Greykin Mountain

| 68 | Hard Choices

          He looked at Damon to see the Alpha staring at him. Although he was nervous as hell, he nodded and glanced at the pack. "I can try to get some answers from them."

          "We should just leave," Elias suddenly called.

          Aysel shook her head at him—evidently, she didn't want him to say anything.

          "There are only twenty-seven of us. What will we do if we hang around and they have double or even triple our numbers? They'll wipe us out."

          "We'll find out exactly how many numbers they have—"

          "From some stray?" Elias scoffed. "A stray who abandoned their pack. If that isn't a clear enough sign not to trust him, then I don't know what is! Let's just get the hell out of dodge before we lose anyone else!"

          A few wolves called in agreement.

          But Damon snarled and stood his ground. "We've been travelling too long to give something like this up. We're stronger together."

          "Not if their numbers double ours," Kaniya called. "Elias is right. We should leave now and get a head start. There's gotta be somewhere else where we can set up."

          Damon kept his composure and shook his head. "The hostile pack gave us twenty-four hours. That's plenty of time to leave if what Julian tells us is concerning. Please, everyone, remain calm until we find out what we can about this other pack. There's no way I would endanger any of you, and leaving is just as dangerous as staying. We don't know what else is out there. If there's a chance we can keep this ruin, I'll take it."

          Everyone looked at each other and mumbled quietly. Although there were still some angry faces, they seemed to calm down. Despite the tension, they still trusted Damon, and that made Jackson relieved.

          But when he saw Aysel's sour glare, his angst returned. She muttered something to Elias, who passed it on to Chloe and then Iris. Were they planning something? It sure seemed that way.

          "But," the Alpha said, snatching Jackson's attention back, "in case what we find means we must leave, I want you all to pack what you can. Create satchels we can carry in our human and wolf forms. Pack as many supplies as you can and await my orders. Tokala, you're on supervising duty until I'm done with the stray."

          Tokala nodded and started ushering everyone to get to work.

          "Come on," Damon said, taking Jackson's hand.

          Jackson followed the Alpha but watched Aysel, Elias, and a few wolves grouped with them. Were they going to leave on their own? Was tonight the night Elias would step up and challenge Damon?

          "Damon," he whispered, following him down into the cellar.

          "What?"

          "I think Aysel and Elias are planning something. I saw them whispering to Chloe and Iris."

          The Alpha snarled as they headed towards the door to Julian's locked room. He stopped and dragged his hand over his face. "I don't have time for them right now."

          He pushed the door open and headed into the room. Jackson eyed the cell Julian was locked in as they sat up and looked at them.

          "I heard a pretty heated discussion outside," Julian said. "So you met Ellis, huh?"

          "Ellis?" Jackson questioned, stopping in front of the cell.

          "The big black wolf who confronted you out there," they said, looking at Damon. "He's my ex-Alpha's Beta."