Traitor's Song

19. Cries

For being a country house, Henley thought that it would be a small place. She should have realized how foolish a thought that was though when she was taking into consideration that the place belonged to a prince. It wasn't an all out mansion, but it was still a two and a half story wooden plank house that had a beautiful view of the ocean from the front and a view of the grassy fields and forests beyond from the back. Henley stood at the island in the center of the kitchen, holding an ice cold glass of water in her hands. Her eyes were staring out the sliding glass doors that led out back to the fields. Even though the field that Jin owned was huge, she could still see a speck of black sitting there unmoving. She knew that, that was Jungkook. He had gone out shortly after Jin, Jimin, and Hobi left and never came back in.

Putting her glass down, she moved to slip the sliding glass door open. She walked down the steps slowly and began to approach the black dot that became Jungkook with each step she took forward. He wore black jeans and an oversized black hoodie. He was sitting cross legged in the field with his back to Henley and the house and his eyes facing the forest in the distance. With the approaching storm, the forest looked even more gloomy than it would have on a sunny day. Henley moved to sit cross legged beside Jungkook, sitting in silence for a moment before looking over to see his eyes were glassy with emotions. It was like looking into a window to his soul. Henley turned her face back towards the forest as Jungkook started to speak.

"I wonder if they miss me."

"Your family, you mean?"

She turned her head back to face him, watching as he nodded his head vigorously. A tear or two slipped free and ran down his cheeks.

"Why would you think they wouldn't miss you?"

"Because I was a rebellious handful. Whatever they said, I always did the opposite. It was a game to me. I thought it was fun. No matter how many times they told me to stop breaking the rules, I didn't stop. I thought they were being too...too..."

"Too over protective?"

"Yeah..."

Henley watched the tears roll almost in slow motion down Jungkook's cheeks in perfect formation. She reached over a hand to grip one of his hands.

"It was so long ago...that day that the hunters found me," continued Jungkook. "I wouldn't even know where home was if I tried to find it."

"I'm sorry that happened to you Jungkook..."

"I wish...I...I want to say that I'm sorry to them, and let them know what happened to me wasn't their fault."

His sorrow overtook him then as he slumped forward. Henley moved to put her arm about him, rubbing his forearm gently. He soon was moving so that he was lying down on his side with his head in her lap. Reaching out fingers, she began to stroke them through his hair. That seemed to comfort him as his sobbing started to ease up.

"You need to listen to me, okay?" she said as she kept stroking fingers through his hair. "Children do foolish things, but what happened to you was not your fault. I know your parents aren't mad at you, and they would welcome you back with open arms. I want you to know that we are your family now, and we will help you track them down."

"You will?"

She nodded even though he wasn't looking at her.

"We will," she said.

"Thank you Henley," said Jungkook. "I'm sorry..."

"Why do all the men in my life say that?" she asked softly, continuing to stroke fingers through his incredibly soft hair. "In this new family, I think we need to outlaw sorries."

Jungkook let out a weak chuckle.

"Henley?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise me something?"

"What's that?"

"If I change into a werewolf again...please don't let me stay that way. I don't want to lose myself to the wolf again. I'm scared that will happen."

"We won't let it," said Henley. "I promise."

Jungkook nodded his head as he rolled so that his face was looking up at her. In her eyes, she could see the young and scared child that had his entire life ripped away from him. Before either of them could say anything more, Jungkook moved to quickly sit up. He almost ended up bashing his face against Henley's. He more than likely would have if she hadn't leaned backwards at the last second.

"What's wrong?" Henley asked as she looked over to see Jungkook scanning about with a serious expression on his face.

"I hear something," said Jungkook.

"Is it the others returning?" asked Henley, but knew the answer was 'no' even before Jungkook said anything since his eyes were scanning the forest.

"No. I hear something in the forest," said Jungkook.

"What do you hear?"

"A cry for help."