Healed by Fire (14 page)

I finished my meat and leaned against
Achilles who was sipping a glass of wine. He tilted it towards me.
“Want some?”

I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from
throwing up. “No. I don’t drink wine.”

Ares and Koda laughed loudly. “Now she
doesn’t drink wine,” Koda said around his laughter.

Victor arched an eyebrow in question and
Ares said, “One night at Lyngvi she drank enough wine to get drunk
and ended up throwing it all up in the toilet a few minutes later.
I hadn’t seen a young wolf drink so much in a long time.”

I blushed and looked down at my hands. “I
was upset because all those women were flirting with you and trying
to kill me.”

Achilles snorted. “Werewolves always have so
much drama when they’re together.” The pack stilled and looked at
him in question. He rolled his eyes. “Full blooded werewolves, not
halfbreeds.” The pack started talking and eating again. Achilles
exhaled. “Your kind is so sensitive.”

I rolled my eyes. “Right, because Sidhe are
known for their loving demeanors. Oh wait, that’s right, I was
supposed to be killed by them!”

Achilles sighed, but didn’t pick up the
argument. I relaxed against him to let him have his time with me
near, but reached out my other hand to Ares so I could touch him as
well.

Achilles smiled at me and kissed my cheek
softly. I laid my head down on his shoulder and exhaled. This was
heaven. I never wanted it to end.

Once everyone had finished eating, Ares
called the pack outside for training, despite my wish to cuddle.
The sand was somewhat restrictive for movement, but after running
in it for a few miles I started to get the hang of it. I really
enjoyed the wind blowing my hair back and the taste of the sea
water as it splashed beside me.

Koda waved me over from farther up the beach
and I ran to him, skidding to a stop and spraying sand at him. Koda
stood across from me with a wicked smile on his face. “I have a
feeling you’re a bit out of practice, darlin’.”

I rolled my shoulders and stretched my legs.
“Perhaps, but even out of practice, I’m more powerful than
you.”

Groups began sparring around us, practicing
everything from hand-to-hand combat to dealing with four or more
opponents at once.

Koda rolled his eyes. “Powers don’t matter
in close combat situations. I’ll drop you to the ground and stake
you before you can even make a fireball.”

I laughed and rolled my shoulders. “Bring
it.”

Koda charged forward and was in a half-shift
before I noticed his hand was now a paw. I blocked the hit, but he
scratched my arm. I gasped in pain and dropped down to kick at his
legs. He jumped up and swung at me again. I rolled out of his reach
and shot a fireball at him. He growled and patted out the flames on
his shirt. I stood up and prepared for his next attack, a smile
lifting my lips. Koda’s eyes flickered above my head and I dropped
to the ground just as an arm whistled over me. I flipped over to
find Ares standing over me, smiling wide.

I kicked him in the stomach and then rolled
between his legs to face them. Ares nodded at Koda and then they
both charged me. I jumped up and released my wings, but Ares
grabbed my foot and yanked me back down to the earth. I folded in
my wings and then punched him in the face as they retracted
completely. Koda swung at me and I formed my sword. Ares knocked
the sword from my hand and then Koda punched me in the face. I
stumbled backwards and growled angrily.

I felt my skin grow hot as I began to glow
and my powers released. “Enough play,” I whispered. I charged
forward and swept Koda’s legs out from under him and then punched
him in the chest as he fell to the ground. Ares swung at me, but I
caught his fist in my hand and punched at him. I however had
forgotten that no matter how much more powerful I had become, Ares
was
much
more powerful than me. He grabbed my hand, flipped
me on my back and pinned me to the ground. I screamed in rage at
being pinned and let my wings extend from my back to toss us up and
him off of me. Unfortunately Ares was prepared for this maneuver
and held on to me.

He grabbed a handful of my hair, tilted my
head back and placed his teeth, which were now four elongated
wolf’s fangs into my throat. “Submit,” he said around my throat. I
whined and relaxed in his grip. Ares removed his fangs and kissed
my throat. “Thank you.”

I stepped out of Ares’ arms and rubbed my
throat angrily. Koda stood up from the ground. “Dammit.”

I smiled at him. “At least I beat you.”

Koda sighed. “Yeah, whatever.”

Theseus laughed. “Dad got beat by a
girl.”

Koda growled, but the rest of the pack
laughed with Theseus, making Koda turn bright red.

* * *

We continued the same daily routine of
eating, training, and sleeping for four weeks until Ares and
Achilles decided to relocate. I was surprised they’d waited so long
to relocate since Apollo knew where we were, but they didn’t seem
worried.

We stood outside on the beach preparing to
leave so I decided then was a good time to show them the trick the
dragons had taught me. “Well, are we all ready to go?”

Everyone nodded and I said, “Will everyone
please crowd around us and be sure to touch each other?”

Ares looked at me quizzically, but everyone
obeyed my order, even Victor and Achilles. I closed my eyes,
summoned my power and said, “Try not to puke.”

The dizzying vortex sucked us in and then
spit us out just in front of the entrance to the Light Court. All
of the members of the pack groaned as they resisted the urge to
throw up. Victor, Ares and Achilles stared at me with wide eyes.
Achilles asked, “Who taught you that?”

I smiled. “The dragons taught me it so I
wouldn’t kill Draco-Blu or Theseus in my worry over Ares before I
had regained my memories. They told me it would take practice to be
able to do this, but once I felt the amount of power I’d had
returned to me, I knew I could do it now.”

Victor whistled. “You are quite an
interesting woman. Ares is going to have to keep a tight watch on
you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Like that’s not already
happening.”

All of the men laughed and Achilles opened
the staircase, which I knew was actually a portal to the dimension
that contained the Sidhe courts. “Single file,” he said as he
started down the stairs. I summoned my powers so I would glow and
be able to see as I walked down the stairs and smiled when I
noticed the rest of the pack doing the same.

It didn’t take long for us to make it
through the door and into the open grassy field where I’d talked
with Achilles the last time I’d come here. Hera was waiting for us,
but as soon as Achilles walked to her, she took his arm and led him
away. Erebos and Heracles stood guard and smiled at me as I stepped
out. I bowed to them and they bowed back.

“Greetings, Artemis,” said Erebos in his
deep booming voice.

“It pleases us to see you well,” said
Heracles.

I smiled back. “Thank you. I am glad to see
that neither of you was hurt after I was abducted.”

Erebos and Heracles kept their smiles in
place, but did not respond. Hera and Achilles came back a moment
later and Hera addressed Ares and me, “I have rooms for your pack,
if you’d like my guards to show them there?”

Ares bowed his head respectfully. “I would
greatly appreciate that, Queen of the Light Court.”

Hera snapped her fingers and Erebos and
Heracles waved the pack forward. Ares pulled me against him and
held me still. “Wait, I want to show you something,” he
whispered.

I relaxed against his warm body and waited
as the rest of the pack, including Koda and Theseus were led to the
castle. Achilles glanced at us, but then turned and followed his
mother.

I’m still supposed to get alone time with
you too, Artemis. Don’t forget.
Achilles said through my
mind.

I smiled.
I have not forgotten and I will
be sure to pencil you in.

Ares kissed the top of my head and then
began leading me through the town. Sidhe peeked out their windows
at us, but if we looked, they quickly turned away. I didn’t
understand their aversion to us. It wasn’t like we were lepers or
anything crazy. We were just two mixed bloods. Sadly I knew that
being a mixed blood was exactly why they hid. Once this was over, I
intended to fix the Sidhe’s belief system.

Ares wove his way expertly through the
town’s streets and seemed to know where he was going. I on the
other hand was completely lost. I remembered coming here with him
before, but we hadn’t explored this area then.

Did it pain him to be back here? I tried to
sense his feelings, but he had blocked me from them.

We made what felt like a circle around a
large building and stopped. I stared in shock at the river
surrounding a small island. The island was covered in green grass,
weeping willows whose branches dropped into the river and cherry
trees whose pink blossoms drifted to the ground lazily. It was the
most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, something straight out of a
poem and yet here it was in front of me. We definitely had not
visited this spot last time.

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered as we started
across the wooden bridge to the island.

Ares stayed silent, but I could see the
small smile tugging up the corners of his lips. We stepped onto the
island and I could feel an immense amount of power in the plants
and ground of the island. A small sound escaped my lips as the
power filled me and opened me up, my skin glowing softly and my
vines sparkling brightly.

We walked around the small island until we
were underneath the cherry tree which had the most blossoms and the
most power. Ares reached up and plucked one of the small pink
blossoms and held it out to me. “This is an area of power. The
Sidhe call the island the ‘
cor
’ which means heart. This tree
is the real center of all the power and is called ‘
mater
’
which means mother.”

I took the blossom from him and gasped as
the power drained from the blossom and into me. I staggered
backwards and ended up leaning against the tree. Power poured into
me like a wave of fire, scalding me from the inside. I screamed,
but couldn’t move away from the tree to stop the overload of power.
Ares grabbed my hand, but instead of pulling me away from the tree
and releasing me from the power, the power spread to him and pulled
him against me and the tree.

We screamed in our shared pain and pleasure
as the power scalded us and yet filled us with euphoria. I felt as
though my eyes were going to pop out of their sockets from the
pressure of so much power in me. The power flared and then
disappeared as Ares and I fell away from the tree.

I landed on top of Ares and we both gasped
for breath and moaned in pain. I started to push off of him when I
realized that I wasn’t the only one glowing. “Ares,” I
whispered.

He looked up at me and frowned. “What? What
is it?”

I pointed at his body. “You…you’re
glowing.”

I moved off of him and he quickly walked to
the river, staring in shock at his reflection. I stayed sitting on
the ground as my body absorbed the power the tree had given me. How
was it possible that I could hold so much power in me? When I
borrowed power from plants I always had to use it or it tried to
destroy me, but
mater
had given me power to store. Was
mater
a cognizant being? Could she really understand and did
she know battle was looming?

A noise made me look at the bridge where I
could see a crowd had gathered. No doubt they’d felt the power the
tree was giving us and come to see who the lucky Sidhe was. Judging
by their faces, they weren’t pleased.

Ares laughed suddenly, making me jump. He
ran to me and picked me up, swinging me around as he hugged me.

“Ares? Why are you laughing?” I asked
nervously.

He set me down and I stared in shock at the
new marks on his body. I ripped his shirt off and gasped. Ares’
arms and chest were now decorated with tattoo-like, black images of
running wolves. I touched one of the little black wolves and jumped
as it moved, biting the wolf in front of it, and causing all of the
wolves on Ares to begin to run. The wolves ran together and even
yipped.

I looked up and Ares’ eyes were white
pearls. I’d only seen this once before when I had released
Achilles’ power. It meant that I was his destined mate, but then
again Ares and I already knew that. “How is this possible?” I asked
softly.

Ares smiled. “Do you mean the fact that you
are my destined mate and can activate my powers?”

I shook my head at him. “No, we both already
know I’m your mate. I mean, how is it possible that you have Sidhe
powers?”

“Perhaps I had them all along, but since my
wolf nature was so strong it lay dormant until you activated
them.”

“I didn’t activate them,
mater
did.”

Ares cupped my face in his hands. “You are
always underestimating yourself. I touched this tree thousands of
times when I was young in hopes that it would do this exact thing.
The only reason this happened was because you were the one I
touched.”

“Out of the way! Make room,” Hera yelled.
Ares and I turned to find Hera pushing through the crowd which had
gathered. She stopped at the edge of the bridge, just a foot away
from the island and gasped. “No. It cannot be.”

Ares walked towards her with his arms
spread. “You see it. There are others here who witnessed it. My
powers have surfaced. It seems you were wrong about me.”

Hera pointed at me. “You! You did this!”

I shrugged. “That’s what Ares said, but I
didn’t do it on purpose. I would do it again though.”

Hera was glaring at me and looked ready to
attack, but she held her ground and kept from releasing her powers.
Was she holding back because of our truce or was she frightened of
how much
more
powerful I’d become?