Chapter 16: Playing Nice

I ran in silence towards the village with Alpha Rivers beside me.

"It's been weeks," I said eventually, breaking the quiet, "Where did you go?"

He looked down at me, a sly smile creeping onto his lips, "Why? Did you miss me?" 

"No," I said sharply, "But how could you just vanish like that? It's unsettling."

"I had things to do," he replied shortly before the silence resumed until we reached the edge of the village.

"How many of them are there?" he asked.

"Forty. There are two villages and a few lone houses around the territory," I said.

He nodded, "My men will round them up."

I clenched my jaw, "Pheonix men," I said, "The same ones who have killed their friends and family members? There are kids in those houses who are orphans because of them."

"We can leave them to die if you'd prefer?" he asked, "Or you can round them up yourself and have your most vulnerable pack members wondering through a warzone unprotected."<