Greykin Mountain

| 26 | Wesley and Alastor

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

Jackson's curiosity was piqued when he heard the panicked commotion outside. He silenced his thoughts—most of which had him revelling in the fact he and Damon had kissed—and climbed out of bed. He headed across the room, pulled the door open, and stepped out into the castle ruin's gloomy, eroded hall. Moonlight crept in through the small windows and holes left by missing bricks, lighting his way to the closest exit, the door to which lay buried in the snow.

          He stepped into the vast space the ruin's four stretching walls bordered and stared at its centre, where Damon, Aysel, and a few other pack members were talking beside the cracked fountain. For a moment, Jackson stood there and watched, but when some of the wolves stepped out from the towers and holes in the twenty-foot-high walls, he followed them as they gradually edged closer to their Alpha.

          And then he listened.

          "There were four of them," Elias said.

          Rachel nodded. "They came out of nowhere. At first, we thought they wanted our kill, but they came straight for us."

          "And Brando?" Damon asked.

          "We chased them into a mineshaft, but one of them must have set off some old dynamite and the place collapsed. We waited, but Brando didn't make it. He's alive, though," Elias explained. "He called out to us, but we couldn't shift the rubble alone, nor did we think it was safe to stay out there. We were worried there might be more."

          Damon snarled irritably. "If it's not cadejo, it's something else."

          "We weren't followed," Rachel added. "We made sure of it."

          "What do we do?" Tokala asked.

          "We're not going to leave Brando out there. Elias, fetch Kaniya. Tokala, bring five Enforcers. We're going to get him," the Alpha ordered.

          "Damon," Aysel insisted calmly. "It's dangerous—there could be more of them."

          "Then we'll bring more of us." He looked at Tokala. "Make it ten."

          Elias and Tokala hurried off to do as they were told.

          Aysel huffed in frustration and walked off, and that was when Damon turned his head and locked sights with Jackson.

          Jackson froze for a moment, but Damon didn't adorn a scowl of any kind. Instead, he stared expectantly. So, Jackson made his way over. "What's going on?" he asked the Alpha.

          "The hunting party were ambushed by four wolf walkers."

          "Wolf walkers?"

          He nodded. "They could be rogues—it's not uncommon for rogues to form little groups out here, but in case this is a hostile pack situation, we're going to take most of our fighters to go and recover Brando."

          Jackson started to feel uneasy. Hostile pack? He'd thought Damon's pack was the only wolf walker pack out here. "What...what do you do if it is a hostile pack?"

          "It depends. Given the state of the mountains and our kind's dwindling numbers, it would be in both our best interest not to fight, and I would prefer we come to an agreement. But since these four wolves attacked Elias and the hunting party, I strongly suspect that if this is a pack, they won't be open to negotiation. I am hoping it's just a rogue group, though."