Ethan's Threat

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

POV: Ethan

I followed Damon all the way from the pack house into the city after practice, keeping my car three blocks behind his black SUV, because I was completely sick of watching him abandon his duties to chase after a girl who didn't even belong in our territory. When he pulled into his new driveway across from her house, I parked around the corner, waiting patiently for my opportunity, and my patience finally paid off an hour later when Raina walked out of her front door alone and drove her car down to the local grocery store near the main highway. I trailed her into the parking lot, pulling my car into a space two rows over, and I waited near the front entrance until she stepped back out into the evening air holding two heavy brown bags of groceries in her arms.

I cut across the asphalt parking lot in quick, purposeful strides, reaching her car just as she unlocked the doors, and I stepped directly in front of her driver's side door, blocking her path completely so she couldn't open the vehicle.

Raina stopped dead in her tracks, nearly dropping one of the bags on the pavement, and she lifted her head to glare at me with instant disgust while I crossed my arms over my chest, letting out a loud, mocking laugh as I looked her up and down.

"Well, look at you playing dress-up in expensive city clothes, Raina," I said, leaning my back casually against her car window while I looked at her with pure contempt. "I see you managed to buy yourself some nice shoes, but everyone back home knows you're still the same useless, wolfless girl who couldn't even defend herself in high school."

"Move out of my way, Ethan, before I slam this grocery bag into your face," Raina said, her voice completely cold and level as she took a firm step forward without showing a single trace of fear in her eyes.

"Oh, you think you're brave now because you have a rich business partner buying things for you?" I asked, stepping right into her personal space so she couldn't move past me to open her back door. "We all know you didn't earn a single dollar of that money, so why don't you stop using fake money to buy your way into our professional hockey league?"

"I earned every single penny through legal business investments over the last five years while you were busy living off Alpha Marcus's allowance," Raina spat back, holding her head high while her eyes flashed with absolute anger. "My team is fully licensed by the league board, our contracts are completely legal, and there is not a single thing you or your pathetic friends can do to stop us from playing on that ice."

"Listen to me very carefully, you little outcast," I warned, stepping closer until my chest was inches away from her face, dropping my voice into a harsh, threatening whisper. "If you don't sell that team back to the league board by Friday afternoon and take your little illegitimate kids back to whatever hole you crawled out of, I will personally make sure those twins find out every single detail about their mother."

Raina went completely stiff on the pavement, her breathing hitching in her throat as I mentioned her children, but I kept going, enjoying the sudden flash of anger across her face.

"I will make sure Ruth and Raymond find out that their precious mother was a rejected outcast who got kicked out of the pack territory like trash, and I will make sure the entire city press prints it on the front page of every sports newspaper," I said, grinning widely as I watched her hands shake against the paper grocery bags.

Raina's face flushed deep red with absolute rage, and she set one bag down on the hood of her car, pulling her right hand back to slap me straight across the face with all the force in her body, but before her palm could connect with my cheek, the loud screech of tires echoed through the parking lot.

A sleek blue sports car pulled up directly behind my vehicle, stopping at an awkward angle across the driving lane, and the driver's door flew open before the engine even turned off completely. Reign stepped out of the car, his face dark with pure rage, and he covered the distance between us in three massive strides, reaching out with his large hand and grabbing me tight by my coat collar.

"Get your filthy hands off her right now!" Reign roared, using his full physical strength to shove me backward with violence, sending me stumbling across the pavement until my back slammed hard against the metal frame of a cart return rack.

I caught my balance, my heart hammering against my ribs from the sudden physical shock, and I adjusted my twisted jacket while I glared at Reign with total hatred.

"Who the hell do you think you're touching, you city trash?" I yelled, taking a step forward with my fists balled up, ready to throw a punch, but Reign stood directly in front of Raina like a solid wall, showing zero fear as he looked down at me.

"I am the man who will break your jaw into ten pieces if you ever come within ten feet of Raina or her children again," Reign warned, his voice extremely low, steady, and dangerous as he stepped closer to my chest.

I looked up at his face, opening my mouth to curse at him again, but as my eyes focused on his strong jawline, his dark hair, and the distinct shape of his dark brown eyes, a strange, unsettling feeling washed over my mind. There was something strangely, uncomfortably familiar about Reign's face, something that triggered a deep memory from years ago back in the old territories, but before I could process where I had seen his features before, Reign took another aggressive step forward.

"Get in your car and drive away before I call the city police and have you arrested for criminal harassment right here in front of these store cameras," Reign said, pointing his finger toward my vehicle parked nearby.

"You think you've won, don't you?" I spat out, backing away toward my driver's side door while I pointed at both of them with a shaking finger. "You are both going to lose everything at the exhibition match next week, and when your team falls apart on live television, don't come crying to our family for mercy!"

I yanked my car door open, threw myself into the leather seat, and slammed the door shut tight, turning the key in the ignition and stomping on the gas pedal so hard the tires screeched loudly against the asphalt as I sped out of the parking lot into the evening traffic.

I sat behind the wheel, my teeth grinding together while my hands trembled on the steering wheel from pure rage and embarrassment, but as I drove back toward the pack territory, the strange image of Reign's face kept flashing through my mind, leaving a heavy knot of suspicion twisting deep inside my stomach.