Greykin Valley

| 15 | Debts

"No way," Sebastien muttered.

Jackson sharply turned his head and looked at him. "What?"

"Dude's got the unicorn's trust," the kludde answered.

Wilson rolled his eyes.

But Jackson didn't understand. "What?"

"That's the unicorn we freed from Riker's camp," Julian said, looking to Sebastien for confirmation.

Sebastien nodded. "It sure is."

Jackson set his eyes back on Damon and the unicorn. What was it doing here? He watched it lift its head, and as it did, so did Damon. The unicorn grunted and patted the snow with its hoof, and then it gracefully turned around and started walking away.

Damon followed without hesitation.

"W-what do we do?" Leon questioned, looking around at everyone.

"We follow," Tokala said, and when he began following Damon, so did the rest of the pack.

Wilson and Julian swiftly glued themselves to Jackson's sides, Julian on his left, and Wilson on his right.

"Shouldn't the unicorn be making friends with you?" Julian asked Sebastien, who wasn't far behind. "You were the one who freed it and all those other Caeleste beasts."

"I mean...sure, but a unicorn's whole thing is about trust. Maybe it doesn't trust a creature that speaks to and feeds astrals."

"I don't get why it would trust him," Wilson grunted, glaring ahead at Damon, who followed the unicorn down a hill.

Jackson frowned at him. "Why do you say that?"

The tiger scoffed. "He's not worthy of a unicorn's trust—he's not even worthy of your trust."

"What are you talking about?" Jackson exclaimed, staring at him in confusion as he and the pack headed down the hill.

Wilson set his eyes on Damon again. "A guy like that.... He's hiding something."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "He's—"

"I mean, how long have you guys actually known each other? Eleven days or so, right?"

Just because he'd only known Damon for eleven days didn't mean he didn't know him. They were mated. He felt like he'd known Damon forever. He loved him....

He looked ahead and watched the Alpha follow the white unicorn. Now that he thought about it...he didn't really know that much about him, did he? He knew that Damon's parents were awful to him, that he loved his brother, and that there was some sort of calling in his bloodline that caused their mates to be from completely different lands, but that was about it.

What did Damon's dad do for work? What was his mother into other than enforcing Lupi Sequi Veteris in abusive, questionable ways? And Alaric, too: what was he like? What did Damon do when he was younger before he was Alpha?

He didn't want to let his not knowing get to him, though. It was a fact that he and Damon had only known each other for eleven days, but that was just it. Eleven days weren't long enough to get to know everything, and he was sure that he'd learn more as each day passed. Damon was very closed off and reclusive before, but now, he was opening up to Jackson, and he was also confident that Damon wouldn't hide anything from him, either.

Guilt then struck his heart. He was hiding something from Damon, though.

"Alpha!" Rachel called in concern.

Jackson snapped out of his thoughts and quickly located Damon. He was now running with the unicorn, and the pack hurriedly tried to keep up.

They ran through the murk and the snow, following their Alpha and the golden glow of the majestic white unicorn. It took them through a vast crater filled with snow, rock fragments, and scorched, bent trees. They trailed it up a hill, down an icy slope, and out of the forest and into a glade.