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| Jackson |
After an hour of trekking through the woods, everyone seemed to relax a little. Sebastien assured the pack that there weren't any human auras within five miles of them, and they hadn't come across any more silver traps, either. But Jackson wasn't going to let his guard down. Anything could happen at any moment. Sebastien couldn't sense cadejo, could he? There could be zombies out there and they wouldn't know unless they saw them.
He glanced at Damon, who was leading the way with Remus and Sebastien. Then, he looked at Wilson, who was walking on his left. He didn't want to leave his friend to walk alone, but he knew that Damon wasn't going to come anywhere near Wilson, and it made him feel upset that he had to choose between walking with his friend or walking with his mate.
Jackson sighed quietly and focused on the path ahead. Was it wishful thinking to hope that Wilson and Damon might eventually learn to get along? Neither of them was going anywhere, but if he had to keep choosing between who he sat with and who he walked with, he felt as though his sadness might begin to turn into frustration.
But he didn't want to let himself get worked up. That was the last thing anyone needed right now. So, he exhaled quietly and tried to keep calm.
"Hey, Jack," Wilson whispered.
He looked at the tiger. "What?"
Wilson nodded in Sebastien's direction.
Jackson watched as the winged hound started falling back, leaving Damon to lead on his own with Remus. He knew what Wilson was getting at, though. Earlier, they'd hypothesized that Sebastien might know more about all of this than he was letting on. Of course, Jackson wanted to know as much as Wilson did, but would Sebastien tell the truth?
He waited to see where Sebastien was going, and when the hound stopped beside him—but a few feet away—he looked over at him and frowned curiously. "Uh...Sebastien?"
The hound glanced at him. "Yeah?"
"Do you...well, do the Venaticus and Nosferatu know about El'Vorian industries? Wilson and I were looking into it, and—"
"I found all these off-book shipments and saw unmarked vans delivering stuff to El'Vorian," Wilson interjected, "the pharmaceutical company we think is a front for Lyca Corp."
Sebastien nodded slowly. "Yeah, you guys gathered quite the little evidence package, didn't you?"
Wilson and Jackson frowned, and then both asked, "You were listening to us?"
The hound scoffed. "Duh. Why wouldn't we listen?"
Jackson pouted and Wilson snarled.
"But yes, the Nosferatu were investigating Lyca Corp years before you two kids were. At the time, we didn't know why they were trying to create hybrids, but we did know that was what their goal was. They captured demons and wolf walkers from places the Nosferatu doesn't have much power—like Ascela—and shipped them to their facilities. That's what all those shipping containers and vans were carrying."
That made sense. "Facilities?"
"Horrible places," Sebastien grumbled. "They experiment on Caeleste."
"Experiment?" Julian questioned with a grimace.
"So, it's not just wolf walkers they were doing shit to, then?" Wilson asked before Jackson could.
"Nope," Sebastien answered as Damon led them up a hill. "Thirty-two years ago, Lyca Corp wasn't even on our radar. The company was owned by a human, yet it specialized in lycanthropes. They created medicines for lycans, provided medical expertise, and trained doctors to better understand lycans. Hence the name Lyca Corp. But what we didn't know was that they had a sub-division, and in that division, they experimented on lycans. That was how they got all their answers."
That made Jackson feel sick. This whole time, Lyca Corp—El'Vorian Industries—was torturing innocent people. How could people do that? How could they sleep at night after spending their day cutting and stabbing someone?
"They had to hide their shady business, right?" Wilson mumbled. "So, that's why they hid all those deliveries using El'Vorian."
"Seems that way, yeah," Sebastien mumbled.
"So...how did they get on the Nosferatu's radar?" Julian asked.
"That's where things get a little...personal. Not for me," Sebastien said, glancing at each of them. "But for my bosses. All three of them, actually. You've met Heir Lucian—"
"Did something happen to him?" Jackson asked with a frown.
"Not him, no. He has a cousin, and the Zenith is his primary father. Lyca Corp took him when he was a child, and both the Zenith and Lord Caedis spent the next fifteen years trying to find him. But Lyca Corp. is tricky. They have so many locations, underground and hidden facilities, and they hid behind more than El'Vorian industries. Despite all their power and resources, the Zenith and Lord Caedis couldn't find him."
Jackson grew sicker. A kid? They took a kid. These people were disgusting, and he was beginning to understand that more and more as Sebastien continued. But how did this tie in to—
"How does that tie into you guys looking into the cadejo virus?" Wilson asked.
"I was just gonna ask that," Jackson said.
"Well, the kid is a demon, and evidently a very powerful one since the Zenith is a father of his."
"Wait, primary father? A father?" Julian questioned.
Sebastien rolled his head around a little and grunted. "Ugh, yeah. Demon stuff. They used a matriarch as his mother; it's a sort of like...build your baby practice."
"What?" all three of them questioned.
"You know like...well...like...." Sebastien grunted irritably. "Like a recipe, right? You want a bit of power from this guy's bloodline and a bit from that guy's, and oh, what about a bit of that guy's power, too? And then you take each piece and give it to a matriarch and boom, you got a baby with three dads and access to three different demon bloodlines. Make sense?"
Jackson, Julian, and Wilson glanced at one another.
"Uh...yeah," Jackson drawled, setting his eyes on him again.
"Anyways, so, yeah. Super powerful demon baby. Of course, Lyca Corp. would do anything to get their hands on that kid to use in their experiments."
"The wolf walker-demon hybrid experiments?" Wilson asked.
"Yeah. As for the cadejo virus, that's been around for like...a hundred and fifty-five years. That was when I first encountered it. I was sent to an estate in DeiganLupus to investigate a strange sickness killing townsfolk, and...there was something there. It looked like a huge black wolf. And months later was when the first cadejo started turning up. I wasn't kept in the loop—I don't know what happened for the next year or so—but when I was called back into the Nosferatu, they told me that black wolf was the result of Lyca Corp.'s experiments."
"The hybrid Lord Caedis is looking for?" Jackson questioned.
"Yep," Sebastien confirmed. "Only we didn't know Lyca Corp. was involved until they took the Zenith's kid."
Wilson exhaled deeply. "What a fricken mess we've gotten ourselves into, huh, Jack?"
Jackson rolled his eyes. "As always." But as he glanced around, he locked his gaze with Tokala's. The orange wolf was staring at them—he'd obviously been listening—and when he saw Jackson had noticed, he frowned and looked away.
"Although it's only speculation that the hybrid we found in DeiganLupus is the cause of the virus. That's why we need to get to this lab and find out whatever else we can," Sebastien explained.
"What about the hybrid that Lord Caedis said Cyrus was trying to capture?" Jackson asked.
"That hybrid and his packmates are also on our radar. It's a lot to take in, but there are a lot of pieces to this puzzle. We're all hoping we'll know more once we find the lab," the hound said.
Jackson nodded slowly. That certainly was a lot to process, but at least Sebastien answered their questions and didn't evade them. This all made a little more sense now. What if that black wolf from DeiganLupus was the cause of the virus? Could they use it to create a cure? What about the wolves Cyrus failed to capture? He wanted to know right now, but just as Sebastien said, they had to get to the lab if they wanted solid answers.
He lingered on the fact, however, that the Zenith had a son, and that a demon that powerful—one of the two heads of the Caeleste government—couldn't find his son after Lyca Corp. took him. How powerful was that company? And if they were able to take on the Zenith, then what chance in hell did a wolf walker pack have against them?
Angst began ensnaring his heart. What if they got to the lab and there were hundreds of guards? What if they couldn't even get close to the lab because they had snipers and troops and whatever else set up all around Greykin Valley? No...Wilson said that some people saw the lab and it looked like it was attacked. If some hunters could get close enough to see it, then the pack would be fine, right?
He set his eyes on Damon. Then, he glanced at Tokala, who he caught staring again. Why was he looking over at them? Jackson wanted to know, so he left Wilson and Julian with Sebastien and headed over to the orange wolf.
"Is, uh...everything okay?" he asked when he reached Tokala.
The orange wolf chuckled. "Yeah, yeah. I was just listening in. Everyone was," he said, glancing back at the pack. "The more we know about what's going on, the better, right?"
Jackson nodded. "Yeah. I guess I'm just a little more worried now about what might be waiting for us when we get to Greykin Valley. If someone like the Zenith couldn't get his son back from Lyca Corp., then what are we gonna do?"
"We'll figure it out. The chief always has a plan. Don't fret," Tokala said calmly.
After taking another deep breath, Jackson tried to dismiss his angst. Tokala was right. They had miles to go, and they hadn't even seen the place yet. There was no point in freaking out before they had a chance to see what they'd be dealing with. Damon would figure out a plan, too. He always had a plan.
Jackson stared ahead at the Alpha again. He thought about how he could use his worry about Lyca Corp.'s power as an excuse to talk to him, but why would he need an excuse to talk to his mate? Wilson being here didn't change anything, so why did he feel like it did? It was because Wilson and Damon hated each other. He didn't want to make one of them feel like he preferred the company of the other, but feeling like he had to be careful was beginning to stress him out. He wanted to go and walk with Damon, but he was certain that Wilson would eventually join him, and that would irritate Damon.
He sighed and shook his head. They were going to have to learn to get along, and Jackson wasn't going to let their hatred for one another get in the way. So, he left Tokala's side and caught up to Damon.
"Hey," he said when he reached Damon's side.
"Hey," he mumbled.
"Is...everything okay?" Jackson asked unsurely.
"Fine," Damon replied, but he sounded irritated.
Jackson frowned and stared ahead as they approached the tree line. He didn't want to think about it, but he couldn't fight the thought that Damon might be mad because he'd just been walking with Wilson for the last hour. He was afraid to flat-out ask him, but he had to bring it up eventually, and if he didn't do it now, he might never do it.
He looked at Damon. "Are you mad at me because I was walking with Wilson?"
The Alpha glanced at him and looked him up and down. "No." Then, he glared ahead.
"Well, you're mad about something. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Damon, I—"
"I said it's nothing," he snapped.
Jackson frowned in response. Evidently, he didn't want to talk to him right now, and Jackson didn't want to force it out of him. Making Damon angrier was the last thing he wanted. So, he let it go. "Okay," he mumbled.
Remus then grunted quietly.
Damon sharply turned his head to look at him. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Remus said, nodding. "How much further?"
The Alpha looked ahead. "Once we cross this tundra, we'll find a place to rest." He looked back at Tokala. "Tokala, I need you to scout ahead and find us a place to rest."
With a nod, the orange wolf turned left and hurried off, sticking to the tree line.
Damon led the pack out of the forest and into a barren tundra. Puddles of ice were scattered here and there, and a few shrubs broke through the thick blanket of snow. The forest was visible on the other side—perhaps a mile or so away—and there wasn't a single sign of any other life.
Jackson didn't like the feeling this place gave him. As he crossed the wide, open tundra, a harsh breeze raced by, and with it came trepidation. He could feel eyes on him. It was the same ominous feeling he got when he first arrived in Ascela; the same feeling he got just before something bad happened.
He wasn't going to sit on it. "Damon, I...I'm getting that feeling again."
The Alpha looked at him and adorned a concerned frown. He started looking around, slowing his pace as he continued leading the way.
"What is it, Dad?" Remus asked worriedly.
Damon looked back at Sebastien.
The hound—who had clearly been listening—shook his head. Could he not sense anything?
"Return to the trees," Damon called, turning right.
The pack began murmuring to one another, looking around with confused, unsettled looks on their faces. They followed Damon as he led the way back towards the trees, and as Lalo started panting out of fear, Rachel attempted to calm him.
Jackson looked around frantically, staring in the direction of the slightest sound. The ominous feeling grew heavier, burdening him with dread. He knew something was coming—he could feel it approaching like a storm on the horizon—and whatever it was, it was making his instincts go haywire.
And then he saw something.
A flicker of silver—the kind of flicker the scope of a sniper reflected in the sunlight.
Jackson tensed up and looked at Damon. "There's somethi—"
His words were silenced by a deafening, piercing boom, and when Jackson felt something impale his back leg, the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt electrified through his body. He collapsed and shrieked in agony; he looked down at his leg and saw his blood oozing from a horrific wound, and when he looked for Damon, he instead set his eyes on the crowd of silver-wearing men who burst out of the forest and began firing their weapons.
Hunters.
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