“Good morn, my lord,” Kendra greeted softly, trying her best to come off as ill after an entire day of avoiding the General. When she left the impromptu meeting from the day before— yes, the very one that had been called to address her actions when she had been in wolf form, she hadn’t gone out of her tent since, cooped up inside for fear of being sniffed out by the General and his impressive nose that for some weird reason could sense wolves and the supernatural.
I mean, how did that even work anyway?
She wanted to believe that perhaps he had been lying to her about it all— lying to maybe impress her?
Because he hadn’t exactly sniffed her out yet despite all his claims.
But that wasn’t a chance she was willing to take since she knew the consequences would be dire if his claims turned out to be true.
And so she had been indoors, trying to come up with ways to get this silly quest already over and done with. It wasn’t until later on in the evening that she found out from one of the maids who had brought her dinner that he had travelled. She had mourned the loss of all that time, seeing as she could have used it to do a lot of exploring and investigation with him being gone, but what had happened had already happened.
There was no use crying over spilt milk.
“You left the meeting before I could even come find you yesterday, how are you feeling?” The General asked Kendra worriedly, rousing her from her musings. “I am much better, thank you,” She replied gracefully, “I’m sorry I couldn’t come see you, I had to go back to the Capital to see the Queen, and it was so urgent that I couldn’t come say farewell,”
“I understand, my lord… you’re a very important, very busy person, and I really appreciate the fact that you took the time to come see me as soon as you got back, but I’m doing fine,” The female Beta said, not quite understanding where he was going with all of this. The man was still dusty from his trip for heaven’s sake, and she was the first person he wanted to see when he got back?
She didn’t like where this was going.
At all.
“I know what can make you even better,” He said with a grin so charming that for a second Kendra was awestruck, “You do?” She questioned.
“Aye. Have lunch with me.” It wasn’t exactly a request, more like an order, but this time the she-wolf was determined to make sure that he didn’t get his way like that last time he had forced her to have dinner with him.
“Oh, I’m very sorry, my lord… but I’m afraid I can’t make it. I made Pollion promise me that he’d spar with me today in his spare time, and he said he was only free at lunch.”
“That can easily be cancelled,” He mused out loud. “If training is that important with you, I can spar with you myself at dusk. “Think about it for a minute, Artemis,” he tried to paint the perfect picture for her, reminding her once again of what she had almost forgotten— that over here she wasn’t Kendra, but Artemis.
“We’ll have lunch outdoors, a little picnic in the fields if you’d like. You can tell me what you’d want for lunch, I’ll have the cooks make it for you. Say yes, Artemis.”
She wanted to say no… with all her heart— badly.
But she needed this moment.
She needed to get him alone, preferably dizzy with wine, so she could get him to open up and reveal his well hidden skeleton in the closet. That desperation made her feel like the seductress of old— like Delilah, desperate to sink her claws into Sampson’s heart and reveal the very secret that was going to become the reason for his downfall.
And so she said, “Well, alright… but you better make do on your promise and train with me at dusk like you said you would.”
The General laughed out, a loud guffaw that had him looking younger, freer.
Why was she noticing all of these things again?
“You have my word, my lady,” He teased with a slight bow, “See you soon then.” With those words, the General turned on his heel and headed for the entrance of the tent, but he stopped right in his track, turning to face her, a look of confusion in his eyes, “You smell different today,” He observed, his words causing the female’s heart to start thumping so hard against her ribcage that she could hear it. “How different?”
“I still can’t quite place my finger on it,” He confessed, still genuinely confused, “But when I do, I’ll be sure to let you know.”
Kendra stared at the entrance long after he was gone, still frozen from the fear of almost being caught for who she truly was. With the way things were going, it wasn’t going to be long until he found her out.
She didn’t have that much time left.
Alaric Macintyre marched to his tent with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step.
He was happy.
He had finally decided. He was going to tell Artemis the huge secret he had been keeping from her since she joined them.
“Pietre! PIETRE!!!” He called out loudly, his voice ringing loud and clear across the camp.
The young lanky lad came rushing into his tent, out of breath from how fast he had probably been running. “You sent for me, milord?”
“Aye. Tell the cooks to make an assortment of meals for a picnic of two. Mostly meat and vegetables, I would be having lunch with Lady Artemis today.”
The young man grinned inwardly,
And so the General wasn’t made of stone after all.
He had honestly thought the man was devoid of emotions of the good kind, and so to see him this openly smitten with a woman was an observation he welcomed pleasantly.
“Why are you still here?” He heard faintly,
Right.
“I’m so sorry milord,” He apologised profusely, “I’ll inform them immediately,” He relayed, and then he was out.
The General took a look at his dusty body. Going out for lunch looking like this would definitely not make a good impression on the complicated lady he was increasingly becoming smitten by.
He needed to bathe first.
****
“Where are we going, my lord,” Kendra asked for what was probably the fifth time, but all she got for her troubles was more laughter.
“You’re the most impatient lady I have ever met, Lady Artemis,” General Alaric Macintyre teased. He found that he rather enjoyed riling the beautiful lady up— liked seeing her do that little huff of irritation whenever he ignored her numerous probing.
The blond haired man was having fun.
Before this woman had waltzed into his life, his idea of fun had been a very gory one— seeing town and cities burn to the ground, bodies piled up in heaps, screams of mercy and cries and curses ringing in his ears. That had been his idea of fun. And then he finished it off by hitting brothels and taking women to his heart’s content, doing whatever he wanted with them, and basically fulfilling his darkest fantasies. But he found that just taking a stroll with this woman was giving him that same kind of contentment, but with a different twist this time,
He felt at peace.
Now that was a novel feeling, one that he had never felt before. He rather… liked it. It had him wanting to just stay, frozen in this moment with her.
“Relax, we’re almost there, you’ll see where we’re going very soon.” He finally told her.
Kendra smiled tightly at that. She couldn’t help but have this secret fear that he was taking her to some secret place so he could kill her, and so the whole thing had her on edge, but she tried her best to control it this time, not wanting him to discover how she was feeling.
Besides, why was she even scared anyway?
If anyone needed to be scared, it was him, definitely not her. Her wolf was back, plus even without her, she would have still been quite a formidable opponent. She was double trouble,
There was absolutely no reason to be scared.
With that mini pep talk, Kendra found her nerves slowly returning back to normal. She took in a deep breath inhaling, fresh clean air. They were in a field of some sort, and the weather was just perfect. Golden, warm sunlight that didn’t scorch, that didn’t burn the skin, a very clear weather that made everything brighter… clearer, and a warm breeze that cooled them even in the warmth, such a contrasting paradox, she knew, but that was exactly what it was.
When she saw the large oak tree, she just knew that they’d be lunching under its numerous branches, and she told him her thoughts.
“Nothing gets past you, does it?” He shot her an amused grin.
“Well, I did tell you I hated surprises, so that’s what you get for trying to swing one over my head anyway.” She shot right back with a smirk of her own.
A mat had already been laid under the huge tree, with their lunch spread out, more than one meal from what Kendra observed, and two bottles of red wine. Kendra breathed deeply,
This was perfect!
He may not get drunk from all that wine they were going to be consuming very soon, but at least his brain and hopefully his tongue would be loosened just enough to get him to continue talking about the mysterious Silver Witch.
“You didn’t have to go to such lengths for lunch, my lord,” She murmured absentmindedly, so lost in thoughts that she jumped in shock when the blond General reached for her hand and pulled her close,
“Nonsense, Artemis,” He chided softly, “You deserve castles, and banquets, love… this is but a tip of the iceberg of what you truly deserve,”
Woah.
She didn’t have anything to say to that.
And so she did the only thing anyone else would have probably done too had they been in her shoes. She changed the topic.
“I must admit, I do find it crazy though, leaving the picnic setup like that. A fox, o-or some other wild animal could have stumbled upon it and had the feast of its life,”
Alaric laughed, “That is true, but I can assure you that this was just set up, so stop worrying your pretty head about logistics and let us get into the moment.” With those words, he helped her to the mat and assisted her in getting seated despite her many soft protests, all the while trying not to look at the sexy way her breeches tightened around her supple looking legs, or how her tunic revealed a subtle hint of cleavage.
“Sitting here with you, unchaperoned feels like the greatest sin of all,” He heard her say as they ate and drank, her words causing him to chuckle once again. If only she knew the thoughts running through his head, maybe she wouldn’t be so quick to consider being unchaperoned such a huge sin.
He wanted her.
Fuck, he did so badly. So badly that he declined a chance to bed the Princess when he had gone to the capital.
You want to know the most surprising thing of all? It was the fact that with her, he didn’t even want to rush anything. He wanted to take his time with her— wanted to savor every moment.
He watched her dig into her meal, so unladylike in that moment, but still managing to pull it off with a touch of elegance…
Fuck, he was way in deep than he had thought.
He couldn’t hold on anymore, he just had to confess it to her.
“I need to tell you something, Artemis,” He started, voice thick with emotion that had her pausing with her food and shooting him a look of alarm.
This was it.
The end.
He was going to tell her that he knew her little secret, she could just feel it in her soul. To be honest, she had been preparing for this day ever since she got here, and she had surprisingly been evading it like some bird escaping the winter season, but it had finally caught up with her, and there was nothing she was going to be able to do about it.
There was no running this time.
“O-okay? W-what is it that you want to tell me?” She managed to shakily drag out.
“I am completely and utterly in love with you.”
Kendra’s shoulders slumped in relief so great that she didn’t really process what the General had just shared with her. When she finally did, she shot him a look of utter surprise, “Wait, what?” A surprised chuckle escaped her lips. “But how is that possible? How can you tell? Because we both know that Aphrodite must grant you her blessing before you get that lucky.”
“That is the thing Artemis,” He countered. “Aphrodite has granted me her blessing… you’re the one she has promised me.”
The she-wolf could only stare at him in shock.