The Family That Wanted Me Gone

CHAPTER TWO

Raina's POV

I pushed the front door open and walked into the house with my hands shaking from the cold, and I was desperately hoping my parents would offer me some kind of comfort after what happened at the ceremony. My father was sitting near the middle of the room with a sour look on his face, and my brother Ethan was already standing by the counter with a drink in his hand while my sister Mira smiled at me from the hallway.

"Don't start crying in here, Raina, because you got exactly what you deserved tonight," my father said, and he didn't even bother to stand up or look me in the eye as he spoke.

"Father, Damon publicly humiliated me in front of the whole academy," I said, stepping closer to the center of the room while my voice trembled. "He rejected me right on the floor, and Ethan stood right beside his teammates and laughed at me instead of saying anything to defend his own sister."

"Why would I defend someone who makes our whole family look like a complete joke?" Ethan asked, dropping his glass onto the counter with a loud clatter before stepping toward me. "You can't shift into a wolf, you have no power in this pack, and yet you always try to act like you're smarter than everyone else."

"I don't act like anything, Ethan," I said, holding my ground even though my whole body was exhausted, "I just pointed out a simple mistake in your hockey strategy today, and you got mad because you know I understand the game better than you do."

"Shut your mouth about my hockey career!" Ethan shouted, stepping right into my face while his face turned completely red with anger. "You don't play on the team, you don't wear the jersey, and you're just jealous because Father actually cares about my future while you are nothing to this family."

"Ethan is right, so you need to accept Damon's rejection quietly and stop causing trouble for us," my father interrupted, waving his hand toward the stairs to dismiss me completely. "Alpha Marcus already called me about the situation, and I told him our family would not make a mess over a wolfless girl who was never going to bring us any value anyway."

"He never truly wanted you in the first place, Raina," Mira said, stepping out from the hallway with her arms crossed over her chest while a cruel grin spread across her face. "Damon only talked to you because he felt sorry for you, but now that the whole academy knows he rejected you, you can finally stop pretending you ever had a chance with a future Alpha."

I didn't answer any of them because my chest hurt too much, so I turned around and walked up the stairs to my room without saying another word. I sat on the edge of my bed for hours while the house went completely quiet, but I couldn't sleep at all because I kept thinking about the way Damon had held me in the equipment room right before the ceremony started. I knew deep down that his public rejection didn't make any sense, so around midnight, I snuck out of my bedroom window and walked through the dark trees to the small storage shed behind the main hockey arena where we always used to meet in secret.

I pushed the heavy door open, and I found Damon standing near the back wall with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, looking like he had been pacing around the room for a long time.

"Why did you come out here, Raina?" Damon asked as soon as he saw me, and he tried to make his voice sound cold, but he immediately stepped forward and pulled me into his arms the moment I closed the door behind me.

"I came because I need to know the truth, Damon," I said, wrapping my arms around his waist while I pressed my face against his chest, feeling his heart beating fast beneath his jacket. "You told me an hour before the ceremony that we just had to be careful, but then you stood in front of everyone and said those terrible things to my face."

"We have to stop seeing each other for real this time, Raina," Damon whispered, but even as he said those words, his hands tightened around my waist, and he leaned down to press his lips against my neck while his body trembled against mine. "My father is watching every single move I make right now, and if he finds out we are still meeting like this, he will make sure you are forced out of the territory completely."

"You don't sound like you mean any of this," I said, pulling back just enough to look straight into his gold eyes, "You rejected me in front of the whole pack, but right now you are holding me like you can't let me go, so please stop lying to me and tell me what is actually going on."

"It's complicated, Raina, and I'm trying to keep you safe from things you don't understand yet," Damon said, resting his forehead against mine while his fingers ran through my hair in a way that felt completely gentle and protective.

I looked up at his face while my heart hammered against my ribs, and I knew I couldn't keep my biggest secret from him any longer, especially after everything that had happened between us over the past few months.

"Damon, there is something else you need to know," I whispered, taking his large hand and slowly placing it directly against my lower stomach. "I was going to tell you before the ceremony started, but everything went wrong."

Damon froze completely, and his eyes widened as he stared down at his hand resting against my body while his posture went totally rigid.

"What are you saying right now, Raina?" Damon asked, and his voice was barely audible as he looked back up into my eyes with total shock written across his face.

"I am pregnant, Damon," I said, and a single tear slipped down my cheek as I held his hand against my stomach. "It's your baby."

Damon stood completely still for a long moment while he tried to process what I had just told him, and I could feel the sudden warmth radiating off his skin as his inner wolf reacted with intense pride and protectiveness toward the news, showing me that he genuinely wanted this child deep down despite all the chaos around us. But before he could even wrap his arms around me or say another word, his phone vibrated loudly in his pocket, making us both jump.

Damon pulled his phone out with a shaking hand, and when he tapped the screen, a text message from Alpha Marcus popped up right at the top: My guards saw her leave her house tonight. Stay in your room and stay away from that girl, or I will deal with her myself before the sun comes up.

Damon stared down at the screen while his face turned completely pale, and then he looked back at my stomach, knowing that if his father ever discovered the pregnancy, both Raina and the unborn child would become targets.