Royal Meets Rogue

Athena

“Ares is here dear.” Hecate said softly as she poked her head around my doorframe. “And he brought all the others.”

I laughed as I turned to face her and nodded. “Thank you. I almost got all my boxes packed. Just need to get all my shirts and some sweatshirts.”

Hecate turned and faced the stack of boxes that were sitting in the corner of my room by the window. “That’s a lot of boxes.”

“You think.” I laughed. “If you didn’t buy me so many clothes, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”

“Well sorry for wanting to spoil you.” She teased as she stuck her tongue out at me.

“That’s my job.” Ares laughed as he came around the corner. “Janus got a big moving truck for us.”

“Oh sweet.” I said relieved. That is going to help tremendously.

“I can start taking the boxes down if you want.” Ares suggested.

“Yes please.” I smiled.

Ares nodded with a smile and walked over to the boxes. He stacked a couple on top of each other and made his way downstairs.

“You have to promise to visit.” Hecate said trying to be stern, but I saw the edges of her mouth turn upward.

“Well of course.” I replied in a ‘duh’ tone as I packed away some shirts. “We can have our movie nights once a week, we can go get breakfast, lunch, or dinner a couple of times a week, and I can go with you when you run errands as well.”

“I would love that very much dear.” Hecate smiled with teary eyes as she pulled me into a hug.

“And I’m going to tell Ares to put a rush on your greenhouse.” I said. “I want you to be there with me.”

“What up Royal?” Apollo said, breaking up the moment.

“Royal?” Hecate asked and then sighed. “Ares!”

“He has a right to know.” Ares said with a shrug. “He and Janus both know because they are the second and third in command. Anything that deals with my pack, they have to know about it.”

“Don’t worry.” Janus said walking into my room. “We will keep our mouths shut. I’ll make sure of it.”

“I won’t say anything. Promise.” Apollo smiled sheepishly as Janus glared at him. “But seriously! How cool is this? Athena was part of our pack.”

“That also might be another reason why our wolves felt connected to her.” Janus said thinking out loud. “She belonged to this pack.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused. “Your wolves felt connected to me?”

“That doesn’t sound creepy at all.” Hecate teased.

Apollo nodded. “When I first saw you, my wolf told me to follow you. He was confused as to why and so was I, but we did.”

“Apollo told me and I thought he was your mate.” Janus explained.

“Wrong.” Ares said with a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Janus ignored him and kept talking. “Then when I met you, my wolf and I felt the same way. We felt as if we were connected to you but didn’t know why.”

“It might be the fact that you are Ares’ mate or because you actually belonged to this pack.” Apollo shrugged. “We just don’t know which.”

“It just shows that Athena and I were meant for each other.” Ares smiled as he kissed my cheek.

I playfully pushed him away and Apollo made a face. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Just grab the rest of the boxes.” Ares said rolling his eyes.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Apollo replied as he stacked some boxes and practically ran down the stairs.

“He better be careful or else he’s going to-” Hecate was cut off as a giant ‘thud’ rang through the house. “Fall.” She finished.

Everyone ran out of my room and towards the steps. We looked down and saw Apollo lying on the floor with the boxes scattered around him.

“Are you okay?” I asked, calling down to him.

“Oh just peachy.” He groaned sitting up and rubbing his head.

“Dumbass.” Ares laughed.

“I heard that!”

“You were meant too!”

“Children.” Janus said shaking his head. “Apollo, are you seriously alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” He groaned as he stood up. He carefully bent down and picked up the boxes that had fallen.

“Please be more careful.” I said, laughing slightly.

“I’ll get right on that.” He laughed back and he walked towards the front door.

“We need to wrap him up in bubble wrap.” Ares commented.

“He would probably bop all of the bubbles. So it would be useless.” Hecate added.

“Okay good point.” Ares sighed.

“Let’s get the rest of these boxes.” Janus said as he grabbed a couple.

We all nodded and got back to work.

Getting all the boxes and into the moving truck didn’t take that much longer. We got them all to fit and the drive to the castle went pretty fast. Mostly because Ares was teasing Apollo about falling down the stairs and we couldn’t stop laughing. And getting the boxes up into my new room went even faster thanks to the servants who helped us.

“Thank you, Perseus.” I smiled in relief as he brought up the last box.

“You are quite welcome, my Queen.” He bowed after he set the box at the foot of my bed. “Lunch will be ready soon.”

“Oh good, I’m starving!” I exclaimed. “I’m going to put my stuff away until lunch is ready if that’s alright.”

“Oh of course.” Perseus smiled before he bowed politely and left.

‘Why can’t the servants help us?’ Artemis whined.

‘I am not asking random people to help me put away my stuff.’ I laughed. ‘I have my underwear and bras in here.’

Artemis groaned dramatically but stopped talking.

I opened the first box and pulled out the clothes. I put away my jeans, leggings, sweatpants, and shorts into the closet.

“How’s it coming?” I heard Ares’ deep voice from the doorway.

“Good.” I smiled as I turned to face him.

“I hope you have enough room.” Ares said worriedly as he walked over to our closet. “I went through all my clothes and donated all the ones that I didn’t wear yesterday.”

“I have enough room.” I reassured. “But I’m pretty sure you have more shirts than I do.”

Ares smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I can get rid of more if you would like.”

“No.” I laughed shaking my head. “I’m just teasing you. You don’t have to get rid of any more clothes. And besides, I’m pretty sure I have more than enough room.”

“I’ll help you unpack.” Ares smiled as he reached for a box.

“Not that box!” I shouted loudly, making him jump and drop the box on the floor.

“What, why?” He asked worriedly.

“Umm.” I said awkwardly. “Just…not that box.”

Ares face suddenly turned bright red and he carefully pushed the box over to the wall with his foot. “I’ll just, uh, let you get that one.”

“Thank you.” I replied as I turned around so Ares wouldn’t see my face.

Oh my gosh, that was so embarrassing.

“So I’m thinking after lunch, I can show you the library.” Ares said breaking the awkward silence.

I turned around to see him carefully and slowly opening a box and peeking inside. He let out a sigh of relief as he pulled out books.

I giggled and nodded. “I would love that.”

“Sweet.” He smiled. “You sure do have a lot of books.”

“I know.” I laughed. “I love to read. I just don’t know where I’m going to put them.”

I huffed and looked around the room. I really didn’t want to take up too much of Ares’ space in the bedroom. Maybe if I looked around the castle, I could find a stand or something.

“Fear not.” Ares smirked as he ran out of the bedroom.

‘Why is he so weird?’ Artemis asked.

‘I honestly have no idea.’ I replied. ‘But should I be worried? He had this weird look in his eyes.’

Before Artemis could answer, Ares ran back in the room carrying a tall bookshelf.

‘Kind of turned on by how his arm muscles are bulging out.’ Artemis said lowly. ‘Hot damn!’

I gulped and tried to keep my face from turning red.

“Ta-da!” Ares smiled after he sat it down on the floor. I can only imagine how much it weighed because he was breathing a little heavily.

“Where did you get that?” I asked amazed as I walked up to it. I ran my hand across one of the shelves. It was very smooth and the polish on it made it shine brightly in the light. It looked perfect.

“I called in a favor to a friend who owns a woodwork shop.” Ares admitted. “I know you like to read and I didn’t know how many books you owned, so I had him make it pretty big.”

“It’s perfect.” I smiled as I continued to look it over.

“Where would you like it?” He asked. “I can move it wherever you want it.”

‘Aww!’ Artemis gushed.

“I would like it close to the bed so I can just reach over and grab a book if that’s okay with you.” I said nervously.

I hope that isn’t too much to ask for.

Ares smiled and nodded before turning to look at the bed.

The bed was almost in the middle of the room and no matter where the bookshelf went, it wouldn’t be close enough to the bed.

“Nevermind.” I started to say, but Ares held up a hand.

“No. I got this.” He said determinedly.

“What are you doing?” I asked as he moved the shelf over a little to the left and walked towards the nightstand, picking it up and setting it by the bookshelf.

He winked as he walked passed me and up to the bed. He put both of his hands on it and pushed it a couple of feet forward so it was closer to the wall. Then he walked over to the nightstand and set it right next to the head of the bed. Next, he went to the bookshelf and picked it up, carrying it towards the wall that was closest to the bed.

“How’s this?” Ares asked and he made the bookshelf face the one side of the bed.

‘He just rearranged the room to fit your needs. Good lord, he is worthy of being our husband.’ Artemis said.

“You didn’t have to do that.” I said shocked.

He waved me off and walked up to me, wrapping his arms around me. “I know. But I want you to be able to read a book in bed.”

“I could have done that anyway.” I laughed as I hugged him.

“But I want everything perfect for my baby.” He admitted as he kissed the top of my head. “Is the shelf where you want it?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Thank you so much Ares.”

“Anytime.” He smiled down at me.

But we were sadly interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Ares said.

Perseus opened the door and bowed in respect. “Lunch is ready.”

“Oh good. I’m starving.” Ares groaned as he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. “Thank you, Perseus.”

“You’re welcome, my King.” Perseus bowed as he left.

“So when does training start?” I asked as we walked down the stairs.

“Tomorrow.” Ares answered. “Today is a rest day so we can get all your stuff moved in.”

“Okay.” I nodded as we stood in front of the kitchen.

My mouth drooled at the smell of the food.

“There you guys are.” Apollo said with a mouth full of food.

“Ew.” I laughed in disgust.

He swallowed the soup and chuckled. “Sorry. I’m just really hungry.”

“When aren’t you?” Hecate teased. “How’s the room coming along?”

“Good.” I smiled. “Ares got me a bookshelf.”

“Told you she would like it.”

Ares laughed and nodded. “You were right.”

“I loved it.” I admitted as I sat down next to Hecate.

Ares grabbed two bowls and filled them with soup. He set one down in front of me and placed a spoon next to the bowl. “What would you like to drink?”

“Milk please.” I said.

Ares grabbed a glass and grabbed the milk jug from the fridge. He poured the milk and handed it to me. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” I smiled at him as he sat down next to me.

“You’re welcome.” He said, pecking my lips. “This soup looks really good.”

“Yes, it does.” I agreed as I looked down at the bowl.

“Steak and cheddar potato soup is always good.” Apollo moaned as he ate another spoonful.

“Do you two need a room?” Janus asked rolling his eyes. But his lips curled into a smile.

“Dude.” Apollo started after he swallowed the soup that was in his mouth. “If I could marry food, I would.”

“Amen to that.” I laughed as I reached across the table to give him a high-five.

“Gee thanks.” Ares huffed as he stabbed his soup with his spoon.

“I’d marry you too.” I laughed, but stopped once I caught myself. “I mean…um…you know.”

Ares smiled widely and looked back down at his soup.

‘Smooth Athena. Real smooth.’ Artemis laughed.

‘Shut up.’ I growled.

That was so embarrassing.

‘That was hilarious.’ Artemis continued. ‘You basically just told him that you would say yes if he proposed.’

I groaned and put my head in my hands. ‘I’m an idiot.’

‘Oh stop.’ She laughed. ‘I’m pretty sure you just made his week. I mean, did you see that smile? Athena, you just made him so happy. So no, you aren’t an idiot.’

I looked up at Ares and saw him eating his soup with a smile still on his face. I smiled to myself and looked down at my soup.

This has been a good day.