Page 5 of Protected By Artemis
“See?” Blocking Hannah’s path, Artemis shook the flowers at her. “Aren’t these divine? They’ll be perfect for the ceremony.”
“They won’t go with the roses and the rest of the decor.”
“We can find a place for them,” she insisted. “I—wait!” she called as Hannah sidestepped her and continued to walk away.“Sunflowers—god of the sun—can’t you see the connection? And they would still match the burlap and twine, and if you ask me, it goes with the rustic theme. And so, can’t you see that these sunflowers would look so much better than the roses?” Artemis blew out a breath. “I mean, really! Roses are so overdone.”
“Hello, Hannah,” a familiar voice greeted. “Artemis.”
It was Geri, and she wasn’t alone. Not only was Apollo here, but so was
Hades, Persephone, and of course,him.
Cade.
She avoided his gaze, knowing that there would be nothing friendly in them.
“There you are,” Artemis said to Geri. “I’m glad you’re here. You should have seen what they did with the barn.”
“And what exactly did we do?” Hannah said defensively. “Except decorate it the way we always do whenever we have a mating ceremony.”
Artemis sighed. “It was fine. Beautiful, really. But I just thought, we need to do something different. And so, I found these”—she nodded at the sunflowers in her arms—“and thought, these would just tie up the theme better, you know?”
Hannah muttered something under her breath before turning to Cade. “Alpha, I swear if you don’t do something about this woman, I’m never going to help out at another ceremony or pack event.”
Cade rubbed the bridge of his nose with this thumb and forefinger. “I’ll take care of it.”
With an angry huff, Hannah marched off.
“You.” Cade walked over to Artemis, towering over her. “Didn’t I tell you to stop harassing my people?”
“I was not harassing them, Alpha,” Artemis protested. “I was trying tohelp.”
“Our chef nearly quit this morning. Do you know how hard it is to find someone to come out here and work for us?”
“Geri said I could help. I just want things to be perfect for my brother and his future wife.”
“They will be—” Cade stopped short.
Artemis sucked in a breath. Something had shifted in the air, what, she didn’t know. But Cade had a perturbed expression on his face, and she could guess he wasn’t the type of man who easily lost his composure.” “What’s the?—”
“Shush, woman!” Cade hissed. “Geri? Do you hear that?”
Geri’s eyes narrowed, as if she were concentrating. “It’s a bo?—”
Artemis wasn’t sure what came first—the sound of the explosion bursting her eardrums or the force that knocked her off her feet. When she tried to get up, she found herself unable to move as a heavy weight pinned her to the ground.
What in the gods’ and goddesses’ names happened?
And why was the object on top of herbreathing?
She took a deep breath, the scent of a masculine cologne tickling her nose.
Was this…?
As she opened her eyes, the scrap red and black flannel fabric draped over her forehead confirmed what—or who—was on top of her. As the ringing in her ears began to subside, she heard faint voices somewhere above her.
Cade let out a long groan and shuddered.
“Help!” she croaked. “Get this hulk off me!”