Chapter 13: Deception

Artemis was furious. At the Alpha and at the competition. Back when they first started taking in contestants, Artemis had just thought that the courses looked fun, not that she'd get in! God! She just wanted to go home and more than that, she wanted to punch him. She wanted to punch that god damned alpha! Artemis grabbed her black Nike jacket off her bed as well as the enveloped letter. In the living room, the girls were sitting awfully still and watching TV.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked.

"Just watching TV!" Iris exclaimed. "Wanna watch?" Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Normal, not robots," she muttered to them. They were going way too far with their acting for the cameras.

"I'm going to go..." Artemis couldn't just say punch the Alpha to a group of people who had no context so she settled for jogging. "Jog,"

"Didn't you just go jogging earlier?"

"Feeling a little homesick from that letter, I need to clear my head," she muttered. It wasn't half a lie because she did feel incredibly homesick but her need for some violence was much stronger.

She ignored the elevator and jogged down the stairs to keep herself busy. In the lobby a few girls gathered around a cardboard box with a slit and they were placing their replies for home before chatting excitedly about having connections.

Artemis shoved a few girls aside and placed her letter ignoring the protests. She was not in the mood to be polite and if she stuck around longer she might punch one of them and not the Alpha. She knew that you should always start at a light pace and work your way to get faster and faster but her legs sprinted as soon as the lobby doors were held open by the concierge. She didn't slip once on the leaves or fall on the broken twigs and reached the bricked path in no time.

She sprinted right till the end of it where the grass began sprouting out in between the bricks until it faded out to a full stretch of field that contained the rows of trees. She bent down and panted until her lungs felt dry. Her breathing was still high and her heart beat with immense force from her adrenaline rush. She almost felt as if she could run a mile.

"So glad you could come,"

Artemis didn't have to think twice to know that he had somehow appeared behind her. She turned around and her fist swung with full force at his jaw. She felt a sickening crunch in her knuckles that started to heal instantly. She thanked her shape-shifting genes, she might be needing to heal much quicker with the amount of punches she wanted to land. Seeing him splutter and move a few steps back only added to her anger.

Her blow should've sent him to the floor but he only looked momentarily surprised. Artemis knew this was the first time that she was seeing his whole face... and god he was beautiful but her anger overpowered it. This time she would not pass out after she saw his eyes. She hoped that he'd pass out from the pain.

She lunged at him again with her fist swinging in his face but he dodged with ease. That only made her angrier and she swung her fist again and this time when he dodged, she round housed and went to kick him but he caught her leg and threw it down and she went to knee him in his glory area but his hand pushed her knee down and held her arms by her side as he pinned her to a tree. She would've tried to punch him again except she was incredibly distracted by his lips pressing against hers.

Interesting... so this is why everyone said kissing was a great experience.

When she did come to her senses, she pulled her hand from his grip and went to push him away but his arms were quick to grab her wrists while they were on his chest and keep them there. If it weren't for the sparks lit up in her body from the base of her lips, he would probably still be dodging her strong set of punches and kicks.

His lips pried hers open as his tongue entered. Artemis had only ever kissed one guy before and they had both been amateurs but he... he definitely was not. Her hands trailed from his grip to wrap themselves around his neck and pulling him closer to her. His hands pulled at her waist and Artemis' hormones were throwing her red flags but god, Artemis never knew that red flags felt so good.

Her hands were tangled in his hair and she was glad that tree had the support of her back because her knees definitely did not but she didn't have to worry about that for long because they were wrapped around his waist. She wasn't sure how it had escalated to this but she knew that she didn't mind.

His lips left hers all too soon but he didn't pull away completely. They were breathing harshly, still pressed against each other. This time she felt distracted by the lack of lips. She realized how considerably shorter she was than him because she saw how high up she was with her legs around his waist. His forehead leaning against hers made her think about her letter only minutes before. Liza was seriously missing out and Phoenix was too.

"We can't be doing this," he muttered. Artemis suddenly remembered why she had been angry before. She quickly entangled herself from him and slipped out from being pressed against the tree.

"Why did you do that?" she asked him.

"Do what?"

She scoffed and turned back to him. God bless his looks... Artemis snapped herself out of the daze of his looks and managed to glare at him.

"Seriously? You're feigning innocence?" she fretted. "You knew we were mates!" she accused.

He shrugged.

Shrugged.

"Oh... you're still mad about that?" he asked casually.

Her eyes widened in anger and her hand swung at his face wanting to slap him but he caught her wrist first. She twisted out of his grip and took several steps back.

"You are a despicable little person,"

"First of all," he straightened up. "I'm not very little and second... your accent is making it very hard for me to take you seriously my... little mate,"

Artemis almost growled and bit him out of anger but instead she took to running. She tightened the hold of her jacket around her and ran off down the red bricked path.

"You'll be running into my arms soon enough!" he called behind her but she ignored him and kept running right up until she reached the gates of her hotel.

Girls were chattering around dressed in coats and hats and surrounded by suitcases. Artemis entered and Iris bombarded her almost immediately.

"What's going on?" Artemis asked frantically.

"They're sending us to the wilderness for the next test," Iris informed her. "We all still have a few hours so you should go and start packing. Rose and Shy are still upstairs,"

Artemis gave a flustered nod, her anger had not fully left her body yet and she hadn't even had the release of beating him up.

However, before she could go inside the elevator, the TV turned on with that hideous screech that made Artemis even more infuriated.

"Contestants," he began. How on earth had he reached wherever the stupid broadcasting station was, so fast? Artemis glared at his stupid hooded figure and leaned against the elevator door, waiting for him to speak.