Greykin Mountain

| 54 | Howl

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

Jackson didn't dream. The Herald didn't show him a memory from his past that he had once remembered differently, nor did he see himself running through the woods again. This time, he woke feeling as though a heavy weight was on his chest.

          He opened his eyes to find that during their sleep, he and Damon had rolled over, and were both resting on their left sides. The Alpha had his arms around Jackson, which made him feel safe and content. But when he saw the sky outside was an array of dark blues and purples, panic struck his heart.

          "Damon," he said, carefully turning onto his back as the Alpha released him from his grasp with a tired murmur. Then, he glanced at the clock. "It's almost six," he said, resting on his right side so that he could face Damon.

          The Alpha kept his eyes shut, though. "It's...fine," he said tiredly. "We have two hours."

          "You said we should wake up an hour or two before, though...right?"

          Damon groaned quietly, lifting his left hand to his forehead. "I did," he mumbled.

          Of course, Jackson was slapped with guilt again. "Well...if you need to rest more, I'm sure that—"

          "No," he said with a sigh, dragging his hand over his face. "We need to figure out how to get back over to the forest without arousing suspicion, and then we need to find somewhere safe for you to spend the night."

          As Damon sat up, Jackson helped him and sat cross-legged on the bed.

          "There are a few alleys we could use," Jackson said, watching the Alpha assess his bandages. "Uh...I should change the dressing before we leave."

          Damon nodded as Jackson got out of bed and made his way around to him.

          "Do you feel better?" Jackson asked as he carefully took the bandages off the Alpha's arm.

          He nodded. "Do you?"

          "Yeah, I'm just...nervous," he answered, looking at Damon's wound.

          "Don't worry. I'll be there to guide you."

          Jackson smiled a little as he glanced at the Alpha's tired face, and then set his sights back on his wound. It had closed, but it still looked sore. "It's not open anymore, so we don't have to put new bandages on if you don't want to."

          "I'll be fine without them—thank you."

          "Mm-hmm. There's extra clothes in the closet. I imagine you don't wanna put those ones we found in the cavern back on," he said, glancing down at the pair of trousers and the torn, dirty shirt sitting over by the window.

          As the Alpha watched, Jackson pulled open the closet and took out a pair of trousers and a shirt for Damon, as well as a new shirt for himself. The jeans he had on right now were fine.

          They both got dressed, and once they were ready, they headed over to the window.

          "We can head across that road and down that narrow alley," Damon said, pointing at the street lit by the light coming from the buildings lined up the road. "We'll follow that to its end, which isn't too far from the river. So long as no one is around, we should be able to cross through the water. It's not too deep."

          Jackson took his eyes off the rooftops and looked at Damon. "Okay."

          "Are you ready?" Damon asked him.