Jackson's POV

I barge through the pack members, slamming myself through the backdoors and hiding amongst the trees as my thoughts begin to race again, "They hate me, they're going to hate me" I repeat, throwing my back against the tree and sliding down it.

"I mean would that really be so bad? We've been alone together for ages now, what's another... couple of centuries." Irene's hand slides from the other side of the tree, already sitting the opposite side from me.

"Irene...you remember who I am, what I am. Tell me."

"C'mon Jackson we can figure this out on our journey together, let's forget everyone else!" I hear her stand up, making her way in front of me to extend her hand out.

"Irene"

"We don't need anyone, just us two!" She shakes her hand eagerly.

"Irene"

"What'dya say?" She tries to pull my arms to uncover my face.

"IRENE!" I snatch my arm back, catching her off guard despite all the warnings. "Who. Am I."

Rubbing her wrist from the pain she begrudgingly opens her mouth, "Let me tell you something then." She begins to walk around the trees, tracing her finger along them as she speaks, disappearing from one line and appearing at the next. "All things must meet this boy, they denied him, they forgot him...they hated him. For his existence has pained them, but he was never wrong as this existence has only lived out its sole purpose. Until one day he met someone...an individual who went against his rules, an anomaly compared to the rest. Having lost the one he took an interest in, his loneliness crept up on him-taking a knife to his back and being sliced in two." She stops to appear in front of me, placing a finger on my stomach and pressing it in. "The remains, discarded from the place of birth and drained into a world it deemed unknown, and yet welcomed and recognised by all. What is this boy?"

Grabbing her finger to stop the stabbing pressure, "So what, am I just nothing more than scraps to something whole? Rejected and misplaced by someone who just decided they never wanted me!?" "Why do you know who I am and yet I don't know myself!?"

"I'm sorry Jackson but that's all I have" She turns her back to walk away from me.

"BULLSHIT IRENE!" I reach for her shoulder only for her to dive to the floor like before. Following her eyeline to my faintly glowing hands. "Why are you scared of this?" I put my hand closer to her face. "You so easily want me to use it on others, but what is it!?" I shake my hands back and forth, sparks of white dropping from them and landing onto the grass surrounding her. I watch as the green turns into varying colours as the patches of flowers begin to bloom.

I stare into her eyes as she watches the newly formed life, locking sights with me as she desperately looks for a way out of the situation."Ir-"

"Ah, I thought I heard you guys here" Keyon's face appears through the bushes with a wide grin. Causing a complete 180 from Irene as I retreat back into myself.

-

Keyon's POV

"You just up and left without anyone else noticing, huh?" I laugh out to them, extending a hand to Irene and lifting her up as I begin to make my way further within the woods.

She clears her throat before speaking as if trying to break a tense sensation within herself, "Yeah we just snuck out, it was honestly easy with everyone distracted like that."

"So why'd you leave in the first place?" I question while looking towards Jackson, already knowing the answer.

"I-" He goes to speak but she answers for him.

"He felt guilty for what happened, just needed some time to himself. But...why are you out here?" She raises her eyebrow, attempting to flip the situation on me.

"I'm looking for something"

"Like?"

..."That" We pause briefly before taking in the full appearance of an oversized plant, arched open with red thorns covering the vines surrounding the wide opening. The scent...I can smell it, it's here.

"I see, but why would you want to go in there? Do you even know what it is?" She questions again.

"I do, and I believe there's something in here that's been wrongfully stolen." I reach my arm out into the abyss of dark, having it swallowed up by a black substance I attempt to walk forward. Only to find myself being pushed back from something.

"That skin bag you call flesh stops you. I believe only a blessing from one of the royalty will allow you in-...what" She stops her rant as I punch my other arm through it, pushing harder than before despite the ripping sounds of the muscle within this body. The feeling of pushing against concrete itself, now the only issue is who's more durable. This husk of meat or the the Underworld's Law of nature.

"Jackson step back!" She goes to grab him as the portal begins to ripple with the thick black goop.

"Someone's coming through" He quickly comments, making me stare at it with bewilderment.

Feeling an even stronger pressure suddenly push me back I'm forced to stop my advances. The scent of him becoming stronger by the second as I wipe off the muck from my hands. "And...what do you believe you're doing here?" An voice of audible disgust speaks out, stepping through the portal with a red and black spiralled dress wrapped around her body. Her golden heeled shoes briefly resonating with the stone from under her foot as she steps onto the grassed terrain.

"We...got lost" I lie through my teeth, looking down into the woman's green pupiled eyes I immediately recognise the level of miscalculation I have made.

"So you two both wandered through the walls of a village and managed to sneak through an entire pack house? Just to find an unnatural structure and think to stick your hands into it?" She laughs at the oblivious comment.

"Well no, we entered through the village after being greeted by Nimue then went through this whole charade that came from the issue of Percy...so-"

"What happened to him? Is it getting worse? Did you...do something to him?" Strands of her hair gradually unwrap from her tightly braided appearance. 

"What-no he just sort of went on a really bad tantrum and attacked Jackson here" I place my hand behind him, bringing him closer to her so she loses interest in me.

Ignoring the untidy strands within her hair, she struts past us with a hurried pace in her step. "You're to never touch that gate without me or my husband's permission, follow me and maybe I'll consider letting you pass when the time comes." She flicks her head back to face forward, taking a few more steps forward before waiting to listen for my movement. 

"That was not a suggestion" She warns for the last time, forcing me to distance myself from my goal. Jogging up to walk beside her she wastes no time in questioning me, "Judging from your build you're not any normal human, are you?" 

"I'm an Alpha, although my members don't seem to even acknowledge me"

"You, an Alpha? You've got the height down but you've got the presence of a rodent perhaps, maybe your eyes got infected one day and you saw some yellow?" She confidently laughs with a deeper tone while continuing to walk. "And you?" She tilts to face Jackson.

"I-don't know, one moment I feel foreign in my own body as everyone sees me as human but, then they become afraid the moment I truly feel like myself. I just want to remember..." He whimpers a little bit, causing her to release her hair and pick him up like a child much to his own shock.

"You remind me of Percy when we first met, since then he's purposely gone the long way to help himself, going out of his way to cause himself harm to not trouble anyone else. And boy let me tell you how much more work it is with his current mentality." She roughly rubs his head, "Just sit back and let us do this, we'll find what you need" 

He simply replies with a confused nod before she opens the double doors, revealing a wide eyed Ryan. "There they are! I thought you'd wander out here somewhere."

"Reading people's footsteps again, are we Ryan?" The woman remarks as I meet his greeting with me with a handshake.

"What do you mean reading footsteps?" I awkwardly watch as she smirks, ready with an explanation.

"He's from Yue's pack, he can't see direct emotions unlike what's left of his pack but instead sees the leftover emotion from anything the individual has touched. He describes it as a coloured flame or whatever" She shrugs before carrying Jackson in further, noticing my hand hasn't been released yet I look up. Realising...a very big issue.

"Hey, you good?" I click my other fingers in front of his face to stun him out of the foresight, something I know can only be done under the right conditions...a problem that can be fixed.

"Ye-yeah, I am. How come?" He tries to ignore the small interaction.

Reaching out to his back I gently place my full hand on him, leading down to whisper in his ear, "What did you see?"

Turning his head to me with a panicked look he tries to reason with it, "I have no clue what you mean, but I've gotta get going back to my Alpha, sorry!" He reaches behind him to grab my wrist and remove my hand. Walking as fast as he can from the main hall we stand in. 

The whole scenario filling me with a certain...thrill. I've got nothing better to do, why not follow him. "Athena, I'm heading off with Ryan, take care of Jackson for me!" I cheer off before chasing him. Glimpsing back at her face as she gives me a distraught look.

A sudden thud shakes the staircase, my leaps up the staircase halted by a strand of blond hair tied around my ankle as she stops me in place, "I never told you my name" her eyes wander up and down my body. 

Digging through this fleshed out brain's memories I come across a save and graced memory, "We've met before, from when you borrowed the book from Eden, remember?" 

I slightly tug on the hair, wondering when she plans on letting me go as her brain attaches the pieces together. "Keyon!? You look like shit!" She bluntly states before letting me go.

"Thanks, catch up later." 

"No wonder I couldn't actually read your head! Guess you weren't lying about the Alpha status" She laughs, picking Jackson up again and going off to mind her own business. 

Now...time to correct an issue.