ELIAS'S P.O.V
I was in over my head trying to contain the beast within. We'd searched every inch of the land and then some. At first, I figured she was at the pier, living in our memory of the night before. But her scent was long gone. Nowhere to be found. It was strongest in her room, but that was a given. However, even then, I could tell she hadn't been there in a while.
I stood in her room, wanting to rip every inch apart, yet embrace it all at the same time. Would there be a clue as to where she'd gone or was she abducted?
"Standing around isn't going to find her any faster!" Irelyn yelled when she walked into Zola's room.
"You think I don't know that?"
My words came out much more cruelly than I wanted. But I was already struggling to keep myself together. The last thing I needed was her anger on top of it.
"You didn't even know she was gone."
I knew she was angry, hurt even. But she had no right to take it out on me.
"Not to intrude, but I got the footage requested. Either of you care to take a break from sibling wars to watch?"
I looked up to see Holland with a smug look plastered on his face. We all stood there quietly looking at one another before Irelyn broke the silence.
"Well, not everyone jump up at once. Duh, we want to watch it, idjit!"
She threw her arms in the air as she walked up to him slightly on her tippy-toes, which was her way of trying to make herself appear more serious and intimidating.
"Well then. Follow me, Princess."
He had the same smirk on his face that he always used while taunting my little sister.
"I told you not to call me that." She replied to him sassily before storming out.
Holland started laughing as he looked up at me, joy shining on his face.
"I mean, she is the Princess. I don't see the problem." He murmured as he turned to follow Irelyn down the hall.
He could try and fool everyone else, but I knew him. It was clear that he liked her, always had. Except, he couldn't have her. Irelyn made it clear that she would never take a chosen mate. All she ever wanted was her fated mate, and Holland was not him. So, he and I were in similar, yet not similar predicaments. Similar in the fact that we couldn't have the one we wanted most. But not similar, because in my case we couldn't be together due to the werewolf law. Whereas, they couldn't be together because Irelyn wanted someone else. No matter the reason, I knew how he felt, and it fucking sucked. I let out a sigh, looking around Zola's room again, hoping for a sign that didn't exist before following them out.
"For the fastest wolf in the pack, you sure are fucking slow," Irelyn spat out when I entered the office.
They were both already sitting. Irelyn sat in the chair across from my desk, while Holland was spread out comfortably on the couch.
"Should we wait for Novalee?" Holland suggested when I clicked the screen to display on the wall.
"She isn't even on pack land. We would be waiting for hours for her to return."
Irelyn had a sense of urgency in her voice. Something I could relate to. Except, I had to remain calm and collected. If I were to act irrationally, a lot of shit could go wrong, fast. Therefore, I had to pull my emotions out of it and act in the King's way. Which was the only way.
"We will watch the footage and if I deem what we find necessary, I will provide it to her family."
"Stop talking as if she isn't our family!" Irelyn screamed.
"ENOUGH!" My tone made her jump slightly in fear.
"If you cannot pull your act together and talk to me like you have some common sense then you will leave. Do you understand me?" I was demanding and I meant every word. I took a breath in before addressing her again. "I care about her as much as you do. But I have a job to do. I have to know what we are dealing with before alerting the surrounding packs. I have to narrow it down to if we are dealing with a runaway or an abduction."
"She wouldn't run away. And even if she did, she'd tell me where she was going first."
"It's protocol, Irelyn. So I will look at it with an unbiased eye and if you cannot do the same, you need to go."
"The camera is going to show her being abducted, and then we are all going to feel like fools for being here watching some footage rather than out there hunting them down."
We had already searched every inch of the woods while the cameras were downloading everything caught within the last 48 hours. She knew as well as I that Zola's scent was only in a few spots, and it only overlapped with one other scent. Mine. Which meant nobody was here that wasn't supposed to be.
"We have a lot to watch, so just sit silently."
She let out a low rumbly growl before sitting back further into the chair. I knew where to start the footage, but fuck I didn't need them to see it. However, it had to be done if we were tracking her movements, and I was the last one to see her. I let out a breath before pushing play.
"Wait, that's you." Irelyn pointed out while jumping up.
"Sit down."
"That's Sunday morning." She then said while pointing to the timestamp.
"Clearly."
"Why didn't you say that you'd seen her when I was asking?"
"Because it was irrelevant."
"Elias, where did you guys come from?"
"Nowhere."
"Rewind it."
"No."
"Rewind this fucking tape before I lose my shit."
"We came from the woods," I admitted with clear irritation in my tone.
"The woods. Why?"
"Mind your business, Irelyn."
"What happened in those damn woods!?"
"Nothing that pertains to her disappearing, drop it!"
"Ugh. Not to intrude on the sibling wars again, but she definitely ran away." Holland said, pointing at the last footage taken of Zola's face.
Irelyn and I snapped our eyes to look at the wall, her mouth hanging open as shock set in.
"This is your fault!" She screamed before her fists began pounding against my chest. "YOU DID THIS!" She began to scream on repeat.
Her voice held so much pain. Her pain that I felt as an empath. But also the pain I was feeling personally too. Holland quickly grabbed her so that she would stop hitting me. But her hits didn't anger me. They actually did the complete opposite. They hurt me. Not physically but emotionally.
"No, it was what she asked for. I didn't- I didn't-" The more I stuttered out the words 'I didn't' the more it dawned on me. "I did this." I whispered, just as much pain lingering in my voice as it was in hers.
Holland was holding a sobbing Irelyn, her arms now wrapped around his neck as she balled on his shoulder. She lifted her face in order to look at me.
"I don't blame her. I'm mad she left me behind, and I'm mad she didn't tell me. But I don't blame her. She begged you to fight for her. I told her not to waste her breath, but she did it anyway. Look where that got her. So no, I don't blame her for running away from this shit, from you."
Her words were venomous and did exactly what they were intended to do. They cut me right to the core. But truth be told, she was right. I knew she was right. Zola made me a better man. With her by my side, I felt as if I were on top of the world. But that was a selfish reason to hold on to her. I knew my entire life that we could never be together, so why did I feed us both false hope? The simple answer was that I didn't want to lose her. Now look where that got us.