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| Damon |
Damon was glad to see his pack were fine. They shot a flurry of concerned questions, relieved greetings, and assuring sentences his way as they headed through the hospital halls. Lalo joined them, and everyone was just as glad to see that he was doing okay, too. Now, it was time to head back out into the forest and get the job done.
But no matter how much he tried to focus on the mission, he couldn't escape the worry and thought of the half of the pack who left with Aysel and Elias. He'd never stop blaming himself; it wasn't safe out there, especially not for the kids, but there was nothing he could do. Wolf walker law prevented him from seeking them out and trying to convince Aysel to change her mind. He rejected her claim, the once-united packs split, and there was no way to bring them back together again.
A part of him hoped that some of Aysel's pack might leave and try to find their way back to him, but he also hoped that they didn't. A lone wolf wouldn't last long out there, not with all the hunters, cadejo, and the hostile pack. Alpha Kane's pack.
That was something else he needed to be cautious about. Kane sent several wolves to try and stop his pack from getting to Silverlake, and he was positive that Kane wouldn't let them get away with murdering his wolves. He looked over at Julian, who was walking on Jackson's right side. "Will your old Alpha be looking for us?"
Julian gawped at him. "Uh...I mean—"
"Is he going to be a problem?"
"I can't say for certain. But...judging by what I know of him, it's likely that he will send more wolves once he finds out you guys killed the last party. So...maybe."
Damon snarled quietly to himself as the guards led them through a pair of double doors and into an elevator.
"Wouldn't he have lost our trail after we got picked up by the Venaticus, though?" Jackson questioned, looking at Damon and then Julian.
"His trackers are really good," Julian said.
"Even if we disappeared into thin air and reappeared elsewhere, a good tracker would still be able to follow the scent," Damon grumbled. He didn't want to have to deal with Kane or his pack; he just wanted to get to Greykin Valley, find the lab, and settle into a new home. But if hostile wolves showed up, the mission wasn't going to be so simple.
"We're like...days ahead of them, though," Julian said as the elevator started moving down. "Maybe more. And I've never seen Kane pursue something or someone too far outside his territory, so maybe everything will be fine," they said nervously.
"You don't sound too confident," Lalo said.
Julian glanced at him. "N-no, I am. I'm just...I've never been involved in a mission like this before."
"Just stick close to someone at all times," Tokala told them.
They nodded.
What if Aysel's pack ran into Kane? What if they'd already run into him? There was no way for him to tell. He wasn't connected to any of them anymore.
Had he done the right thing? Was rejecting Aysel and mating with Jackson selfish? Should he have put the packs before himself? He was miserable with Aysel; he hated her for what she'd said and done to him and Alaric, but staying with her meant the packs stayed together, and the more numbers they had, the safer they'd be. If he were stronger, then maybe he would have chosen to stay miserable for the sake of his wolves.
How many more wrong decisions would he end up making? How many more people was he going to end up getting hurt? He glanced at his pack. Why were they still following him? Surely, at least one of them had to think he was doing something wrong. Someone had to think that there was a better way to do things. Did they really all trust him? He wasn't sure anymore, but he couldn't let any of them see his confliction. He was their leader, and he needed to be strong for them.
The elevator dinged when it arrived, and once the doors opened, the guards led the way out into the loading bay.
Damon immediately set his sights on Wilson. The cuffed, brown-haired man was standing between two guards, and when his eyes locked with Damon's, he scowled in hostility, as did the Alpha. He couldn't believe he had to let this muto come along, but he didn't want to upset Jackson. He just got his friend back...and as much as Damon loathed this guy, he'd try and deal with it for Jackson's sake.
Was that another bad decision? Would letting a muto come along cause something terrible to happen? He already had a bad feeling about Wilson—he had from the very start—but Jackson's happiness was more important to him than his own comfort. He'd not let his guard down, though. He was going to watch this guy like a hawk.
"Wilson!" Jackson exclaimed happily as he left Damon's side and ran over to the muto.
"Hey, Jack." He lifted his cuffed hands and looked at the guards. "You gonna get these off me or what?"
The guards remained silent, though.
However, those who led the pack down there stopped by a van similar to the one they'd taken out to get Wilson and turned to face them.
"Officer Huxley will be down momentarily," one of them said.
"Right, and is he gonna let me out of these things?" Wilson asked.
They didn't answer.
If he could have it his way, Damon would keep the guy in cuffs, but he knew Jackson wouldn't agree to that.
"So, you're the infamous Wilson, huh?" Tokala asked curiously.
"And you are?" Wilson asked.
Tokala held out his hand. "Tokala. I'm Alpha Damon's Zeta."
Wilson shook his hand as his cuffs rattled. "So, you've been talking about me, then?" he asked Jackson.
Jackson shrugged. "A little."
Before they could say anything else, the elevator opened again, and Sebastien made his way over. "All right, all right. Enough chit-chat. We're heading out. Let's get in the van," he said, moving past the pack and towards the van.
"Let's go," Damon said as he took Jackson's hand and then headed for the van.
"Hey!" Wilson called.
"What?" Sebastien replied, glaring over at him.
"Are you gonna get these things off me?" he exclaimed, holding up his cuffed hands.
"Oh, right. Uncuff him," Sebastien told the guards.
Damon rolled his eyes and got into the van. As he sat down, Jackson sat beside him, and Tokala sat next to Jackson. Everyone else filed inside and took their seats, and once Wilson got in, he moved past everyone and squeezed in between Julian and Lalo so that he could sit opposite Jackson.
The Alpha scowled at him, and the muto scowled back.
"So, Greykin Valley, huh?" Tokala said, glancing around at everyone. "I've heard it's a pretty place."
"Probably not anymore," Dustu grumbled.
"Yeah," Wesley agreed. "The cadejo have probably ruined it."
"What if they haven't reached it yet, though?" Lance suggested.
As the pack continued talking about Greykin Valley, Damon kept his eyes on Wilson. The longer he glared at him, the more he sunk into his anger. He was already sure that he and this guy were going to be at one another's throats, but if he had to constantly remind this muto that he was in charge, then he would. He might be Jackson's friend, but he wasn't his friend—he wasn't even a wolf walker.
"So how did you two meet?" Wilson suddenly asked.
Damon snarled quietly.
"Well," Jackson said with a smile, "after I was—"
"Listen up," Sebastien interjected as the van started moving.
Everyone stared at Sebastien, who was leaning around the passenger seat up front.
"We're driving up to Kingslake Pass. It's a couple of hours away. From there, we'll be going on foot through the forest. Greykin Valley is roughly six to seven days away at wolf walker pace, but we'll say seven to account for stopping for those of you who can't remain in your wolf forms for more than twelve hours. Show of hands, who are you?"
Jackson, Julian, Lalo, Dustu, Brando, and Lance held their hands up.
Sebastien looked at Wilson. "What about you?"
"Nope. No limit here," he said smugly.
Damon's scowl thickened. This guy was full of himself, wasn't he?
"Right," Sebastien said, looking at everyone again. "There's provisions and some equipment in your packs, but what we have won't last the week. We'll have to hunt at some point."
"What about when we get to Greykin Valley?" Jackson asked, glancing at Wilson. "Do we know the exact location of the lab?"
Before Wilson could speak, Sebastien said, "Heir Lucian extracted everything he could from your muto friend's brain. The lab's location is somewhere within a twenty-mile radius north of the valley entrance we'll reach on our set course." He pulled out a map and unfolded it. "Here," he said, holding out the map so everyone could see where he was pointing.
Damon examined the map. Greykin Valley had four entrances; one through the space where the two mountain ranges met, two over the mountains on either side, and the fourth through a cave. He didn't like the look of any of it, and if there were wolf walkers, cadejo, or other Caeleste out there, these entrances looked like the perfect ambush points.
"No," he said firmly. "We don't know who or what is out there, and this narrow space is a perfect ambush spot. We'd have to walk single-file, and turning would be hard, let alone fighting. We'll head around to the left mountain path and get in that way."
Sebastien shrugged. "All right, you're the lead on this anyway. You gotta know Greykin better than anyone since you lived out here all your life, right?"
Damon nodded.
"Okay, but that's gonna take an extra half-day," Wilson argued. "I'm undetectable, so why not send me through the passage first to see if anything's waiting to pounce?"
"We're going to the mountain path," Damon said sternly. "We aren't going to be taking any risks. There are too few of us."
"Alpha Damon's right," Tokala said. "We should stick to the open; that way, we can see what's coming."
Wilson scoffed. "Aren't we supposed to be trying to get to this place as soon as possible?"
"We are," Jackson interjected, shifting his gaze from Wilson to Damon and back to Wilson again. "But Damon's right. We have to be careful."
With a heavy sigh, Wilson shrugged and leaned his back against the wall. "Fine. Whatever."
Sebastien folded the map back up and stuffed it in his pocket. "Jackson, Heir Lucian told you I'd be teaching you what I can, right?"
Jackson nodded.
"The inimă is in your pack; you should put it on."
Damon frowned and looked at Jackson, who looked just as confused.
"Put...it on?" Jackson asked unsurely.
"Yeah...on...around your neck," Sebastien mocked in a stupid voice.
Jackson pouted and reached into the crafted bags he could wear in his wolf form. He pulled the black, red crystal-encrusted amulet out and held it in his hands as he looked at Sebastien.
"Well?" Sebastien urged.
"What is it?" Wilson then asked.
"The old demon amulet I mentioned yesterday," Jackson told him.
"It's part of the Zenith's Numen ethos," Sebastien explained. "When he started evolving into a Demi-Numen, his body wasn't equipped to hold all the new ethos. He and Lord Caedis came up with a solution to store the ethos elsewhere. Quite a lot of it was stored in Vespira, the Zenith's dragon companion. The rest was stored in demon-crafted amulets, called inimă, which is True Speech for 'part of the soul'."
Wilson nodded slowly. "So...that thing is a part of the Zenith?"
"Yeah," the white-haired demon confirmed. "And it responds to Jackson because he's an asmodi demon, a species which was created by both the Zenith and Lord Caedis. So, he's already got a little of their ethos in him."
"Makes sense," Wilson said.
Everyone else nodded and mumbled in agreement.
Damon wasn't as intrigued as everyone else, though. Old demon ethos was dangerous, and he didn't want Jackson to end up getting hurt by it, something that was likely to happen because he had no idea how to control or even use his demon ethos yet.
As Jackson lifted the amulet towards his neck, Damon gently gripped his wrist and made him lower it. "Shouldn't he only wear it when he needs to use it?" he questioned, looking at Sebastien. "This thing could be dangerous. He hasn't even learned to control his demon ethos yet. If he loses control, the amulet's power could destroy him."
"Wait, really?" Jackson exclaimed worriedly.
"Dude, it's Jackson," Wilson scoffed, glaring at Damon. "He'll be fine."
Damon growled quietly. "You have no fucking idea what you're talking about."
Wilson scoffed. "As a matter of fact, I do. I've worked with demons before, and—"
"I hate to interrupt, but...once again, Alpha Damon is right," Tokala said slowly. "Jackson needs to learn to control his own ethos before using that of someone or something else."
"And that's why I'm here," Sebastien said. "On top of keeping an eye on you and making sure you stay on task."
Jackson put the amulet back in the bag. "Yeah, I...I'm gonna wait until I've learned a little more about my own ethos."
"I'll teach you whenever we have a spare moment," Sebastien said as he turned to face the windshield. "All right, that's it. I'm gonna get a few hours of rest in. You guys should do the same."
Damon sighed and leaned back. He could feel the muto's eyes on him, but he didn't give a shit. He was certain that Jackson's friend was going to be challenging his decisions at every turn, trying to talk over him, and attempting to prove that he was smarter or stronger or better than he was. But that wasn't the case. He was just a muto. What was he compared to a Prime wolf walker?
He closed his eyes and tried to dismiss the territorial feeling which was quickly enthralling him. He hated that this muto had to come with them, and having one stranger around was enough—at least Sebastien was tolerable—but two? Damon clenched his jaw and kept himself from sinking deeper into his feelings.
And then Jackson leaned his head on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to look down at him, and as Jackson moved his arm around him, he smiled discreetly and eased his arm around Jackson's shoulders.
He heard Wilson snarl, and when he glanced at him, he saw a jealous look on his face. The guy was trying to hide it by staring out of the van window, but Damon could see it as clearly as the daylight outside. Evidently, Wilson hated that Jackson belonged to him. And that was going to be something else he had to ensure Wilson understood, wasn't it?
This was going to be a long week.
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