“So,” Artemis drawled inside her mind, voice dripping with sarcasm, “are we not going to talk about how you just told him I’m annoying, when moments ago you were lecturing me about not letting him scent me?”
Diana pressed her lips together as heat crept up her neck.
“I was nervous, Artemis,” she snapped back quietly. “And you are annoying me.”
“Oh, I see,” Artemis said sweetly. “Protect the human ego. Insult the wolf. Typical.”
Diana didn’t dignify that with a response.
Instead, she turned and moved quickly, retreating deeper into the small house as if distance alone might steady the storm churning inside her chest. The walls felt closer than usual, the familiar space suddenly invaded by a presence too big, too powerful, too important to ignore.
“Sit,” she said over her shoulder, poi
