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| Jackson |
There was something circling them. Jackson could hear its feet hitting the snow, and along with everyone else, he followed the sound with his eyes, turning his head, and then his body when the footsteps moved behind them. He had no idea what it was, but it sounded huge.
It was edging nearer. Jackson moved so close to Damon that their bodies met, and when he looked at the Alpha, he saw the same look on his face that he adorned whenever he was about to fight.
Damon snarled and grunted, and in response, the pack swiftly stood back-to-back in a circle with Jackson, Julian, Wilson, and Sebastien in the centre. They were protecting them...and getting ready for a battle.
A battle with what? What was out there?
Jackson searched the fog, desperately looking for something that might give him an answer. But as each tense second passed, his heart beat harder, and his instincts urged him to run.
But then something lit up the murk. A shimmering gold light cut through the fog, and it started pulsing like it was sending a signal.
"What the hell is that?" Leon blurted.
Everyone stared at the light, and as it grew brighter, the smell of wisteria and honeysuckle filled the air, banishing the scent of the forest. Before anyone could say a word, a sudden gush of wind raced towards them, forcing the pack to brace and take a few steps back. The wind cleared the area around them of fog, and when the source of the light was revealed, each wolf reacted with their own gasp or breath of awe.
Jackson's eyes widened. His heart didn't stop racing, but his dread faded. The beast wasn't a beast at all—at least...not the kind that would tear someone's head off with its teeth. No...what he was staring at was the same horned horse he saw Wilson shoving into a cage the other night.
The unicorn.
It looked like an elegant white horse, but it was nearly twice the size of one. The shimmering, curving blue horn protruding from its head pulsed gold every few seconds, keeping the fog from ensnaring the area again, and in the breeze that the beast created, its long, ice-blue hair floated gently. Its tail was long—twice as long as its body—and the same hair as its mane grew underneath.
"Woah," Julian breathed.
"Yeah, woah," Wesley concurred, nodding slowly.
"Back off slowly," Damon ordered.
Jackson frowned. Why did they have to back off?
The twisting, blue marks on the unicorn's white coat began to pulse gold with its horn, and as its bright amber eyes jumped from wolf to wolf, the pack did as their Alpha ordered and backed off.
But the unicorn snorted and whinnied, patting the ground with its front right hoof. It shook its head, and then, it slowly leaned forward, lowering its face towards the ground.
"Is it...bowing?" Enola questioned.
"What do we do, Alpha?" Ezhno asked.
Damon's cautious frown started fading.
"Boss?" Wesley called from the far-right of the pack.
"Damon?" Jackson whispered, glancing at the bowing unicorn.
The Alpha stepped forward. Everyone watched him stand before the beast, and then, he gradually bowed in response, lowering his head, and leaning forward on his front left leg.
"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.
No one was questioning it anymore. Sebastien was just as silent as everyone else, too. Jackson was expecting him to at least mention the fact they were off track, but he looked curious and just as eager as the pack to find out where the unicorn was taking them.
The unicorn stopped in the middle of the glade next to a huge pile of hollowed-out logs covered in moss and flower-sprouting vines. It almost looked like a nest or burrow.
For a brief moment, Damon stared at the beast with a confused frown, but then his face lit up, and he hurried over to the logs.
"What's he doing?" Bly questioned as the pack stopped twenty feet from where the unicorn was waiting.
"I don't know," Lalo replied. "What if it's hunters?"
"In a pile of logs, Lalo? Really?" Wesley grunted.
"Your boyfriend's crazy, man," Wilson grumbled, watching with the pack as Damon jumped to the other side of the logs and disappeared inside the pile.
Jackson didn't like that he couldn't see Damon anymore. Worry struck him like a fist to his face, and his instincts urged him to chase after him. What was he doing? Where did he go? He shook his head and gave in; he burst forward, raced across the glade and past the unicorn, which watched him with a curious gaze. And when he reached the logs, he searched for the entrance Damon must have disappeared into.
There. A triangular entrance to the left of the pile. He stood in front of the entrance and stared inside. "Damon?" he breathed, staring at the white wolf.
Damon was laying on his front; it looked like he was nuzzling something—no, licking something—in front of him.
Jackson stepped to the side in an attempt to see what it was, and when he spotted a hint of white and silver fur, he frowned strangely. A flurry of feelings hit him: confusion, worry, dread, dismay, and angst. That was a wolf, and Damon was licking it.
"Damon?" he asked again, his voice a little shaky.
The Alpha lifted his head and looked back at him.
Now, Jackson could see the silvery wolf a lot clearer, and all his feelings withered and contorted into shock. "Is...is that—"
"Remus," Damon confirmed worriedly, looking down at the still, unconscious wolf.
There was blood all over the kid's fur. Several open wounds clung to his legs, face, and belly, and he was covered in mud and ice.
Jackson didn't understand. How was he here?
Damon went back to licking the wolf's wounds.
"S-should I get Bly?" Jackson asked anxiously as he started realizing what was going on. Remus' body wasn't as warm as it should be; that could be the only reason ice was clinging to his fur. He was barely breathing, his wounds were horrific, and it looked like he was hanging on by a thread.
The Alpha didn't answer, and Jackson didn't expect him to. He was trying to help heal his son, and Jackson wanted to do whatever he could to help.
He hurried around the side of the burrow and called, "Bly!"
The reddish-brown wolf immediately hurried over, and everyone else promptly followed.
"What is it?" Bly asked when she approached him.
"Quick," he insisted, leading her around to the burrow's entrance.
Bly frowned as she neared the entrance, but then she gasped. "Alpha? Is that...oh, my God," she exclaimed, moving to Damon's side.
Jackson backed off and watched as Damon and Bly fussed over Remus. He could hear the pack exclaiming and gasping in shock behind him; he heard Wilson's voice, too, but he didn't catch what he was saying. His attention was solely on Damon and what was going on inside the burrow.
"W-we need to get him somewhere warm. We need herbs," Bly stammered, shaking her head. "We need to make a fire."
Damon looked back at the pack. "Set up camp!" he ordered. "Start a fire, gather healing herbs, and find food."
The wolves scrambled into action. Jackson watched Lalo, Alastor, and Wesley race into the trees. Lance started sniffing around, and everyone else began gathering firewood.
"What can I do?" Julian asked desperately. "I wanna help."
"And me," Jackson said.
But Damon didn't respond.
Jackson glanced over at the wolves currently building a fire. "Come on. We can help with that."
Julian, Wilson, and Sebastien followed him over to the fire. But Sebastien didn't go with them when they went into the woods to gather sticks. Jackson didn't care, though. He just wanted to do his part, and if Sebastien wanted to stand around and do nothing, then whatever.
"Who's Remus?" Wilson asked as he watched Jackson and Julian pick up a few branches in their mouths.
"Damon's son—w-well...nephew. He raised him and his twin brother, Romulus, though, so he's pretty much their dad," Jackson explained.
Wilson frowned. "Wait, he has kids? How old is this guy, Jackson?"
He didn't know the answer to that. "I dunno," he grumbled.
"God, Jackson. He could be like...forty."
"He's not!"
"How do you know?"
"I just do! He doesn't look much older than me, so—"
"So? You just assume—"
"Why does it matter?" Jackson questioned irritably as he stopped walking and glared at him. "W-why does any of this matter? Why are you on my ass about this? Damon hasn't done anything to you."
Wilson scoffed. "He might not have done anything to me, but he's done a lot of shit to you, and that's pretty much the same as doing shit to me."
Jackson's confusion thickened. "What the hell, Wilson?"
"He's got you wrapped up in all this wolf walker Venaticus bullshit, travelling halfway across the country to find something that might not even be there! Talking about mates and packs and shit. He's turned you into someone else!" Wilson shouted angrily.
"Damon's done nothing but help me!" he argued, dropping the branches from his mouth. "He hasn't wrapped me up in anything! I came out here to find you, and here we are, I found you!"
"So why are we still here, huh?! Why are we travelling around with these dogs and—"
"Hey!" Jackson snapped. "Don't be so fucking rude!"
"Calm down! You see, this is what I mean!" he exclaimed, glancing at Julian, who looked like they had no idea what to do. "Why are we out here, Jackson? Why aren't we heading home or figuring out how to get back there?"
"Because there's a whole world of shit happening out here, and I can do something to stop it!" Jackson growled. "I care about these people, okay? And I love Damon. The cadejo have killed enough wolf walkers, and now people are dying, too. If we don't do something to stop this, then Lyca Corp. wins!"
Wilson then growled in frustration.
But before he could speak, Jackson frowned in confoundment and said, "You were literally talking about getting to the bottom of all of this last night. What changed? Don't you wanna find out what Holt's been doing? Those shipping containers? El'Vorian Industries? Lyca Corp.?"
The tiger huffed irritably and glared at him. "I'm not...I'm not talking about all of that. I...I just...." He sighed deeply and shook his head. "I'm just stressed out. I'm sorry. So much shit is going on, you're here with all these wolves, and I just...need a minute to process it all."
"I get that, okay? But that's no excuse to be horrible to Damon. He hasn't done anything to you. All he's doing is looking out for everyone, and right now, his son needs our help. So can we stop standing around here and get this wood to the fire, please?" he insisted, trying to settle his frustration. He wanted to defend Damon with a whole lot more anger, but he had to control himself. Wilson was stressed out, and he didn't want to make that worse for him.
With a quiet sigh, the tiger nodded and grabbed a large log in his mouth. "All right."
As they headed towards the glade, Jackson glanced at Julian. They looked anxious—of course they did. If it were him who just had to stand there and watch two people argue, he'd be just as freaked out.
They made their way to the collection of sticks and twigs the pack had formed in the middle of an area bordered with tree trunks. Once they added their sticks to the pile, they went to go and fetch more, but the pile suddenly went up in blue flames.
"That should last a while," Sebastien said.
Concerned voices cut through the silence.
Jackson turned to face Damon, and he watched as the Alpha and Bly carried Remus over on their backs.
Everyone moved out of the way and observed while Damon lay his son in front of the fire, and then backed off, leaving Bly to tend to his wounds.
"Lance," Bly called hastily.
The light brown wolf barged through the crowd with a mouthful of leaves and fragrant flowers. He placed them down on the rock in front of Bly, and once she morphed out of her wolf form, she immediately began pressing and crushing the plants with her hands. Once they were mashed up enough, she started spreading the paste onto Remus' wounds.
Jackson turned his attention to Damon. The Alpha watched with a terrified look on his face; he was breathing deeply in what might be an attempt to contain his emotions, and all Jackson wanted to do was try to comfort him. But was that what he needed right now?
He frowned despondently and made his way over to the Alpha, and when he stood beside him, he glanced at his worried face. "Damon?"
"I don't know how long he's been out here," the Alpha said sullenly. "He's...frozen, beaten. I don't...I don't know what happened or how he got here. He's just...here. And..." he paused as he turned his head to look at him, "I can't help but fear that...he's here because there's no one else left."
Despite the fact he hated Aysel, Jackson wouldn't wish death upon her or anyone who left with her. He felt pain in his heart; it was mostly pain for Damon, but it was still pain. "Maybe...maybe he got lost," he said, trying to reassure him. "Like...separated from the others and just sorta wandered around."
Damon shook his head as he set his sights back on his son. "He couldn't get lost. I can't let myself think that Aysel would allow that to happen." He glanced back at the unicorn. "And I don't know what to make of that, either."
Jackson looked over his shoulder at the unicorn, too. The creature snorted and retreated into its burrow. "Why would he end up in a unicorn's burrow?" he asked Damon.
The Alpha sighed and sat down. "Unicorns repay their debts. Maybe it found him or maybe he came to it for help. We helped that unicorn get away from those hunters, and this must be its way of repaying us—more specifically, you."
"Me?"
"Unicorns are very intelligent. It must know we're mated, so bringing my son to me has to be it repaying its debt. But...I don't know if the unicorn did this to him to get him to us, or if it found him like this. I won't know more until he wakes up." He scowled in dismay. "If he wakes up."
Jackson shook his head and moved a little closer to him. "He will wake up, Damon. He's your son, and if you can fight like hell and wake up from a coma in less than a day, then I'm confident that he can, too."
The Alpha glanced at him and smiled weakly, but quickly set his sights back on Remus while Bly tended to his wounds.
"He will," Jackson said firmly as he placed his paw over Damon's.
Damon took a deep breath and glanced at him again. "I think...I just need to be by myself for a while."
His words cut like a blade, but he understood. He wasn't going to overthink or argue. "Okay. I'll just...be over there with Julian and Wilson," he mumbled, trying to hide his sadness.
The Alpha nodded.
Jackson left his side and headed over to Wilson and Julian. He sat down, stared at Bly and Remus, and did his best not to take what Damon just said personally. Of course, he understood that Damon needed to be alone with his thoughts, and if they spent every minute of every day stuck to one another, then they'd get bored of each other, wouldn't they? Some personal space was needed now and then, especially in a time like this.
"Is he okay?" Julian asked.
"Yeah, he's just worried," Jackson mumbled.
What if Damon wanted to be alone because Jackson wasn't good enough at making him feel better? Did he suck at comforting him?
No, he was overthinking; he was doing the one thing he'd told himself he shouldn't do. So, he took a deep breath and gazed at the fire. Damon would come to him when he was ready. It was nothing personal. After all, there were times when Jackson felt like he needed to be alone, so it was only fair that he left Damon alone when he asked for it.
He exhaled deeply and gazed at the blue fire. The only thing left for him to do was sit there like everyone else and hope that Remus would recover. And there was no telling how long that might take.
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