Greykin Mountain

| 18 | The Path Ahead

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

The day dragged on. Jackson watched the pack bury Elsu under the tree, listened as they paid tribute to all their fallen once more, and then tried his best not to let his impatience get the better of him when most of the pack just sat there and stared into the trees.

          He looked over at Damon; every time he saw the Alpha on his own, he felt the urge to go over to him and talk, but every time he finally gathered enough courage to do so, someone always beat him to it. So, he stayed where he was, waiting for the sun to start setting. It shouldn't be much longer now.

          When he heard the word "rogue", however, he lifted his head and looked over at the pack. He set his eyes on Damon and his council. He tried to listen in, but it seemed as though he'd just caught the end of their conversation.

          They looked over at him.

          Angst simmered in his stomach and spread through him like poison when Damon, Tokala, and Elias started heading over. His hands trembled as they lay in his lap, and when their shadows crept over where he sat, he swallowed his fear and gawped up at them. He had no idea what this was...but the disgusted look on Elias' face told him it couldn't be good.

          "Stand," Damon demanded.

          As he was told, Jackson climbed to his feet. He held his hands over his crotch, looking around nervously. He still didn't get how everyone else was so comfortable being utterly naked in front of so many people.

          "My offer," the Alpha said. "Now's the time to give me your answer."

          Now? Jackson frowned in confliction—but why? He'd already decided. He didn't need to think about it any more than he already had...but he felt so nervous. It almost felt like he was about to sign a blood contract with the devil—it was close to it, wasn't it? Accept Damon's offer, join his pack, follow his lead, and do whatever he said. Damon would basically own him—the guy even had the audacity to call Jackson his before this. But just as Jackson had then, he felt strangely okay with that right now.

          "Uh...well, I uh—"

          "It's a simple yes or no answer," Elias grunted.

          Irked—but mostly unnerved—by Elias' snap, Jackson nodded. "Uh...yeah—yes," he agreed. "I...will."

          "Then, under the witness of my Betas, Elias and Tokala," Damon said, glancing at them as he said their names, "I accept you into the Grey Blood pack." He gripped Jackson's right bicep with his hand, and as something burned into Jackson's skin, the Alpha said, "Your initiation will begin once we cross over the mountain." He let go of Jackson's arm.

          With a perturbed frown, Jackson looked down to where Damon had been holding to see he now possessed the same tattoo as everyone else—the smaller variant of Damon's entirely-tattooed arm.

          "From now on, you refer to him as Alpha Damon," Elias instructed.

          Looking at him, Jackson frowned.

          "And I, Beta Elias, Zeta Tokala," he said, nodding over at Tokala.

          Zeta? Jackson remembered Tokala mentioning Zeta wolves but hadn't revealed he was one. Did that mean Tokala had been able to understand him as a wolf this entire time? Could he have heard his and Damon's conversations? He looked over at him. "W-what about everyone else?"

          "You'll also refer to Alpha Aysel as such," Tokala said.

          Jackson nodded. "O-okay...thank you."