Sol sat on the bed as he dialled the number he had received from Clark just a few moments ago. He hadn't had time to explain the situation or even why he wanted elder Jackson's phone number after all these years, and he was sure that his best friend had a lot of questions but at the current moment, he didn't have time for any of that. His eyes glanced up briefly at the closed door of the en-suite bathroom, his demeaner relaxing slightly as he heard the sound of the water hitting the shower floor.

He didn't know what exactly to make of the situation but it sounded a lot like Artemis had escaped from an experiment of sorts. He wasn't sure how she did it and he doubted that even she had an answer to that question, but he knew that elder Jackson would be able to answer some of his questions.

Elder Jackson was one of the elders whom had visited his pack frequently when they were younger, helping his father out whenever he could. Sol trusted the elder with his life and now, with Artemis'.

Her words kept rushing through his mind as he punched in the digits into his phone, holding it up to his ear as he listened to it ring. Once, twice but much to his relief, someone picked up before it could ring a third time. "Hello?" A familiar voice sounded on the other end of the phone.

"Elder Jackson?"

"This is he." The elder responded kindly on the phone. "Who am I speaking to?" He asked and by the tone of it, Sol could tell that he was getting impatient. He didn't blame him. He would be frustrated too if he received a call from someone who wouldn't just come forward with their name and reason for calling.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, pushing himself not to abruptly end the call. "My name is Solomon Westbrook." He informed the elder, his voice loud and clear. "I'm not sure if you remember me."

The elder paused on the phone call, his end quiet for a few moments. Sol feared that the man had cut the call but was relieved to hear him struggle for words instead. "Solomon Westbrook?" He asked in both exasperation and disbelief.

"Yes." His stomach was filled with nerves. He hadn't spoken to this man since he had lost everything.

"Solomon, I heard that you were alive." The elder stated dryly.

"Yes," Sol chuckled. "I heard you were alive too."

"You should have contacted me sooner, boy."

"I know," he sighed in agreement. "I've just been busy lately."

"You've been busy for ten years?" The elder teased, his voice light.

"No," he admitted honestly with a small smile on his face. The elder had always found a way to tease him when he was younger and he was glad that things hadn't changed after all these years. "But that's not why I'm calling."

"I think you're old enough to just called me Jackson now, Solomon." The man chuckled. "Now what is it that you want? You kids never call unless you want something."

"I actually need your opinion on something."

"You're going to have to tell me more than that if you want my help, son."

"It's a lot to explain." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as he briefly explained how he had found Artemis in the forest. He also mentioned the various scents that he had been picking up.

It seemed that elder Jackson understood the problem and the risks that came with it. "This sounds a lot like something that happened a decade ago."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's better if I explain this all-in person." The elder sighed. "I'll text you my address. I live about an hour away from Clark's pack."

Sol nodded as he stood up from the bed and stretched his sore muscles from this morning. "I guess I'll see you in an hour then."

"Good, and make sure you bring the girl with you."

"Will do, elder Jackson." Sol nodded and hung up the phone. Now all he had to do was explain the situation to Artemis.

-

A small travel bag sat in the back of the car filled with both his and her clothes that Solomon had packed quickly as he explained the situation to Artemis once she had finished in the shower.

She had taken the news better than he had thought she would. He was also glad that she had taken heed to his words and had written down some of what she remembered in a notepad she had swiped from his desk however, after about twenty minutes she seemed to have given up after having slammed the notepad shut and threw it onto the backseat. He didn't blame her for getting fed up of remembering everything.

"Want some?" She spoke through a mouthful of potato chips as she offered him the bag.

Sol shook his head and denied her offer with a small smile. "I'll have some later."

She nodded and continued to work her way through the bag, giving no indication that she had the intention of leaving him any. He didn't mind though.

It seemed that Artemis was stress eating and after about another twenty minutes of silence, she sighed and tied off the bag with a rubber band. "What am I supposed to say when I get there?" She sighed, resting her head back against the head rest.

"You can say whatever you want."

"I know," she nodded her head. "But I'm not sure what I'm expected to do."

"You're not expected to do anything." He promised her, keeping contact for a few seconds to make sure that she understood before turning his head to face the road again. "If at any moment you feel like you can't talk anymore, or if the memories are too difficult to talk about then you can stop at any time. Nobody will make you do anything you don't want to do."

"Thank you," she exhaled, offering him a small smile. "Do you think this will do any good?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think speaking to an elder about my past that I'm just suddenly remembering is even worth talking about?"

"Artemis," he addressed her, making sure that he had her full attention as he continued to drive, his eyes occasionally flickering over to her whom was sat in the passenger seat. "Horrible things have happened to you and I don't know how but you've managed to escape and blocked out all the memories until now." He paused and spared her a glance before continuing. "It also sounds like you weren't the only one who was being held against their will and if those other people, werewolves or not, are still down there and we can do something to help them, we need to try."

"I want to help," she closed her eyes. "I really do." She sighed and slouched down in her seat. "The things I'm remembering are absolutely horrible. I don't want anyone else have to go through what I did."

Sol gulped. He knew this was difficult for her, but he would be there every step of the way to make sure that she was fine. "We'll take this slow, I promise."

Artemis nodded her head in understanding. "Thank you."

They had been driving for a little over an hour now, having driven past Clark's pack about ten minutes ago. That meant that there was less than an hour of travel time left.

In hopes of momentarily distracting her from the perils of her memories, Sol sighed extravagantly.

It seemed to have worked because Artemis turned her head away from the window to look at him curiously. "What are you sighing about?"

"Oh, nothing." He sounded aloud but when he felt her gaze piercing into him, he sighed again. "I haven't seen elder Jackson since I was a pre-teen."

"Was he friends with your dad?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "He was actually friends with my mum and met my dad through my mum."

"Did he help out with pack business?"

"No, not really." He shook his head. "He was actually the youngest member of the elder council. All the elders were kind of spread across the country and he was the elder that was assigned to our pack."

"So, what do elders actually do?" She asked curiously.

"They do all sorts of things but what they mostly do is play the judge in pack cases and things like that. They also make sure that all the werewolf laws are being abided by and enforced by the Alpha, and other various things like that."

"So, they check up on the pack?"

"Yeah, something like that." He nodded with a small smile. "They usually come by once or twice a month to make sure that everything is in order."

"And elder Jackson was friends with your parents?"

"Yeah, he was. That kind of made him like an uncle to me especially since he lived nearby my old pack so we would see him outside of the pack visits."

"Do you think he'll be able to help us?"

"He's been around for a while and seen a lot of things, so I hope so." Sol sighed and continued driving. In less than an hour, Sol found himself pulling up the driveway of an old cottage on the outskirts of a small town down by the sea. They couldn't see the water from where they were but they sure could smell the chlorine.

As a child, it had always been elder Jackson visiting the pack, never the other way around. Or if his parents had visited the elder in his own home then they had never taken Sol with them. But judging by how close the elder's house was to where his old pack used to be, he could guess that the elder was living in the same house had been all those years ago.

Stepping out of the car and closing the door behind him, he offered Artemis a nervous smile.

It would be good to see another familiar face.

"This is your last chance to back out," Sol faced Artemis, staring at her to make sure he didn't miss anything.

She lifted her chin higher and her eyes didn't waver from his. "I want to do this."

He nodded before releasing a sigh. Looking away from Artemis, his eyes travelled towards the few steps they would have to take before reaching the front door.

Artemis skipped up the steps first with Solomon trailing behind her. She didn't appear to be as nervous as she had been on the ride over. In fact, it seemed to be the other way around now with Sol having second doubts regarding the situation. He was sure that if they turned around now, they would be able to get back into the car without being detected and head back home just in time for a late lunch.

However, he didn't act soon enough as the front door opened before Artemis could even knock on it. Artemis froze, surprised that the occupant of the house had opened the door before she had even reached it, but she smiled none the less. "You must be elder Jackson." She asked him, smiling wider when he returned the gesture and held out a hand for her to shake as well.

Elder Jackson nodded and smiled down at the girl. "I am, my dear. And you must be Artemis."

"That's me."

"Well, come on in." He smiled and stepped aside so she could walk into the house.

Artemis skipped into the elder's house and made herself comfortable in the living room without even a second glance back at Sol. She was a bright woman and knew that he would want some time to talk alone with the elder. He was nervous already and didn't need the added pressure of knowing that she was watching their whole interaction.

Elder Jackson hadn't changed the slightest. Other than his hair which had started to grey a little, he was exactly as Sol had remembered. Tall and lean but with strength in all the right places but most important of all, he had a friendly face which Sol was more glad to see than he had thought he would have been.

"Solomon, my boy, is that you?" The man called out as he walked closer to him and squinted his eyes slightly, almost as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

Sol smiled immediately as he came to a stop a few feet away from the man. He nodded. "It is, elder Jackson."

"My, you've doubled in height since I've last seen you." The elder exclaimed and held out his arms. Sol walked into the familiar, warm embrace and hugged the elder back. Pulling away from the hug, the elder held Sol by the shoulders. "You should have come to me sooner, boy." His voice held a slightly scolding tone to it, not that Sol minded nor blamed him.

He nodded and sighed, his eyes trailing behind the elder as he looked inside the house instead. "I know," he exhaled. "I should have come and found you but I didn't."

The elder frowned. "It wasn't your fault, you know that, right?"

Sol nodded but it had been a decade since his pack had been completely wiped out and it seemed that he still hadn't been able to shake off the blame he seemed to be putting on himself.

"If I had taken my training properly then I would have been able to help out and maybe my parents and the pack would still be alive."

"Don't be stupid. If you had been a part of the fight then you would have died too. There's no way that a young pup like yourself would have been able to save the whole pack. That's completely absurd!"

"I wasn't a pup, I was a teenager." He whined. It felt like he was a teenager all over again.

The elder chuckled, his voice still deep yet familiar; homely. "You'll always be a pup to me."

Sol smiled and shook his head before leaning in for another hug. Apart from Clark and his small family, and now Artemis, elder Jackson was pretty much all the family he had left. He knew that he was selfish and hurting the few remaining people that cared for him by shutting them out from his life as he dwelled in his own self-pity, but there was nothing he could do to change the past. All he could do was focus on the future.

He would be better.

-

You can wait for the next chapter which will be uploaded on 29/01/2020

OR

You can read the rest of the book, including bonus chapters, for free on Inkitt! Just search 'Solomon [COMPLETE]' or use this link: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

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Layla Knight 

14.09.18