The Rise

The pup didn't say much to Ashur the whole night, just stared wide-eyed. He looked like he was in absolute awe. "Come on, hun," his mother said as she waited for him by the door.

Ashur and Henry were chatting with each other about a video game. She stared at them with a smile on her face.

"Hold on mom!" The pup tugged on my arm. "I needa ask a question."

"What?" I asked, a sudden sleepiness washing over me. He pointed at me, then himself, then the other room. I didn't want to move from my spot, my body felt too heavy to move far, but I sighed and followed him.

Valerio watched me intently. "Mae, be careful."

I raised a brow at him and took a deep breath. I knew he was worried about me, but I had work to do - keep this pack safe and happy. When we made it to the other room, the pup shut the door and locked it. I furrowed my brows down at him.

He threw his hands up in the air. "Okay. I have question."

"What is your question?"

"Is that what happens when someone dies?"

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Mommy said that Ashur died and was running with the wolves in the clouds," he said. "But how can Ashur be back? And why is he different? When you die do you become different? Because I want to be different. I want to be a big strong man!"

I nearly facepalmed. This little guy had so many questions that I didn't know how to answer. I squatted down to his level. "Well, it is a little bit complicated. Usually when people die they do run with the wolves in the clouds, but Ashur is different."

"Yeah, Ashur is huge now!"

"No... I mean, something happened to Ashur that I can't really explain. I was able to bring him back again."

"Can you make me different too? I want to have huge muscles." He flexed his arms.

I laughed. "Oh my gosh! Those are already the biggest muscles I've ever seen!" I pinched his little arms.

"No, they're small. I want muscles as big as Sammy."

"As big as Samuel's?"

"Yeah, so she will like me more than Sammy," he said. Immediately, I knew he was talking about his little girlfriend. He loved Samuel, but was obviously jealous that he was stealing his girl without even knowing it. He grabbed my hand. "Please! Pleeeease!"

I held my hand up. "Okay, okay." I leaned closer to him. "Here's the first trick."

He leaned closer to me and scrunched his brow together like he was about to take clear mental notes.

"Tomorrow you need to march your little butt to the pack house and make Sammy take you on a run," I said. "Get some good exercise with him."

He nodded his head. "Then what do I do?"

"Ask Sammy about what to do next. He knows trick two!" Sammy definitely wouldn't know, but I think he will have a good time trying to figure out what this little pup was talking about. I could just imagine him nodding politely to the pup with that animated expression, like he knew exactly what trick number two was.

The pup saluted me. "Thank you Moon Goddess. I will not let you down." He ran out of the room.

I laughed and stood up. Dizziness washed over me as the room spun. I stumbled a bit and promised myself that I would not collapse onto the ground. I fell into the fridge and grasped it with all my might to hold myself up.