Royal Meets Rogue
Chapter 13: Searching For Athena

Ares

“So I’m thinking we need to mix up the patrol routes here and here.” I spoke as I pointed to the map. “Maybe mix the groups up and the make them take different routes.”

“But that will make a small gap here at the northern border.” Apollo pointed out.

I groaned. “Fine. Scratch that.”

I looked over the map of my territory. There is really no way we could switch up the patrol routes without causing some sort of conflict.

A knock sounding on my door made me look up and put the map down.

“Come in.” I spoke in my deep voice.

The door opened and Jason walked in.

“Beta Apollo.” Jason said as he bowed. “I followed Athena for you. Achilles and I lost her at the library though. I’m sorry.”

Apollo sighed but nodded. “That’s okay. We can pick up another time.”

“Will do.” Jason said and turned to leave.

“Wait.” I called out.

“Yes, my King?” Jason asked confused.

“Get Achilles here please.”

Jason nodded and I watched his eyes fog over.

“You are having my two best warriors track this mystery girl?” I asked Apollo amused.

“Her name is Athena.” Apollo said rolling his eyes. “But she is a mystery girl. I told you that there is something off about her.”

I sighed and shook my head laughing.

Achilles walked into the room and bowed. “You called for me?”

I nodded. “Apollo sent you and Jason to search for this, Athena?”

“Yes, he did my King.” Achilles confirmed.

“Apollo.” I groaned. “Why?”

“I want to know who she is!” Apollo exclaimed. “There is something about her and I need to know.”

I looked at Achilles, who was staring at the floor, and it seemed like he wanted to say something, but he just didn’t know how.

“Achilles?” I asked as his shot up in my direction. “Is there something you want to say?”

Achilles looked uncertain but cleared his throat. “Permission to speak freely?”

“Of course.”

“I think you are wrong, my King.” He said strongly.

I was taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“Beta Apollo told us that you think we shouldn’t be wasting our time with her.”

“Oh did he?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at Apollo.

He gave me a big smile and nodded.

Bitch.

“I think you should check her out.” Achilles said firmly.

Well, this just got interesting.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Besides her not having a scent, my wolf feels something.” Achilles admitted. “I-I don’t know what. But there is something there. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this.” I mumbled to myself.

“What’s that?” Apollo asked as he looked hopeful.

“You aren’t serious.” Janus asked in disbelief.

“I am.” I groaned. “Let’s go check her out.”

“May I ask why?” Janus asked confused.

“Everyone who runs into her says that they feel some connection to her. That their wolf feels some sort of way. It isn’t the mate bond, but it’s something pretty important it sounds like. She has no scent and two of my best warriors and trackers lost her. Doesn’t that sound a tad bit mysterious to you Janus?”

Janus thought about it for a second before he sighed and nodded. “I guess you have a point, but this rogue issue is a little more important. Don’t you think?”

“Yes it is, but we could use a small break.” I smiled as I stood up. “Come on. We can check the library out and then get something to eat.”

“As long as you’re paying.” Janus teased as he stood up too.

I rolled my eyes. “Deal.”

“Good. Let’s go, everyone.”

I took the Yukon so we could all fit in. The drive to the city from my castle was about an hour and it’s not too bad. Especially when you have Apollo’s singing to laugh at.

“My singing is not that bad.” Apollo defended as I parked the car.

“Sure. If you think you sounding like a dying hyena isn’t bad.” Janus teased.

Jason started to laugh but turned it into a cough when he got a glare from Apollo.

“Oh lighten up.” I laughed. “It was pretty funny though.”

“I hate all of you.” Apollo growled. “I really do.”

“Wait.” I said as I sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

Everyone stopped talking and sniffed the air.

“No.” Janus said confused.

“It smells like lavender.” I said as I continued to sniff. “It’s coming from the library.”

“All I smell are old papers and smelly feet.” Janus said disgustedly.

“Let’s go.” I said determined as I walked up to the doors.

I pulled the doors open and was hit with lavender.

“Yep. It’s definitely coming from in here.” I confirmed. “It’s kind of faint, but the smell is from here.”

“What could smell like lavender in a library?” Jason asked.

“Maybe someone’s perfume?” Achilles mentioned.

I shook my head. “It’s not perfume. It’s something else.”

I walked over to an aisle towards the back and looked at all the people in the library.

“Do you see her?” I asked quietly.

Jason and Achilles skimmed over the people.

“No.” Jason said shaking his head. “I saw her talking to the librarian and then I turned around to sit down. But when I looked up, she was gone.”

“We didn’t know if she left or if she went somewhere else in the library.” Achilles added. “We looked around for a little bit, but then left once we realized she was gone.”

This Athena just got so much more mysterious.

‘You need to replace the source of that smell.’ Zeus growled. ‘I need to know.’

‘You too?’ I asked shocked.

‘I-I don’t know why.’ Zeus said. ‘But all I know is that we need to replace it.’

“My wolf is attracted to the smell too.” I said.

“Does he know why?” Apollo asked. “Because none of us know why our wolves like it.”

“No. He doesn’t know either. He just wants us to replace it.”

Janus groaned. “Why are all of our wolves attracted to this girl?”

“Maybe she is someone’s mate and that person is in our pack?” Apollo asked. “And our wolves can sense that somehow, but they just don’t know.”

“I highly doubt that.” Janus said shooting that idea down. “That seems a little farfetched. Don’t you think?”

“It was worth a shot.” Apollo said sternly.

“Maybe she’s a wolf too?” Jason asked, speaking his idea out loud.

“That could be it.” I said nodding.

“I don’t think so.” Janus said.

“Wow. Well, aren’t you just a negative Nancy today.” I teased.

Janus rolled his eyes but cracked a small smile. “If she was a wolf, our wolves would have known. We would have smelled her too. And besides, I’ve never heard of a werewolf hiding their scent. That’s just not possible.”

“Okay, I see your point.” I nodded. “Come on. We can discuss this over some food. I’m starving.”

Everyone agreed and we made our way back to the car.

We settled on a small diner that is on the outskirts of town.

“Welcome.” The older lady smiled.

I smiled back and looked at her nametag. “Hello, Jill. Table for five please.”

She nodded and grabbed us some menus. “This way please.”

We followed her over to a table in the corner of the diner and we sat down.

“Drinks?” She asked as she grabbed her notepad.

“I will take a water.” I said as I looked over the menu.

“It’ll take water too.” Apollo said.

“That makes that three please.” Janus smiled.

“I’ll take a pepsi.” Jason smiled.

“Sprite please.” Achilles said.

Jill nodded and wrote our drink orders down. “I’ll go grab them for you all.”

“What’s good here?” Janus asked. “I’ve never been here before.”

“Their chicken is to die for.” Apollo said. “Their pancakes are pretty bomb too.”

After a couple more minutes, Jill came back with our drinks.

“Ready to order dears?” Jill asked.

I nodded. “I’ll take the chicken lunch with mashed potatoes and gravy please.”

“Okay.” Jill smiled as she wrote that down.

The guys ordered their meals and she left to go grab them.

“That’s the same thing that she ordered.” Apollo said.

“What?” I asked confused.

“When I crashed her lunch.” Apollo laughed. “She ordered that same thing. She said it was really good.”

“You crashed her lunch?” I asked laughing.

Apollo’s face turned a slight shade of red. “Yeah, sort of. It just kind of happened.”

We all started laughing and Apollo’s face turned darker.

“It was an accident!” He defended.

“Sure it was.” Janus winked.

Apollo rolled his eyes and gave him a growl before facing the window.

“Now back to these ideas.” I said as I leaned on the table. “So we have that she could be a wolf and she could be someone’s mate. Anything else?”

“I honestly think both of those are flops.” Janus shrugged nonchalantly.

“You really are a negative Nancy today.” Apollo laughed.

Janus flipped him off. “I’m just stating the obvious. I don’t think she is anyone’s mate and I don’t think she is a werewolf either. There is just no way that both of those are possible.”

“How?” Apollo asked.

“It’s just not logical.” Janus said in a ‘duh’ tone. “There is no way that she can be a wolf. They can’t hide their scent. And if she was someone’s mate, our wolves wouldn’t feel this strongly towards her. It would only be her mate that felt like this, but we all do.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I said shrugging. “But none of that explains why all of our wolves feel connected to her. Zeus does and he hasn’t even seen her.”

“I don’t understand how she doesn’t have a scent. That is the main thing that is bugging me.” Apollo said.

“How could a human make our wolves behave like this?” Jason asked. “I don’t get it. My wolf honestly got pissed at me when I lost her.”

“Mine did too.” Achilles agreed.

“My wolf just demanded that we replace the smell of the lavender.” I said.

“And that’s another thing. I didn’t smell any lavender. None of us did.” Janus said confused. “So how come you could smell it?”

“Maybe because he’s the King?” Apollo asked unsurely. “He would have a better smelling ability than we would.”

“I guess that could be a possibility. But that’s still weird.”

“This whole thing is weird.” I said as I rubbed my temples. “None of this makes sense.”

“Do you think that this could be related to the rogues?” Achilles asked.

That sparked my interest.

“Explain.” I demanded.

“From what Beta Apollo told me, she came around some time a little after the rogues started to make an appearance. A couple of days after if I remember correctly.” He explained.

“Do you think she could be a hunter?” Apollo asked worriedly.

“That’s possible.” I said nodding. “I’ve seen hunters and rogues work together before so it honestly wouldn’t surprise me.”

“We need to keep an eye on her then.” Janus said. “We can’t take any chances.”

“I agree.” I said.

“Me too.” Apollo nodded.

“Here you are boys.” Jill smiled as she and another worker placed our plates down.

“Finally.” Jason smiled. “I’m starving!”