"Honestly you just provided my point right there," I said putting the bowl on the coffee table.

"Whose to say they aren't tired of protecting the Royals? That they're using their ranks to protect them from being suspected?" I asked.

"Either way someone is poisoning that pack and they're doing it from the inside," I said with a shrug and picked up my mug of hot chocolate.

"You know what the poison is don't you?" Aaron asked.

"I have my suspicions."

"Well, anything could help." He said sipping on his mug.

"Okay. Have you heard of Gemini Fruit?" I asked.

He shook his head.

I sighed.

"It's a tricky fruit it could be a blessing or a curse. For humans, they often eat it to boost their iron levels exponentially and can be made into medicines.  Iron is needed so the human body can make enough healthy oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Due to the genetic mutation of our cells, we are able to rapidly generate healthy blood cells without the need of iron. Of course, iron is found in food and other animals but our bodies are able to heal and adjust to that rather than being stabbed with a metal knife or forcing metal down your throat. But Gemini fruit to a werewolf its equal to consuming metal itself." I said shaking my head.

"The components in the fruit include high levels of iron it's actually a component into making wolfsbane. It can be juiced, cooked into food, or eaten by itself. All of those symptoms are just the body trying to fight it off. It starts with muscle pain that makes you feel like your insides are on fire. That's the metal running its course through your body and bloodstream. This will show as a skin rash but its the burns from the inside of your body. Then the fever which will cause the vomiting, this is the body trying to sweat out and throw up the vile substance." I explained looking inside of my mug.

"Damn. How do you know so much about it?  Do you know if there's a cure?" Aaron asked curiously.

I didn't look up from my mug. I began feeling the edges of the glass, decided how I wanted to answer him.

Clearing my throat I spoke.

"I've never come across a cure because technically it's not a virus or a poison. The body fights it off the best it can, there're some medicines that can soothe the pain, such as hydrocodone and Percocets but honestly, it all comes down to your body and your wolf. During this time your wolf is taking a lot of damage causing you to lose connection with it for at least a week. Even when the fruit is out of your system the body is left drained. Its the perfect way to leave a wolf out of commission for a while."

I looked up at Aaron only to find sadness in his eyes, his eyebrows scrunched together in concern. I guess he figured it out.

"Snow did you-" he reached out to my hand but I pulled back.

Looking away I put my mug back on the tray.

"You should try and contact The Royal Pack soon so their wolves have time to recover. Tell them to check their kitchen staff, Gemini fruit smells like lemons and ginger hard to miss in most foods." I said picking up our tray.

"Yeah...I'll call them in a second. But Snow you know you can talk to me."

I was facing away from him but I could feel his presence behind me.

I simply nodded my head.

"I'll go wash our dishes while you make the call," I said quickly walking out of his office.

I released a breath that I didn't realize I was holding and made my way to the kitchen.

Passing the living room I noticed no one was there anymore but I could hear noise coming from upstairs.

Ignoring it I began scrubbing our bowls and mugs. The mug reminded me of the bitter taste of that vile fruit. The smell that would make my nose scrunch up as I put it close to my lips. My own naiveness made me cringe, I was stupid, young, trusting the very monster that hid in the closet that haunted my very being.

I scrubbed the mug harder.

Just like how I did to my own skin the night she tarnished my neck. I felt disgusting, pathetic because that wasn't the first time she violated me. That damn tea was the first, dragging me away from the only one that knew exactly how I was feeling, my wolf.

I heard Diana growl from the back of my mindscape.

I mumbled an apology to her.

She hated being reminded of that time. We weren't the chattiest pair with each other but our bond was strong.

"I think its clean enough Snowflake." Aaron's voice broke me from my thoughts causing me to jump and drop the mug into the sink, having it shatter on impact.

"Shit!" I yelled reaching to grab the pieces inside of the sink.

"Hey hey, it's fine," Aaron said moving my hand away from the glass.

My eyes never left the broken pieces.

He moved my chin up to look at him.

"It's just a mug Snow it's okay," he said softly, crouching down to meet my eyes.

"No it-it was your mug. I-I didn't mean to break it. I'm sorry." I stuttered out surprising myself as I heard the crack in my voice.

"Snowflake its fine. We have more mugs. I'm more worried about you. Are you okay?" He asked gentle caressing my shoulder with his thumb.

I repeated his question in my head.

'Am I okay?'

Almost robotically I nodded my head.

He didn't look convinced and yet he let it go giving me a small smile.

"Well, I believe I still owe you that run!" He said happily grabbing my hand and walking me to the backyard.

I laughed at his enthusiasm.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited to see his wolf.

He lead us to the backyard passing the training area we went further into the thick woods that were behind the house. Once we were deep enough inside of the woods he let go of my hand and turned around to look at me.

Even in the night sky, I could see the sparkle in his eyes and the boyish grin playing on his face.

"Alright, we can change behind these trees okay?"

"Okay," I said as I began to walk behind a few trees.

"I wouldn't mind stripping in front of him" I heard Diana say in my mind.

"Oh my gosh shut up you perv!" I exclaimed back at her.

Stripping from my leggings and long sleeve shirt, I neatly folded my clothes and left them on the ground.

Crouching down to all fours I felt my muscles contract and shift into place. Letting out a small groan I opened my eyes to see my white paws.

Shaking out my fur I walked from behind the tree and looked for Aaron. I was taken back when I saw a large black wolf emerge from the trees.

He was huge. As he walked towards me, confidence radiated off him it was obvious an Alpha was present, it was very different from Aaron's playful and cheerful aura.

He wanted me to notice him.

Acknowledge him and his power.

This was Aarons wolf.

And I had to say he made me shiver in anticipation.

He walked closer to me, the moonlight shining perfectly on his thick fur allowing me to see him and all his glory.

His fur was jet black with silver highlights. I looked into his eyes waiting to see their dark grey color under the moonlight, only to be surprised to see a mixer of blue and grey. I thought his eyes couldn't get any more mesmerizing but I was wrong.

They looked almost electric blue like a coming storm by the ocean.

We were now right in front of each other he looked down at me while I stretched my neck up to look at him.

I was smaller than the average wolf. It was embarrassing, but I held my head high with confidence, it's not like it was something I could change now. I noticed how I could fit comfortably underneath his wolf and I had to resist the urge to nuzzle my fur against his own. 

I waited for his next move as he stood stiff in front of me looking at me seriously.

Suddenly he began to run around me only to stop in front of me crouched down in a playful stance, tail wagging, with a wolfie grin.

Now, this was Aaron.

I crouched down to meet his snout showing him I was up to play.

He surprised me when his slobbery tongue licking my nose.

Still, in shock, he bolted further into the forest.

Wiping my nose against my paw I began to chase after him.

Dodging fallen trees and branches I could see him in reach. Coming right near his tail I was gonna catch him when suddenly he stopped causing us to crash into each other.

We rolled down a small hill. Aaron had wrapped himself around me so he took most of the impact. My eyes were closed until I was struck with the coldness of water.

My eyes flew open, I began to panic. I stupidly opened my mouth causing the water to enter my mouth. I felt like I was being taken under again. The moonlight still glimmered over the water and I frantically moved my paws to get back to the surface so I could be emerged in that moonlight again. But no matter how much my paws moved my body just felt heavier.

My eyes began to close the light above beginning to dim. Then I felt my body being pulled up back to the surface. Air consumed my lungs and I began to cough out the water. I was hanging above the ground able to see the grass beneath me. I turned to see Aaron was holding the scuff of my neck in his mouth.

He laid me down in the grass gently before he began to examine my frame.

Once he was satisfied he nuzzled his neck into mine rubbing his scent onto mine, calming down my rapid heartbeat.

I stood up wobbly and shook myself off and Aaron followed.

He gave a lick to my cheek and gestured his head in the direction we came from.

He was implying we had to leave.

I didn't understand why until I felt a pinch in my heart.

Apollo. Something was wrong at the packhouse.

Aaron laid down nudging me trying to get me to lay on his back so he could carry me.

I shook my head and bolted ahead to the Packhouse.

My mind was cloudy meaning Apollo was worried. I pushed my body to go faster.

Finally reaching back to our clothes with Aaron arriving right after me. I shifted back and threw on my clothes.

Running back to the Packhouse I was greeted with a pacing Apollo and an excited looking Athena with a tablet in her hand.

I understood now.

The Rogues were attacking the Phoneix Wolf Pack.

Authors Note
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter sorry for taking a while to update I was on vacation! It was nice but now I'm back! I've also been busy reading the story Gifted by Chrissyvellis it's great, give it a try when you have a chance!

Oh before I forget! Disclaimer there is no such thing as Gemini fruit I just randomly thought of the name and rolled with it! So don't try and look it up it came from my crazy imagination.

Anyway!

How do you guys think Artemis knows about the Gemini fruit and its effects on werewolves?

What's Apollo so worried about?

Should we be worried about how excited Athena is about taking down the Rogues? Or maybe she just wants to see her bombs go boom! Lol.

Thank you for reading!

Stay safe!

-Niya