Chapter 7: Unexpected Advantage

Beck’s POV

I open my eyes before the sky changes its hues, so I know it's still a few hours before dawn and I know inside me that Ash has slept even less.

"You're still thinking about her," I accuse him with a grunt.

My torso is bare and I’m just wearing black pants. The window is open, and the snowy night breeze blows through the curtains, but I'm not one to suffer from cold.

"I couldn't stop, even if I wanted to." The wolf inside me growls as the memory of Artemis overwhelms my mind. "And she knows it. She had no way of understanding it before because she was so young when we found her. But now, her wolf is awake and senses the truth. She knows we exist, and that we are meant for each other."

I sigh and stand up, pacing barefoot around the room. Peering through the open windows, I see the city of London, and I wonder which direction I can look to find Artemis. I wonder if she’s still sleeping, or if she is also still thinking about last night’s events.

"The problem is that Artemis won't accept it," I say, feeling the bitter taste my own words leave on my palate.

"She will!" Ash affirms inside me, not with hope but with steady confidence, as if there is no other possibility.

"She'll do it, or she'll accomplish her goal and kill us in the attempt," I click my tongue, "I would like to know why Baltazar sent her tonight."

"I doubt he sent her," Ash says. "He probably got it into her head that we are the enemy, and being as impulsive as she is, she decided to attack and not follow orders."

Without being able to help it, I smile while closing my eyes and remembering that the rain is still falling over the city, just like when I met Artemis years ago. Back then, she was young, just like Ash says, but that didn't stop her from being the most powerful weapon in Baltazar's hands and a lethal assassin.

I was on her trail.

My sister and I had been looking for months for Baltazar's assassin. Artemis had hunted down several vital members of the other packs, and then she was after an Alpha who was a good friend that wanted to protect, so I had decided to stop Baltazar's pawn.

I had to kill her if necessary.

"But when the time came, we couldn't," Ash says inside my head as I follow the flow of my memories.

I nod. "We couldn't even if I wanted to. Had I known Artemis was my Luna from the beginning, I wouldn't have gone after her."

That night, years ago, I found Artemis in a dark alley when she was planning to ambush my friend, so I attacked her. But the fight soon turned into something else, for as soon as I saw her eyes, I understood what we were.

My body found her in the rain, in time to stop her, and my mouth pressed against her neck without thinking, marking her as mine. I could not stay or reveal to her what we were to each other, because to do so would put her in danger.

I didn’t possess the strength to protect her then, so I had to let her go while asking Willow to erase her memories.

But my memories persist, and I have hoped to find her again for years.

A sound of footsteps alerts me, and as I turn around, I see my sister, who enters the room without knocking, aware that my acute senses have alerted me to her presence.

"Awake so early?" she asks as she comes to my side at the window.

"I was thinking," I murmur.

She sighs. "Of the girl again? For the Goddess's sake, Beck, it would be better if you could leave her alone."

"You know I can't do that," I remind her.

She clicks her tongue. "You could if you wanted to. You're not like the others, and you know that. The power of some Mystic could help you free yourself from the bond…"

But her sentence is left in the middle as I shake my head. "It is not my intention to do so. Artemis has been Baltazar's favorite weapon for many years, but she deserves another chance. It's time someone showed her that she can be different from what she's been taught."

"If you say so." My sister runs her fingers through her long hair and looks at me with a thick, perfect eyebrow raised. "They're coming soon, by the way, so you better get ready."

I nod and leave the window, heading for the closet, but Willow stops me before I can take more than two steps.

"Are you sure about this, Beck? You know what I think of Baltazar. He's a dirty rat who won't think twice about betraying us, and I smell something rotten is afoot."

I smile at my sister and hold out a hand, but before I can ruffle her hair, she pulls away.

"It will be all right,” I tell her. “Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, with a few key exceptions. Let's trust that Baltazar wants to take his pack in another direction.”

"Fine. But when that doesn't happen, and you've got a knife in your back, remember that I warned you."

She then leaves without another word, and I start to get dressed in silence. I put on a pair of black dress pants and military boots while Ash is still planning inside me.

"We have to find her," he then says, "and talk to her. She'll listen if we say the right words to her."

"There's no time for that now. You know that." I remind him that I have to attend to pack business first.

"It's our Luna," he says as if I don't already know.

"We will if we have to. Artemis may be my Luna, but she's a risk to the pack right now. I won't bring a Luna here that will try to kill us all," I say.

He growls but remains silent as I finish dressing and make my way down the building to the main floor, where some members of my pack are already in formation, waiting for Baltazar.

The main floor of the building was meant to be a large lobby, big enough to easily fit a soccer field. In the center of it stands Willow, dressed all in black with her thick mane flowing, and behind her are my best wolves.

They all stand to attention at the sight of me, putting conversations aside as I stop in front of them with my hands firmly clasped behind my back.

"As everyone knows, today we are going to receive an envoy from our former enemies as an act of peace between the two packs," I say. "I don't want anyone to forget the reason why we are doing this, but I also don't want you to forget that while we’ll act with respect, we must also be alert.”

My wolves nod, including Willow, while I look over them one by one.

"This wolf is an envoy of peace who will also be socializing with us all. Let’s not forget the secrets we have here that must remain as such."

I look at them again, one by one.

"Never forget that your loyalty is with the pack."

"Yes, Alpha Leader!" they all say as a unit.

Then the sentries tell me that Baltazar's car has arrived.

I turn then, taking the front position. A sleek black luxury car enters, and its doors open. Amanita, Baltazar's Luna, gets out of the vehicle, and another woman does the same.

"You've got to be kidding me," Willow whispers behind me as we both understand that, in a way, Baltazar has set us up.

His intentions were never good, and that’s clear now because he has sent his best assassin to live with me. At the same time, he has given me an unexpected surprise.

One that could represent an advantage.

The woman, dressed in black and red, walks toward me. She is beautiful, and her crystal blue eyes fix on mine as her lips pucker. At the same time, I take a step toward her.

"Artemis," Amanita introduces us, extending a hand between us. "This is Owen Becker, the leader of the Silver Moon."

I smile without being able to help it and I extend my hand toward her.

"It's my pleasure," I say.