REJECTED BY THE HOCKEY ALPHA

MY BROTHER’S BETRAYAL

MY BROTHER'S BETRAYAL

POV: Raina

I woke up the next morning hoping the previous night was just a nightmare, but as soon as I walked down the academy hallway, the loud laughing and pointing made me see that everything really happened. The news of my rejection had spread to everyone, and when I reached my locker, someone had used red paint to write WOLFLess MATE right across the front of it. Even the teachers turned their heads away when I walked past them, but I didn't care about any of those people because I only cared about talking to Ethan.

I walked straight to the hockey facility and waited outside the door until the team finished their morning practice. When Ethan finally walked out with his bag over his shoulder, he saw me standing there and immediately tried to walk right past me without saying a word.

"Ethan, please just wait a second and talk to me," I said, and I stepped in front of him so he had to stop walking.

"Get out of my way, Raina, because people are watching us right now and I don't want to be seen with you," Ethan said, and he looked around the hallway to see if any of his teammates were looking.

"Why did you let Damon humiliate me like that last night?" I asked, and my voice shook as I looked at him, "You're my brother, but you stood right there and told everyone not to call me your sister."

"I did what I had to do for my own future," Ethan said, and he tightened his grip on his bag while he glared down at me. "Our parents already made their decision this morning, so you aren't allowed to attend elite academy events anymore, and they are transferring you to the low-ranking pack school down the road."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, and I grabbed his arm because I couldn't believe what he was telling me. "They can't just throw me out of the academy like that, so please talk to them and tell them to let me stay."

"Why would I do that when you've been destroying our family's reputation for years?" Ethan yelled, and he shoved my hand off his arm while his face turned red. "I spent my whole life protecting you and giving up things because Mother told me you were sick, but now I know the truth, because you're just weak."

I stared at him while my throat felt tight, and I couldn't even speak for a moment because my parents had been telling Ethan things about my health that I never even knew about. Before I could ask him anything else, Ethan pushed past me and walked away down the hall without looking back once.

I stood there by myself while my chest hurt, and then I saw my best friend Mila walking down the hallway toward the cafeteria. I felt a small bit of hope, so I hurried over to her and reached out to catch her arm.

"Mila, I really need to talk to you," I said, but then I froze because Damon walked out from around the corner, and he reached down to take Mila's hand in his.

Mila looked very uncomfortable when she saw me, and she quickly pulled her hand out of Damon's grip, but she didn't step away from him.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, and I looked back and forth between the two of them while my eyes filled with tears.

"Raina, it's not what you think," Mila said, but she wouldn't look me straight in the eye, and she moved a little closer to Damon's side.

"You're my best friend, Mila," I said, and my voice was barely a whisper as I stepped toward her. "How could you do this to me after what he did to me last night?"

"Look at the reality of the situation, Raina," Mila said, and she finally looked up at me with a hard expression. "Damon deserves someone who can actually stand beside him as a real mate, and you can't even shift into a wolf, so you need to stop holding everyone back."

"Let's just go, Mila," Damon said, and he didn't even acknowledge my presence as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her down the hallway with him.

Everyone I ever trusted had chosen to turn against me in a single day, so I left the academy early and walked all the way back to my house in silence. When I pushed the front door open, I saw three large bags sitting right by the entrance, and my mother was standing near the table with her arms folded across her chest.

"What is all this?" I asked, and I pointed at the bags on the floor while my heart started beating fast.

"Your bags are packed, and you are leaving this pack before the sun comes up tomorrow morning," my mother said, and her voice was completely cold without any warmth at all.

"Mother, please don't do this to me," I begged, and I ran over to her and grabbed her hands. "I have nowhere else to go, so please just let me stay here and I promise I won't get in anyone's way."

"You were never supposed to survive long enough to embarrass this family," my mother said, and she pulled her hands away from mine before turning her back on me and walking out of the room.

I went up to my bedroom and closed the door, and I started pulling my remaining clothes out of the closet so I could finish packing my stuff. As I moved the heavy trunk in the corner of the room, I noticed one of the floorboards was loose, so I reached down and lifted the piece of wood up to see what was under it.

There was a small piece of paper hiding underneath, and when I pulled it out, I saw an old picture of my mother holding me when I was just a small baby. Right beside us in the picture was a strange symbol that I had never seen in my life, and when I turned the picture over to look at the back, I saw words written in black ink:

If they ever discover what she is, kill her before her wolf awakens.