The Rise

Chapter Five

"If I could bring Damon back, would he even be himself?" I asked Valerio. It'd been a question I've been pondering since I had that vision. Damon's soul in another man's body freaked me out. Would I see him as Damon? Would his soul be intact? Would he act as himself? Or would he be that other man?

I didn't know, and I was afraid to find out.

Valerio's smile turned into a frown. "I-I don't know. I mean, if your vision is true..." He grimaced, finally understanding the true complications of this whole situation. He leaned against the wall and covered his face with his hands. "Sorry, I just got too excited to see my brother again."

"I know," I whispered. "Me too." Grabbing his hand, I squeezed lightly. "But we can't think about that now."

We had bigger problems like the newest one – Ayodele. He was going to die, and Ashur's soul was going to inhabit his body. When would it happen? Days, weeks, years? How was Nakida going to react? How would Aaisha react? She seemed to have found a liking for him already. Losing her first pup, her mate, and now possibly Ayodele was not going to be easy for her; I would know.

"What are we going to do? With Nakida? Aaisha?" Valerio asked, voicing my thoughts.

I stood there, eyes wide. How was I supposed to know? I barely had this whole Moon Goddess thing down, but he was looking to me for answers. Answers that I didn't have, but answers that I needed to figure out.

"I say we don't tell Ayodele... yet," I said, choosing my words carefully. "We don't know when he's going to die. It could be in years. He shouldn't have to worry about something like this."

Who would want to live in constant fear, knowing death was approaching but not knowing when? That would be a terrible way to live life. But, on the other hand, I wanted to get his approval to put Ashur's soul into his body once he's gone. It just wouldn't feel right to me if I didn't ask for permission.

Valerio swore under his breath and ran his hands through his hair. "I can't keep this from Nakida. It's her brother. I think she deserves to know. They both do," he whispered.

I took a deep breath. That was true. He shouldn't live in fear, but he also shouldn't live in the shadows. "Let's get to know Ayodele a bit in our meeting, then we can tell him. If he thinks that this will be okay to tell Nakida, then we will. It's his life after all."

Valeiro still looked a bit uneasy but he agreed. We both walked back into the living room to see Aaisha gentlyflirting with Ayodele. And by gently, I mean, flat out telling him how sexy he was with those big bulky shoulders and "I bet all of you is big and bulky, huh?" And when his parents looked over and his mom raised a sharp brow, Aaisha rubbed her hand over her stomach, "It's the hormones," she said.

But we all knew it wasn't the hormones; it was just Aaisha being Aaisha.

I shook my head at her and ushered all of them to the dining room for lunch. When we were finished, Nakida brought her parents to a spare bedroom – one of two in the pack house that was left standing after our incident with Aeron – and they settled in.

Meanwhile Valerio, Samuel, Aaisha, Ayodele, Nakida, and I all met in my office. It had been the first official meeting since that night, and I felt uneasy about this whole thing. But I had to put on my big girl pants and stop making decisions based on feelings alone.

"So, Ayodele..." I sat at the head of the table with a blank notepad and pen. "Nakida tells me that you know much about history – divine history."

"Yes," he started, nodding. "I have studied your family ancestors since I was young. The Moon and the Night have always interested me."

"Can you tell me more?" I said, because I didn't know much about my family history. Mom didn't think it was important.