Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 

Jackson POV

The air was cool and dusk had truly set in. I found myself deciding to walk to Cleo's rather than drive. Something about being in motion, using my body always seems to help clear my mind. That was something that I seemed to need more of with each day that passed. I headed down the small footpath and lengthened my step. I didn't want to be late. I knew that the guys were probably already positioned in the woods and that Alec would be going to his evening run pretty soon. I just needed to spend some time with Cleo, so that she didn't get mixed up in all of this. 

The thought of her created a dull ache of guilt in my stomach. I didn't want to lie to her, but I really had no choice now. Everything had been set in motion so quickly and I felt completely unable to stop it now. Why should I? We still needed to make sure that we knew more about the Basati and I knew Alec must be holding back information from Cleo. Besides if I backed down now, that would undermine my authority as the alpha. The thought of backing down made the wolf inside of me fight its way up to the surface of my consciousness. There was no way I could do that, the wolf inside me wouldn't let me back down. Stupid impulses...

I walked up to her house, sitting there looking white and peaceful in the slowly approaching darkness and I felt excitement swell within me. I was excited to see her, even though the circumstances wasn't what I would have liked. I promised myself that after this night, after this thing with Alec was done, I would never lie to her again. I should really start learning how to control my wolf and not have it control my decisions. I bounced up the steps of the porch, my realization that I should do things differently in the future made me feel lighter. I was just about to knock on the door when I heard voices, Cleo was talking to someone.

"I'm okay. Don't worry about me," her voice sounded a bit shaky.

I couldn't stop myself from knocking on the door. I was curious to see who she was talking to, but my curiosity was easily swept away by my need to make sure that she was okay. Before my mind could worry further, she opened the door and strangely stepped out on the porch, closing the door behind her. If her voice had indicated that she was upset it must have passed in an instant. She now looked determined, her face was set and serious.

'Hi," I felt hesitant as to how to approach the situation. 

She had made no move to hug me or kiss me like she normally would have. Something in her demeanour was telling me something was wrong.

"Is everything okay?" I looked at her, wary of what to do. 

She didn't react to my question, still staring with those serious eyes at me. I needed to figure out what was wrong but maybe it would be best to start by going inside, that way I could also see who she had been talking to.

"Do you want to go inside?" I kept my voice light and carefree, hoping that it would help calm down whatever was happening.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said stiffly. 

I was slowly starting to panic on the inside. I had never seen her like this before. I didn't know what to do, I felt trapped in a moment where the pieces of my world was raining down around me like shrapnel from an explosion.

"What's wrong?" my voice was no longer carefree. 

I could tell that something had changed her but I couldn't understand what.

She looked back at me and shrugged her shoulders, "If you don't tell me what's wrong, how can you expect me to?"

I stared at her in confusion, I heard the words that she was saying but it was like they were a foreign language to me. I couldn't get them to make sense. I felt the vibration from my phone in my pocket before the signal had even started.

She nodded towards my pocket, "Say hi to the boys for me." 

She turned around and walked back into the house, closing the door behind her. I stared at the closed door for a minute, stunned at what had taken place. I felt like I had somehow slipped into an alternative universe for a moment. I looked at the small flake of paint, peeling from the top corner of the door before the insistent buzzing from my phone somewhat brought me back to reality.

"Hello?" my fingers shook as I pressed on the phone to answer the call.

"You have to come now, we're in the woods," Tim's voice was insistent in an out of breath type of way. 

It sounded like he had just run a marathon. I could tell that something must have gone wrong. I started sprinting towards the woods, leaving behind Cleo and the strange encounter with her. I had to focus on my pack, they would always be my first responsibility. Tim had really sounded off, he was normally the one that was the most collected. I sped up even more, throwing myself full force into the woods and sprinting towards the place where they should be.

I found them quickly enough. Tim was holding on to a tree stem, half hunched over and gasping as he was struggling to breathe. Wyhatt was laying on the group, for a second I feared he was dead but I soon noticed the small movements of his rib cage indicating that he was still breathing.

"What happened?" my voice blared out a lot angrier than what I had expected.

"Cleo," Tim wheezed out before taking another deep breath.

"What do you mean?" I felt the world I had known crumbled before me once more.

"She came here," Tim took a deep breath and struggled through the rest of his reply, "She knocked out Wyhatt and pushed me down on the ground. She was so strong and so quick. I haven't experienced anything like it before."

"Why did she come here?" my voice was small and fragile.

Tim had regained some of his normal breathing, "She came to warn us. She told us not to try to attack Alec." 

His words laid a dark blanket around my mind. She had known, she had known and she had wanted me to tell her. Tim was slowly moving over to Wyhatt, shaking him lightly to bring him out of his unconscious state. 

I stared into the darkness of the woods as the memories of the last few days flashed before my eyes. I should have known that I couldn't hid something like that from her. I felt the bitterness sweep up inside me, if I had just been a normal guy... If I didn't have to deal with this stupid wolf thing, none of this would have happened. I stared down at my pack members. I knew I should feel concern for Wyhatt, that I should worry about whether they had received any injuries. But I just couldn't force myself to care. I had tried to do what I could to protect them and it had finally cost me everything that I cared about. I slowly walked away from them. 

My feet were moving me in the direction of Cleo's house but only a couple of minutes minutes into the walk, I could feel them stopping. I stared into the darkness of the forest, I felt as if I was in a stupor and the only thought that was painfully clear in my mind was the realization that I may have lost my girlfriend tonight.

Author's Note: I know this chapter is pretty short - I'm working on the next chapter and I'm thinking I'll have it up on Wednesday.

I know this chapter was pretty short and heartbreaking. So I'll try my best to have another chapter up soon.

Vote if you wanted the next chapter to be posted sooner than Wednesday :)

Song: Control - Kevin Garrett