Chapter 286: Big Waste of time and energy

Sylas and Zeke had returned to Gravemont without Theo. They’d insisted on following her back to the North, but Theo was adamant and had made them understand why she had to do this on her own.

And so, they had parted ways.

But she remained in touch with them through the mate bond.

Last night, she bid Charlene goodbye. She didn’t want to leave the cottage, that beautiful life, but at least she knew it would be waiting for her when she returned.

And as Theo walked through the gates of the Bloodmoon Vanguard Pack, all she could remember were the nasty memories here. That father of hers and little brothers that had made her life hell after her mother had passed away.

And with her memories back now, it was even harder to believe that her father was actually doing everything he could now to bring her back to the North and crown her as his heir.

The irony...and the audacity!!!

Speaking of fathers, he was approaching her right now with her brothers walking next to him. One of the guards must have alerted him that she had returned the moment they saw her.

As they all walked up to her, she recalled her last encounter with them. When they had visited the east to ’see how she was doing as Cain’s wife’. That was the first time he looked guilty for everything he’d done to her.

As for her brothers, she knew Harrison had participated in the war. As for still being a complete jerk, that remains to be seen.

"Theodora!" Darius called softly when he stopped in front of her, staring at her in disbelief, "You came. You actually came,"

From his gaze, she could tell he was still feeling guilty for everything he’d done. She thought she’d feel something now that her memories were back, but she wasn’t moved at all.

"Dora," Harrison said and cleared his throat a little, "It’s...it’s good to see you again,"

Theo arched a brow.

"Yeah." Caspian scratched the back of his head nervously, "Glad you’re doing fine."

Ah, looks like the whole family has finally come back to their senses and decided not to neglect, ignore or bully her again. She was especially surprised by the change from her brothers, and she couldn’t tell if it was simply because they actually felt bad now...or because they knew Sylas and Zeke would rain hell on them if they tried anything again with her.

"Have you gotten your memories back?" Darius asked, concerned, then he reached forward to place a hand on her shoulder.

She stepped back, leaving his hand hanging in midair.

The air became even more tense, and the Alpha cleared his throat and gained back his composure.

"How about we go inside?! It’s been so long since these walls felt your presence,"

"It’s better that way," Theo replied, and Darius swallowed, "I didn’t come all the way to the North for whatever familiar reunion fiasco is in your head. I simply came here to tell you two things,"

By now, Caspian and Harrison would have tried to chew her out but they remained silent. Looks like the guilt was genuine after all.

"One — Stop bothering me about the whole Heir matter. I refuse to take over you. I’ve found my own path, and I do not need your approval of me anymore."

Darius’s eyes widened, his eyes flashing between disbelief and denial, "Isn’t this what you’ve wanted all your life?!" He questioned, "Isn’t this why you trained since your mother passed away? Why you joined the tournament months ago?"

"Two," Theo continued like she hadn’t heard him speak, "I no longer want to have anything to do with the Blackthorn Family anymore. I’m cutting ties with you three right here, right now. Our wolves are our witnesses,"

The reactions were immediate. The three of them looked deeply disoriented and confused, as though they hadn’t heard her properly. Caspian even went as far as rubbing both ears.

"Dora—"

Theo raised a hand at her brother, disregarding him entirely, "If you want to argue, you can do that amongst yourself after I leave this wretched house."

"Theodora," Darius inhaled deeply, like he was trying to remain calm, "I know we haven’t been very good to you, and we really want to make amends with you. I was a terrible father and your brothers were equally terrible to you while growing up. But we’ve come to realise that—"

"I didn’t come here to listen to an apology, Darius," Theo stated strongly, her voice completely calm.

She didn’t sound angry.

Or frustrated.

But she sounded very, very sure.

"I simply came here to make things very clear between us. I’m glad you chose the right side during the war and I commend your actions in it. Without you, the east wouldn’t have fallen."

"Dora—" Harrison stepped forward.

"It’s Theo," She corrected immediately, "Not Theodora, not Dora. Just Theo. Simply Theo. Fullstop. The other names remind me that I’m affiliated to you three and makes me want to puke."

The only reason she kept the name ’Theo’ too was because two very special people called her by that name.

Seraphina...and William.

Or else, she would have gotten rid of it too.

*What name would you have chosen if you have gotten rid of Theo, too?* Seraphina whispered inside of her.

*Rose,* Theo answered immediately, and Seraphina smiled. That was what her mother had called her, *Rose Cullen,*

*Your mother’s surname,*

*Yeah,* Theo said.

"Theodora!"

Darius’s voice pulled her back and Theo returned her attention to the man standing before her. He was older than she remembered, though perhaps that was simply what guilt did to a person. It aged them in ways time alone couldn’t.

"I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness," He said, taking a careful step towards her. "But please, at least give me the chance to explain myself."

She almost laughed. Explain himself?

What exactly was there to explain?

That he’d watched his ten-year-old daughter return home covered in her mother’s blood and decided she was easier to hate than to understand? That he’d spent years punishing a frightened child for something she hadn’t even understood herself? That he’d watched her fight for his approval until she had practically bled herself dry, only to give the position she’d earned to Harrison? Or perhaps he wanted to explain why he’d handed her over to Cain when he knew what Cain would do to her?

There were so many things he could explain. The problem was that Theo no longer cared to hear any of them.

"You know... about a year ago, I still used to imagine this moment."

His expression shifted, and for a second, she saw the hope in his eyes.

"I imagined you coming to me and telling me that you’d finally seen how hard I’d worked. That you were proud of me. That you were sorry for the way you’d treated me." She tilted her head. "Sometimes, I’d even imagine you hugging me."

Theo wondered if he remembered those days. The little girl who would stand outside his office for hours, hoping he’d call her inside. The child who would show him her bruised knuckles after training, waiting for him to praise her determination.

He’d barely looked at her.

She remembered every single time.

From the way his face fell, she knew he did too.

"I thought if I became strong enough, you’d finally look at me and see your daughter instead of the monster you thought I was." Her lips curved, but there was no happiness in the smile. "I defeated Harrison in the tournament. I did everything I was supposed to do. And you still chose him."

"Dora, I—"

"Theo." She corrected again and Harrison swallowed.

"Theo," he corrected himself quietly.

"Good."

Caspian looked down at the ground, rubbing his palms against his trousers, and Theo couldn’t decide whether she found their silence amusing or pathetic. He was usually seconding his brother.

"You know what I remember most about that night?" she continued, looking directly at her father. "Her body, the blood, running back...home. You were the only person I had left. You were supposed to be the person I could run to when I was frightened. The person who would hold me and tell me everything would be okay." She paused, "But you looked at me, and you knew. You knew what had happened. You knew I hadn’t done it because I wanted to hurt her. You knew I was just a child who’d lost control of something she didn’t understand." Her voice hardened. "And you still turned your back on me."

"I was grieving," Darius whispered. "I had just lost your mother. I couldn’t—"

"And I hadn’t?"

The question silenced him.

"I lost her too!" Theo snapped, the first real crack appearing in her composure. "She was my mother! I was a child, and I had just watched her die, and I couldn’t even understand why! And instead of helping me, you made sure I spent the rest of my childhood paying for it. You let Harrison and Caspian treat me like I was something disgusting. You watched me struggle for scraps of your attention, and when I finally became strong enough to claim what should have been mine, you gave it to Harrison anyway."

Darius looked as though she’d struck him.

"I know you regret it now," Theo continued. "I know you want to make things right. Perhaps the war changed you. Perhaps watching what Cain did to me finally made you understand what you’d really done." She shrugged, "But I don’t care why you’ve changed."

"Theo, please."

"No. You need to hear this." Her voice was calm again, "I don’t hate you, Darius. I don’t even think I have enough feelings left for you to hate you properly. I just don’t want you in my life anymore."

He stared at her, his eyes glistening, "I can’t change what happened," He said helplessly. "But I can spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

"And what would that accomplish?"

He had no answer.

"Would it give me back my childhood? Would it erase every night I spent wondering what was wrong with me, or every time I pushed myself until I could barely stand because I thought maybe, just maybe, you’d finally be proud of me?" Her gaze moved to Harrison and Caspian, "Would it give me back the years I spent wishing my own brothers would treat me like family?"

Neither of them met her eyes. They couldn’t.

"No," Theo answered for him. "It wouldn’t."

"I know I failed you." Darius’s shoulders sagged.

"Yes. You did." She didn’t soften the words for him. She wouldn’t.

For years, she’d softened everything for this man. She’d made excuses for his cruelty and promised herself that one day, if she worked hard enough, she’d become someone he couldn’t ignore.

She’d spent so much of her life trying to be enough for a man who’d never bothered to see her.

She was done.

"And now you want to make me your heir." Theo let out a disbelieving laugh. "After everything? You want to hand me the position you refused to give me when I actually wanted it?"

"I know how foolish that sounds," Darius said. "But you are the strongest of my children. You have always been—"

"Stop."

He fell silent immediately.

"Don’t tell me what I have always been. You weren’t interested in knowing me then, and you don’t get to pretend you know me now."

She then stepped back, putting a final distance between them, "I don’t want your title. I don’t want your pack. And I don’t want your approval."

"Theodora, this is your home."

"No." Her expression turned cold. "It was a house I grew up in. There is a difference."

"Can you at least give us a chance?" Harrison asked suddenly.

Theo looked at him. He seemed nervous beneath her stare, but he continued, "We know we treated you terribly. We were cruel, and we should have stood up for you. I should have—"

"Why now?"

Harrison stopped.

"Why are you suddenly sorry now?" she asked. "Because you participated in the war and saw what I was capable of? Because you finally realised that the sister you spent years looking down on was worth something? Or because you know exactly what Sylas and Zeke would do if you ever laid a finger on me again?"

"That’s not fair," Caspian muttered, and Theo’s eyes snapped towards him.

The boy shut his mouth.

"Perhaps it isn’t," She replied, "But neither was growing up in this family."

They could all live with whatever opinion they had of her. It no longer mattered.

Theo then looked at all three of them one final time, "I’m leaving now. Don’t send anyone after me. Don’t summon me here, and don’t use your position as Alpha to interfere with my life."

Darius looked up sharply, "You’re still my daughter."

"Biologically." She scoffed, "And even that is no longer something I want to define me." Then, she corrected her stance and drew in a slow breath, "By the authority of our wolves, I, Theodora Blackthorn, hereby sever my familial ties to Darius Blackthorn, Harrison Blackthorn, and Caspian Blackthorn. You have no claim over my life, my choices, or my future. I release myself from this family, and I release you from any obligation you believe you have towards me."

The air shifted, but there was no violent burst of energy or dramatic flash of light. But the ancient bond that had tied her to the Blackthorn family stirred, recognised her declaration, and began to loosen.

A faint pull in her chest, followed by a quiet, almost imperceptible release.

And then it was gone.

No more invisible thread tying her to the people who had made her feel unwanted for most of her life, and no more obligation to return to a place that had never truly felt like home.

As of today, Blackthorn means nothing to her.

Darius took a step forward again, looking like he’d aged ten years more.

She looked back at him, and for one fleeting moment, she saw the little girl she’d once been standing between them. A frightened child with blood on her clothes and tears on her face, hoping for her father to open his arms.

Theo wished she could reach back through time and tell that little girl something.

That she hadn’t been a monster.

That she hadn’t deserved what followed.

That she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of her life begging someone to love her.

Most importantly, that one day, she’d find people who would look at her and choose her without hesitation.

She had found them.

Sylas and Zeke were waiting for her in the life she’d chosen. Charlene was waiting too, with her warm hugs, her fussing, and her ridiculous little camera.

"Goodbye, Darius." She stated, and then she turned.

"Theodora!" Darius called desperately. "Please!"

Her steps faltered for the briefest moment, because some small, forgotten part of her still remembered what it had felt like to hear her father call after her.

She stood there for a second, letting the feeling pass...then she continued walking.

Past the guards who stared at her in silence. Past the gates she’d once dreamed of returning to as the rightful heir. Past the place where she’d spent years trying to become someone her own family could love.

She didn’t look back.

Not even when her brothers broke their silence and called her sister.

It was now all just a big waste of time and energy.