Greykin Valley

| 16 | A Wolf in the Dark

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| Damon |

The night Aysel left, Damon was convinced he'd never see Remus or Romulus again. He was certain that he'd failed his brother, that he'd failed to protect the people Alaric pleaded him to. And although Aysel and Romulus were still out there somewhere, Remus was right in front of him.

He couldn't feel relief, though. How could he? His son...Alaric's son was lying there frozen and covered in wounds. He had no idea what Remus had been through or how he'd got here, and it wasn't like he could ask the unicorn. They couldn't speak.

But...they could understand.

Damon reluctantly took his eyes off his son and looked back at the unicorn's burrow. Maybe he could find out what happened; what if it could somehow tell him how it found his son and where Aysel and Romulus and the rest of the separate pack were? Not knowing where they were and how they were doing had been eating him up since Aysel left, and as much as he loathed her and Elias for doing this...he still cared. She was still Alaric's mate, and he owed it to his brother to ensure that no matter where she was, she was okay.

He got up and started making his way towards the burrow. But that was when his guilt crept in again. He questioned all his choices, he asked himself once more if it was selfish of him to choose Jackson, and he wondered if he should have just stayed with Aysel if it meant the packs would still be together.

With a quiet sigh, he tried his best to put aside those thoughts so that he could ask the unicorn his questions. He stood at the entrance to the beast's burrow and saw the unicorn laying on the ground. It stopped cleaning its hooves with the ethos from its horn and lifted its head to look at him.

"Thank you for saving my son," he said sincerely.

The unicorn grunted at him as it jerked its head in a nod-like motion.

Damon slowly sat down. "Was it just him out there?"

It nodded again.

"There weren't any other wolf walkers?"

With a quiet grunt, the unicorn shook its head.

Damon sighed and looked down at the snow, but he knew better than to take his eyes off something as elegant as a unicorn. He quickly lifted his head to resume eye contact. "Do you know what happened to him?"

The unicorn nodded, but then its horn started pulsing. It moved its head as close to him as it could and whinnied.

What did it want from him? "I don't...understand."

As it grunted, it brushed its long tail over its face.

"You...want me to...touch your face?"

The unicorn nodded.

He wasn't sure why—perhaps it was another test of trust. So, he got up and lifted his paw—

But the unicorn pulled its head away and snorted, shaking its head. It looked him up and down and shook its head again.

It didn't take Damon long to understand. "In my human form?"

The unicorn nodded and leaned its head towards him again.

Damon did as the beast asked and morphed out of his wolf form. Then, he moved closer, sat in front of the unicorn, and gently placed his hand on its face.

A flash of golden light suddenly stole his sight. His heart started racing, and when the gold faded, it left a haze in his eyes—like he was caught in a dream. He couldn't see the unicorn or the burrow; what lay before him was a murky forest, and in the light of the moon, the shadow of the unicorn cast onto the snow.