Colt watched as Elijah in his wilder form skulked off and away from her house. She felt like her insides had been carved out watching him leave, but things between them were escalating too fast and there was a genuine chance they would have ended up in one another's arms. Either to strangle each other or to make love to one another, and she didn't know which option would have been worse to her in that moment. She could still feel the warmth that radiated from him as he leant his head into her hand in the doorway, a rebellious part of her still craving contact with him. She had to admit his wolf form was as handsome as his human. She swung the door closed and went back to the kitchen. Only to be greeted by Elijah's clothes as they were piled where they fell upon his sudden shift. All torn, and shredded, and smelling deliciously of him.
That is where Isla found her daughter, when she entered the kitchen, having sent the others away after their Alpha. She looked on with concern and pity at Colt, who was sat on the floor, slumped beneath the sink deeply inhaling a scrap of fabric that was once a chequed shirt, with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, sweetheart." she said as she all but flew to her little girl. "I can't believe how determined you are to torture yourself. Come here." she said pulling her into a hug.
Colt sobbed for about fifteen minutes before Isla spoke again. This time choosing to stop molly coddling her daughter.
"I hope you're about to stop now, because to be honest with you my darling I am struggling a bit to remain sympathetic towards your cause, and not simply because you have me sat on a cold flagstone floor." She started.
Colt did her best to stifle her next sob and turned to look at her Mom, her face stained with tears and her eyes swollen and red from shedding them.
"Come on, get up." Isla said. "You are the one choosing such a path for yourself, and your mate for that matter, and while granted he can be a complete ass, he is still your mate. And my girl, just as he has a duty to you, you have one to him. So, you are going to get up, clean yourself off and pack. You will come home for a few days for some space and clarity. Not the week as originally planned."
"What? but Mom!" Colt objected.
"No." Isla cut her off. "I can't support your choice here Colt, not anymore. Not when I find you in tears on the floor sniffing his torn shirt as a consequence." she sighed. "Baby girl, he is your soul mate, and you need to talk to him. About everything. No more hiding, we didn't raise a coward young lady, and you have proven that so many times. So, you need to stop acting like one."
"But, how Mom?" Colt whimpered. How do I talk to him about everything, about everything I feel, when I don't even know myself. Not properly anyway."
"What do you mean you don't know how you feel, I would think that was rather obvious." her Mom sarcastically replied, to what she perceived as her daughter's excuse.
"No, not how I feel. I mean who I am." Colt whispered." I feel broken inside Mom. Like I am missing something. I have no animal form, I cant shift. I have all these emotions and reactional feelings that have no outlet because I am basically defective. How am I supposed to complete someone, even someone as arrogant and pig headed as Elijah Lupus, when I myself am so incomplete in the first place. It hurts, Mom and I don't know how to make it stop." she sniffed.
Isla stepped back horrified at the level of pain her daughter had been hiding. She always came across as so strong and self assured, it was hard not to forget the darker years of her youth, where she struggled with her situation. She was overwhelmed with guilt, typically the guilt of a parent who felt as though they had let their child down.
"I am so sorry sweet heart." she bundled her up into her arms again. "But you still need to talk to him. Pig headed or not, he is yours and he can help if you let him"
"I can't not just now. He is so dominant, Mom. He would decide what to do and that's that, regardless of how I feel. I just, I dont know what to do." Colt objected.
Isla took a deep breath, she needed some back up. She needed her mate, Colt's father. " Go and pack, we are leaving now. I will clean this up." She ordered. "Now."
"Okay." Colt sniffed, and then putting down the torn piece of shirt, after one last deep breath in, she stood up.
She headed upstairs to get her things together while Isla found a bag to put Elijah's left over belongings in. She was presuming he would return in the morning for them, since his wallet an phone were among the items that had fallen out the denim pockets of his jeans. Isla put it all inside with a note stuckk on top saying Elijah. She also wrote that she had taken Colt home for a few days to decompress, knowing full well he would freak out once he discovered her absence. She then took the package out to the front of the house and sat it on the steps leading up to the door. When that was done she then quickly washed the last of the dishes by which point Colt was ready to leave.
Kalvin was due to collect Isla in the morning, so they loaded up Colt's jeep with both of their belongings instead and hit the road. Isla choosing to drive since Colt had been drinking and really was far too emotional to be behind the wheel.
"Go to sleep sweetheart. We will be home soon." Isla said to her daughter as they drove down to the main road and away from the resort. Her heart was lightening by the minute at the thought of getting home to her own partner in life, and she thus, she picked up speed quickly once they were on the open road.
-----------
Elijah only shifted back into his human form once he had reached his rental cabin. There wasn't really any other choice unless he planned to travel through the resort in the nude, and though he wasn't ashamed of his body, he was not in the mood for the stares from those about him.
When he walked through the door he slammed it so hard behind him it bounced straight back out of the frame and into the wall of the porch leaving a hole in the wall behind, from the handle.
His anger had returned with a vengeance, at how it had all played out. His deluded little mate thought he would be better off without him! How dare she question his loyalty. He had searched for ten years for her, and that was only after he gave up on finding her naturally, the way most of his species do. He had waited patiently up until he was twenty-two and it nearly drove him insane. Zachary was the one who calmed him down in the end, and told him to become 'proactive' about the situation. So he spent a decade hunting for her. Expanding his territory and his pack. Pushing everyone almost to breaking point, none more than himself, then doing it again. He was furious that she would then presume to tell him no. To throw pathetic excuse after pathetic excuse at him. No more, he thought in anger. He would not be turned away again. He would have what was his!
It was the roar he let out expressing his current mood that caused both Marcus and Zachary to pause upon exiting their car then abruptly get back inside and drive to the hotel bar. Neither of them wanting to be on the receiving end of their Alpha's fury.
They had almost made it to the parking lot, when Zachary's cell rang.
He picked up the call and replied to his Alpha's curt demand with, "We will be right there." all with a twirl of his finger to Marcus indicating they had to turn around and go back.
When they got to the cabin for a second time, the entered through the still open front door, to find Elijah sitting on the couch, now in sweatpants and a t-shirt. An eerie calm had settled over the place. They closed up behind themselves and walked over to sit down.
"I want a report on everything you found out about her so far. What did you did dig up?" he began, "I need to know exactly what to expect."
"What to expect? What do you mean" Zachary asked.
Elijah responded quietly, with a stone like expression. "I need to know what the real estate agent I called will be dealing with, because tomorrow Colt is coming home, whether she likes it or not and the Sanctuary Resort and Spa is going up for sale, since she will not be returning to it."