HOWL: UNCHAINED (rewritten)

7 - Deafening Whispers

--Billie's Pov--

I walked outside to meet up with Tony. My phone screen was cracked and near shattered, rendering it useless. At least until I got it fixed. I'm sure my mom was worried about me.

"Any way I can call my mom?" I ask him.

"Don't have a phone."

I laugh, "why not?"

"Kinda beats the purpose of living off grid, no?"

I look around, taking in the vast expanse of woods along with the cabin porch I was standing on. It really made me think just how far out I was. Of course he was living off grid, but why? I sat next to him just on the top step, watching as he continued to sharpen a large hunting knife.

"Why are you living all the way out here?"

"Just did what us wolves do best. I was running. Found this old cabin and gave it a fixer."

"You were running from hunters?"

He nods, inspecting the knife before sharpening, "one in particular."

"But you were an alpha of the pack, why run scared?"

"Would you rather there be a blood war between wolves and hunters? Running scared for the rest of your life as they hunt you down? Watching as those around you fall to their bullets?"

I knew what he was trying to say. We've all seen death at one point or another.

"You have a point," I agree, "but aren't we already hiding in fear?"

He sighs as he puts his knife to the side and turns to me, "do you wanna know who I lost?" I nod, urging him to continue.

"My family. I barely escaped with my life. Sometime ago, we found a small pack and they allowed us to stay in their territory. They accepted that I was married to a human and they accepted we had a child," he pauses, letting out a deep exhale through his nose, "then that bastard took that away. The second the bullets started to fly I told Renee to take our daughter and leave. She was shot just before she was-"

The abrupt stop in his sentence and the choked sob was what had me regretting asking. To see him nearly break down made me think of my mom. How she reacted when dad was killed.

"What happened to your daughter?" I say softly.

"The man that killed Renee took her. I couldn't fight. Everyone was dead, except for the boy."

"He's not your son?"

He shakes his head, reaching for the knife again, the tip of his thumb tracing along the blade, "no. That man, Cyrus his name is, was the one who led the massacre. But that's my point, Billie. I would give anything to kill him, but I would give more to see my daughter if she's still alive."

"What if I told you she was?"

He looks at me, sadness leaving his face for a moment as his eyes soften, "what?"

--Calista's Pov--

"Are you sure she said those exact words?" Blayne asked me.

After the incident with Emilia, I had Tara take her home and stay with her while I came back to the den. It concerned me that Emilia nearly killed that warlock, especially when his thoughts were all over the place even as he was close to death. He didn't want to hurt her nor did he want to kill her.

It was bad enough that the Nightwatch wanted warlocks and witches on their side but with what Emilia said about her, I was truly convinced history was beginning to repeat itself.