ARTEMIS' POV
I kick the door to my very own private lounge in the boy's dormitory, stepping in to have a rest from the dramatic day - only to see the two buffoons that were in charge of keeping Lucian in check today, playing around with the football table and laughing hysterically.
My mood turns sour just from seeing them.
The intention of coming here in the first place was to keep my mind busy and forget.
Forget the way her angry eyes looked at me when I'd just barely put that much force into holding her back.
It's not my fault that humans are so fucking frail, but even if.
Her dainty wrist just barely fitted into my folded fist, like holding a tiny twig, and she's almost as light as a feather, weighing close to nothing.
Breaking her bones would be way too easy and yet, someone like her walks around with her head held up way too high and with so much audacity, like she could fight off the whole world and remain unscathed.
Yet at the slightest graze, she'd glare and stare at me like I'm some sort of monster wanting to devour her.
The look in those green eyes lingers in my mind longer than I want them to, to the point that I'm pissed off and in an even worse mood than before meeting that bastard.
"Hey, Artemis!" Japer yells over to me the moment he spots me walking in, letting go of the rod and jogging right over to me.
Ace looks over as well.
"Arty, my man. So, how was it? Did things play out according to plan?" he asks, wrapping his arm around me suddenly.
I grumble, taking it off my shoulders and putting some distance between us again.
"How do you think it went?" I throw the question back to him.
"I think it went mighty well." Ace adds, running up to us and falling on a brightly colored couch by the side.
I snarl at the two, their obliviousness infuriating me.
"You idiots." I begin, tossing a throw-pillow aside to sit down.
"You had one fucking job and that was to keep Lucian from finding out about the supervisor's visit."
"We did exactly that. Had him running 'round school on fake errands." They explain, confused by my ticked off mood.
"Really? Explain to me why after school, he confronted me with information he shouldn't have found out?" I ask, and they simply look between themselves silently.
I sigh, rubbing my temples and taking a deep breath.
The job had been too easy for them to fuck up. Instead, they let that fucking self-righteous bastard get his claws on more information that he will use as a leverage over me with my father.
Damn bastard has always been obsessed with one-upping me, making himself seem more well behaved and respectable than the actual Alpha prince, drawing father's attention solely to himself, to the point that nothing else matters - to the point that I don't even exist to my father.
Nothing I ever do is enough for the old man because of Lucian, the Beta that had been forced on me because of a stupid debt my father owed his family.
Now, he thinks he has something else over me.
Ass-licking bastard.
"Just what am I going to do with the both of you?" I sigh, rubbing at my temples.
"There's no need to be so bothered about that, you can always just say you forgot about it." Ace speaks up now, saying his usual shit.
It's obvious he doesn't really get the situation based on his response. It's not like I expect him to.
"Shut up, Ace." I say dryly.
Jasper laughs at him, turning to me now with a new look in his eyes that sparks my interest.
"Well, I might have something that might tickle your fancy." He stretches out a flier to me, and I take it after a moment's hesitation.
I unfold the flier, revealing the recent announcement of this year's Annual Full-Moon Games, The Moonfire Tournament, and a smile slowly forms on my lips.
Jasper laughs out the moment he sees my grin, clapping his hands together.
"You know what this means, right?"
"Another year to grab the win in the bag and add a few more pets to the list." I add, smirking more.
The annual contest on first glance seems like something ordinary, involving fun school activities with high stakes, but it's deeper than that.
A set of games, both intellectual and physical, that stretches on for a week with each participate striving to gather the highest points in at least three games before they can qualify for the finals and get a chance to win the title.
The title of the Full-Moon winner itself means that one could order anyone else to do whatever they wished for a month, a sort of golden access card to do whatever you wanted. Among the students, it's been nicknamed to be the Celestial Grandmaster - the sovereign Alpha of the month.
The title has remained mine for the past three years and I've remained unbeaten each round and like each year, it's the perfect opportunity to prove myself to my father - a chance to put Lucian down where he belongs.
"I guess it's up to me to once again remind Lucian who the Alpha is here." I say, rising to my feet once more.
The thought alone puts me in such a good mood.
"Artemis, how about I get that green-eyed human when you win, huh?"
"What?" I turn to look at him, ripped from my own day dream. He's sitting on the floor with a childish grin plastered on his face.
"I'm already bored of the usual she-wolf bitches. There's nothing special about any of them anymore. I want to know what it feels like to be with a human. They're so small and frail."
I chuckle dryly at his request, drawing closer to him.
Something about the thought of this idiot having her to toy with, pleasing himself with every one of her reaction - the very thought of her wicked snarls being directed at someone else, anyone else, besides me pisses me off like nothing else.
"She's off limits for the both of you." I point out plainly. "I want to break that one personally."
"Hmm, Artemis has a new pet." Jasper speaks, looking up at me with more curiosity. "Are you interested in the human?"
"It's nothing like that." I wave him off.
"Really? Why the fascination then? Since she walked into school, you've been obsessed with messing with her. I took you days to come up with Gabe getting her weakness."
"It's gone past kicking her out at this point. The truth is that if you left it alone, the entire school would do the rest of it for you." Ace points out playfully for the purpose of ticking me off even more.
"Plus, I heard that Kamila isn't happy about the attention you're giving her, and you don't want issues with her." Jasper adds in thought.
I happened upon the information of Kamila's interest but then, it's nothing new. It's typical of her to turn against any girl that might have my attention for more than a second.
In the long run, it always turns out to be a headache for me, having to clear up after her.
Still, I'm not so much bothered with her wanting to tease the little human as well, anyone but these two sinking their claws on her.
"So... can I have her now?" Ace prods again, licking his lips.
Disgust crawls up my spine and I stare at him more firmly, at the both of them.
"Touch her and you lose a limb, Ace. I mean it." I warn.
They both chuckle now, wincing jokingly as though they've been burned by my stare.
"Ouch... Now, even I am interested in this Seraphina girl. She sounds all the more tempting." Jasper speaks, winking at me with a grin.
I turn to Jasper, passing a mocking glare at him to shut him up before I do it with my bare hands. He raises both his arms up in surrender immediately.
"Relax, I'm just joking, I'm not dumb enough to interfere in your games. We all know it and everyone else as well - no one interferes when you've set your mind on something."
"Good, hang on to that if you want to remain on my good side." I joke at Jasper, grabbing a drink from the freezer and sitting right next to the two now bickering about the other girls they could pick.
I myself fall back and relax, finally letting go of all those stressful thoughts.
Nothing else would matter when I win the games as always.