Kael’s POV
"Just because she is twenty-two, you can’t expect her to know and understand the things she had never experienced or faced in her life. That is just you being insensitive towards her pain and suffering, and being selfish because of your own desires and expectations from her.
"All of a sudden, just in two months, you want her to forget everything, start accepting all of you, be honest with you for what’s in her mind and heart? Start loving you, sleep with you, be a good mate to you. But she is still dealing with every new emotion she has started feeling now. It’s new for her.
"How can you expect a mind of a fifteen year old abused to not be shy, embarrassed, hesitant, scared, untrusting of you, not opening up to you, but come out as a strong woman? That’s totally being pathetic of us to expect it from her in such a short time.
"And, if you still do not understand her, and ask why she is like this, then it’s your own fault and insensitivity towards her. That’s just you being overly demanding of her. You should thank her strong wolf that she hadn’t lost her mind entirely.
Though her words were harsh, I kept my calm. Because Isla wasn’t wrong here, but I was being impatient.
"I understand," I finally replied.
But Isla wasn’t having it. She was clearly in a mood to defend her patient this time.
"No one, absolutely no one, can understand what she had gone through," Isla countered. "We all can only sympathise and try to treat her, but in the end it’s her, who suffered and deals with it. Not being in her shoes can never let you understand. Those claims that ’I understand her’ are just superficial. We can only try, but can never truly understand it.
"One can say—Oh, I have been through abuse, or I have seen people being abused, or I have treated abused people, and so we understand her. Even that’s not true. Only the one who suffers knows that pain. The rest are just side sympathisers, fake believers, just like you and me."
I understood one thing. Isla wished best for her patient, and for that she was ready to confront her Alpha even. She cared for Eira deeply.
I let out a quiet hum. "Then, I will try to understand her."
She hummed and said again, this time her tone soft, "Alpha Kael, what I meant to say is, don’t look at her as twenty years old, but as that young girl who needs time to grow up — the time, those six years that were robbed from her. It’s a real life, real abuse, and not some fictional soap opera where characters magically get better quickly.
"Give her time and I am sure she will come out stronger than you think. She still has some hope left inside her, and with you, I am sure she will turn into the one she deserves to be," she added.
"I will be her support in everything," I assured, "She can take all the time she needs."
She hummed in agreement. "What you are seeing now is already a good growth. People take years to reach where she is," Isla said. "Going forward she will be confused, unaware, insufficient in many ways, but who is not? Even the perfect ’us’ are not perfect anymore."
I agreed with this.
"By chance, if you are still not convinced, ask Roman if he is out of it. Two decades have passed by and he is living a good life with you, so he should be fine already, isn’t it? But you might like to ask him. Take it as checking on your own brother if he is fine."
I nodded.
As we finished, Isla said again, "She is improving well and seems to have come out of the delusional world she was building. You can take a right chance to tell her the truth about Raven and when it is less complicated for her and you."
It was a relief to hear it. I will find a right time to tell her as soon as I could.
Once Isla left, I went to Roman. While others were busy talking that I wasn’t aware of. But seems like they were planning something for Raven.
"Roman," I called him.
He came to me. "What did Isla say?"
I explained him.
"Indeed she will take time," Roman replied, as he was like her in the past.
"Can I ask you something?" I asked.
"Hmm?"
"Are you out of what happened in the past?" I asked.
He looked away and said, "I am fine now. You can see that."
"I am asking so I can understand Eira."
What I said was a part of it, but in fact I wished to know about my brother.
He met my gaze now. "I used to think I was fine, but when that woman returned, I realised I wasn’t. Time may pass, wounds may heal, but some things haunts you. Especially the helplessness you feel in that moment that you can’t even protect yourself. The anger that you can’t even harm the one who hurt you while they continue to ruin you like a monster.
"The remorse that why it was happening with you. What did you even do wrong to others that you are being punished. Self pity. These things leave worse impact than physical wounds you get. But, with you and others by my side, I could overcome it. It doesn’t affect me the way it did in the past. We can overcome it, but can never forget."
I patted his shoulder. "I am glad to have you as my brother."
He offered me a light smile, "So am I. I wouldn’t be me, if not for you."
We looked at Eira.
"Don’t worry. She will overcome it one day," Roman commented.
I hummed. I believed in her, in us.
Just then my cellphone rang. It was Liam.
I received the call and heard him. Once I hung up, Roman asked, "What did he say?"
"He said he wants to talk to all five of us, and asked everyone to be present," I answered.
"What happened? Anything wrong with Eira’s reports?" Roman asked, worried.
"He didn’t say anything. But the way he talked, something seems serious. Let’s wait for him." I tried to sound calm, but in my heart I felt something wasn’t right.
What exactly Liam is so serious about? If the reports are positive, then he should sound happy, but the way he spoke, definitely the matter is something else.
I hope Eira’s alright. Nothing else mattered.