The Rise

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"What exactly are we looking for?" Valerio asked as he shuffled through the papers in the manila folder that Vihaan brought over a while ago.

I hadn't gotten the chance to look through anything for the past few days, and now I was finally sitting down with all of the paperwork that I needed to look through. And there was a lot of it.

"These are the names of people I was in contact with, I guess, while Damon was alive. I'm assuming that if we look through these papers, we might find something that might help us find Aeron. Maybe Damon had information that he hadn't told me about or something."

There was a very small possibility that there was no file on Aeron since Damon didn't like him, but I think that would be the reason why Damon would have such a big report on him. For the longest time, he thought Aeron wanted to steal me away from him and, in a sick sort of way, he did.

I pulled one of the files from the manila folder.

Samuel.

After reading the description of my relationship to him and the interactions between us that Damon thought were too intimate, Damon had sloppily scribbled some notes.

Beta of Pack. Spends too much time with Mae even though I told him not. Wrestled with her while I was out with Alexandra. Threat: 0/100 Note: He's too soft for Mae to like him like that.

I shook my head and laughed. Damon was so damn jealous, my god.

"I got one," Valerio said. I gazed over at him with a smile on my face. "Valerio. My brother. Obsessed with her. Protects her. Always with her. Stalker to some extent. Threat: 99/100."

"Wow, Valerio..." I shook my head in disapproval. "Why'd you lose that one point? You could've been the ultimate threat." We laughed over the file for a few moments before moving onto the next one.

"Aeron is next," Valerio said, pulling the next file. I hopped off of my chair and sat next to him on the couch, looking over his shoulder. "Aeron. God of the Night. He is too close for comfort. He always seems to arrive at the most inconvenient times. I have no information on his place of residency or his powers. He's too sneaky. Threat level: 100/100. Note: He's an interesting man. He has no followers, no worshippers. What powers him? It's not the love from his people because he has none. Note Updated on May 5th: He seems to be leading Mae away from something. Me, maybe. Maybe he's trying to lead her toward something. But I think it's something more. The way he gets in her head, tries to make decisions for her. He wants the power, but for what reason? Does Mae give him this power? Note Updated on May 10th: He paid me a visit the other night and said, "It'd be in your best interest to stay away from Mae. She will come for your whole pack."

I furrowed my brows at the sheet, then at Valerio. "I will come for his whole pack? Like I'll try to take them away or I'll kill them?"

Valerio paused, his eyes scanning the sheet again. "I... don't know."

"Why would I come for his pack? He was my mate. I loved him and everyone in his pack."

Valerio shook his head. "Maybe the she isn't you."

"He literally said my name."

"Yeah, but..." He took a deep breath. "Aeron speaks in riddles - hell, look at the riddle he gave the Woman on the Mountain. It took us forever to figure that out and we don't even know if we got it right."

I pressed my lips together. "Would this she be the Hunter?"

He raised a brow. "It's a possibility, but why?"

"It seems too obvious that she would try to drain the pups. Aeron might've thought Damon was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid. He would had that figured out himself."

"Then, it's for another reason. One that we have to find out," Valerio said.

I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Well, at least we learned something," I said.

"Aeron is an asshole?"

"No - well, yes, but..." I sat up next to him, stupidly grinning. "Damon was almost as afraid that you'd take me away from him than Aeron would."

When our chuckling quieted, we stared at each other. I sucked in a deep breath. He broke eye contact with me and stared down at the sheet. "He had the right to be nervous."

I arched a brow at him. Did he now? "Is-"

Valerio furrowed his brows and quickly flipped the page over - the mood suddenly changing. "There's more on the back." This was the only sheet with more information. Did Damon have that much on Aeron?

Note Updated on June 24th: Aeron is residing with a pack in the west. I was informed by a wolf this morning.

I grabbed the paper from him and shook my head. "This date is wrong." June 24th was ten days after Damon's death.