Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 19

Chapter 19 

Jackson POV

I woke up screaming, my fists were clenched around the sheet of my bed and the second after my eyes had flashed opened my father rushed into the room. He looked dishevelled only wearing a pair of washed out boxers, his eyes blazed with sharp yellow and he scanned the room for any dangers. He turned to me as his eyes dimmed back to their natural blue colour.

"Is everything alright, son?" he gruffly asked.

"I'm fine. I guess it was just a nightmare..." I didn't really know how else to explain it to him. He certainly had no business knowing what was going on in my pack and why I had just lost my girlfriend over it.

"Okay then," he walked out of my bedroom without any further questions. As the door closed behind him, I turned and sat up on the edge of the bed. The grey morning light was pushing itself through my curtain, so I reached over and pulled it up. It rolled itself up and the string dangled in front of my face as I glumly stared out of the window. It had surprised me to see him shift his eyes, that he had been ready to let his wolf out to protect me. But then again, maybe it was just a reflex or maybe he was concerned about protecting himself? My thoughts ran darker and darker as I dressed void of any enthusiasm.

The wind pushed against my face as I walked towards campus. I had hoped that the walk would clear my mind but it didn't seem to have any kind of effect on me today. My mind was going through all of the things I could say to Cleo to explain myself. Somehow they all seemed to be lacking that magic touch that would make her understand why I did what I had done. She didn't know what it was like to be the alpha. I frowned as the word popped up into my head. I had never asked for it, but because I had transformed first the right had naturally fallen to me. Back then I had been excited about it. I had thought that it I was going to be a wolf I might as well be the top wolf. The thought made my mind go dark again, if I had only known all of the responsibility that was tied to it. If I had known how much I had to sacrifice for it, I would never had argued to keep the position. I felt a pang of anger towards my father, if he just would have told me what it was really like then I never would have done it. I didn't know much about our parents pack but I knew that my father wasn't the alpha. I knew that Tim's father was, maybe that's why Tim didn't step forward to claim the position? He could have, but maybe he had a father that actually talked to him about these things. The anger continued to billow through me as I stamped my way down the sidewalk going towards campus.

~*~

I was waiting for the rest of the pack in the clearing. I was not like me to be early to a pack meeting, but half way through the afternoon I had given up on classes and thrown myself into the woods. I had been looking for her on campus, kept my eyes open searching for the smallest sight of her. But after the first two classes of the day, it was pretty apparent that she had decided not to go today. I noticed with bitterness that Alec had also been absent. What could the two of them be doing? My wolf impulses had been so strong that I had given up on trying to control them, allowing myself to run aimlessly through the woods for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. I had run faster and deeper into the forest than ever before yet I could not run away from the thoughts that were chasing me.

I heard a rustle in the woods and soon saw the familiar wolves of my pack approach me. They all headed towards their normal shifting spots and I could soon hear their human voices carry across the bushes towards the clearing.

"Are you all ready?" my voice sounded more impatient that what I meant for it to be.

"Sure," Tim lightly jumped over one of the bushes and walked up beside me. The rest of my pack were slowly following his suit.

"So we need to talk about what happened last night," my voice snapped sharply. I took a deep breath before I continued, "I don't know how Cleo found out but she surprised us all with an attack of her own."

"So what did she say about it?" Wyhatt's voice was hesitant, approaching the subject as subtly as he possibly could. I knew that they would bring this up but I had not prepared myself for how much it would hurt.

"Right now... the two of us aren't exactly on speaking terms," as I had spoken a silence fell across the clearing. I tried to cover it up by adding, "Besides, she wasn't on campus today so I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it." 

They all nodded respectfully at me but I could feel that they didn't believe me. They knew just as well as I did that our attack on Alec must have been the end of my relationship with her.

"So what do we do now?" Tim looked at me. I knew he was trying to help me by changing the subject but his question infuriated me. Why did I always have to be the one with the answers of what we should do?

"For now, we carry on as normal and keep ourselves to ourselves. We continue to meet and we keep an eye on those that are close to the pack," even though I didn't say her name they all knew that this meant that Cleo was still a priority to me.

After the meeting was over, I waited for them all to leave. I wanted to run in the woods again, I didn't have anything waiting for me and couldn't motivate myself to have dinner with my father and his girlfriend. She meant well but when I could I tried to avoid her company. This was certainly not a day when I had any spare energy left to tolerate her. I felt the shift ripple through my body and my paws landed softly on the ground. I turned my nose towards the wind and inhaled the scent of the forest before I set off running. I released my mind and let the wolf overtake me, it roared within me and steamed ahead between the giant trees. I continued running and only focused on the sensation of the soil spraying up against the bottom of my paws as I propelled myself forwards.

My wolf slowed down and I suddenly jolted back into focus, regaining some of the control from him. I looked at where he had taken me and stared towards the edge of the woods, the trees thinning out and letting more of the moonlight in. Only a few more steps and I would be in plain sight from Cleo's back garden. I moved slowly towards the edge of the forest, still deep enough in to stay concealed from any unwanted eyes but close enough so that I could see her house. The lights were on and their warm yellow light casted thin illuminated rectangles across the lawn. Inside was a girl that probably would never talk to me again.

 As I looked at the house and felt my mind slip down into the darkness, the light in all the windows instantly disappeared. A blackout? I shifted before I even had time to command my mind to. I picked up the slightly saliva stained clothes and pulled them onto my body as I was simultaneously moving towards my house. A blackout was a perfect opportunity for me to check in on her. I ran towards the house and turned towards the back door. I looked over at it and it was half opened, slightly swaying back and forward on its hinges. What was going on? I could feel the pulse beat loudly behind my temples as I moved through the kitchen quickly. My mind was pushing me forward in tunnel vision, she must be upstairs and I must make sure that she was all right. I quickly climbed the stairs and moved instinctively towards her bedroom. I pushed the door open and heard a small swishing sound as something flew through the air towards me.

Author's Note: THANK YOU FOR BEING AMAZING AND FOR YOUR VOTES AND COMMENTS :)

What did you think of the end of the chapter? Do you think Jackson will be seriously hurt? Also - why was the back door already open?

Song: Grapell - White Fox In The Snow