Page 46 of Protected By Artemis

“Everyone out?” he rasped.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

He nodded, his mind already racing. This wasn’t just an accident. Someone had targeted them, and he needed to find out who and why before more harm came to his pack.

He tried to focus, but his vision was growing darker. The adrenaline that had kept him moving through the fire was fading, leaving behind a crushing weight of exhaustion and pain. His legs buckled, and he began to fall.

Xavier caught him just in time, his arms wrapping around his shoulders. “Cade, stay with me!”

The last thing he saw was the worried faces of his pack. He tried to smile, to reassure them, but darkness overtook him before he could manage it.

As his consciousness slipped away, he felt a deep, primal resolve settle within him. Whoever had done this would pay.With that final thought, he let himself fall into the waiting darkness.

Chapter 9

Artemis

“… a

nd that concludes the meeting of the council,” Poseidon said. “We will convene again on the next new moon.”

Artemis breathed a sigh of relief as she closed her notebook and stood up from her chair. Normally, she loved going to these council meetings, getting involved in Olympus business, as well as fighting for her causes. Today, however, the meeting felt like it had been going on for a million years, and none of the issues piqued her interest. In fact, the only thing that interested her was watching the clock, wondering when this meeting was going to end.

Grabbing her bag, she quickly slipped out of the council room. Checking her phone, she saw several news messages, but to her disappointment, none of them were from Cade.

Probably too busy with Alpha duties.

After all, they did spend the last few days wrapped up in each other’s arms, so he probably had left a lot of stuff undone. In the future, she’d have to give him some space to do his work, as she didn’t want to be the cause of him neglecting his pack.

Wait, future?

Was there a future with Cade?

The thought of that made her a swirl of emotions rush through, making her stomach flutter excitedly. But at the same, there was a layer of dread there too. While the sex was certainly amazing, it dawned on her that she also enjoyed other things about being with Cade. The idea of not being with him filled her with the same apprehension as being with him. Being mortal, his life was fleeting compared to hers. In a few decades, he would die and wither away to nothing, not to mention so would any children they had.

“And none shall taste the sweet apple of immortality…”

Any child of hers would never choose to eat the golden apple, according to The Fates. It was bad enough that she had lost Kyra, but a child from her womb would be devastating. The very thought of it, the idea of what the future held, but at the same time wanting to be with Cade…she could never give up her life, but she also knew Cade would never leave his pack to live in Olympus with her for eternity.

She felt trapped.

She pushed it out of her mind, though that ache in her chest remained. She couldn’t think of that now, not when bigger things were happening, and people’s lives were on the line. Deciding she needed a distraction—or rather, something to help her focus back on the investigation—she transported herself to Hephaestus’s workshop.

“Hello?” Why she even bothered to call out as she entered the front door, she didn’t know. Hephaestus would already know she was here thanks to his sophisticated home security system.

Walking through the sparse living area, she walked toward the workshop in Hephaestus’s home. Actually, the workshop took up more space than the actual home. As she entered through the sliding metal door, the electronic hum of computers and various machines from the numerous organized racks on either side of the vast room filled the air. In the middlewas a large table covered with half-finished projects and tools scattered about. The god of fire and forges stood at one end, hunched over a large monitor, his fingers clacking away at a mechanical keyboard, the glow from the screen lighting up his face.

“What are you doing here?” He didn’t even bother looking up. “The council meeting’s over. Shouldn’t you be on your way back to Alaska to continue with the investigation?’

“Oh, so youdoknow there was a meeting.”

Hephaestus grunted but said nothing. Of course, he hadn’t attended a meeting in thousands of years, preferring to receive the notes and summaries instead. Even if there was an important decision, he usually sent his word via messenger.

“Anyway,” she continued. “I thought I’d stop by and see if you made any more progress on your ‘geeking out’ activities.”

He blew out a long breath. “You know, just because you want something to go faster doesn’t mean it will. You can’t bully everyone into doing what you want.”

“I do not bully anyone.” She stifled a laugh. “I merely inspire them to work harder and be better.” Ignoring his sarcastic snort, she trotted over to him to glance over his shoulder. “Well?

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