Greykin Mountain

| 10 | Mountain Edge

          "Soon. We're heading over this mountain and to the valley on the other side. Once we're safe, I'll teach you."

          Jackson exhaled in relief. "Okay—thanks."

          Then, Damon turned around and walked off.

          But as Jackson watched him, he caught sight of Aysel and her two sons glaring at him. He frowned uncomfortably and looked away, and when he glanced back, he saw Aysel's skeptical scowl shift from him to Damon, who had walked over to Elias. Then, she and her sons set their sights on Jackson again.

          He took his sights off them and stared down at the river, waiting for Tokala to join him. The bear had gone—or at least Jackson couldn't see it when he glanced over at the waterfall. He frowned, glancing over at the forest; that feeling of eyes on him was returning, and through the fog, he could swear he just saw something moving around in the woods. He glanced over at the pack, but the wolves on guard didn't seem to have seen anything over there.

          Maybe he imagined it. He'd seen a lot of horrific things in the short time he'd been out here, and he was expecting more to follow very soon. But he tried his best to focus on what Damon had just said. They'd head over the mountain, and then he'd start learning to control his wolf.

          The sound of someone approaching snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned around expecting to see Tokala, but instead, both of Damon's sons stopped in front of him. Now that they were closer, Jackson could see that they appeared identical apart from their eyes. Were they twins?

          "God, you reek," the hazel-eyed boy uttered, pinching his nose.

          "Is that a rogue thing, or do you just stink in general?" the other asked.

          Jackson frowned—he wanted to snap at them, but he didn't want to upset anyone, least of all Damon's sons.

          "I think it's a rogue thing," the first said. "Elias said something about their weird outsider smell."

          They both laughed.

          But as Jackson searched to his left for Tokala, the first one pushed his shoulder, making him stumble a little.

          "Look at us when we're talking to you, mutt."

          He set his sights on them, but they both pushed him at the same time, making him fall flat on his ass.

          As he grunted and glared up at them, they laughed.

          "Nice one, Rem—"

          "Rom, Rem!" came Damon's voice.

          Both boys stopped laughing and glanced over at their father.

          Damon pointed to the ground at his feet.

          Like dogs with their tails between their legs, the boys hurried over to Damon.

          With an irritated sigh, Jackson climbed to his feet, and once he was up, Tokala appeared beside him.

          "I see you met Romulus and Remus."

          "Yeah...." He wanted to say something like great kids or aren't they enjoyable, but that might offend him since he was close to Damon. So, he kept his mouth shut.

          "Don't worry. They were just testing you. They're future leaders, after all."

          "I wasn't even doing anything."