Greykin Valley

| 55 | Bloodlines

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

When Cyrus and Raphael led him into the war room, Jackson stopped by the doors and stared around in awe. There were at least thirty people standing and talking loudly around the huge table in the middle of the room; the shelves on the left and right walls were packed with weapons and devices, and several computer screens were attached to the back wall with one woman sitting between them all. It looked like a government facility.

"Settle down," Cyrus called as he approached the table.

"This way," Raphael muttered to Jackson.

With a nod, Jackson followed him to the left and around the table to where Amos and Elias were standing. Raphael stood beside Amos, and Jackson stood between him and a very rugged-looking man, who grunted and stared skeptically at him from the corner of his eye.

"All right, word's in from the bosses," Cyrus said as he placed his hands on the table and leaned on them. "We're taking this one with us so he can locate Zalith's amulet," he said, nodding at Jackson.

Jackson frowned nervously as everyone glanced at him.

"The mission is to extract all the targets," Cyrus said as he waved his hand towards the centre of the table, where files of each of Jackson's packmates lay, all with headshots and information about them. "Sebastien's with them, too."

But when Jackson saw Alastor, Enola, and Bly, his heart sunk into his stomach. "Um..." he mumbled sadly.

"What?" Cyrus questioned.

"Those...those three aren't...well...they're not...with us anymore," he said guiltily.

"Which three?" Raphael asked.

Jackson shuffled around uncomfortably. "Alastor, Enola, and Bly."

Cyrus waved his hand dismissively.

The woman closest to the files quickly pulled away those Jackson had mentioned.

"All right," Cyrus said. "These are who we're looking for. Sebastien is a high priority."

"What about the muto?" Amos asked.

Cyrus shook his head. "Turns out that Lucian went behind his uncles' backs and decided to read the guy's mind, so the location of the lab is now common knowledge."

"Fucking Lucian," Raphael muttered.

"Is that jealousy, Raphael?" Amos asked as he nudged his arm.

Raphael snarled at him.

"Enough," Cyrus called.

Jackson was interested to know more about these people and how they knew Heir Lucian and Lord Caedis but now wasn't the time. Before anything else, he wanted to get Damon, Wilson, and the pack out of Kane's arena.

"Raphael, it's your team's job to protect Jackson while he locates the amulet," Cyrus said. "Amos, your team will strike from the west, and Elias, your team will strike from the north. My team will strike from the south, and Landon, you're coming in from the east. Amos and Elias, you're crowd control. Landon, you're taking out the beefier hostiles, and my team and I are getting the targets out. Understood?"

Everyone murmured and nodded in agreement.

"What about the Amarok?" Raphael questioned as he crossed his arms. "If I'm babysitting, I can't help you with it, and Zanthé's in Dor-Sanguis trying to reason with the Eclipse Redbloods."