Royal Meets Rogue
Chapter 17: On The Run

Athena

I groaned as my head was pounding.

“Careful dear.” Hecate said as she quickly came over to me and helped me sit up.

“I feel like death.” I chuckled.

“You look like death.” She teased.

I rolled my eyes and clutched my head. “Thank you for saving me. Again.”

Hecate smiled and pulled me in for a hug. “Anything for you.”

I sniffed as I smelt another werewolf. But then another scent hit me. Pine and vanilla.

“R-Rick?” I said worried as I started shaking.

“What?” Hecate asked. “N-No. Rick isn’t here.”

“B-But. I smell…” I trailed off as I looked around my room expecting him to burst through the door.

“Athena.” Hecate said softly. “You do smell your mate, but it’s not Rick.”

“How is that possible?” I asked still scared. “Rick is my mate.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Not anymore. You have a new mate.”

“That’s impossible. You only get one mate.”

Hecate shrugged with a small smile. “I guess you’re an exception.”

“Then who?”

“Athena. Your mate.” She sighed and looked down at her hands. “Your mate is the Alpha King.”

“No.” I whispered. “No.”

“Athena. Breathe.” She said quickly.

“No.” I shook my head. “Oh my gosh.”

I grasped my chest as I felt my heart sink and my breath was taken away.

“Athena!” Hecate yelled as she gently shook my shoulders.

I looked at her, but I couldn’t speak. All my fears were crashing down on me and I felt like I was going to pass out at any second.

“Hecate.” I whispered as I stared in her eyes. “I-I can’t. Not again.”

“I know dear.” She said with a sad smile. “But I will be right here with you. Okay?”

“Where is he?” I asked.

She smirked. “I closed the door on him and left him outside.”

My eyes went wide. “You left the Alpha King outside?”

“He’s not my alpha.” She laughed. “I don’t care.”

“How long has he been outside?” I asked.

‘I don’t think I want to know.’ Artemis said worriedly.

“Um.” She hummed checking her phone. “About five hours.”

“Oh no.” I groaned and let my head fall in my hands. “This is going to be a nightmare.”

“No, it won’t.” Hecate smiled as he brushed some hair behind my ear. “I won’t allow it.”

“What’s his name?”

She looked at me shocked. “You don’t know his name?”

I shook my head. “I was never told any of that.”

“His name is Ares Galician.”

Right as she said that, I felt a shiver go down my back.

“He needs to go away.” I said.

Hecate laughed. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“It was worth a shot.” I chuckled. “But what do I do?”

Hecate was silent for a moment. But she gave me a small smile.

“Talk to him.” She told me. “No matter what you want Athena; you have to talk to him. You don’t want to be with him? Talk to him. You want to be with him? Talk to him. Communication is something that you have to have and a lot of people forget about that key ingredient.”

“But-” I started but Hecate cut me off.

“I know you’re scared, dear. I really do. But you can’t keep running from everything. You had a hard past, I get that. But he is your mate. And I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but he is the Alpha King. He will always look for you and you won’t make it very far.” Hecate said as she stared at me. “But if you want, I will be right there with you when you talk to him. It doesn’t have to be now. But just know that I will always be here for you.”

“I love you.” I said as a tear escaped my eye.

“I love you too, Athena.” She smiled as she pulled me in for a bear hug.

“I’m going to need a little time to think.” I said.

‘What are you doing?’ Artemis asked suspiciously.

Hecate smiled again and nodded in understanding. “Of course. I’ll be downstairs.”

“Okay.” I whispered as she got up and left.

I waited until she was out of ear range and carefully closed my door.

‘Athena.’ Artemis said sternly.

I walked back over to my bed and lifted up my pillow, grabbing the vile.

‘I’m getting out of here.’ I said as I pulled the cork out and gulped down the orange liquid.

‘Athena.’ Artemis sighed. ‘Maybe we should listen to Hecate. She might be right.’

‘Do you really believe this bullshit?’ I asked as I opened my window. ‘We only get one mate and should I remind you that he rejected us and then we hit him over the head?’

‘I get that.’ Artemis said. ‘But you can smell his scent.’

I stopped and paused just as I was about to jump out of the window.

‘When you woke up, you could smell your mate.’ Artemis continued. ‘You and I both know that Alpha King Ares is our mate.’

I felt a tear drop.

‘I-I can’t.’ I growled as I viciously wiped my tear away. ‘I’m not going to go through that again. I refuse.’

With a growl, I jumped out of the window and ran without looking back.

~*~

Ares

I jolted awake when I heard a thud.

“What was that?” I asked out loud as I jumped up.

“What?” Apollo asked as he and Janus woke up.

I turned around and knocked on the door.

“Ares!” Hecate yelled as she swung the door open. “You aren’t allowed in here until Athena says it’s okay.”

“No.” I said shaking my head. “I heard something.”

Hecate gave me a puzzled look. “Like what?”

I shrugged. “I-I don’t know. It sounded like something dropped.”

Hecate had a knowing look but quickly covered it up. “I’ll be right back. Stay in the living room and don’t go anywhere. Or else I will throw wolfsbane at you.”

I gulped and nodded.

Apollo, Janus, and I sat down on the couch in the living room and waited until Hecate got back.

A few minutes later, we heard footsteps and Hecate walked into the living room.

“She’s gone.” She sighed as she sat down in the chair.

“Well let’s go replace her!” I said as I stood up.

“You won’t be able too.” She said as she lifted up an empty vile.

“What is that?” I asked as she handed it to me.

“It looks like an empty bottle.” Apollo said.

“No shit Sherlock.” I growled.

“It’s my scent potion. Drinking it will hide your scent for five hours.” Hecate explained. “And I don’t know how many she took.”

I growled and threw the bottle against the wall.

“I’ll go clean that up.” Janus said as he glared at me.

“We have to replace her!” I growled.

“You need to calm down.” Hecate said as she crossed her arms. “This is your fault after all.”

I went to go say something but stopped myself. I slumped down on the couch and put my head in my hands knowing she was right.

‘We need to replace her.’ Zeus whimpered.

“We have to replace her.” I whispered.

Why do I feel so useless?

“Get up and quit moping.” Hecate said harshly as she opened a drawer.

She pulled out a gun and put it in a holster on her hip.

“What are you doing?” I asked standing up.

“I have a daughter to go replace.” She said as she grabbed a coat and put it on. “And you’re going to help me. She’s scared and she’s on high alert. It’s going to get cold tonight so she has to replace someplace to set up camp. She’s smart.”

I nodded and followed Hecate outside to her jeep.

“Why didn’t she take her car?” Apollo asked.

“I told you she was smart.” Hecate said as she got into the driver’s seat. “She’s running. She’s not going to risk being loud and giving herself away. Besides, she drank the potion so she can run in her wolf form without being detected.”

“Right.” Apollo nodded to himself. “Now I feel like an idiot.”

“You should.” She snapped. “Because of you idiots, she’s running again. She was safe here.”

“I would never hurt her.” I snapped back. “She’s my mate.”

“That’s why she ran.” Hecate said. “She doesn’t want to go through that again.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

Hecate sighed. “I can’t tell you everything, but I can tell you this. Athena had a mate before you but he rejected her. She had a rough life and she’s scared. So I don’t blame her for running.”

“You sound like you knew she was going to run.” Janus pointed out.

“I had a feeling.” Hecate nodded. “But I didn’t know she was going to do it right away. I figured she was going to do it when you guys left so I didn’t have time to prepare.”

“I’m going to link my pack. Have some scouts search the area and see if they can locate her.” I said.

“Okay. But if they replace her, they are not to talk to her. Have them watch her from a distance and tell me where she is. I will be the one to talk to her if they replace her. Understand?” Hecate said sternly.

I looked her in the eye and was ready to deny her request. But I didn’t want to scare her anymore, so I thought better of it. And Hecate is kind of frightening me right now.

I nodded. “Deal.”

“Good.” Hecate said before stepping on the gas and peeling out of the driveway.

“This really is my fault.” I said.

“Hey. You didn’t know.” Apollo said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “None of us knew that she was going to run.”

“But she’s a rogue. I should have known that there was a small chance.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do now except try to replace her.” Janus said. “And besides, I need to apologize to her.”

“Let’s go.” I said before taking off towards the forest.

“Okay. So she couldn’t have gotten far right?” Apollo asked as we ran through the trees.

“She could have if she knew we would replace out right away.” Janus said.

“Well from the time that I heard the thud, to us replaceing her right now.” I mumbled as I dodged a branch. “She maybe has a forty-five-minute head start?”

“Scouts are being assigned areas of the territory. They are on the lookout right now and know not to approach her.” Apollo said.

“I-I don’t even know what she looks like.” I whispered as I started to slow down.

Janus gave me a sad smile.

“She’s short.” Apollo started, causing Janus and I to look up at him. “Long, wavy, brown hair. Brown eyes. Her wolf is the exact opposite of yours.”

“What?” I asked confused.

Apollo laughed with a nod. “When I saw her in her wolf form, I couldn’t help but think why her wolf looked so familiar. Then when I saw you walk into the clearing, it clicked. Her wolf is pure white with a gold moon right in the center of her forehead. Sound familiar?”

“No way.” Janus laughed. “Ares. You have-”

“A gold wolf with a white moon in the center of my forehead.” I finished for him with a smile. “We were meant to be with each other.”

“Let’s go replace our Queen.” Apollo smiled.