Artemis had been upstairs with Diana for a little over an hour now.

Sol was nervous.

He wasn't sure if it would all be too much information in one go, but he thought that it would be better if it all came from a woman instead of him. And Artemis seemed to have taken a liking towards his best friends mate, so that really helped to ease the tension.

But he still worried.

Sol knew that some of this information would be completely new to her, especially since he was sure that she couldn't recall her childhood at all. He was just glad that she hadn't gotten her period in the last two weeks of her being human. That would have been a difficult situation for him to explain.

A smile crept onto his face as he thought about Artemis coming crying to him, thinking that she was slowly dying being she had noticed blood in her, his boxers and then on the apex between her legs.

He was just glad that he had Diana to help him out.

"You're smiling like a creep again," a voice whispered in his ear. If Sol was a regular wolf, he was sure that he would have jerked back in surprise having been caught off guard like that. He was an Alpha, it was very rare that he was ever unaware of his surroundings. Instead his eyes just rolled to the side and he stared at his best friend, Clark.

Sol snorted and went back to eating his pancakes.

He just wanted Artemis to come back down to the kitchen again. She had been gone too long.

Clark sat down at the kitchen island and smiled goofily at his friend. Sol rolled his eyes but pushed the plate of pancakes towards him. Clark didn't need to be told twice before dived into the plate, grabbed a pancake, rolled it up before proceeding to shove it down his throat.

Sol's nose turned up in disgust as he watched some syrup drip down the side of Clark's face before inching its way down his jaw and towards his neck.

And to think that he was a Beta.

Shrugging his shoulders when Clark met Sol's glare after having finally came down from his foodgasm, he reached out for another pancake but Sol had already taken his plate back.

One was more than enough. And he didn't want to watch his friend devour food like that ever again.

Clark shook his head but the goofy smile on his face only seemed to expand. "What do you plan on doing with her?"

Sol pretended he didn't hear as he filled his mouth with his breakfast, not enjoying being under the scrutinizing stare. He acted as if he didn't know what the question meant or that Clark had even asked it when in reality, Sol just didn't know the answer to it.

He shrugged his shoulders before gulping down his coffee; black. Placing the mug down, he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and then looked up from his food. Clark was still staring at him expectantly.

Sol sighed and sat back on his chair, playing with the mug of coffee having had enough to eat. He watched as Clark diving into the last pancake, eating it similar to the way he had done before, but this time making sure to add more maple syrup.

Sol feigned innocence. "I don't know what you mean."

"Bullshit!" The beta called out his bluff, knowing his friend well.

He paused briefly, thinking about it before responding. "I don't know what you want me to say."

Clark chuckled, his mouth still full of food. "I want you to admit that you like having her around."

Sol shrugged his shoulders. "And what's the problem with that?" He growled, not meaning for it to come out so aggressive and defensive, but it did anyway.

"I didn't say there was a problem." Clark chuckled again, holding his hands up in good humour. Sol shook his head but couldn't help but smile. "I'm just saying that this is the first time that you've actually shown interest in spending time with anyone, let alone a girl."

Clark paused for a second, almost as if he was trying to think of something. Sol watched him curiously. "Wait, I take that back. She is not a girl. Have you seen her? That she-wolf is every inch a woman. And a fine one at that."

Sol's mood instantly soured at that. Both his wolf and him didn't enjoy the way that he was speaking about Artemis, best friend or not.

But he didn't show it.

Raising a questioning eyebrow, Sol attempted to keep his thoughts and emotions at bay by merely smirking, though he was sure that Clark saw right through the act.

"I don't think Dawn would appreciate you speaking about another woman like that." Sol smirked, sipping at his coffee. It had gone cold but he didn't care, it gave him something to do; something to keep him busy while he waited for her.

He had gotten so used to spending every minute of every day with Artemis that now that she had been upstairs with Dawn for a little over an hour, he was starting to miss her.

It was absolutely absurd. He needed to get some control over himself.

Clark didn't say anything, his lips just stretched out into an even bigger smile. It was starting to irk Sol. His friend knew just how to get under his skin.

That was probably why they were still such close friends despite Sol's less than friendly attitude and his many attempts to distance himself from all civilisation and any sort of human contact.

Sol was glad that he had Clark to anchor him.

And now he had Artemis too.

"You like her." Clark said after that short, but sweet silence.

Sol looked up at, surprised. He wanted to deny it but couldn't bring himself to do it.

Clark only grinned wider when his friend didn't even try to deny it. "You really like her."

Sol just raised his mug to his lips, looking at Clark from over the brim. "Shut up," he said before taking a gulp, wondering why he couldn't just deny it.

-

Artemis had come down to the kitchen, trailing behind Dawn shortly after that uncomfortably, yet truthful conversation that he had, had with Clark.

He felt frustrated at not being able to just sit down next to her and answer all the questions that she never seemed to run out of. Artemis had been busy with the ladies all day and Sol had been with the Alpha and Clark, going over some construction plans for a few new cabins that they were planning to build for the pack.

Sol like construction, but he liked hanging out with Artemis more.

They had both spent the day at the pack, hanging out with some of the pack members, but they hadn't had much time to themselves as they were used to.

But it was getting darker now and the pack were having a late dinner, a BBQ outside on the pack grounds. In the morning, both male and female wolves trained and worked under the careful supervision of the head warrior, but on this cold, winter's night, the sky was illuminated by the light of the fire as the pack huddled around it with some members on the floor and some on benches, all of them enjoying the food that the cooks had made.

Despite popular belief, werewolves felt the code just like any other creature, be they human or supernatural. Sure, it bothered them less, but they still felt it.

Artemis sat next to him on the ground, wrapped up in a blanket as she nibbled on some bread that she had helped to make earlier on that day. Sol was dressed in a simple t-shirt and joggers, his eyes trained on the skies as he leaned back on the bench, bracing his bare elbows on the grass as he stared up at the sky.

Neither of them spoke, but both were glad that they had this moment to themselves.

It was the first time that had managed to get some time alone with each other except for that car ride over this morning and now that they were alone, they were content to just sit in silence together.

Well, until Artemis turned to face Sol suddenly. He more felt her stare at him then saw it himself. So when he turned his head to the side and stared right back at her, she smiled and shook her head, almost as if shaking away a thought. When Sol cocked a questioning eyebrow in her direction despite the dark winters night shadow that enveloped them, she turned her head back so that she was looking straight ahead again.

Sol was still staring at her, watching the way her face seemed to illuminate even in the darkest of nights.

Artemis finally broke the silence, still looking straight, "Dawn explained everything to me."

"Do you have any questions?" Sol asked almost immediately, not caring that he had responded too quickly or that he would seem too eager. He never had to worry about any of that when he was with Artemis, probably because the slightest of things seemed to make her day, even if those things or gestures were deemed mundane and were thought to be either pointless or worthless by other people.

Artemis was special.

She was also a mystery, even to herself.

"About what she explained?" Her voice was light and airy, almost as if she was falling asleep while talking to him.

Sol nodded, though he wasn't sure if she had noticed it as silence once again wrapped around them once again.

It didn't last for long though. "Why couldn't you just tell me everything?"

Sol fumbled with his words. "I thought it would be better if Dawn explained it all to you." Sol didn't want to admit to her that he didn't know too much about the female reproductive system and the menstrual cycle. He didn't want to disappoint her because he was sure that she would have a million and one questions.

Artemis always had a million and one questions, and he had thought that Dawn would be able to better answer them than him.

Sol wasn't embarrassed to talk about periods or about vaginal hygiene. With Artemis, the she-wolf that had been stuck in her wolf form for nearly the whole time that they had known each other, Sol had bigger things to worry about than blushing about periods and tampons.

Like finding out why those humans had dumped her wolf body in the woods, and only came back to inject her with some sort of liquid drug.

But he made a note to research more about the female body when he got the time. He didn't want to disappoint Artemis by not having the answers to her questions.

It was pretty much the only thing that she asked from him. Well, that and food.

Answers and food.

"Why?"

"Because she's a woman."

Artemis cocked her head to the side and watched him curiously, not fully understanding what he meant exactly. "So?"

"You're a woman too." Sol stated simply, being patient, knowing that she hadn't spend all of her life in her human form like all other female she-wolves her age.

It wasn't her fault.

"I know that." She piped feistily. Placing her plate on the ground, no longer interested in the bread, she wiped her hands on some tissue. "That still doesn't explain why you couldn't have talked to me about everything instead."

"I thought Dawn would explain it all better." Sol shrugged, stretching his legs out on the ground.

She pouted. "I like it better when you explain things though. I don't feel uncomfortable when you answer my questions."

Both Sol's and his wolf's ears perked up at her final comment. He inhaled and then exhaled, not at all happy with her confession. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable. "You felt uncomfortable?"

"Yes." Artemis agreed, though she was quick to finish off her sentence. "But it wasn't Dawn's fault. I just like it better when you tell me things."

"Why?" He asked, his voice was gentle and soft; patient.

Sol was an Alpha whether he owned to it or not. That also meant that he wasn't very patient and heaps and tonnes of emotions that most Alphas often struggled to control. Patience was one of them but for Artemis, Sol was the most patient man he could ever imagine.

Even more patient than his father had been with him.

It was every Alpha's nightmare that their heir wouldn't want to follow in their family footsteps.

Through the dark night, he could make out the shoulder that was facing him, lifting slightly momentarily before dropping down. "I don't know."

Sol was silent a little after that. He sighed and let himself drop so that he was lying completely on the ground now. "I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable. I just thought that you would be more comfortable if you learned about sex, periods and other feminine topics from a woman."

Artemis huffed, adjusted her blanket and then dropped down next to him. They were lying so close that he could feel the heat resonate from her body even through the blanket. His hands itched to reach out and hold her in his arms, but he fisted them instead.

"Well, you thought wrong!" She snapped at him, pursing her lips.

Sol couldn't help but release a chuckle at that.

"Stop laughing at me." She whined but couldn't help but laugh along with him. "I still have some questions." She said, turning her head to the side so that she could see him.

Placing his hands flat on his stomach, he turned his head to the side to look at her too. It was dark but he could still make out her cute button nose and soft eyes. "Ask me anything."

"Why do woman get periods but not men?" She asked, but before he could even open his mouth to answer it, she had another question. "And how do you know if you're supposed to use pads or tampons? Is there a book on that?"

Sol laughed quietly to himself and turned onto his side so that he was completely facing her before he answered all the questions she could possibly think of before they both drifted off to sleep.

During the course of the night, somehow, Artemis had managed to wrap her body around his and use his chest as his pillow as they both slept peacefully under one blanket and under the same set of stars.

-

Layla Knight 

02.07.18