Artemis had been extremely confused at first when Sol had taken over the training, pushing the warrior, Flynn over to the side almost immediately after their fight had ended. She stood amongst the other wolves as he now stood in the centre

She didn't even bother to turn around and watch Flynn walk away dejectedly with his face directed towards the ground and his jaw tense, not at all happy with being undermined as he had been. Sol had jumped in and instructed him to step away, announcing that he would be taking over the training of the misfits himself. He wasn't at all overjoyed about it but he didn't have a choice.

Flynn was a warrior and Sol was an Alpha. No matter how proud he was of how far he had come in his rise to head warrior of the Valour pack, there was no way he would ever be able to defeat Alpha Solomon of the Shadow Keeper's in a fight.

That man was scary and as attracted as he was to the beautiful Artemis, he preferred keeping his head attached to his neck.

Sol was now stood back as he pitted off two of the wolves against each other, one male and the other female. Like Flynn had done earlier, he underestimated his opponent and found himself pinned under the she-wolf almost immediately after Sol had instructed them to begin.

The Alpha laughed heartily and clapped in congratulations, happy that she had listened to him when he had offered them all some hints and tips earlier.

Even though he was tired and kind of hungry from jumping straight into training without any breakfast, he didn't care. If this is what it meant to keep that Flynn warrior away from Artemis, then he would gladly do this every morning.

He was jealous and he refused to deny it because denying it just gave his opponent the upper hand, allowing him to make his move while Sol stood back and attempted to ignore it all.

No. He wouldn't be doing any ignoring or denying, not when it came to Artemis.

"Next!" Sol called out as he instructed the next pair to stand in the middle, bracing themselves for when he announced it was their turn to fight.

The brown-haired girl whom Artemis had recently learnt was named Angela shuffled a little closer to her. "You're so lucky."

This caught Artemis off guard. Turning to face the girl, she gave her a confused look, cocking a quizzical brow. "What do you mean?"

Angela sighed dreamily and turned her head to turn back to face the Alpha male whom had suddenly decided that he would start training them. She had no doubt that he was jealous of the warrior training Artemis. "I would be so thankful if a man like that was in love with me." She exhaled, her mind lingering on what it would be like to have a man look at her the way Sol did Artemis.

But if he was on the table and Artemis didn't want him, all the better for her then.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, startled.

Angela pulled away slightly and stared at Artemis in confusion. "How do you not see it?"

Artemis merely offered her a perplexed expression, her mind not catching onto what the other girl was trying to convey, keeping her voice low so no one -especially the Alpha male in question- would pick up on their conversation. "He's madly in love with you."

"Sol?" She asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes!"

"What? No, he isn't." She denied quickly but found herself faltering.

"Yes, he is. It's absolutely obvious."

Artemis moved back slightly to stare at the girl as if she had grown two heads. "You must be on something because that if so far from the truth." She scoffed and released yet another uncomfortable chuckle.

Sol didn't love her...did he?

Angela threw her head back and laughed. "Sure, whatever you want to believe." She said though it was clear that she clearly didn't believe her. "Oh, what I would do to have someone like that love me." She replied dreamily, her eyes on the Alpha as he helped one of the girls position herself properly, showing her how she should for both defence and attack stances. All eyes were on him as well as the lusty brunette whom seemed to think that it was appropriate to drool over anyone and everyone whom she seemed fit.

Artemis didn't like her anymore.

She knew Sol and her shared something special but she strongly doubted that he loved her. And she certainly didn't appreciate having someone else poke into their business.

It just gave her more to worry about.

Pursing her lips and crossing her arms over her chest, she turned back to face the two wolves in the middle as they were pitted against each other. She knew she was being childish when she moved away from the brunette and towards one of the others guys but she didn't care.

Angela had no right to question something that was completely not her business.

Time seemed to pass both quicker and more peacefully now that she was away from the nosy Angela and before she knew it, all of the wolves had, had their turn fighting each other. It was only then that Sol called an end to it, ordering everyone to meet at the same spot and time the next morning so they could continue.

Artemis was the last one left standing as all the others had left for the pack house, intending to catch the last of the breakfast that remained. Her and Sol followed them though trailing considerably back.

"How do you think the training went?" Sol asked, wiping away some sweat from his skin. He was still shirtless.

"I thought it was really good."

"Good," he muttered quietly. "Do you think the other's enjoyed it?"

"I think they were honoured to be trained by an Alpha."

A small smile crept onto his lips at her comment.

"Why did you decide to train us all of a sudden?"

The smile didn't have time to settle because it slipped off as soon as the question passed her lips.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she began, thinking over how she intended to word her sentence. Artemis herself wasn't sure why she was probing him on the topic or why she even cared but the reality was that whatever Angela had said, even though she hadn't liked it and found it rather rude and intrusive, it had all got her thinking. Surely there was no plausible reason for him to intervene in the training session as he had done, especially having just woken up from a very much needed sleep. "Flynn was training us and then all of a sudden, you realised that you wanted to do it?"

"Flynn?" He voiced, his jaw tensed as he refused to look at her not wanting to give away his emotions. Though at that moment, even a blind person would be able to tell just how felt regarding that Flynn. Artemis didn't notice it of course, but she did notice the way he seemed to dislike the warrior.

But for what reason, she wondered.

"Yeah, that's the name of the warrior." She informed him, slightly puzzled as to what was bothering him. "So, why were you so keen on training us all of a sudden?"

He shrugged and continued walking, his head facing forwards not wanting to give away anything on the inner tornado of feelings and emotions that he was going through. "Just felt like it."

The answer didn't seem to appease Artemis as her lips turned down in a frown. Nothing was making sense. Perhaps Angela was on the right track despite how much she hated to admit it.

Artemis was very fond of Sol, attached to him even and there was no denying it, but she knew for sure that now was not the right moment to express her feelings on him and demand that they put a label on whatever the relationship they shared.

Keeping her lips zipped, she skipped ahead of him into the pack house, hungry as she had missed breakfast that morning too.

Luckily, the tense mood seemed to have passed as Sol followed closely behind her, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He was jealous but he refused to admit it, not ready to face the rejection that she would surely hand to him if he were to ever come forth with his true feelings regarding her.

Sighing, he walked into the pack house behind her, the smell of food leading them.

He would reveal his feelings for her another day because now, food was calling to him.

But just as he had woken up disappointed to find Artemis not sleeping next to him, he walked into the dining room where the mouth-watering food smell was coming from only to be disappointed to find a sobbing human Poppy, crying hysterically in the arms of her husband.

Great! This was exactly what he needed.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to back out of the room undetected as Artemis grabbed him around the arm and pulled him behind her as she headed to two empty seats next to Clark and Diane. It wasn't that she was able to drag him but more that he allowed her to drag him, though he allowed her believe whatever made her happy.

Artemis leaned back against the table with her arms crossed over her shoulder, standing next to Diane. Sol plopped down on a chair and grabbed some toast from Clark's plate, not really caring what was behind him as he enjoyed his breakfast -or rather Clark's.

Clark didn't even bother protesting as he buttered another piece of toast for himself.

All the wolves in the room -apart from Sol, of course- were watching the humans as they interacted with one another, not even bothering to keep quiet. Not that would help anyway since werewolves were supernatural creatures with enhanced abilities, one of them being hearing.

"You can't go back there!" She refused to let him go, worried for his life.

"Poppy," he sighed and held his close to him, wanting her closer but not feeling comfortable with all the werewolves watching. He attempted to console her and to get her to stop crying, not wanting her to tire herself out but it didn't seem to work.

His wife became an emotional mess in times of worry and panic and he loved her for it. But it did hurt him to see her cry especially when he was the reason for it.

"You just got back here yesterday!"

He nodded his head. "I know but it's the right thing to do."

"No!" She refused and shook her head, tears still streaming down her face, her vision blurry. "You already did what they asked of you," she hiccupped out the words, desperate for her husband to stay by her side where he would be safe and alive. If he left, there was no saying of whether she would ever see him again and that broke her heart. "You held up your part of the deal. They can't make you go back there!"

Elder Henley attempted to intervene, wanting to console the human female not because he cared a big deal about her tears and feelings, but because the sooner she stopped crying the sooner the male would be able to leave just as they had planned.

The other two elders sat back in their seats and enjoyed the remainder of their food, their eyes more interested on feasting upon the free show they were privileged to watch that morning.

Sol was now drinking Clark's coffee and eying Diane's half eaten muffin.

"Poppy, I know this is difficult but this is for the best." The elder's voice was gentle and soothing but what a big mistake it was.

Pulling her face away from her husband momentarily, she glared daggers at the elder not at all caring that he was a werewolf and would surely be able to snap her neck with a simple flick of his wrist.

The other two elders merely smirked and chuckled amongst themselves as they watched the female shriek at the elder, reaching out to claw at his face in anger but lucky for him, her husband held her back, pulling her back to his chest where he tucked her head under his chin and placed a soft kiss against the top of his head, sending the elder a silent apology. Though even he couldn't keep his lips from twisting up into a slight smile despite the circumstances.

"Poppy," he breathed out, his voice quiet and for hear ears only even though every one in the room could hear him loud and clear. "They're not making me do anything I don't want to do."

"How can you want to go back there?" She shrieked, her eyes blazing with both anger and pain.

"Because those wolves need help."

No words passed the human female's lips as she stared up at her husband with her large, doe eyes which still glistened with unshed tears. She sniffled slightly.

Harry's face softened as he glanced down at his wife. She was all he had and deserved the best life he could possibly give her, which also meant that she deserved the best husband he could possibly be.

He had to do this. He had to help those werewolves he had spent so many years testing on and helping keep trapped in the human base. It had all made sense then as he truly had believed that all werewolves for absolutely horrid due to the memories of the rogue attack that he had encountered, but he now knew that was not the case.

If all werewolves were monsters then he would have been dead long ago and they wouldn't have looked after his wife so well while he was away.

Not all of them bad just as not all humans were bad too.

They were just people going about their day like every other nation.

Now that he fully understood the exact consequences of his actions, he knew that he needed to wrong his right. Just looking at Artemis and the rest of his wolves, all of whom he had recognised from the cages in the base brought up memories of a past he felt nothing but disgusted about.

Cupping her cheeks, he leaned down and pressed a warm kiss against her forehead, his eyes closing on their own accord. "Poppy, my love, I need to do this."

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist, silently crying as she buried her face in his chest. Poppy absolutely detested the idea of heading back to the human base where he could potentially be tortured and or killed if they managed to figure out that he was working with the wolves, but if he said that he needed to do this then she would stand proudly by his side with her head held high.

-

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Layla Knight 

30.09.18