Chris' POV:
"She did what?" I asked, sitting opposite Ryder as he ran a hand through his hair, clearly upset.
"She killed him," he repeated, throwing himself backwards so he was slouched on the sofa.
"He deserved it," Liam muttered beside me. I couldn't agree more. The mayor had kidnapped and poisoned us, not to mention he murdered my brother. Of course he deserved to die.
"And now Ella is a killer," Ryder stated, shaking his head. "That guilt is going to catch up to her eventually."
"She's killed before," I stated, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes, but never a human. And Mason was there guys, his mom was there, they saw her kill him." He shook his head again before taking a long, deep breath. "This is going to create war between us and the humans in Ridgeview. Our leader killed theirs, that's a statement."
I sighed. "They're going to come after her," I muttered, glancing to see Liam frowning beside me.
"Exactly." Ryder nodded. "And she's not in any state to fight. They'll either kill her easily or she will tear through every single one of them without mercy. She has nothing to lose."
"So what's the plan?" I asked him.
"There's more," he grumbled, avoiding my questioning gaze. "When she got home last night, she stopped off at my house to talk to Tyler."
"About?" Liam asked.
"She told him she quit. She doesn't want to be Alpha anymore."
My jaw dropped. I knew Ella was hurting but I never imagined she would choose to quit her role as Alpha. It was what she had wanted since she was a kid and she was so good at it.
"Can she even do that?" Liam asked, his tone proving he was just as shocked.
"No," Ryder groaned. "If the pack find out she is 'deserting them'," he said, making quotations with his fingers, "then they will not be happy. They'll want revenge and without a leader to rule, things will get completely out of control."
My eyes widened. "Tell me you have some sort of plan?"
He shrugged. "We're keeping it quiet at the moment. As far as the pack know, she's grieving but will return shortly. We'll just have to hope she changes her mind."
"We can stay with her today if you want, I'm guessing you're busy," Liam offered, glancing at me with a raised brow. I nodded, more than happy to spend the day here, anything to take my mind of losing my brother.
"Thanks." He nodded and ran a hand through his hair once again before standing. "Actually, Chris I was hoping you could help me with something else."
I frowned in confusion. "Like what?"
"Can you speak to Dean? He hasn't even bothered to come and see El since everything happened. He's the only living parent she has and he doesn't seem to care that she's hurting," he grumbled. "I figured he would listen to you."
"Yeah, sure," I said. I had no idea what Deans reasoning was for not being there for Ella but Ryder was right, she needed her father right now. "I'll go now."
He thanked me quickly before the two of us left, him heading home and me stopping at the door to Dean and Aidens house. Unsurprisingly, Aiden was the one to answer the door after I knocked and I frowned. "Hey kid."
"Chris, hey. What's going on?" He asked, clearly confused. "How's Ella doing?"
I sighed. "Not brilliant," I told him, not wanting to worry him with details. Sometimes I forgot Aiden was just a kid, but then again so were Zach and Ella. "Is your dad in?"
He nodded, moving out of the way so I could enter. I followed the sound of the television into the living room where Dean was sat, his feet on the coffee table, watching a movie.
I cleared my throat, capturing his attention for a moment. "Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked before turning back to the TV.
"What are you doing here?" I snapped back.
He didn't bother to turn around. "What do you mean? I live here."
"Yeah, but your daughter lives next door," I reminded him, stepping towards him. "Shouldn't you be there?"
He was silent for a moment and I thought that he was just going to ignore me. Still, he kept his eyes trained on the television as he eventually sighed. "She doesn't need me."
I rolled my eyes before reaching across and snatching the remote from the coffee table. I turned the TV off and moved to stand in front of him. "Actually, she does," I corrected, "she needs you right now more than anything. So why the fuck are you sitting here?"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He snarled, glaring up at me.
"Answer me!" I growled back, not the slightest bit willing to let this go. "Why are you sitting here and not helping your daughter get through this?"
"Because she doesn't need me!" He bellowed, raising to his feet so he was no longer looking up at me. "I have no idea how to help her," he hissed, "I'd only make it worse."
"Believe me, she couldn't possibly be any worse. She's completely broken Dean." I sighed, lowering my voice so I was no longer yelling. "She wants to die," I told him, keeping my voice quiet in case Aiden was listening. "She wants to be with him again, and she is willing to die if that's what it takes."
He shook his head, moisture gathering in his eyes. "How the hell would I make anything better?"
"You're her father!" I reminded him, clenching my fists. "You fought to become a part of her life, you wanted this. You don't get to change your mind now because you don't want to deal with the bad parts of being a parent! You've been through this, you've lost someone you loved. She needs you to tell her it gets better, or we are all going to lose her."
He didn't respond, simply dropped back down onto the seat and sighed loudly. I stared at him for a few moments, waiting for him to say something but when he didn't, I turned and sat in the seat opposing him.
"How are you?" He finally asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
"I'm fine," I told him.
He shook his head. "How are you Chris?"
I grit my teeth. Why didn't he believe me? I was fine, just worried about Ella.
"Come on Chris, I was upset when my brother died and he was psychotic and wanted to kidnap my daughter. Not to mention he killed the woman I loved. You can't possibly be 'fine'."
"Well I am. I haven't had time to think about it much, I've been too busy trying to figure out how to take care of your daughter," I spat. "Someone had to do it."
With that, I raised to my feet and left, not waiting to see if he had anything else to say. I could only hope he realised what he had to do and stepped up to help Ella get through this. If he didn't, we could lose more than just an Alpha.