Chapter 9: Locks

Artemis whipped around but she could only see the darkness just like before. She tried to look for him but it was of no use, she just couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

"Where are you?" she called out.

"Right behind you,"

She tried to turn but his hands were firm on her shoulder to keep her from turning.

"I'm afraid I can't have you see me," he said, and Artemis felt her vision darken completely as a silk cloth was tied around her eyes.

"Is this really necessary?" she huffed out angrily, she couldn't see him because of the darkness anyway and the blindfold only irritated her further.

"Extremely,"

"You're trying to keep yourself from imprinting on me, aren't you?" she asked him. It didn't take a genius to place that he only took precautions because he was worried in the first place.

"You're perceptive, aren't you?"

"Part of my charm,"

"Yes, initially, I am going to such lengths to make sure I don't imprint on any of the girls here, especially you,"

Artemis felt dumbfounded.

"What do you mean, especially me?"

"I mean that there is a high possibility that you are my mate because I feel drawn to you, but I've waited this long for my mate and this competition was designed by me, I shouldn't be the first one to break the rules, should I?" he mused.

"If you've waited for so long for your mate, and you think it's me, then shouldn't you want to imprint?" she asked in confusion.

"Believe me, you have no idea," he whispered in her ear and it made her shiver, unwillingly.

"I don't understand, we're going to shift whether we want to or not in a few days, then you'll have to imprint,"

"Believe me, I know, but I also know that one of us has wolfs-bane,"

Artemis swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm not going to use it and I feel that you're being extremely selfish, if I'm your mate then that would mean you're mine too and you're not only restricting yourself from the bond but me too," she let out. She'd watched for years as her parents loped around happily with each other and her little sister, Liza, and her mate were with each other. Although Phoenix and her barely interacted, Artemis didn't miss the little things they did for each other, they definitely had a spark, they just needed to ignite it.

His hands left her shoulder and she wondered briefly if he had gone but his hands looped themselves around her waist and she gave out an involuntary scream as she flailed around wildly until his hands disappeared. She was still blindfolded and it made anxious that she might accidentally hit a tree.

"Jeez, you say that you want a mate but you're so frigid," he scoffed.

Artemis growled in frustration. "Listen, you pervert, I said that if you're my mate then I'd like to know not fuck you! Jesus Christ!"

He chuckled and Artemis couldn't pinpoint where his voice was coming from, it seemed like it was bouncing from every direction and it made her feel slightly dizzy.

"Listen, I came here to ask you something but before that, how did you even know I was coming?"

"Let's call it... intuition,"

Artemis was about to object before she thought better. He was only trying to get on her nerves and it was working but she was too stubborn to show him that. She reached her arms and walked extremely slowly, trying to get each footing right. She finally touched a tree and walked to it without any trouble, at least now she had a sense of direction.

"You are awfully frustrating," she muttered. "But I needed to ask you why?"

"Why what?" He asked nonchalantly. It frustrated her because she knew he was close but she still couldn't tell how close.

"Why did you let me have two tokens?"

"I didn't let you have anything," he stated. "I gave you a lock and you simply opened it,"

She frowned. "What lock?"

"The clue, it was a lock, was it not?"

"I've had enough of your cryptic talking, can you just explain?" she grumbled. He chuckled again.

"Feisty. I like it. The lock was the fact that you felt guilty for finding the first token too fast, it was keeping you locked out. I wanted to see if you'd even try and find the second one, which you did and of course, I also wanted to see if you'd be willing to give it to one of your teammates,"

Artemis' breath hitched at her throat. "Wait... you made sure that Shy wouldn't get a token?"

"Not necessarily, I gave her a clue but she couldn't figure it out. It was quite amusing actually, she was standing on the token looking lost, when she moved another girl got the token," he explained.

Artemis struggled for words, how could Shy not have felt metal under her feet? She let out a small scoff at herself, she should've helped her figure out her clue before letting her go off. It was partly her fault but at least she was still in the competition. She had time to figure it out.

"Now about your wolfs-bane," he announced.

"You want some?"

He gave a throaty snort. "Wolfs-bane doesn't work on Alphas," he stated. This peaked Artemis' curiosity again.

"Why?"

"If an Alpha didn't shift during a full moon, then werewolves would reign without any control when you first shifted- you couldn't remember anything from your shift, could you?"

Artemis didn't want to admit it but when she woke up in the hospital, she was almost sure that she was dead and that she was in hell. The pain was unbearable but she remembered she had healed extremely quickly and it surprised all of her doctors.

It surprised her that he even knew about that but she decided to keep her mouth shut.

"No," she admitted.

""Because your animal took full control, it shoved you aside, with an Alpha leading you, you'd have full control of your wolf and you'd be able to remember everything, without an Alpha- you'd kill every human around you without a second thought," he muttered.

Artemis gasped. She would've killed Liza if she hadn't taken the Wolfs-bane for all those years.

"You wouldn't have killed your sister," he muttered to her as if reading her mind.

"How do you know?" She whispered hopelessly to herself.

"You mentioned before that her mate was an Alpha," he laughed at some unspoken joke. "If it were that easy to kill an Alpha's mate then she'd be dead already,"

"Is she safe?"

"As long as she's with her mate, nothing can harm her," his voice was clear and close.

"You're sure?" she asked, falling to her knees from dizziness.

"Positive," his hands came and stayed positively on her clothes as he helped her up.

"Can I take this thing off now?" she grumbled.

"No,"

Artemis rolled her eyes despite knowing he couldn't see it happening.

"You lied to me," she told him.

"About what,"

"You said I mentioned that my sister's mate was an Alpha, but I never mentioned anything about Phoenix to you," Artemis pointed out. There was a deep chuckle from him. Artemis subconsciously turned towards the sound. He sounded so melodic.

"I confess," he voiced. "I searched your file and did some extra background checks on you," he admitted. This peaked Artemis's interest.

"Why?"

"You seem powerful, I was drawn to you before I even saw you. The day you found the first token, I followed you without knowing why,"

Artemis gave a blind nod.

"Sounds a whole lot like I might be your mate," she whispered.

There was no answer. Artemis called out 'Alpha' a few times but no sound came. She waited a little longer in case he might've been thinking before untying her blindfold but there was no one there. She turned around a couple times and whipped around at the slightest sounds. She tread carefully forward to the trees trying to find him desperately but he was nowhere to be seen. Artemis allowed herself to sigh before turning around to go back to her room.

Were they mates? Why would he keep himself away from her on purpose? It pissed her off.

'What a selfish ass, she didn't need to be mated to him anyway,' she thought defiantly. She ignored the slight prick in her eyes and marched out from the forest, clutching the silk tightly in her fist, it was the only real reminder that he had been real.