He Finally Got Rid Of Her

CHAPTER FIVE

POV: Damon

I couldn't stop thinking about Raina no matter how hard I tried to focus on my training, because despite publicly rejecting her in front of the whole academy, I knew our private relationship was completely real, and the news about her pregnancy was burning through my mind every single second. I sat on the locker bench for an hour after everyone left, knowing that the secret cabin in the woods was the only place where we could meet without anyone from the pack seeing us, so I finally stood up and decided I had to go find her immediately. I didn't go out there because I suddenly regretted rejecting her, but because I needed to look into her eyes and know for sure whether she and our baby were safe from my father's guards.

I snuck out the side entrance of the arena and traveled quickly through the trees toward our hidden spot outside the territory, but as soon as I stepped into the small clearing, something immediately felt wrong to my wolf.

The front door was completely broken off its hinges, and when I took a step inside, the entire room was totally destroyed with chairs thrown across the floor and glass shattered against the walls.

"Raina?" I called out into the quiet space, but nobody answered me, and my wolf started growling wildly in my chest as I noticed clear signs of a violent struggle right in the middle of the floor.

I took another step forward and saw a thick patch of fresh blood smeared against the edge of the lower wall, making my heart drop into my stomach while my hands started shaking uncontrollably at my sides. I dropped down to examine the ground near the back door, and I followed faint traces of broken branches and blood through the muddy path toward the river, finding more evidence that someone had violently attacked her while she was alone in the cabin. I became increasingly frantic, tearing through the bushes and tracking the marks until the rain completely washed away the trail at the river bank, leaving me standing in the mud with panic ripping through my chest.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind me on the dirt path, and my eyes widened in absolute shock as my father stepped out from the trees with two of his main guards, because my father was never supposed to know about this cabin or these woods at all.

I quickly wiped the water from my face and tried to step over the blood on the ground to cover it up, trying to act like nothing was wrong while my heart slammed against my ribs.

"Father, what are you doing all the way out here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice completely steady while I stood straight in front of him.

My father didn't listen to my question at all, and his face turned completely dark with rage as he looked around the cabin and pointed his finger right at my face.

"Are you serious right now, Damon?" my father yelled, stepping right into my space while his guards stayed by the trees. "You went behind my back and maintained a secret relationship with that wolfless girl after everything I told you, and you actually thought you could hide this place from me?"

"Father, it's not what you think," I said, backing up a step while trying to keep my body blocking the blood on the muddy ground, "I was just checking on something out here."

My father stopped yelling, and a slow, cruel smile spread across his face as he looked past my shoulder toward the river path.

"You don't have to lie or cover anything up anymore, my son," my father said, and his tone suddenly changed from pure anger to total satisfaction. "It doesn't even matter that you disobeyed me, because my men tracked her down right here, and we finally got rid of her."

I went completely rigid as I stared into my father's smiling face, and the cold realization hit me that my father hadn't just wanted her forced out of the pack, but he had actively sent his men out here to murder her, and he had succeeded.

My father turned around and walked back toward the territory with his guards, leaving me alone in the rainy woods.

I stumbled back toward the ruined cabin and dropped heavily to my knees beside the bloodstained floor, and my wolf suddenly started screaming in agony deep inside my chest as the full weight of what I had done crushed me.

I remained on my knees for several minutes, unable to accept what I had just heard. My fingers curled against the bloodstained floor as I searched desperately for some explanation that could prove my father was lying. Perhaps Raina had escaped. Perhaps the blood belonged to someone else. Perhaps she had somehow managed to protect herself and our baby before they reached her. I clung to every possibility because accepting the truth felt impossible.

I forced myself to stand and searched the cabin again, opening every damaged cupboard and looking behind every piece of broken furniture. There was no sign of her. Her belongings were scattered across the floor, but she was nowhere to be found. I picked up a small piece of fabric that I recognized immediately, and my chest tightened as I pressed it against my palm.

"Why didn't I protect you?" I whispered.

My wolf answered with another painful howl.

I rushed outside again and searched the riverbank, even though the rain had nearly erased every trace. I called her name until my voice became hoarse, but only the sound of the storm answered me. I wanted to believe she was somewhere nearby, waiting for me to find her.

Then I noticed something half-buried beneath the mud near the river.

I crouched down and pulled it free.

It was one of Raina's belongings.

I stared at it in disbelief, my breathing stopping as I realized there was something strangely familiar about the blood covering it.

For the first time, doubt pierced through my grief.

"Raina..." I whispered, saying her name for the first time without any anger in my voice while I stared at the empty room, completely broken as the storm continued to fall outside.