Greykin Valley

| 42 | Exes

Wilson laughed as he backed off and let Jackson stand up. "I was just testing you. With you being a hybrid and all, I was curious as to whether you could detect me."

As he wiped the snow from his trousers, Jackson rolled his eyes. "And you had to pounce on me to determine that?"

"No," he said with a shrug. "I just thought it'd be funny."

"Well, it wasn't."

Still laughing, Wilson shook his head and sat down.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Jackson questioned.

"Hunting. I got hungry and didn't feel like waiting for everyone else to wake up."

"Yeah, well. You suck," Jackson sneered. "I saw you miss the hare."

Wilson scoffed. "Hey, I'm not used to all this snow. I'm supposed to be out in rainforests."

Jackson leaned against a tree as a curious frown made its way to his face. "I don't know if you ever told me—and I don't remember anyway—but why did you move to Dawnward, then? If you're meant to be out in rainforests and all that, then shouldn't you be in Samayō-Akuma or Samjang or something?"

The tiger sighed sullenly. "Yeah, I told you this one. But since you don't remember—perception filters and all—I'll tell you again."

As much as he wanted to know, he could see that Wilson was upset. "You don't have to talk about it. It's—"

"No, it's cool. Well, when I was a kid—before I met you—we were in Samjang. I know there are a few scattered families of muto-tigris; some are in Dor-Sanguis and others in Lǎohǔ zhī dì. But my family fled from Samjang when hunters started closing in on where we were hiding. My parents and my sister and I were the only ones who got away. We knew Dawnward was safe because the Nosferatu have a big influence over there. And it was safe until we started digging into the wolf walker business," he explained.

Jackson frowned sympathetically. "Wow...I'm sorry. And I'm sorry that I don't remember. I'm trying to...it's just...I don't know what to do. I talked to Damon last night and—"

"Yeah, we all heard you talking," Wilson muttered bitterly.

He refrained from snapping and continued, "And I said that maybe asking you to tell me more about the stuff we did together could help."

Wilson's sour expression ran away from his face. "Sounds like a plan. Well...I could tell you about Keith."

Jackson frowned. "I remember Keith."

"Yeah, but do you remember that he was an energy vampire?"

His frown thickened. "Uh...no." Of course he wouldn't remember that. The perception filter probably made him think that all of his exes and one-night stands were human.

Wilson chuckled and shook his head. "You gotta remember always feeling tired around the guy, right?"

He tried to recall the two weeks he spent dating Keith. "Um...I mean yeah. I thought I was sick or something."

"And you ran to the ER asking for scans and everything," he laughed.

Jackson scowled in embarrassment. "I was worried, okay!"

"You were scouring the internet for answers and were convinced you had the most rarest of sicknesses, Jack," Wilson laughed.

He rolled his eyes again. "Whatever."

"I remember what happened when the doctor said that you were being fed on by an energy vampire, though."

"What happened? All I remember is...uh...he gave me something. A pill?"