Prey.

39.

When Neela got home, she instantly knew something was wrong. All of the boys' tears have been dried, but their tear stains and puffy eyes had all the evidence that she needed to tell something was wrong. "What happened?" Neela was about to start rambling about her day, but once she saw all of their eyes, she couldn't help but question them all.

Ryan couldn't even look Neela in the eyes, he just walked to his room. Not a shirt grab, not a single word. "Neela, you and I should talk." Damien held out his hand for his daughter to take it, "in private."

Neela became wary of what was needed to be said. Was she being kicked out of school? Will she be hurt?

Damien led Neela to his own bedroom. Damien's bedroom was on the top floor, furthest away from Ryan's bedroom so he wouldn't be able to hear Neela's yells of anguish and despair. "Neela, we could've kept this from you, but we're not," Damien held onto both of Neela's hands which were placed in her lap. "We all want you to trust us more, so maybe telling you this will help with that."

Neela's voice grew nervous, "did something happen?"

How her voice sounded so innocent, but so scared, made a chill go up Damien's spine. Despite all the bad things she's went threw with his boys, she still kept everything about her that attracted Ryan. With a hard swallow, Damien closed his eyes tightly as tears began to create a sheen over his eyes' surface. "Sean was at earth today; he picked up the medicine you need. On his way back to the portal, he passed your old home." With a deep breath, Damien spoke very quickly. "Neela, I'm so sorry, Andrew committed suicide."

Damien had wished he didn't open his eyes when the words spewed from his lips. He saw her bright eyes shift from bright and doll-like, to even more vulnerable and scared. He saw her lips part slightly in confusion, almost like she forgot all vocabulary. "I—" Neela tried to find words. "Don't speak right now, please," Damien begged and let the first tears fall, "just process this. This is a safe environment for you, you can express your hurt or anger however you need."

Neela took a deep breath in, licked her lips, and brought her bottom lip in between her teeth. "But, why?" Her voices cracked, which is something Damien had bemoaned hearing that hurt in her voice. "No one knows, sweetheart. It could've been from the pain of losing you, it could've been a lot of things just weighing him down over the years. I just really don't know," Damien knew, though. He knew how weak humans get when going through emotional trauma. Andrew was found in a weak moment and found the easiest way out was taking his own life.

Damien knew Andrew did it because he didn't have his daughter. He didn't have Neela to share breakfast with, he was all alone in that house, but still had a whole room, a whole presence just missing and empty.

With tears streaming down her face, Neela spoke, "I wanna go," she brought a hand up to her mouth to muffle her whimpers that would escape her mouth every once in a while.

"Neela, that's not smart right now," Damien helped Neela sit back down once he felt her getting up. "Just, please, release all of your emotions here. You're safe and very much loved here."

Neela threw Damien's hands off her, completely catching him off guard, "no I'm not! Why don't you just kill me now? That's what he wants! Ryan! That's what he wants," Neela yelled out her mates name with pure anger, not caring if he came to hurt her. She would enjoy every second of it at this point.

"You were the one who caused this! You let them all take me away! You let my dad become daughterless! You ruined everything!" Damien tried to open his mouth to defend himself, but she was right. He caused her injuries, he caused her to become more depressed and lonely.

"You told your sons to take me so I could be here all for a psychopaths little game, which I loathe so much!" Now whispering, "Now I know why he said all those things to me," Neela gritted her teeth, "when he was branding my back!"

"Neela, please, tell me what he said." Damien begged with tears streaming down his face. He knew Neela would answer to this news with anger, but nothing could prepare himself for the hurtful words she would spew out at him!

"Just that none of you care about me! You're all just waiting for me to die by his hands! That Ryan would never pick someone as stupid and fragile as I am to be his mate. That I was stupid for thinking that any of you would come to help me before he could do the most damage! And it turns out that he was right, but it still freaking hurts!" Neela screamed and seethed her words.

This was the only way for her to be heard!

Once she felt like she had done enough yelling, she ran all the way to her room. She ignored Sean and Caleb who tried to talk to her and just sobbed loudly on her way to her room. Once Ryan first heard Neela yell his name, he let his demon want to come out, but he didn't let it. Instead, he ran to the training room. It showed willpower, it showed he was willing to get better for Neela.

After thinking for a few moments in her bed. Neela figured out why he had done it also. It's because she wasn't there. Andrew was always there for her, but she wasn't there for months! It wasn't her fault, though! She had no choice! Andrew didn't abandon Neela during the divorce! He missed out on going to dates, going on adventures he always wanted to go on, all because the best adventure he ever had was with his daughter.