Greykin Valley

| 42 | Exes

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

The sun was rising outside, and Jackson lay beside Damon unable to fall back asleep. He must have only gotten a few hours. Ever since last night, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the fact that something was still missing from him.

He glanced at Damon, who was still sleeping. No matter how many times he told himself that the Alpha was right—that he'd eventually get all of his memories back—he couldn't settle. He couldn't stop worrying that something would go wrong and he'd stay feeling lost and as though there was a hole in his chest.

With a quiet sigh, he rolled onto his side and gazed at Damon. A part of him wanted to wake him up so that they could talk and he didn't have to lay there alone in silence, but so much was going on lately, and he knew that Damon needed his sleep.

Jackson rolled onto his back and stared at the cracked, frozen ceiling. But before he could sink deeper into his thoughts, he heard rustling outside. The first thing he felt was anxiety, and as he slowly shuffled closer to the window and peered outside, he was afraid he might see a cadejo or hunters. But he couldn't smell rotting flesh, nor could he hear humans.

It took him a moment to locate what made the sound, and when he set his eyes on the white and brown-striped tiger crouched in the snow, Jackson calmed down. What was Wilson doing out there, though? He watched him prowl through the snow towards the tree line, and when he spotted a brown hare eating the berries from a bush, he assumed that his friend must be hunting.

He watched through the window as Wilson slowly moved through the snow, and when he pounced, the rabbit fled into the woods before he could try to grab it with his teeth.

"Fuck," Wilson grumbled.

Amused, Jackson smirked slightly. Then, he looked at Damon again. He didn't want to be alone, and he didn't want to wake the Alpha up. Wilson was awake, so maybe he could go and hang out with him for a little while.

He carefully got out of bed and left the room as quietly as possible. To his relief, he didn't wake Damon, nor any of the pack as he crept past and over their sleeping bodies towards the door.

When he got outside, he made his way around to the back of the hut. But Wilson was nowhere to be seen. Jackson frowned and looked around; he spotted paw tracks in the snow leading into the woods, so he followed them.

However, the further he got from the hut, the more hesitant he started feeling. He looked over his shoulder, and as he realized that he could no longer see the building, he tensed up and stifled a worried murmur.

"Uh...Wilson?" he called, looking around as he moved deeper into the woods.

Something rustled through the brush.

Jackson stopped walking and sharply turned his head towards the sound. But he couldn't see anything.

A twig snapped behind him.

He swung around again, "W-Wilson?" he questioned nervously. He focused his senses and tried to locate what he was hearing, but he couldn't feel an aura or anything.

And then came a low, rumbling growl.

Jackson prepared to shift, but before he had the chance, a blur of orange and white burst out of the bushes and crashed into him. He shrieked and panicked, but when he realized that he wasn't being torn apart, he frowned and stared at what had him pinned to the ground.

"Boo," Wilson said with a grin, his sharp teeth glistening in the early morning sunlight.

Jackson scowled and pouted. "You're not funny," he grumbled, trying to push the tiger away.