⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐
| Jackson |
As the pack approached the tree line, the smell of pine and lavender was accompanied by a strong floral scent. Jackson couldn't determine what it was, but it was sweet and earthy. He tried to focus on it; maybe attempting to work out what it was would distract him from his thoughts, but it was useless.
He couldn't stop thinking about what Sebastien told him. How long was he going to have to wait? How long was he going to have to suffer from the tormenting feeling of having a piece missing from him?
With a sullen frown, he stared ahead, but when he spotted the huge lake at the foot of a mountain range, his dismay withered, leaving him awe-struck. A huge, purple iceberg-like structure protruded from the centre of the lake, and it looked like golden wisps were slithering around inside. The whole area was smothered by a magenta glow, and the water around the structure which wasn't frozen was still and silent.
"Woah..." Julian drawled from behind Jackson.
"I never thought I'd see it," Brando said.
Tokala caught up to Damon. "Hey, chief. I think I should scout the perimeter with Dustu, just in case."
The Alpha nodded as he stopped at the tree line. "Go."
"What the hell is that thing?" Wilson questioned, lifting his huge striped paw to point at the purple structure.
"That's natural ethos," Brando said as everyone stared at it. "It's mostly found in Helvetes and in much smaller forms."
Jackson frowned. "So...natural power?"
"Pretty much," the Epsilon confirmed. "Though it can't be used by many. I've heard that some mages can harness it or even create a similar phenomenon, but if one of us was to try and draw the ethos from that thing, it'd probably make us lose our minds."
"Yeah...now it's not so pretty," Julian mumbled.
Remus adorned a worried frown as he looked at Damon. "Uh...Dad, are we gonna be safe here? I don't know it just...feels a little scary walking into the place that basically connects all of Greykin's paths."
"Don't worry, Remus," Damon assured him. "If Tokala and Dustu find anything, we'll deal with it."
His son nodded in response.
"Let's go," the Alpha said and then stepped out onto the ice.
"Buckle up," Lance said ominously. "Abandon all ill-intent ye who enter here."
"Oh, stop," Rachel mumbled as everyone started following Damon.
"What would happen if someone with bad intentions or secrets or something walked into this place?" Lalo asked.
Wesley glanced back at him. "Then the lake would expose them."
"Have you ever seen it happen?" Wilson questioned.
"I've heard stories," the Gamma replied.
Jackson frowned when he saw that Sebastien hadn't left the tree line. "Sebastien?" he called. "What's wrong?"
Everyone stopped and turned to face the hound.
"Are you okay?" Julian asked in concern.
Sebastien looked down at the ice and then at the pack. "Yeah...for the sake of everyone's and my own sanity, I'm just gonna wait here. There's a lot of shit I know, and I don't wanna risk blurting it out because of some magical lake."
Damon frowned skeptically. "The murk only forces us to expose dark, destructive secrets which could affect and hurt those close to us. If you're hiding something—"
"It's literally none of your business," Sebastien snapped. "I'll join your Zeta and his protégé and look around for trouble."
The Alpha growled at him and stood protectively in front of Jackson. "Either step onto the fucking ice, or I'll be forced to halt this mission until I know what you're hiding."
Sebastien growled in return. "Don't threaten me, wolf."
"Why won't you step on the ice?" Wilson demanded, also moving closer to Jackson. "You know something, don't you? You and those Venaticus assholes are hiding shit."
"And I bet you it has to do with Jackson," Julian said slowly. "Right?"
"Make your mind up," Damon warned him.
Sebastien scowled in hostility and looked like he was about to pounce.
Damon looked like he was getting ready, too.
Jackson moved in front of Damon and Wilson and frowned at Sebastien. "Look, whatever it is, just tell us. I know you haven't been with us all that long, but...you've been helping, so the least we can do is give you the benefit of the doubt, right?" he said, glancing at everyone.
A few of the wolves nodded in agreement.
Sebastien shook his head and looked in the direction Tokala and Dustu went.
"Sebastien?" Jackson insisted.
The hound sighed heavily and glared at them all. It looked like he was going to speak...but after a hesitant grunt, he slowly lifted his front paw and placed it down on the ice. Then, he took another step...and another, and once he reached the pack, a confused frown appeared on his face.
"So..." Wilson drawled. "What's supposed to happen?"
Damon huffed irritably. "Evidently nothing."
"Or he has nothing to hide," Julian suggested.
"Then why did he hesitate?" Remus questioned.
"Let's just get a move on," Sebastien complained, moving past them all.
Jackson frowned cautiously and caught up to the hound. "Why did you hesitate?"
"Because I know a lot of fucked up shit, all right? I've done my fair share of heinous crap, and I've seen shit that would give you nightmares for years. I didn't want to have to relive any of it."
His cautious frown became a sympathetic one. "I'm sorry."
"I thought you were gonna blurt out something about the Venaticus doing experiments on Jackson if we didn't find anything at the lab," Julian muttered, following beside Jackson.
"Yeah, well, if that were the case, it wouldn't happen," Wilson said firmly.
"And there'd be a dead kludde on the ice," Damon growled, barging past Wilson so that he could walk beside Jackson.
"Hey, fucking watch it!" Wilson snarled.
Damon snapped back, "Know your fucking place."
The tiger grunted. "Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."
"Don't test me, you muto piece of—"
"Stop!" Jackson insisted, glaring at them both as they approached the part of the lake which wasn't frozen. "Please, can we just...try to get along?"
Both Damon and Wilson growled quietly.
Jackson adorned a hopeless stare. He was almost certain that his mate and best friend would never see eye to eye. They'd always be at one another's throats, no matter how much he asked them to try and at least tolerate each other. And it upset him. Would they go too far someday? Would they make him choose between them?
"Which way do we go, Dad?" Remus asked as they stopped by the still water.
"We'll take a minute to rest until Tokala returns with the perimeter information," the Alpha responded.
Jackson watched the pack disperse. While some rested and talked, others started trailing the water's edge, gawping into the water. Were they looking for the monster the stories said lived in the depths?
He was curious, too, and although he wanted to go and join Julian and Wilson in their search, he also wanted to stay with Damon. He looked at the Alpha, who was staring into the water while talking to Remus. But then he morphed into his Prime form, and using his man-like hands, he carefully climbed into the water and floated with only his head above the surface.
"What are you doing?" Jackson asked, moving closer.
But the Alpha didn't answer. He closed his eyes, tilting his head towards the sky.
"He wants to heal his injury," Remus answered, looking at Jackson. "He said it was still hurting and...maybe stopping him from performing properly."
Jackson frowned and watched Damon bathe in the lake. Why hadn't he said anything about it to him? Was he...embarrassed? "I didn't know," he mumbled sadly. "Damon?" he called.
He didn't respond.
"I think...he just needs to float there for a while," Remus said, glancing at Jackson.
The last thing Jackson wanted to do was disturb him. So, he headed over to Wilson and Julian. "What are you doing?" he asked, joining them by the water's edge.
"Looking for the monster," Julian mumbled, gawping into the depths.
"Yeah, I'm starting to think it was just a story," Wilson said defeatedly as he sat down.
Jackson stood beside the tiger. "Maybe it's not. Maybe we just gotta look harder. I mean...there's a lot of water," he said, glancing around. "Most of it's frozen."
"Hmm," Wilson mumbled.
While he watched Julian search for the apparent creature, Jackson thought about what he heard the pack saying about the water. Brando mentioned that those who drink the water could be granted answers and wishes, and he wondered...what if he drank some and asked it to help him imprint on Damon sooner?
He stared down at the lake, pondering and hesitating. What if...Wilson and Sebastien were right, and the water told him that his demon mate was someone else? He didn't want to hear that. He'd rather sit around waiting for his imprint to appear on Damon than know that there was someone else out there waiting for him.
"You all right, Jack?" Wilson asked quietly. "You're making that overthinking face."
Jackson sighed and looked at him. "Do you...do you really think that my demon mate is someone else? I can't stop thinking about it. It has to be Damon, but both you and Sebastien suggested it might not be, and I don't know what to do with that information."
Wilson shook his head and said, "Don't overthink it. I mean it's not like you can do anything to speed fate up, right?"
"I guess so," he lamented. "I just hate this feeling."
The tiger frowned sympathetically, but a devious smile quickly chased his sorrow away. "Hey, you wanna take a sip?"
"Huh?"
"The water. Should we take a sip?"
Jackson looked at Wilson and then at the lake. If Wilson was going to do it too, he might as well. Maybe it'd help, or maybe it'd push him deeper into the depressive pit that was tightening its grip around him.
"Do you really think it works?" Jackson mumbled as he followed Wilson closer to the water.
"Only one way to find out, right?" he said with a grin.
As Wilson edged his face closer to the water, so did Jackson. His heart started racing, and anxiety quickly ensnared him. He was afraid...but he was also curious, and his curiosity and desperation to defeat the empty feeling inside him was winning. So, when Wilson took a few sips, so did Jackson.
The moment the ice-cold water touched his tongue, a shiver ran through his tense body. It was the best water he'd tasted since getting to Ascela—it was actually probably the best water he'd ever had.
But then he saw something. A slither of striking white moved through the depths.
Jackson pulled his muzzle from the lake and stepped back. "What the hell was that? Did you see that?" he exclaimed, looking at Wilson.
Wilson didn't answer. The muto stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face—no, it looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
"Wilson?" he asked, moving closer. "Hello?"
He snapped out of it and frowned at him. "What?"
"What's wrong?"
"Uh...nothing, I just...I don't know," he mumbled, looking at the water.
"Did you see it too?" Jackson asked.
"Uh...yeah, I...I don't know what it was," he said unsurely, glancing at Jackson.
Jackson stared at the lake and gradually moved closer, searching for the white gleam below.
But then it hit him.
He started feeling lightheaded, and his heart thumped rapidly in his chest. All his thoughts of the creature in the lake vanished and were replaced by something else. A voice? No...a message. It told him that his demon mate was here, and they always had been.
It was Damon, wasn't it? Relief filled so fast that he couldn't help but smile brightly. But when would the imprint happen?
There was no second message to answer him.
He frowned and went to dip his muzzle into the water; however, that was when he saw the white shadow zoom around in the lake again.
"You saw it too, right?!" came Julian's excited voice. "Tell me you saw it!"
Jackson looked at them and nodded. "Yeah...I did."
"What do you think it is? What if it's a mermaid?!" they squealed, fidgeting around the spot beside Jackson and Wilson. "Or a siren!"
Wilson broke his silence with a sigh. "It's probably just a bunch of fish grouped together."
Julian frowned at him. "Wow...what's got you so glum all of a sudden?"
The muto rolled his eyes. "How long do we have to sit around here?"
Jackson looked over at Damon, who was climbing out of the lake. "Probably not much longer."
Julian stared intensely into the lake again. "What if it's a whale? A sky whale!" They looked at Jackson and Wilson. "I remember a story I heard when I was a kid about the skyfish. I've never seen them, though."
"There's not enough moisture in the air here for them, and it's too cold," Wilson muttered. "I've seen a few skyfish in Dawnward, though." He looked at Jackson. "You remember, right? We were out getting pizza at like midnight or something and it started raining, and there were these tiny little tetra-looking skyfish swimming around a lamppost."
Jackson thought about it...and he did remember. "Yeah...and then that bass-looking one came along and scared them all away."
Wilson laughed a little. "Yeah, good times. Getting pizza at midnight, sitting on a park bench eating bagels for lunch. But now we're out here," he said resentfully, glowering at the lake. "I miss the fuck out of pizza and soda, man."
"I miss pizza, too," Jackson mumbled.
"I tried it once," Julian said. "The base was super flowery, though."
"Ugh, Marone's Pizza on Fritz Street," Wilson said with a groan, salivating. "The fucking wings from that place were amazing."
Jackson salivated, too. "The Golden Dragon place just down the road; their butter chicken is to die for."
Wilson groaned again.
"Wow, you guys really had it good, huh?" Julian mumbled sadly. "The only time I got to eat something other than hares and venison was when my dad would take me into the town with him to pick up his mail. They had this like...homemade meals place, and it was owned by this old couple who cooked a bunch of different stuff every week. My fave was the salmon risotto."
"That sounds so good right now," Jackson said.
"Let's go," came Damon's voice.
Jackson took his eyes off his friends and looked over at the Alpha, who was heading towards the narrow stream which stretched out into the lake from between a narrow gulley. Tokala was standing there with Dustu.
As the pack began following Damon, Jackson got up and headed over there with Wilson and Julian. He felt relieved knowing that his demon mate was there with him, but how long would he have to wait until the imprint happened? The water didn't tell him that part, but what it did tell him was enough to settle his nerves.
"We're setting up our next ambush a few miles past the gulley," Damon called, looking back at his pack. "Sebastien, once we find somewhere, I need you to locate Kane's next hunting party and get back to us with how far out they are."
The hound mumbled, "Yeah, whatever."
Jackson tensed up. For a moment, he somehow let himself forget that they'd started a pack war with Kane, and despite being on the way to the lab, they were still fighting it.
He shoved aside all his thoughts of demon mates and focused on his senses. He needed to be aware; he needed to be ready. Anything could happen, and he wasn't going to risk repeats of the times he froze up or caused someone to get hurt...or worse.
⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐