cloud

"It doesn't make sense," Raiden's mom says, her eyes trained on Nara. "Why should we trust her words? Why would Alpha Demos leave his daughter behind unless she was a spy?"

Her eyes focus on her mind challengingly, waiting for an answer. It was natural for her first assumption to be that Nara was a spy, I'd be lying if I said that the same idea never crossed my mind, but staring at Nara's scared form, I doubted that she would come here unless she was being honest.

"He doesn't care about me," Nara says quietly. "He cares about power and since I'm not exactly the strongest wolf around, it doesn't matter what happens to me. It wouldn't harm him either way. If anything, you'd just be giving him a valid reason to attack if you hurt me in some way."

Her words held some truth to them. If we did anything to harm her right now, it would give Alpha Demos ample opportunity to twist the story and claim that we were the ones in the wrong. Even if we had witnesses who saw him, they were either passed out or gone which meant that the only one who saw Alpha Demos was Raiden and with everything that had happened, Alpha Demos could very well claim that Raiden had a strong motive for killing her.

"I just want to help," Nara says. "After that, I'll leave and you won't have to see me again."

Staring at her, I can't help but feel bad. In a way, she reminded me of myself. She reminded me of how I felt back in my old pack. Lonely and always being seen as if I was the devil's reincarnation.

"What do you have that can help us?" I ask her.

Nara's eyes meet mine. "Dad was always very...secretive with his work. Back when Elia was alive, he would take her with him and she would always come back really quiet and wouldn't say anything to him for days. Before she died, I had just met my mate and introduced him to Dad. When Elia died, Dad took my mate with him instead. The day they came back, I couldn't even get my mate to talk to me and when he finally did, he rejected me and told me that both my family and I were disgusting and left."

Her eyes tear up at the last bit.

I can see from beside me, Raiden's eyes soften along with his Dad's and Mars'. His Mom doesn't look impressed by the story and Alpha Tatum isn't facing me so I can't make out his expression.

"Where did they go?" Raiden asks her softly.

"I-I don't know," Nara replies.

Raiden's mom scoffs. "So you're still just as useless, great."

I eye her. Her attitude toward Nara took a complete switch from just a few days ago. She skipped over the false nice act and has gone straight into bitch-mode. I know that part of it is because of Maia's current situation, but she's taking her anger out on the wrong person.

"Can you stop?" It's Mars who snaps at her. "You're a fucking adult with two children. If you want to play the blame game them you need to evaluate the role you played in all of this. Nara's come here to try and help, not for some old woman to attack and berate her. I get it, you're worried about Maia, but don't blame Nara for everything. The only thing she's guilty of is having Demos as a father — something she can't control."

Raiden's mom begins to open her mouth, likely to retort, but her mate stops her. She rolls her eyes.

"Children are not their parents," I tell her.

Raiden smiles bitterly. "Thank goddess for that."

His mom's eyes narrow on him, but Alpha Tatum interjects before she can say anything.

"Stop fighting like fucking children, we have more important matters here," his eyes focus on Raiden's mom before they turn to Nara. She flinches slightly and his gaze softens. "What was the name of your mate? Full name if you know."

Nara's brows furrow. "His name was Alexander Whitman from the Red Eclipse Pack, why?"

Alpha Tatum stands up from his chair and moves toward the door. "Because it looks like we're going on a trip."