Chapter 156: Hades' Real Second Chance

Cyran POV

Hades?

Occupy the body of one of the most powerful and respected Alphas in the Shifter Federation, a man many, including Cyran, looked up to as an elder statesman still very much in his prime?

Hades turned everything he touched to ashes, including himself.

But what was the alternative?

Hades knew more about the Dark Goddess than any of them would ever know. 

"NO," Ravyn whispered. "I mated with Jude, not with YOU."

"ABSOLUTELY NOT," Lilia agreed, her violet eyes simmering with rage.

Hades threw up his hands. "I was willing to die--"

"You WANTED to die," Garnet scoffed. "Don't act like it was completely selfless."

Hades' eyes snapped. "Then why, pray tell, did you all perform a ritual to release me? To feel better about yourselves?"

"It's something you might not have heard of," Anneliese sneered. "Doing the right thing. It's a new concept, but we think it'll catch on."

Hades looked wounded for the first time. "You don't need to remind me. Even your own Tulaska defended me. Surely, there must be something of me worth saving."

That silenced everyone. Especially Cyran. Tulaska didn't tolerate evil ... but she also knew better than most that life had so many gray areas. H*ll, Cyran knew that too. He'd been forgiven and accepted, and trusted with power again. And he'd forgiven Hades.

"Jude agreed to host you?" he asked.

Jude blinked, disoriented. "Yes, I did."

Ravyn trembled. "I ... I believe you, Jude. You wouldn't lie about that. And when a soul transmigrates into a body, if the original owner is still present--"

"The original owner has a memory lapse," Anneliese finished. "Especially about the actual transfer. It's so traumatic, especially if it's not planned. Even if it is, it knocks the original owner for a loop. At least from what I understand in my witch studies."

Talon agreed. "This is not the first case of two souls sharing one body--in a real sense, Cyran and Hades both shared their bodies with the Dark Goddess. The difference here is that Hades isn't a demon ... and he has a wolf."

Hades shrugs. "I think my wolf is gone now--Jude's Arcturus is my wolf. I let the spirit of my wolf go after so many centuries. The Moon Goddess will take care of him. He'll either be assigned to some other shifter, or romp forever in the eternal hunting grounds."

Cyran could see that. Hades' wolf had endured so much over the centuries. "Won't that be confusing for Arcturus?"

"Join the club," Garnet joked. 

Ravyn seemed to accept the idea. "So ... the choice is to let you share Jude's body ... making decisions, eating and drinking like normal, carrying on pack business once you're able ... or letting the demon chain you up again."

Hades shrugged. "It's not such a terrible alternative, being part of Jude. I'd give you time to adjust, Ravyn. And I'd give Bram, Mali, Eamon, and the rest of the family that time, too."

Jude's eyes went wide. "Goddess, I didn't even think of that."

Cyran and Garnet drew closer together. "At least you have that luxury," Garnet reminded him. "Cyran didn't."

"They've all been through so much," Jude growled. "Now THIS? They've lost their mother ... now their father, all over again."

Oh, how Cyran could relate. Or rather, Garnet could. When he'd been a raving madman, in the grip of the Dark Goddess; power, it was as if Garnet lost her entire family. And in a way, so did Cyran, because his parents felt distant from him, and his sister was a stranger.

Hades was surprisingly gentle. "They'll adapt. They still have their father."

"No. No, they won't," Jude said, in distress. "But I don't see that we have any other choice for now. And I can't ask anyone else to take this on."

Hades draped a ghostly arm around his shoulder. "I swear to you, you won't regret this."

Jude huffed and howled. "I already do. But what choice do I have?

Cyran thought that at least Jude was able to make a rational decision because he wasn't completely bewildered. But that wasn't much comfort. Even in the dream he could smell Jude's perspiration. Droplets of distress.

"There's got to be a way to get your family to accept what's happened," he mused.

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

How could you accept the impossible?

In time, maybe she herself might adjust. She might come to ...

What? Love Hades as well as Jude?

She touched Hades' original form, noticing his hair was gold. He smiled at her. Even though she'd be touching him from a distance, through Jude's body, she'd still be touching a stranger. A stranger she'd once wanted to send back to the Nightmare Realm forever. 

But now, the dark, oily, toxic memory of that place made her physically sick. 

She wouldn't wish the Nightmare Realm on anyone. Not Hades, not another living soul.

"I--I accept it."

Her voice made Hades do a double take and Jude smile gratefully. 

"I accept Hades inside of Jude," she said in a clear, unwavering voice. Steady. Confident.

"Mother." Lilia's ethereal lips in the dream trembled. "Do you hear what you're saying? Do you understand that this is going to change everything--most of all our family ... and your marriage to Jude?"

Ravyn stared into Hades' eyes and Jude's eyes. It felt surreal--but she now had two mates for the price of one.

Two souls, two such different men. One sought the dark, the other flirted with darkness in a time of grief. The darkness and the light. Chaos and peace. Hatred and unity. 

But Hades didn't seem evil right now. Of course, that could be a clever trick. Yet, examining the countenances of the others around them, they didn't detect any guile. If they sensed any deception, Lilia would have awakened them all right away.

"This is not a decision you two can make by yourselves," Garnet cautioned. "You have to tell the council. This is not something you can hide from them."

Jude and Ravyn gripped each other by the shoulders and stared into each other's eyes. Ravyn could feel his answer, even in her astral dream-body.

She and Jude and Hades spoke in unison.

"No, we're not telling them."