Everyone has been a complete mess after he found Jack's necklace-- it was officially known by everyone that Ella had been kidnapped by my father.
As much as it pained me to admit-- the necklace that Theo and the trackers found in the wood was the proof needed to come to the realisation that Alpha Hayden was the reason for Ella's disappearance.
When Jack had found out that our father sent out a wolf to follow him and his mate to Theo's territory, the pain-stricken look that was plastered on his face made my lip tremble and my eyes burn with unshed tears.
What kind of father has no trust for his own children?
Maybe it did hurt him more than I thought when I chose to stay with Theo rather than to go home with him.
Part of my mind wanders to the idea of my mother-- does she know of the things that he is doing? Is she just as much to blame as him? It ached my heart just thinking about that.
My mother has always been by my side, even when she fell ill years ago-- an illness we don't know how to cure.
Days before I was taken, I noticed a change in my mother-- she looked brighter and smiled more throughout the day, but she was still ill and the pack is still trying to figure out what is happening. I know it must be killing my father, seeing his mate in such a condition and with no way to help.
I sighed, sitting on the window sill and resting my head on the glass, letting the cold feeling chill my emotions. Thinking of my mother pained me-- I haven't spoken to her in so long, I felt like a terrible daughter.
She is my best friend after all, and I'm not there to help her.
Behind me, I heard the door creak open. I turned around to see Eliza peeping her head out of the doorway.
Not to sound ungrateful for the company, but a large part of me wished it was Theo.
"Hey," I gave Eliza a small smile, turning on the window sill so my back was pressed on the glass. She smiled back, stepping into the room and making her way closer to me.
"How are you feeling?" She asked, setting herself beside me on the window sill, leaning on the ledge so she was completely facing me. "This must be hard for you," She said, getting me a soft look, leaning over to pat my leg for a second.
I huffed lightly through my nose, my head falling back and lightly bouncing on the glass behind me. "It is what it is," I shrugged, tilting my head to face Eliza. "I can't change but my father did." I wasn't looking at the girl, but I could tell she wasn't buying a thing I was saying.
She sighed lightly. "You want a hug?" I let out a little chuckle, glancing back at her as she had a toothy forced smile on her face, her shoulder up to her ears as she offered a hug.
Immediately I accepted her hug, the warmth from her body calming my nerves down slightly. Unconsciously, a small smile spread on my face.
Eliza was one of the only people in this pack I feel completely safe with-- she was the first friend I made since being brought to this house and despite our little spat when we first met, she's one of the nicest people I have ever met.
"Even though we haven't known each other long, I know what's going on in your head." She said, her arms still around me as we stayed in the hug longer, her hands gently rubbing my back reassuringly. "You are not to blame for what your father has done,"
I smiled at her reassuring words, taking a second to squeeze her tighter. "Thank you, if only Theo felt the same." I blurted out.
Eliza pulled back from me, her eyes widened slightly as her brows crinkled in confusion.
"What do you mean? Of course, Theo knows that!"
I sighed again, slumping with my shoulders as I let my legs dangle from the window sill.
"He hasn't been acting the same since Ella went missing and we found out that it was my father," I held in my pout, my brows falling low. Naturally, when feeling down, I fiddled with my fingers to keep from looking up at Eliza.
I felt embarrassed complaining about lack of affection when there was a boatload of problems much bigger than my own currently.
"He's normal with everyone else-- but me. It's like he blames me," I shrugged, letting the words fall from my mouth.
Eliza let out a little groan, her head falling down on my shoulder as she spoke. "It may look like that but you're way off," She exaggerated the "way" in her sentence, longing out the "a". I huffed again, lifting my head up.
"Then what?" I asked, jolting my shoulder slightly, causing Eliza to lift her head from her position and look at me. She held a deadpanned look on her face and tilted her head slightly.
"He's not tiptoeing around you because he blames you, he's tiptoeing around you because he doesn't want you to blame yourself!" She exclaimed, flaying her hands in the air for a moment.
"Huh?" She rolled her eyes at me, pushing herself off of the window sill and turning her body to face me.
"He doesn't want you to listen to everyone talk about what your father has done and instantly feel like you could have done something to prevent it because the truth is; you have nothing to do with what your father did." She explained, placing a hand on her hip as she spoke to me.
"You couldn't have known what he had done, and you definitely couldn't have known that he would take Cardella. This isn't your responsibility."
"But he's my father!" I exclaimed, pushing myself off of the ledge. "I didn't know what he was a monster deep down, I could have stopped it if I noticed what he was doing and what he was hiding years ago! Nothing would be happening right now if I had just paid more attention to what he was doing behind closed doors."
"Had you done that, you would have never come to this pack-- you would have never met Theo!" She argued back, throwing facts in my face.
"But he would have both his siblings with him so I would be okay with that."
Eliza's mouth fell ajar at my words. "That is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard," She squinted her eyes at me. "You would give up a lifetime with the love of your life just for a couple more Daddy-Daughter talks?"
"What else could I have done?"
"Nothing!" She exasperated, throwing her hands in the air. "You couldn't have done a single thing to stop him, Holly, you're forgetting that this all started way before you were even born." She stated, slowly calming her voice down.
I shut my mouth and watched as she took a deep breath before continuing. "You couldn't have known, this isn't your fault and no one believes that it is your fault-- especially Theo."
I sighed, looking up at my friend as she spoke facts straight to me. All her words were getting to me, why did I feel like my father's mistakes were my own?
Did I really have no way of stopping this in the past? So everything was meant to happen, and there was no way to stop it?
That's bullshit.
"She's right," A voice caught both Eliza and I off guard, the both of us jolting up slightly. Eliza spun to face the door.
We were so heated in our discussion that we hadn't noticed that someone was in the doorway-- listening to every word that was being said. My eyes widened looking at the person in the doorway, inching closer into the room.
"Theo..."