A white she-wolf he had not seen in many years, the she-wolf who had accompanied her on her first hunts and who disappeared one day and never showed herself again, the she-wolf began to approach the two of them with the dead boar in her jaws.
"Kaia?" she asked, astonished to see the she-wolf after so many years.
Damon raised an eyebrow. She knew Kaia... he had not expected that. She was older than she looked, or had heard stories about the she-wolf. In any case, it was not like he cared much. He felt the wolf approach him and position herself to his left and drop the boar's lifeless body.
The girl slowly approached the wolf, still not believing it, she got close enough to pet her, which the wolf gladly accepted and let herself be touched, even tilting her head a little to make it easier.
Damon watched all of that in silence, and with curiosity, he preferred to stay quiet and observe to see how this developed. He could feel that Kaia also had affection towards this woman.
Who was he to interrupt a reunion?
Several wolves positioned themselves beside the other girls, who looked somewhat confused by their goddess's actions. When they felt the wolves approach, they lowered their gazes a little to see that the wolves were far too happy, wagging their tails frantically and almost about to run toward the three.
"Where were you?" the girl asked while petting and almost hugging the wolf as a solitary tear fell down her cheek.
Damon smiled at the way the girl appreciated the she-wolf, but he could not help a sweat drop from appearing on the back of his neck... One moment she had been about to attack him, and the next she was crying with happiness. He set those thoughts aside and continued watching without saying a single word.
"Far away," Kaia replied mentally to the girl, having a domain related to nature gave her the ability to understand animals and with the more intelligent ones, even speak.
"You do not know how much I missed you... I thought you had died," she spoke again. The answer she received seemed very simple to her, but she was not going to ask for another one, after all, she was back, and that was what mattered.
After a few words between the wolf and the girl, everything returned to how it was before: the red-haired stood in front of Damon, at a safe distance. The only change was that the she-wolf remained at Damon's left, something that both puzzled and annoyed the woman... She did not understand what Kaia was doing beside a man.
A man...
Only now did she realize that a man had been watching her interact with the wolf, he saw her cry... not a single man in her life had seen that side of her, not even her brother, she did not want to show this in front of anyone who was not one of her trusted people, otherwise the gods would start to look down on her.
Tears were a symbol of weakness, and she did not want to appear weak... much less in front of a man.
She also could not help feeling embarrassed under the blond's raised brow and confused gaze, causing her to look away from him as her cheeks turned slightly golden.
"How cute," Damon said with amusement at the women in front of him blushing.
As quickly as she heard it, calling her cute, the embarrassment disappeared, and a frown appeared on her forehead, and she shot the blond a killing glare, which made him sweat because of the redhead's change in attitude... again it reminded him of Kushina a little.
'She is definitely bipolar,' Kurama commented with amusement.
Damon placed a hand on his face to hide the growing smile because of Kurama's comment and not wanting to annoy the girl any more than she already was, but she could feel the sense of amusement appear in the blond, which annoyed her even more.
All gods could feel the feelings and emotions of other people, but each god or goddess could hide that from other gods. The blond flatly refused to hide his feelings toward other people.
Hiding feelings only creates false relationships.
After all, if you do not know whether someone is sad, nervous, amused, happy... how do you expect to know another person? That was why he never hid what he felt from other gods unless he was in a fight or it was strictly necessary to do so.
"Who are you?" the girl asked again, trying to calm her annoyance and growing anger.
"Naruto Uzumaki."
"So you're going with the undercover name, huh? I see," the tanuki said with a knowing grin.
A small twitch appeared at the corner of Damon's eye, but he decided to ignore the comment.
"I do not know you, I have never heard that name," the woman replied stoically.
"What is your name?" Damon asked patiently now.
"Artemis," replied the one now known as Artemis dryly.
"I do not know you either."
Alright... she had had enough of this man. Was he mocking her now? She was not going to let that slide. She raised her bow and aimed at the blond.
"You know how to speak Ancient Greek, but you say you do not know me?" she said with anger in her voice while drawing the bowstring, an action that was followed by all the other girls.
"Ask about me when you are in Tartarus."
She never got to finish that sentence.
Kaia glared daggers at Artemis, bared her teeth, and began to growl as loudly as she could. The fur along her back started to bristle and the atmosphere grew colder, followed by each of the wolves growling at the hunters.
Neither Artemis nor the others had ever expected this, and least of all Artemis... Kaia was defending the man who, in her opinion, was mocking her.
"Stop!" Damon shouted, making all the wolves stop growling.
Kaia sat down again, but she did not stop staring at Artemis, making it clear that if she made any move against Damon, she would not hesitate to defend him.
Sigh.
"Artemis, goddess of the moon, the hunt, childbirth, and maidens," Damon spoke while crouching down and looking at the wolves, who understood the message and approached him wagging their tails frantically, showing their happiness.
"I know who you are, but I do not know you," he continued. "Knowing a person's name does not mean you know them." Damon added while petting the wolves.
The younger ones even began licking his face, bringing a smile to the blond. Damon looked back at Artemis, who was frozen and had lowered her bow.
"I am sorry if I explained myself badly, I did not mean to mock you or anything like that," he finished saying.
Artemis did not know what to say. Honestly, her head was about to explode. She was pulled from her thoughts when she noticed something approaching them, and what she saw nearly gave her a heart attack. Even though it was impossible, Orien came out of the brush and began to approach Damon.
All the wolves made way for the black wolf, who approached Damon without stopping until he stood in front of him.
Damon stood up and placed both hands on the wolf's neck, who lowered his head slightly, and Damon gently pressed his forehead against Orien's while stroking the black wolf's neck.
'Who in Tartarus is this guy?' Artemis asked herself mentally while watching Damon pet the great black wolf. Not even she had been able to get close to him in the past, he never let her... Unlike Kaia, he always kept his distance.
"I know where you can go," the wolf spoke, showing a deep voice and astonishing everyone present by seeing an animal talk.
Damon raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
"There is some kind of camp where demigods gather to be trained and to survive against monsters," the wolf replied. "It is to the north."
Damon nodded and looked at Artemis, whose mouth was slightly open.
"The prey is yours, Artemis, I did not mean to interrupt your hunt."
The blond began to walk away from the hunters while turning his head a little to look at Artemis one last time.
"It has been a pleasure," he told her with a genuine smile on his face before disappearing into the forest, followed by Kaia and Orien.
"My lady..." spoke the girl with the black eyes.
"Zoë, take the boar and let us return to camp," Artemis said while placing two fingers on the bridge of her nose, trying to ease the slight headache.
"What just happened?"
That was Artemis's last thought before heading toward her camp with her hunters, not without first looking toward where the blond had gone.
Zoë also looked toward the direction where the blond known as Naruto was walking away. She did not know why, she would swear she had never seen him in her life. But she had the feeling that she knew him... Or rather, she had seen those eyes before, but she could not remember on whom...
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OMGGGG YOU DID IT AGAIN 😮 AIGHTTT get me to 135 stones for the next chapter WOHHHH dropppp them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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