Chapter 157 The pack run
Chapter 157: The pack run
Milo's POV
Two days of mourning passed like a heavy fog. We mourned over five hundred pack members who had lost their life in the cold war, erecting a memorial ground, each grave marked with stones arranged in the pattern of a crescent moon, the symbol of the Mafia wolf pack. I stood beside Damon through it all, translating his thoughts when needed, being his voice when his beast form could not speak.
Now, under the full moon, the pack gathered for the memorial run that was to happen after the mourning. It's an old tradition done to honour our fallen in the way of the Goddess.
a way to honor the dead by running as one pack, letting our fallen run with us one last time through our memories.
"Ready?" I asked Damon, who had been standing quietly, beside me through our bond link.
We walked together, side by side like always, to meet the pack members that had gathered together. Their faces looked ashen, but their eyes shone with a bright light that reflected the moonlight.
Jams stood at the wood platform overlooking the crowd, together with the remaining shadows that lined up beside him.
Damon nodded at us, he turned to address the pack members “we honour our fallen brothers and sister, by our strength and sweat they live through us, run through us and howl towards the moon.”
Howls followed his speech, after which they started shifting one after the other, the sound of clothes tearing echoed through the forest, as each one turned into their wolves.
“Milo, common,” Damon nodded , then lowered himself to the ground. Through our bond, I felt his invitation, warm and certain.
He was inviting me to climb his back, at first I hesitated, but when he kept on nudging me, I had no choice but to climb onto his back, my fingers tangling in his thick black fur. It felt strange, but also felt right, like pieces clicking into place.
James raised his head to the moon and howled, The pack answered, their voices weaving together into a song of grief and gratitude. Even in his beast form, Damon's howl rose above them all, deep and mournful.
Then we ran.
The pack moved as one through the forest, a river of fur and moonlight. Damon's powerful strides carried us at the front, his massive paws barely making a sound despite his size. I had never felt anything like it. The wind whipped through my hair, the forest blurred past, and through our bond, I could feel everything Damon felt. The earth beneath his paws, the scents on the wind, the presence of every pack member running with us.
"This is incredible," I whispered, knowing he could hear me” You are incredible,” his voice responded in my mind, making my cheeks burn. “The way you stood up for me. The way you became my voice when I had none.”
"Anyone would have done the same," I said, though we both knew that was not true.
“No one ever has. Not for me.”
We ran deeper into the forest, the pack spreading out behind us. Some had fallen back, the wounded unable to maintain the pace, but Damon kept going. Taking another track road, I realized he was leading us somewhere specific.
"Where are we going?" I asked through the bond.
“I want to show you something. Something beautiful. Something my mother showed me before she died.”
The trees began to thin, and I could hear water in the distance. A waterfall, maybe.
“When I was young and could not control my shifts,” Damon continued, “My mother would bring me here. She said the moon goddess blessed this place, that it could calm any beast.”
"Did it work?" I asked, genuinely curious.
“Sometimes. But mostly it was just being with her that helped. Having someone who was not afraid of what I might become.”
My arms tightened around him. "I will never be afraid of you."
'I know,' he said, and I felt his gratitude through our bond like warm honey. “That is why I wanted to bring you here. To share this with you.”
The sound of water grew louder. We were close now. I could feel Damon's excitement building, mixing with something else. Nervousness?
"What are you not telling me?" I asked.
“There is something I need to say. Something I should have said before, but I was too much of a coward.”
My heart started racing. "Damon..."
“You said you loved me, Back by the river. You tried to take it back, but you said it.”
My face burned with embarrassment. "I did not mean to, It just slipped out and…"
“I love you too, Milo.”
The words hit me like lightning. I forgot how to breathe, forgot we were running, forgot everything except those four words echoing in my mind.
“I have loved you since the moment you stood up to me in that cave. Since you called me out on my self-pity and refused to let me disappear. Since you became my voice, my anchor, my…”
"Damon, watch out!"
But my warning came too late. Distracted by his confession, Damon had not seen the ground give way beneath us. The earth crumbled, and suddenly we were falling.
My scream cut through the night as we plummeted into darkness. Damon twisted in midair, curling his massive body around me to take the impact. We hit water with a tremendous splash that drove all air from my lungs.
Cold, the water was so cold it burned. I kicked frantically, but I did not know which way was up. My lungs screamed for air. Then strong jaws closed gently around my shirt, and Damon pulled me to the surface.
I gasped, coughing up water, my whole body shaking. We were in some kind of underground lake, fed by the waterfall I had heard earlier. The cavern stretched up into darkness, the hole we had fallen through barely visible high above.
"We need to find a way out," I said through chattering teeth.
But when I looked at Damon, his red eyes were wide with something I had never seen before. recognition yes, but also something else,
Fear.
“This is not possible,” his voice whispered in my mind.
"What? What is not possible?"
“This place. It should not exist. It was destroyed. My mother said the old Alpha, my grandfather, had destroyed it, and afterwards it filled in after…”
He trailed off, but I felt the memory through our bond. A young wolf beast running out of control, falling into this same cavern. His grandfather's rage, The beatings that followed.
"After you fell in as a pup," I finished softly.
“But it is here, Still here, Which means…”
A sound echoed through the cavern, Not water, Something breathing.
“We are not alone,” Damon's mental voice was tight with tension.
Eyes opened in the darkness. Pairs of them, glowing sickly green. The breathing grew louder, multiplied. Whatever was down here with us, there were many of them.
The eyes began moving closer, and I realized with growing horror that we were trapped in an underground tomb with creatures that had been feeding on each other in the dark for who knows how long.
"Can you reach the pack? Through the bonds?"
“Noo, we are too far underground, The stone blocks it.” His body tensed beneath me. “Hold on tight, Milo, Whatever happens, don't let go.”
The first feral lunged from the darkness.