Greykin Mountain

| 35 | Celebrate

          The council glanced at one another, joining the pack with panicked murmurs.

          "It's true," said a wolf who emerged from the crowd and stood beside Jackson. "We saw it, too."

          Jackson frowned over at the wolf, who was accompanied by two others, and all three of them looked a little windswept. What did they mean? Had they been running? Had...had Damon sent them to follow him?

          Damon snarled angrily and started pacing.

          "What do we do, Damon?" Aysel whispered.

          The Alpha seemed to be deep in thought—everyone eventually fell silent while they watched him, and with each passing moment, the atmosphere in the courtyard grew increasingly tense.

          What were they going to do? Jackson didn't want to leave. He still needed to learn to control his wolf, and this castle was close to the one place he'd finally found a lead on Wilson and the other missing journalists. He had reception on his phone here, and he'd also found that sigil here—the same one he'd seen on Eric's papers. He couldn't leave this place yet.

          It was down to Damon, though. He was the Alpha and whatever his choice, Jackson would have to abide by it.

          He began to feel anxious. Each of Damon's steps made his heart stutter.

          But then he stopped.

          The Alpha exhaled quietly as he gazed up at the moon. Then, he looked around at his pack before setting his eyes on Jackson. "Enola, Tainn, and Ezhno," he said, looking at the three wolves Jackson suspected he'd sent to keep an eye on him. "Go back there. Be careful. Look around for an exit—any possible way for the cadejo to escape and report back as soon as possible."

          "Yes, Alpha," they all said at the same time, and then hurried off.

          Damon's sights shifted back to Jackson. "The Moon Goddess empowers a wolf walker's senses in times of desperate need—She deemed you worthy tonight, and thus, your initiation is complete. You discovered a great threat and delivered the news without fail. You have undoubtedly proved yourself."

          Jackson felt an array of relief and excitement race through him.

          "You have earned the Grey Blood mark."

          Simultaneously, the entire pack called, "Grey Blood," and lowered their heads respectfully.

          "Despite the circumstances, we will still celebrate your success. Although our hunting party didn't bring anything back, we've done what we could with what we had," Damon said, glancing over at the table Dustu and Aiyana were standing behind.

          The table no longer displayed items the pair had gathered for trading but instead had a selection of foods and drinks. Jackson spotted a few more bottles of that old wine, as well as some rice and pasta bowls. It all looked a whole lot more appetizing than charred squirrels and hares.

          "Thank you," he said to the Alpha.

          Damon nodded and then looked out at his pack. "Tonight, we set aside our fears and celebrate," he announced.

          It took them all a moment, but the pack settled and made their way over to Jackson. As each of them said their congratulations and introduced themselves, he smiled and thanked them, but glanced over at Damon and watched as he went with Aysel over to the cellar doors.

          Of course, Aysel looked pissed off and was snapping at Damon, who was calmly attempting to tell her not to panic until they had more information. And then she called Damon incompetent. That irritated Jackson. The Alpha was doing the best he could—why couldn't she see that?