"I don't see the point of this," she whined as he physically dragged her behind him into the forest. Artemis had been grumbling from when Sol woke her up at the crack of dawn to when he handed her a banana to snack on before their early morning training session. "I don't see why I have to train with you."

He spared her a glance over his shoulder but he continued walking. "I want you to be able to protect yourself."

Artemis frowned but continued to follow him. "I can protect myself."

"It's not good enough," Sol stated harshly, more worried about her safety than her feelings. He watched as she frowned but said nothing to counter his words. He sighed. "I want you to really protect yourself, in case anything ever happens."

Her interest had peaked at that. "What's going to happen?" She asked, watching him closely as he walked in front.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But I don't want you to be at any sort of disadvantage."

Artemis nodded and sighed before finishing off the last of her banana. Dropping the peel of the banana by the base of an old oak tree they had walked by, she made a mental note to pick it up to dispose of when they would return to head back home later.

She understood what he meant and why he was concerned but was sure that he wasn't being completely honest with her. "There's something you're not telling me." She stated simply, the words more of a fact than a question.

Sol sighed and shook his head but she was right. "I've just been catching the scent of some humans hanging around the forest the past couple of days."

Artemis stilled, surprised. "How many?"

He paused briefly to think about it for a moment. "I'm not too sure but I'm assuming a small group. There were a few different scents that I picked up on." He admitted honestly to her even though he wanted nothing more than to keep the truth from her in order to stop her from worrying. At first it had been very faint and he had almost missed it the first day but by the second morning he had headed out for a quick run, he couldn't overlook the various strange scents any longer. The hairs on the exposed parts of his body stood up on end just at the thought of being spied on.

Artemis frowned. "And this has been happening for the past couple of days?"

Sol nodded.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" She asked, her tone slightly hostile

This time he stilled.

She frowned and walked passed him into the woods. "You never tell me anything." She frowned, not happy with the way he kept omitting the truth form her. Even if his intention was to protect her, she didn't see the logic behind it.

"I didn't want you to worry." He admitted.

She rolled her eyes. "I was going to find out anyway and now I'm worried."

"I know," he agreed with a sigh. "That's why I want you to learn to defend yourself in case you ever get into a fight."

She nodded in understanding as they carried on walking until they finally reached the clearing that they had intended to train in that morning. "Do you think it's the same guys that attacked us last week?"

He nodded. "And most probably the same as from all those months ago."

She nodded before sitting down on the floor to tie her shoelaces that had become untied on the walk over. Sol watched in amusement as she struggled with her laces before he finally swooped down and helped her out, even giving her a short but silent demo. "And we're ready to go," he smiled and tapped her on the ankle before standing up. Artemis followed.

They started off to a few stretches much to Artemis' dismay whom was now wide awake and ready to just jump into the training, but she followed his lead none the less.

"We'll start off easy," Sol promised her as they both stood in front of each other with a few feet between them, both of them in fighting stance.

Artemis nodded. "Thanks," she mumbled under her breath. She wasn't violent by nature and wasn't experienced at all in fighting and physically defending herself so this was all new to her. "You might want to start off slow as well."

He nodded and lunged at her without warning.

Artemis squealed in surprise and dove to the side, essentially dodging his attack. She grunted as she hit the floor but it seemed that Sol hadn't anticipated her to be dodge his attack as she had and she was determined to take full advantage of the situation. Thrusting her leg out, she kicked him just above his ankle.

She laughed gleefully as she watched Sol topple to the floor, clutching his ankle in pain. Artemis was sure that the pain was only momentary since he was a werewolf and that he would be better in a minute or so, but she expressed her concern regardless.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think that would hurt so much." She apologised as she sat on the floor in front of him, her eyes cast down on his ankle which he seemed to still be clutching in pain. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as he grunted in pain, still not looking up at her.

Artemis' eyebrows shot up in surprise. Why was it still hurting?

Before she had the chance to examine his ankle further, Sol growled out again before he lunged at her for the second time. The only difference from the first time was that he actually managed to grab her, pinning her down to the ground with his body weight, applying just enough pressure to keep her powerless under him yet easing up enough to make sure that he wouldn't be hurting her too much.

Artemis struggled against him. She tried to bring her leg up to kick him in the groin but he had foreseen this and pinned down her hips with his own, keeping her in her place underneath him. "You let down your guard," he whispered into her ear, his breath warm against her neck. "That was the first mistake you made."

She had given up struggling against him now. "And the second?" She asked, her voice laced with slight frustration at having lost against him.

"You actually came over to check if I was okay," he chuckled. It seemed that he had found the situation so funny that he rolled off her and lay on the ground next to her, turning his head to the side so he could watch her as he finished laughing.

She frowned and sat up, pushing his shoulder as he continued to laugh at her. Sol followed suit and sat up too, nudging her shoulder with his playfully.

"I thought you were hurt," she frowned. "You took advantage of my kind nature and gentle soul."

"You shouldn't have believed me so easily." He gave her a small smile as he stood up on his feet, reaching out a hand to help her up.

She dusted herself off but the frown on her face began to slip off. "You really played it up as well, pretending you were hurt." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, her shoulders squared.

He shrugged. "You let your guard down," he stated simply as if that was an answer in itself. "Your opponent will take advantage of that in a fight."

"I know," she sighed and trailed her eyes down to the ground, feigning innocence. "I'll be better next time," she promised, an evil glint in her eye as she looked up at him before she lunged, successfully knocking him to the ground.

This time it was Sol whom had let his ground down. Just as Artemis had before when she was pinned under Sol, he struggled but she applied enough pressure in the right places, rendering him stuck underneath her. He tried to shimmy him off of her but she was stuck to him.

"You're stronger than you look," he noted aloud, his voice gruff and filled with surprise. Her kick to his ankle from earlier was also very strong and not something that he would think of if he was ever presented such a situation. Artemis smiled triumphantly and only got off him when he voiced aloud that that she had won that time.

Artemis and Sol trained for another hour. They had mutually decided that they would spend their time that training session focusing on ways she could defend herself. They spent their time with Sol throwing punches at Artemis from various angles directions with her blocking them. And after that first time, she had even managed to knock and pin him down to the ground a couple more times, rendering him powerless.

Right now, she sat on the floor in the middle of the clearing with her legs spread out in front of her, sipping slowly at some water from her bottle. Sol sat next to her, his arms resting on his knees as he sipped on his own water. His dark, damp hair flopped down onto his forehead from his usual swept back look due to the sweat her had acquired from their earlier work out.

Brushing the hair out of his eyes, he turned his eyes and watched her from under his long, black eyelashes. "You're much stronger than you look. It's very deceiving."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm an Alpha and at first, even I struggled fighting against you." It hurt his Alpha pride to admit the truth that he had definitely underestimated her fast movements and surprisingly strong attacks, but he was also proud of her. But it also meant that he was confused as to where all the strength and power came from since she was just an ordinary wolf. Hell, he had expected to have to teach her all the basics since she didn't have any memories of her past, had disappeared for a decade and a half and most probably, hadn't trained a day in her life. But it seemed that the situation was opposite to what he expected and he was sure that even he could learn a few things from her.

"You're just saying that." She denied even though the praise felt nice, especially since it was coming from him.

"No, I'm not," he shook his head with a small smile. "You shouldn't be this strong."

Her forehead creased in confusion as she watched him, her head angled up slightly so she could face him. "Now it feels like you're insulting me."

Sol smiled and shook his head, a silent chuckle escaping his lips. "I'm not insulting you," he promised her. "It just doesn't make sense how you're this strong especially since this is the only training that you have ever done."

Artemis frowned and allowed her eyes to trail down to the ground. Sol watched in silence as her eyes glazed over slightly, almost as if she was taking a walk down memory lane.

He watched as she sat in silence for a few moments, kicking at some dirt with her foot. "I've trained before." She admitted, remembering things she didn't have any memories of ten minutes ago. Her eyebrows knitted together as she closed her eyes, trying to recall the entirety of the memory that had surfaced. "I've trained before with people like me."

"With people like you?"

"I don't know exactly," she frowned as she shook her head, frustrated with herself for not remembering. "But we used to have to fight each other. Everyday."

Sol was silent for a few brief moments as he attempted to process the words she had just started to spout. It seemed that Artemis was remembering portions of her past, a past that he didn't expect her to have. "Do you remember anything else?"

She nodded, her eyes still trained on the ground as she attempted to remember as much as she possibly could. "They used to keep us in cages. They would take us out to fight against each other but when we were done with each other, they would lock us up again."

"Who kept you in a cage?"

"I don't remember," she shook her head, a few fresh tears gathering at the corners of her eyes as she began to remember a past she now wished she knew nothing about. "They were all humans though, and I think we were all werewolves."

"How many of you were there?"

"I think about two dozen," she shook her head. "I don't remember exactly but I don't think they used to keep us all in the same room. There were only a few other cages in the same room as me."

Sol clenched his jaw as he listened to the rest of what she remembered. He wasn't sure if Artemis was able to remember all of her memories or even how much she remembered, but he was determined to listen to everything, to soak up all that she was saying. He didn't want to forget anything or miss out; all of this was very important. Artemis couldn't remember anything from her past less than half an hour ago and now, she didn't seem to stop.

It was absolutely horrible having to listen to her describe what she remembered; describe what life was like being constantly locked up and watched as if she was some lab rat.

There was a lot of information to soak up and Sol didn't know what to do with it all. But he knew someone who would.

"Artemis," he called out to her as he stood up abruptly. "I think you should write this all down."

She nodded before brushing away a few tears that had managed to escape. She sniffled but accepted his hand that he held out to her in order to help her get up from the ground. "What's going to happen now?" She asked, her voice quiet and vulnerable as she looked up him.

They were already making their way back to the house.

"I don't know," he shook his head. "But I think we should go see an elder."

Artemis stopped in her tracks and tugged on his arm so he had stopped walking too.

"What if they're one of them?" She asked. "Can we trust them?"

Sol nodded understandingly. He may have lost his family and his pack, but he had never had to live life the way Artemis had. He could only image what feelings and emotions she was currently going through and for her to be scared and worried was expected.

He sighed and pulled on her hand so that he was holding her within his arms; hugging her, protecting her. "I know someone I can trust," he whispered into her hair. "I won't let anything happen to you."

-

You can wait for the next chapter which will be uploaded on 22/01/2020

OR

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Layla Knight

13.09.18