Royal Meets Rogue
Chapter 24: Earth-shattering News

Athena

“What did you just say?” I asked, backing up a little bit.

“Athena.” Hecate smiled. “You were born here. In the living room to be exact.”

“What in the actual hell are you talking about?”

“Seventeen years ago, a wolf came to my door. Practically broke the thing down.” She sighed and turned around to pick up the glass shards from the broken plate on the floor. “Her pack got hit pretty hard by a rogue attack and she started giving birth when the whole thing came down.”

“That’s awful.” I said quietly.

“Athena.” Hecate said softly. “It was your mother.”

“M-my mother?” I asked shocked.

This can’t be real.

“She gave birth right on the living room floor.” She explained as she looked at the living room. “She was in such a hurry. She scooped you up and left right away.”

“She didn’t rest?” I asked amazed.

My mother must have been really strong.

“No.” Hecate answered, shaking her head. “I offered her one of my potions and told her she could hide out here. But she said she had to leave, that the rogues would replace her. She told me there was a decent sized pack about a day’s trip from here.”

“She must have been talking about Rick’s pack.” I thought out loud.

Hecate nodded. “That’s the one. Although, I didn’t remember the name and none of it clicked until now.”

“So you helped my mom give birth to me?” I asked, looking Hecate in the eyes.

Hecate smiled. “You were so tiny. So adorable.”

“What pack was she from?” I asked wanting to know more.

“Oh my gosh.” Hecate said with wide eyes. “I’m an idiot.”

“What?” I asked laughing.

“Why did I not put this together sooner?” She groaned as she reached her phone.

“Who are you calling?” I asked as she placed the phone to her ear.

“Ares.” She said seriously. “We all need to sit down and talk.”

Not even twenty minutes went by and Ares came running through the door.

‘Isn’t it a forty-five-minute drive?’ Artemis asked.

‘That’s what I thought.’ I said.

‘How did he get here so fast?’

‘My guess.’ I paused as I looked at Ares as he was panting out of breath. ‘He ran. And fast.’

“What’s going on?” Ares asked as he sat down. “You sounded urgent on the phone.”

“I know where Athena came from.” Hecate said as she turned to look at me. “Please sit down.”

I quickly walked over to the table and sat down next to Hecate. Ares stared at me from across the table for a moment, before turning his attention to Hecate.

“Proceed.” He instructed.

“Athena Polias is from your pack, Ares.” Hecate stated.

Ares’ eyes got wide and his mouth dropped open slightly. “What?”

“Seventeen years ago, I had a lady come running and pounding on my door because of a rogue attack. She was in labor when this happened and she gave birth on my living room floor. We didn’t have time to make it into one of the rooms and thus, Athena was born.” Hecate explained.

“But how do you know it was Athena?” Ares asked skeptically.

“Because her name was Iris Polias. Does that ring a bell?”

“Why does that sound so familiar?” Ares asked himself and he stared at the table, deep in thought.

“Your mother had a friend named Iris.” Hecate explained. “She was about five years younger than your mom, but they were great friends.”

Ares’ head shot up fast and he turned to look at me. “Y-your mom belonged to my pack?”

“Indeed she did.” Hecate nodded. “If that rogue attack didn’t happen, Athena would have been born into your pack.”

“I was actually supposed to be a part of the royal pack?” I asked shocked as I stood up to pace around the room. “This can’t be real.”

“It is dear.” Hecate said. “You are technically a royal.”

“How so?” I asked confused. “Because I was born in another pack.”

“Doesn’t matter. You were originally from the Royal Blue Moon Pack.”

“If I’m a royal, then how come I’m so weak.” I said sadly as I looked at the floor.

“You probably weren’t trained right.” Ares said as he looked at me.

“And they didn’t feed you at all, so that didn’t help.” Hecate said as she glared into space.

“Wait, what?” Ares asked, getting angry. “They didn’t feed you?”

“Oh shit.” Hecate said as she smiled apologetically to me. “Sorry, Athena.”

“What do you mean?” Ares asked. “You knew?”

“I wasn’t allowed to say anything.” Hecate defended. “And quite frankly, it wasn’t my place to say.”

“What did they do to you?” Ares asked worriedly.

“Beat me, starved me, locked me in my room.” I shrugged. “I was basically the pack’s punching bag and the maid.”

“What?” He growled and stood up so fast that the chair was knocked over. “I’m going to kill them. Every single one of them.” He growled out loud as he stalked towards the door.

“Ares!” I called and ran after him. “You don’t even know who my pack was.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Ares stopped walking, causing me to run into his back. “Who was your alpha?”

“Umm.” I gulped as I looked in his eyes. “I’m not saying.”

“And why not?” Ares asked annoyed.

“Because you’re mad and you can’t kill him.”

“He hurt my mate. I have every right to kill him.” He shot at me.

“Technically, I wasn’t your mate when all of this happened.” I pointed out. “I was my alpha’s mate.”

Ares growled and his eyes were flickering back and forth from hazel to black.

‘You need to calm him down.’ Artemis said sternly.

I wrapped my arms around Ares and hugged him tightly.

He eventually wrapped his arms around my waist and placed his head in my neck, breathing deeply.

“I’m still going to kill him when I replace out who it is.” Ares whispered into my neck.

“Which is why I’m not telling you who it is.” I said as I pulled away from him. “You need to calm down.”

“I am calm.”

“Bull shit.” Hecate said as she leaned back in her chair. “Now can we get back to the important thing and to why I called you over here?”

“Fine.” Ares growled as he grabbed my hand and walked us over to the table. He sat down and put me in the chair next to him. He grabbed the leg of my chair and pulled it closer to him and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “So how did Athena’s mom get to your house?”

“I honestly don’t know the whole story. She was pretty hysteric when she arrived here. All I got was that her pack was under attack by rogues and she was in the hospital because she went into labor. It didn’t click that she was from your pack Ares. Not until recently with you guys being mates and all.”

“My poor mom.” I said sadly as I rested my head on Ares’ shoulder.

Ares bent down and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How?” I asked tearing up. “Rogues killed my mother and then I get beaten up my whole life. It isn’t okay.”

“It will be Athena.” Hecate smiled. “You have us.”

“You’re right.” I smiled as I lifted my head from Ares’ shoulder. “I have a family. Something I didn’t have before.”

“Exactly.”

“So I’m part royal.” I said to myself. “That’s kind of exciting.”

Hecate and Ares both exchanged looks and something told me that there was something else.

‘They are keeping something from us.’ Artemis pointed out annoyed.

“What are you two doing?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Ares said with a smile as he turned to face me. “Being royal is pretty exciting actually.”

“Right.” I drawled out. That’s not what I’m talking about here Ares.

“No really.” He laughed. “And you will get to live in a big castle. With me.”

“What about Hecate?” I asked worried as I looked at her.

“She can move in too if she would like. There’s a very large room on the second floor that no one lives in.” Ares suggested.

Hecate offered me a warm smile. “I would love too. But I have all my plants here in the shed.”

“Can’t we bring the shed with?” I asked.

“Dear.” She laughed. “It’s not a small shed that you can put on a trailer.”

“What if I get some people to help me build you a new one?” Ares proposed. “We could build you an even bigger greenhouse.”

Hecate smiled and seemed to think about it for a moment. “I’ll tell you what. If you can do that and build it will all the same features as the one I have now, you got yourself a deal.”

“You better build it.” I said seriously as I looked at Ares. “Hecate and I are a package deal. Wherever I go, she goes.”

“I promise I will build her the biggest and best greenhouse in the world.” Ares promised as he smiled down at me.

“Good.” I smiled back and pecked his lips before turning to Hecate. “It’s a deal. You’re coming with when the greenhouse is built.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Hecate said as she grabbed my hand. “But tonight, we get to have a girl’s night since you’ll be leaving tomorrow.”

“Why can’t she come tonight?” Ares asked pouting.

“She’s staying tonight and that’s final.” Hecate said sternly.

“I agree with Hecate.” I laughed.

“Fine, fine.” Ares huffed, waving us off with his hand. “But you do also realize that this means you will be learning how to fight.”

“Really?” I asked, jumping up in excitement.

“Yeah.” Ares said confused. “Wait. You’re excited about that?”

“Well yeah.” I nodded. “I was never taught anything about fighting. I was always cooking or cleaning.”

“You’ll learn how to fight. Close combat, guns, swords, bows, everything.” Ares explained.

“Yes!” I yelled, fist pumping the air. “I can’t wait.”

“You might regret that.” Hecate laughed. “That will also include running, lifting weights, boxing, and many other exercises.”

“Hecate, you’re making it sound like even more fun.” I said. “When I was out running errands for everyone, I always walked past the battlefield and everyone was outside training. I got to see them punch the bags, spar in their wolf forms, and everything else. I was jealous of them because they never let me do any of that.”

“Don’t worry baby. I’ll teach you how to do all of that stuff if it will make you happy.” Ares smiled as he wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled me into him.

Damn. Even when he’s sitting, he’s almost as tall as I am when I’m standing.

“I can’t wait.”

“Perseus is a master swordsman.” Ares explained. “So he’ll be teaching you how to fight with a sword and he also has a really good aim with our guns.”

“He keeps impressing me by the second.” I laughed.

“Now that that is settled.” Hecate started as she stood up. “Ares out. Athena and I are having a girl’s night.”

“Hurtful.” Ares joked as he stood up and walked over to grab his coat. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning and I’ll come over a little early to help you pack. How’s that?”

“That would be perfect.” I smiled as I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

“I’ll miss you.” He chuckled.

“I’ll miss you too.”

“I’m going to barf.” Hecate teased as she got the popcorn out of the cupboard. “Now shoo!”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Ares said as he held up his hands. “Bye ladies.”

“Bye!” Hecate and I said as he walked out the door.

“Now.” Hecate mumbled as she walked over to the TV and opened the door to the movies. “The Conjuring, the new IT, or The Exorcist?”

“The Conjuring.” I smiled as I grabbed some drinks.

“Good choice.” She laughed as she opened the DVD player. “Let’s get scared.”