Greykin Valley

| 69 | Conference Hall

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

As he left the elevator and headed through the house, Jackson's racing heart didn't calm down. His discomfort and confusion had been completely devoured by worry and angst, and he was afraid of what Damon might think or do once he told him what happened.

A part of him wondered if he should even tell his mate, but he didn't want to risk him hearing it from Wilson. That would make things a whole lot worse than they already might be. No, he had to tell Damon himself.

He navigated his way back to the room he'd rested in and followed the hallway the way Damon had gone when they parted ways. Familiar voices echoed from ahead, and when he emerged into a lounge, he looked around at all of his packmates, as well as Sebastien, who was standing by the fireplace with a Slappy's drink in hand. Where the hell did they get Slappy's out here?

"Oh, hey Jackson," Julian called.

Everyone set their eyes on him, but he focused his sights on Damon. The Alpha was sitting on one of the couches with his son and Tokala, and when he saw Jackson coming, he got up and made his way towards him.

But a concerned frown quickly stole Damon's look of relief. "What's wrong?" he immediately asked, standing in front of Jackson.

Jackson glanced around at everyone. "Can we, uh...can we go somewhere private? I need to talk to you."

"Did something happen?" he asked worriedly.

He huffed and gripped Damon's hand. "Can we just go somewhere?"

Damon nodded and turned around—

"All right, listen up," came Raphael's voice.

Jackson tensed up even more than he already was and sharply turned his head to look at the orange-haired guy, who was standing in the doorway with a vacant stare on his face.

"I'll be taking you to the conference hall," Raphael announced. "When you get inside, you sit down where you're told, and you don't speak, nor do you touch anything. You're going to be seeing several new faces sitting at the front of the room; if one of them happens to ask you a question, you stand up and answer. Got it?" he asked, shifting his sights to Jackson.

Everyone nodded.

"Walk single file and don't wander off; the last thing we need is one of you getting lost," the orange-haired man said with a grunt.

"Lost?" Dustu murmured.

"Let's go," Raphael called and started leading the way down the hall.

Jackson waited for a few others to go before him, and as he followed behind Tokala, he held tightly onto Damon's hand.

Raphael led them through to the house's entrance hall, and not only was it empty—save for the armed guards—but there was also a circular hole in the marble floor; its edge was glowing gold, and a narrow staircase led down below.

Jackson's anxiety was overshadowed by awe when he followed the stairs down into a massive hall. Huge stone pillars at least thirty feet tall connected the ceiling and the ground beneath them, and the massive area was lit by bright, golden fires. The further down they got, the more statues of people and creatures alike were carved into the walls, and the louder the distant crowd of conversation became.

"What the heck is this place?" Remus asked Damon.

"I don't know," the Alpha replied.

"A Nosferatu stronghold," Sebastien answered, looking back at them. "The kind of place where Caeleste leaders come to discuss the type of shit that's going on in Ascela."