Mated To The Mythical Alpha

Chapter 4

When I open my eyes again, I am lying on my back looking at the beautiful night sky, filled with millions of stars. There is a warm breeze that moves around me, and I realize I am on the damp ground dressed in a beautiful pure white dress. I felt my neck for the gash Alex had placed just below my jawline, but I didn't feel anything. I tried to move my left arm and I felt no pain. Artemis?

Artemis, are you there? My counterpart I have had since I was fifteen was gone. I stand up and take in my surroundings. I am definitely not in Redwood anymore; I am in a wonderful forest, and I can hear the brook nearby flowing with water. The crickets are chirping, and birds fly from a nearby tree. The stars illuminate the vast tall trees in the distance, right over a small hill. When I stood up, I looked down at the beautiful gown my body was placed to rest in. With a strap going over my left shoulder, it bunches in my waistline to accentuate my curves and then flows straight down all the way to my feet. I ran my hands over the fabric, it's made of silk, just like the covers of the bed Alex was going to force me to mate in with and bare his mark. I shudder at the memory, I cross my arms over my chest, feeling the itchiness of hands running over my almost bare body again.

A sob came out of my throat. The last thing I remember was Paul carrying me out in the sheet, my shoulder broken, my throat gashed and knowing my father was dead and my abuser was a massive black monster who was still out there. Maybe being dead wasn't the worst option after all.

I sobbed and fell back down to my knees. I cover my face with my hands and just then the breeze picks up and whips my long blonde hair behind my back.

Don't cry, my child." A smooth, sweet voice next to me says. I gasped and looked up at the goddess herself. She stands tall and slim. Her black hair pulled back in a tight bun with a flower headband that sits like a crown on top of her head. She looks very young with flawless skin. She is also wearing a silk gown like mine, only she has a golden pendant on her shoulder strap, it looks like a mountain shape with a lightning bolt in the foreground. She was beautiful and her voice soothed me in a maternal way.

"Parker, I brought you here so you can understand why it is so important for you to survive." she says with worry catching in her voice.

"Where am I, ma'am?" I said, standing up.

She extends her hand for me to take, and we walk hand in hand through the grass, just over the hill at the edge of the forest. "Parker, you are here at Delos. I brought you here so you can know the truth about our past." We stopped at the edge of the forest, the sky still illuminated by stars. We startled some birds at the top of a massive tree, and they flew deep into the forest.

"Apollo, look!" whispers a female voice in the thicket right in front of the opening of the forest. That voice sounds familiar.

"Let's go before they get away!" says a male voice.

The duo stand up and run into the forest. I see them both with a bow and arrow in hand. They look to be teens and almost identical, the only thing separating them being the female has her long blonde hair pulled back in a braid where the tip reaches past her butt. Me and the mother figure I held hands with also went into the forest behind them. The forest canopy above us hides most of the stars in the sky and there is movement around us.

I investigate some brush around the trees and see dozens of pairs of eyes, bright yellow, looking straight at us. My hand squeezes the hand I was holding hard, and I try to hide behind the mother figure. "Don't worry Parker, they're friends." she says. The eyes blink and the leaves start to move close and out comes a pack of wolves through the brush. The mother figure kneels and pets the head of one. "Go make sure those two are being good." she commands. The entire pack races off to the depths of the forest.

The mother figure and I gradually walked across the forest floor, my hand never hers. She stands tall and proud, with purpose in her broad stride. I finally managed to come up with the courage to speak. "Ma'am, who are you and why am I here?" I asked with caution in my tone. I started to get nervous walking into this unknown forest with a thicker canopy, making my eyes start to strain in the darkness.

"Sush. Watch and listen carefully, my child." she says as sweetly as she can.

"Orion! You shot my bird!" the male twin pouts.

The man I assume to be Orion laughs with glee. "I am sorry Apollo, you know I have to keep my skills sharp, for I have to impress God himself if I ever wish to ask for my love's hand in marriage." His voice was deep and had the most perfect and brightest smile I have ever seen. He smiles at Apollo and walks over to the dead bird with an arrow in its chest.

"You want to ask my father for my sister's hand in marriage?" Apollo asks, surprised.

"Of course, I do! Artemis is the most beautiful woman on this planet. She and I will be together forever, hunting flawlessly through the forest as husband and wife." Orion explains. The mention of Artemis has got my heart pounding, sadness creeping in at the thought of my lost wolf half.

"In order to impress the God of the Sky, I will need to kill everything in this forest! And then I will climb to the top of Mount Olympus and bellow out in front of all the Gods and Goddess my love for Artemis before asking Zeus for her hand in marriage!" Orion continues. His eyes are bright and full of purpose and he speaks with such confidence even I believe him.

Apollo. Mount Olympus. Zeus. Wait. My head is spinning watching the scene unfold in front of me. I dropped this mother figure's hand and scratched my head in confusion. My Greek mythology knowledge was nothing but basic, but I did know that if one of the males in front of me was Apollo, Artemis was his twin sister, and she was the Goddess of the hunt and wilderness.

"Orion. Killing everything in the forest is not the answer you need to prove yourself to my father." a female voice came from the bushes. Emerging from the bushes, a tall and thin female with long blonde hair pulled back in a braid, walked in between the two males. She kisses the man named Orion on the lips and carefully examines the bird at the end of the arrow that Orion was holding.

"Orion, you need to honor every kill you take, for they provide us with nourishment, and it is them that take the ultimate sacrifice." she scolds him. "This bird did not need to die for me, I shall give it to my friends in the forest, for they need the supply much more than I." She whistles through her lips and the pack of wolves we met earlier stand in front of her, eager to take the kill. She places the dead bird in the mouth of the wolf who the mother figure commanded to follow the twins. The wolf bows as a thank you, and the pack takes off.

"Artemis, I will kill everything in this forest in order to be with you forever." Orion says as he kisses her hand.

"Let's go home, it's getting late, and mother is expecting us." Apollo states. The trio walked off.

The world around me spins and I am now standing in the middle of a pure white, giant throne room. Marble floors and giant tall walls with rows of columns on either side of the room. In the middle of the far wall, a giant thrown with lightning bolts edged into the marble. I hear voices behind me.

"Zeus, God of the Skies, I climbed all the way to the top of Mount Olympus to ask you for your daughter’s hand in marriage." a new voice says. He sounds scared and has a very timid voice.

I looked in the direction of the voice and noticed a massive figure before me. The one who was referred to as "Zeus", must be almost eight feet tall, his white curly short hair growing short close to the back of his head, his toga sash dressed over his left massive, broad tan shoulder, hanging straight down above his knee. His deep belly laugh echoes throughout the great marble room.

His incredibly deep voice vibrates my bones "You? A tiny man asking for my daughter's hand in marriage. You cannot provide for her; she already has her heart claimed by the great huntsman, Orion." he laughs again.

I needed to take about ten steps to the right to clear my view behind Zeus's massive legs. Stood before Zeus, a smallish man with straight black hair, slicked back so it drapes just inches down his neck. He has a rather large nose with very thin lips. I looked into his eyes and shivered at the sight of his pitch-black, lifeless eyes. Last time I saw eyes like that, they were raking down my almost naked body as I was pinned under the tyrant who wore them.

Zeus spoke again, making me jump. "Leto, come here and witness with me this pathetic excuse for a man asking for our daughters' hand." Coming into the room stood the mother figure I was holding hands with just moments ago. Her bright green eyes amused, he looks at the man in front of her and laughs with Zeus.

"I will fight Orion for Artemis! I will kill him in battle and then Artemis will have no one to love but me!" the man yells. He is angry and his thin lips are in a flat line. His eyebrows furrowed and his fist balled. Moments later, Orion and Artemis walk into the room, hand in hand.

"I accept the challenge." Orion states matter-of-factly. Artemis’s bright blue eyes go wide in shock but before she can speak, Zeus claps his hands together and says "There we have it. Whoever lives shall take my daughter's daughter's hand in marriage."

The world spins again. Leto, Zeus, Apollo, and Artemis were off to the side and there was the clinging sound of metal coming towards me as I stood in the middle of what I presumed was the top of Mount Olympus. Orion was easily maneuvering through his opponent’s poor sword fighting technique, pushing him towards the edge of the cliff. Orion's opponents’ footwork was inadequate, and he was stumbling around so much that he only got a few good blows that were met with Orion’s sword. Orion was forcing them both to the edge of a cliff and was almost there. With one final blow, with a smile on his face, Orion slashed the stomach of his opponent and kicked him right off the cliff. The man’s body traveled straight down into the body of water below with a large splash. The bystanders cheered and Artemis ran towards Orion, throwing her arms around him. “Let the God of the Eponymous River die in the river!” Zeus shouted with joy.

The sun turns into night, and I am once again back in the forest where I woke up. Leto is beside me once again and we are standing on top of the hill, just before the clearing of the forest.

"Artemis! Artemis! Look at what I bring to you! I slay a wolf for its pelt so you can wear it when the moon changes phases." Orion has a massive white wolf in his hands and shouts with pride, walking towards Artemis.

"Orion, you have killed another poor animal and you claim it was on my behalf! My brother is the God of the Sun, you bring me a gift I do not need!" Artemis scolds Orion. Artemis scoffs and walks away.

Orion throws the dead wolf to the ground in anger. "I am the greatest huntsman in the world! I can kill anything I wish for whatever reason I want!" he mutters to himself. He kicks the tall grass around him and as soon as his foot returns to the ground, he bellows out in anguish and falls lifelessly to the earth.

"Orion!" Artemis runs back down the hill towards him, fear evident in her voice. She runs to his lifeless body and falls on top of him, screaming in pain. "Orion, don't leave me, please!" she cries. "Orion, I will love you and only you forever." she sobs.

Leto points me to two people in the distance, the dark forest behind them making them blend in. One of the figures was Orion's opponent who fell off the cliff of Mount Olympus, the other was a curvy, pale woman with light brown hair pulled into a bun. The man runs to where Orion and Artemis lay.

"Well, Artemis, it looks like in the challenge for your hand in marriage, I am the winner. My challenger lay dead, and I am still breathing, my heart beating only for you." his low voice and his smug smile curling with his thin lips. Artemis looks at her lover's killer with the saddest, bright blue eyes, tears still freely flowing down her cheeks. "You are mine now!" he yells at her and forces her to stand and drags her away.

A sob escapes from my throat as I watch as Artemis looks at Orion's body one last time and the two walk away. The other figure that was with the man now strides toward the lifeless body.

"Orion, you have used my creatures and my earth for your own purposes for far too long." she states as she bends down and holds out the palm of her hand.

A scorpion travels over Orion's large chest and into the woman's hand. "As Goddess of the Earth, I have brought you death and now I have brought life back into Alpheus to take your true love as you took all my creatures. May you be cursed in your next lives to appreciate the wolf life you just took." The women vanish into the ground. I watch in awe as Orion's body is lifted by the wind into the night sky and is placed within the stars with bow and arrow and sword.

Leto comes before me and wipes the shed tears off my cheek. Watching Artemis leave her true love behind and forced to be with someone she doesn't choose reminded me how close I came to being marked by Alex.

"Parker, I brought you here to see Artemis’s past because I believe you can break her curse."

A curse? My Artemis is gone, what could I do? I looked into Leto's bright green eyes. "Leto, I am just a human now, how would I ever be able to break a curse?" I asked, already defeated. I don't know how long I have been in this world, but I am starting to get tired.

Leto whistles with her lips and the wind picks up, blowing my hair in my face. I moved the hair out of my eyes and before me stood a massive, pure white wolf, with bright blue eyes and a black tuft of fur besides the right eye. "Artemis?" I asked hesitantly. The wolf before me bows and then runs towards me. I embraced her in a hug. "Artemis, why did you leave me? Alex almost forced his mark on me!" I started to cry into her soft fur.

"Parker, Artemis had to leave you. If Alpheus has Artemis within his grasp and he completes the mark, the mate bond with Orion will break. When Orion pushed Alpheus into the river, the Goddess of the Earth, Gaea, was able to bring him back to life. Orion had angered Gaea by ruthlessly killing her creatures and the two worked together. If Gaea kills Orion, Alpheus can keep Artemis to himself." Leto explains. "Zeus agreed to rest Orion among the stars and every century when his constellations align, I take the human form once again and give birth to Artemis so she can have a chance to live her full life with her true love. The last alignment of his constellation was eighteen years ago, on the winter solstice." Leto looks at me and then pets Artemis on her head.

Winter solstice is my birthday. I'm eighteen. My eyelids are getting heavy, but I finally put the pieces together. "Artemis is my wolf half. And Alex's wolf half is Alpheus. If Alex knew I had my wolf, I would have been forced to mate and bare his mark, thus breaking my true mate bond with Orion." I stated and Leto nodded her head. "But who is Orion? Where is my mate?" I asked. My head starts to pound and there is a dull ache in my left shoulder. I would do anything to lie down right now.

"Parker, I cannot tell you where your mate is, or who he is. Just know that Artemis will go back with you, but you must stay away from Alpheus. I have seen devastation far too many times and I cannot make any more trips to the human world. You and Artemis deserve to be happy and if you can reunite with Orion and complete the mate bond, Orion’s constellation will forever be aligned, and Orion will be able to walk the final path to Mount Olympus to be with Artemis forever. If Gaea gets to Orion or Alpheus gets to you, I fear I will not be able to give my daughter any more chances and her fate will be sealed with her abuser." Leto speaks softly, as if she's telling me a bedtime story.

“Before you go, your gift is from Apollo to help you beat Alpheus. When you want to use it, use your archery skills to aim and think of where you want your arrow to go.” she says quickly.

I yawn and pet Artemis. I lay down in the grass and she lay down next to me. "Leto, I will do my best to not let you or Artemis down. I want her to have her true mate, but first I must sleep, please." I begged her.

My head is pounding, the pain in my shoulder coming back and my throat starts to burn. I close my eyes and hear Leto humming and Artemis snoring next to my ear.

I hear voices in the distance. Oh, my goddess, please let me sleep, I beg myself. Then I hear beeping. What could be beeping on the island? I slowly opened my eyes to a blinding light. I tried to move my arms to sit up, but I winced at my left shoulder. I looked down and saw my arm in a sling. I feel dizzy and I start to get nauseous. The beeping became louder and more frequent. I guess my heart rate was too high when in pain. Heavy footsteps rushed towards the hospital door.

"Par? Par, are you up?" Paul burst through the door, breathing heavily. He stops at the foot of the bed and looks at me. His green eyes are dull with dark circles around them. He looks just like our father. The pack doctor comes through the door.

"Welcome back, Parker. We thought we lost you for a second." He looked down at the clipboard. I look at Paul and ask him how long I have been here for. "A week, Par. You lost a lot of blood from the gash on your throat. You smelled different too, Seth said you weren't a werewolf anymore." Paul said with such sadness, he eyes welled up with tears.

I'm still with you, little one. Artemis! Oh, what a relief. I felt complete again. I'm sorry I had to leave you. I'm sorry that asshole almost mated with you. She howls. I cannot heal your wounds that you got in your human form, but I will make sure the next time we see him, I will fight with you. She says with anger and determination. How about we focusing on finding our mate, so we don't have to see him again? I like that idea. How about you tell the doc to pull up the AC too? I laugh, same old Artemis.

"Paul, I am sorry about father." I finally said. Paul sits on the edge of my bed and drops his head. "He didn't have to suffer, Alpha Brian made it quick, but I sure made him suffer. We lost Alex when he crossed the river." Stupid Goddess of the Earth probably helped him. "But now I am the alpha of the pack, and I will do everything I can to protect you, Parker. It was like the earth just opened up and a rogue rushed through the border, that's how Alex was able to get in and out with you. I have all our warriors on high alert, no one can leave or come in without permission."

I look at my brother, a new alpha scared for his sister and his pack. I may have been here for a week, but if I leave in two days, I can still make it on time to start the semester. "Paul, it's best for the pack that I leave. I will keep my word to my father, and I will go to architecture school in human territory. This is something Artemis and I need to do." I said sternly. "Now get me out of this bed so I can finish packing my things."