Chapter 37 Danny Further.
Danny Furthers pov.
Goddess I hate this body, acting like my old mate is appearing to be difficult. Lily's brute mate has been eyeing me up since I awoke in Athena’s body.
It was difficult to get back here. Hades pulled my body from the river of souls and offered me a deal I couldn't refuse.
Flashback
What the hell. I think as I look around and see the other thousands of souls floating around me, all I feel is pain and despair.
‘Am I in hell? I think to myself.
‘Jackal?’ I call out to my dragon but to no surprise he’s not there.
After what feels like an eternity of floating endlessly in the underworld, Hades starts to pry my body from the river, other souls latch onto me in hopes of escaping as well but it’s futile, they only leave pain in their path.
Hades places me on the ground, except my feet only float.
“Danny Further…” he says while assessing me.
“Hades…” I say unaffected.
“I have a deal you cannot refuse…” he starts to say, as it’s a sly smirk on his face, “I will place your soul into your old mate, Athena’s body. It is predicted that Lily will succumb to dark magic and bring her mother back to life… All I want is her, Lily.”
As he finishes talking my eyes widen impossibly big.
‘He’ll put my soul into Athena’s body? That might be the only way to get my revenge…’ I think to myself.
“Deal.”
End of flashback.
I still feel the pull of the other souls as I was being sucked out of the river, moaning and crying out how it wasn’t fair.
My thoughts are distrusted by Lily.
“Ma?” She asks with clear confusion.
I quickly act nonchalant, as if I’m just lost.
“Lily! There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you, I think I got lost,” I say sheepishly, I’m not sure how much Athena changed over the years so acting like the way she was when we were together is my best bet.
“Oh, okay! That’s fine, let’s go eat, I’ll lead you to the dining area so you don’t get lost again, Ma!” Lily laughs. “First I just need to quickly speak to Creed!
“Of course,” I reply, but in my head I’m seething.
She knocks on the door and I hear Creed say to enter, she pushes the door open with a warm smile on her face.
“Creed!” She says happily, walking towards him quickly.
When he looks up at her his eyes widen slightly and I notice his adams apple bob slightly. Gross.
“Sweetheart… you look- breathtaking,” he says in a quiet but calm voice.
He looks over towards me as he wraps an arm around Lily, “Athena,” he says softly, but underneath I can see he knows something is up.
“Creed, it’s lovely seeing you again. Our Lily sure does look beautiful,” I say, trying to put some affection on my face but I can’t tell if I failed.
Creed looks unconvinced but nods his head, “indeed…”
“So, I came to let you know I’m going to take my Mother for something to eat in the dining hall, do you want me to send an omega up with your food?” Lily asks Creed while looking up at him.
“That would be lovely, thank you,” he replies and places a kiss on her cheek.
Lily blushes and tucks a tray strand of hair from her face, “okay… I’ll see you later tonight!”
She ushers me out of the door clicking it shut, we make our way down to the dining hall while Lily chats idly, I stay quiet for the most part, observing the tribe house.
I wandered these halls last night trying to memorize the layout but there’s still a few places I need to fire back up in my memory.
As we get to the dining hall Lily pulls out a chair for me, I sit down gracefully and say a quick, “thank you,” and Lily mutters something about “nonsense.”
She starts to pile food onto my plate when I notice she grabs oysters, I visibly cringe and Lily noticed.
“Ma? You love oysters! What’s gotten into you?” She asks.
Fuck, I was almost caught there.
“My tastebuds have surely… changed over the years,” I fumble for the excuse.
Lily's face changes instantly to that of understanding, “that makes sense, Ma! Mine have changed too, Eric tried to feed me scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast before training and let me tell you, I can’t even smell eggs now!” She laughs.
Eric? Who is this Eric she speaks of…
“That’s terrible, hunny,” I say quietly.
The rest of the time she eats while chatting, I play along but almost everything she says I have no idea about.
“I’m really tired, Lily. I need to head to bed for the night,” I say with a small smile on my face, acting like a docile, tired mother.
She smiles and grabs my hands, “of course mother. I’ll walk you to your room.”
As we’re walking back to my room I take the time to look around, really remember my surroundings. Lily points out the small things, things Athena would’ve loved.
“And obviously you know that this is Creed's office,” Lily says animatedly while we walk past.
‘Yes, it is indeed,’ I say to myself while smirking internally.
Saying goodnight to Lily I walk into the bathroom that’s connected to this tiny guest room. I guess Athena wouldn’t of minded but me, I was a fucking king!
Looking in the mirror my reflection is pure rage, I almost punch the glass but realize that’s not very Athena like.
Instead I splash some cold water on my face and get ready for bed. I’m not going to do anymore exploring tonight, I need one full night's sleep before I take on the world. In this horrendous body… being a woman isn’t for the weak.
I leave my mop of hair down, not bothering with the fancy stuff or brush. Moisturizer? No.
Gathering the pillows I toss them to the floor, nothing is like my pillow at home. I grumble and complain all through the night not even getting a wink of sleep.
Finally at some point I passed out. When I awoke it seemed to be the ass crack of dawn.
“Fucking great,” I grumble before getting out of bed.
Walking towards the closet in this room I find the clothes Lily left for me. Hideous blouses and yoga pants line the closet, flats and crocs along the floor.
I stare in horror at the selection. What the hell has she been wearing all of these years?
Growling and deciding on a plain black blouse and grey yoga pants I decide it’s good enough. Why do I even care?
I have important things to find out today… First I need to get closer to everyone… find out their darkest secrets, unleash hell on this tribe.