Chapter Fourteen - Hunters
Lincoln's P.O.V -
I didn't sleep well. In total I would guess I only managed two and half hours. When it reached nine o'clock I decided to get up, Milo was still fast asleep beside me.
I got ready for the day quietly, so I wouldn't disturb Milo. I made my way down the stairs finding Cora and Cole eating breakfast. They had come home earlier than Wyatt and I yesterday so they probably got enough sleep.
I grabbed an apple sitting at the table beside Cora. She looked at me sympathetically, I bit back my comments knowing she wasn't trying to annoy me. Cole was also acting different, he wasn't glaring at me like he usually does instead his face was blank.
"Hi." Cora spoke softly placing her hand over mine.
"Stop it." I warned moving my hand away from hers. "Where's my dad?"
"He hasn't come back." Cole answered focused on his breakfast now.
"What?" I looked between them. "He's been gone all night?"
Cora nodded with a sad face. I stood up throwing the half eaten apple in the trash.
"I've got to go find him." I ran a hand through my hair.
"Lincoln, he's been searching all night. He could be anywhere." Cora pointed out.
"That's even more of a reason to look for him." I rushed out of the house shifting into my wolf and sprinting past the line of trees.
I searched for a few hours before I finally caught his scent. I found him sleeping at the base of a tree still in wolf form. I nudged him with my nose to wake him. His eyes opened slowly as he stared at me sadly, his wolf released a whimper.
'Let's go home.' I told him.
He shook his head turning to look at the dense woods. 'I need to find her.'
'This isn't the way to do it.' I told him. 'Remember.'
Last time my dad spent days searching for my mum only to be found unconscious due to dehydration, if anything it meant it took us longer to find her.
He remained quiet before nodding begrudgingly. We walked slowly back to the pack house, it took a long time but we couldn't go any faster due to how exhausted my dad was.
When we finally got back my dad grabbed some food and headed straight to his room not talking to anyone. I sighed shifting back into my human form pulling on the basketball shorts Wyatt handed me.
"Where's Milo?" I asked disappointed that he wasn't here.
"Church." Lucy answered from the couch, she wore an amused smile.
Wyatt chuckled walking over to sit beside his mate. I feel like I had missed some large development in their relationship, they were suddenly very close.
"He should be back soon, he left a couple hours ago." She checked the time. "He's normally out of church by half eleven, so I have no idea where he is."
It was now almost one so he must be at home. I was tempted to go over to his house so that I could talk to him but I wasn't sure how his mum felt about everything.
"I'll call him." I mumbled walking into the kitchen.
He picked up straight away and began to ramble into the phone. "I'm so sorry. I went to church with my mum and I was going to go back to yours straight away but my Uncle surprised us by flying to America so I had to drive to the airport. Then I had to explain to both my uncles that I am gay. I'm trying to convince my mum to let me leave."
"Oh ok." I replied. "Let me know if you can come over later then."
"Con chi stai parlando?"(Who are you talking to?) I heard a voice in the background.
"Lincoln."Â Milo said suddenly.
"What?" I asked confused.
"No I was answering my uncle, he was asking who I was talking to." Milo explained.
"Ã il tuo ragazzo?"(Is that your boyfriend?) The same voice, his uncle, asked.
"Sì, quindi puoi concedermi un momento da solo?" (Yes so can you give me a moment alone?) Milo replied.
"Posso parlargli?" (Can I talk to him?) His uncle got closer to the phone.
This was weird because I knew they were talking about me but I had no idea what they were saying.
"Non sa parlare Italiano, zio." (He can't speak Italian, uncle.) Milo answered.
"I'm so confused." I spoke up.
"He's trying to talk to you." Milo informed with a sigh.
"I'll talk to him." I offered.
"He can hardly speak English and you can't speak Italian." Milo pointed out.
Before I could reply their was some rustling on Milo's side of the phone, I frowned slightly.
"Hello Lincoln." His uncle spoke slowly.
"Hi, um... Milo's uncle." I greeted awkwardly.
"Roberto." He told me.
"Ridammi il mio telefono!" (Give me back my phone!)Â Milo exclaimed in the background.
Roberto decided to ignore him. "You date Milo?"
"Uh, yeah." I laughed awkwardly.
"Love him?" He stuttered slightly.
My eyes widened at his question. "Yes, a lot." I hadn't exactly said that to Milo yet but oh well.
"Bene." (Good.) He replied. "Ciao."
There was some more rustling until Milo got the phone back. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine." I smiled into the phone. "His English isn't actually that bad."
"You should see him at a restaurant trying to order food." Milo laughed. "He can never seem to remember what foods are called."
"I'm probably worse, you should see me on holiday." I responded. "I'm one of those annoying tourists who talk really loud and use hand gestures."
"Just get your phone to translate everything, that's what I do." Milo explained.
"I usually leave my phone in the hotel room." I shrugged.
"That's an awful idea, what if you get lost?"
We spoke for a few more minutes and I felt my mood improve talking to him.
"Your uncle said you're talking to your boyfriend?" A feminine voice asked, his mum.
I heard him groan. "Mama I've only been talking to him for a few minutes."
"You know what I said Milo." She scolded. "I said if you spent a couple hours with you family then you can go and see him."
"I was spending time with my family! Roberto was here talking to him as well." He argued.
I sat quietly not sure if I should hang up or not.
"You've been gone all weekend. I didn't think a couple hours was much to ask for." You could hear the annoyance in her voice.
"Mama." Milo sighed.
"Give me your phone." She huffed. "You can see him after school tomorrow."
My mood dropped at the news that I wouldn't see him.
"What!" He exclaimed. "I need to talk to him, he's going through a family problem."
"Well if it's a family problem he should probably be with them and not you anyway." She argued.
"It's fine Milo." I spoke quietly trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. "I'll just see you tomorrow."
"Okay." He sighed. "Bye Lincoln."
I hung up the phone tossing it onto the counter and walking back into the living room. Lucy looked at me expectantly.
"Well?" She asked when I didn't say anything. "Is he coming over?"
I shook my head. "He has family over so his mum wants him to spend time with them."
Lucy sunk into the couch at my words. Wyatt threw a sad glance over at me knowing how much I needed him with me right now.
"I should probably go to my office and try to figure out what to do." I suggested making my way up the stairs.
***
"So to sum up we've got nothing." Wyatt concluded after I explained everything we knew about my mum disappearing.
"Not nothing." Cora shook her head. "We know who it is."
"We think we know." I expanded.
"Who else would it be?" Cora questioned. "The hunters took her last time and they've been attacking the pack ever since. Of course it's them."
I couldn't let us focus on the hunters only for it to end up not being them. That would waste too much time. "We can't be sure." I said.
We all turned our heads to look at the door when someone knocked on it. I glanced at my watch to see that school had finished, Wyatt and I had decided not to go for obvious reasons. I felt hope fill my chest that this was Milo.
Cora walked over opening the door revealing my sister. I gritted my teeth staring at her.
"Your mate has been knocking on the front door for ages now." She told me gesturing for someone to come in.
Milo walked in rubbing his arms, he must be cold if he's been standing outside for a while.
"Hi." I felt a smile tug at my face as he walked over.
I wrapped an arm around his torso I ran my hand up and down his upper arm to warm his up.
"How was school?" I asked him resting my chin on his shoulder.
"Fine." He mumbled. "Nothing interesting happened."
"Where's Lucy?" Wyatt asked sitting down in one of the chairs.
"Oh she just dropped me off, she's with Oliver." He explained. "They're having an important talk."
Wyatt nodded with relief. Yeah I definitely missed something, I'm going to have to ask Wyatt about it later.
"Have you found anything?" Victoria asked desperately.
I noticed her eyes were puffy and she hadn't caked her face with makeup like she usually did. Her clothes weren't revealing like they normally were instead she was wearing leggings and what I think is mum's sweater. She looked completely different, I preferred it.
I shook my head sadly. "Not yet, sorry."
She nodded taking a deep breath. "Tell me if you do, I'll be in my room." She walked out closing the door behind her.
"Nothing?" Milo spoke astonished looking down at all the papers on my desk.
"We have an idea of who it is but apart from that there's nothing." I lifted my head off him.
"Who do you think it is?" Milo asked curiously.
"The hunters who took her last time." Wyatt answered.
"Hunters?" Milo looked at me with wide eyes. "Werewolf hunters?"
I nodded sitting at my desk. "A group of them took her last time, and they've been attacking the pack since we got her back."
"Are they humans?" Milo looked disgusted.
"Yes, but they have weapons specially designed to kill us." Cora informed.
"Like what?" Milo's eyes flashed with concern.
"They coat bullets and weapons in wolfsbane." I told him. "It's poisonous to us."
"Can it kill you?" He looked slightly scared.
"If you have to much in your blood system then yeah." Wyatt shrugged. "It usually just burns the skin and makes us super drowsy and sick."
"We usually heal quickly but if we have wolfsbane in our system then wounds take as long as you humans to heal." Cora added. "If anything it makes us more likely to die of blood loss."
"Okay." He nodded taking in all the information.
"Don't worry about it." I told him. "We'll all be fine."
"That's what they say in movies before one of them gets killed." He warned.
"Fine." I teased. "We're all going to die."
"That's better." Milo smirked at me.
His face turned serious. "How are you?"
I glanced towards Wyatt and Cora then back to Milo. "Better now that you're here." I admitted.
His phone began to ring, he pulled it out of his pocket. "It's Lucy." He explained answering the phone.
Wyatt perked up as he watched Milo eagerly, he was no doubt trying to listen to the conversation.
I couldn't hear what Lucy was saying but I could tell that she was crying and so could Wyatt. His face turned to one of concern.
"Already?" Milo asked, he listened to her reply before nodding. "I'll be right there."
My jaw clenched. He only just got here but he's leaving already?
Milo hung up the phone looking at me cautiously. "Do you mind if I leave? Lucy needs me."
"It's fine." I forced a smile. It wasn't but I could look after myself.
"Is she okay?" Wyatt asked standing up. "Did she do it?"
"Yes, to both questions." Milo nodded. "She's just a bit upset."
"I'll come with you." He offered grabbing his keys.
Milo stared at him unsure. "I don't think that's the best idea. I'll text you later and tell you how she is though."
Wyatt couldn't hide his sad face. "Well I'll drive you anyway." He frowned.
Milo glanced over to me, from his expression I could tell he wanted me to drive him. "I have work to do here anyway." I told him.
"Okay." He nodded. "Let's go then."
Wyatt and Milo walked out leaving my chest feeling empty. I sighed flicking through the papers getting back to work.