REJECTED BY THE HOCKEY ALPHA

THEGIRL WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE.

THE GIRL WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE

POV: Raina

"Your family lied to you about everything, Damon," I said, and I pulled the arrow back out of his hand while I stepped away from him.

"Raina, just wait a minute and let me explain," Damon said, and he reached his hand out toward me with a desperate look on his face. "My father always told me that symbol belonged to an ancient family that died out, so I didn't know anyone was still using it today."

"I don't trust a single word that comes out of your mouth, because you threw me away the second your father told you to," I said, and I walked past him straight toward the cabin door.

"Where are you even going right now?" Damon asked as he followed me outside, and he tried to grab my arm to stop me.

"I'm going to get my own answers, because if everyone in that pack has been lying to me my whole life, then I'm going to find out why on my own," I said, and I shoved his hand away and walked straight back toward the pack territory under the cover of the dark trees.

I didn't go back to beg anyone for mercy or ask to be let back into the pack, but instead, I snuck quietly through the back fence and headed straight for my family's house. I knew Ethan had thrown that photograph into the fire, but I also knew how he acted when he was hiding something, so I went straight to his room through the back window.

When I pushed the window open and stepped onto the floor, Ethan was sitting right on his bed with a small scrap of paper in his hands, and he jumped up in surprise when he saw me standing there.

"Raina, what are you doing back here?" Ethan asked, and his voice was full of panic as he tried to hide the piece of paper behind his back. "If the guards see you inside the border, they will kill you right on the spot!"

"Give me whatever you pulled out of that fire, Ethan," I said, and I stepped right up to him without showing any fear at all.

"I can't give you this, because it's going to get us both killed," Ethan said, but his hands were shaking so bad that he couldn't even keep a strong grip on it.

"Why did you lie to the Alpha about me stealing those records?" I asked, and I grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close so he had to look me in the eye. "You're my brother, but you lied to everyone and helped them banish me!"

"I didn't have a choice, Raina!" Ethan screamed, and he finally broke down while tears ran straight down his face. "Father told me that if I didn't frame you for stealing those files, he would make sure I never played hockey again and he would destroy my whole life!"

"Why do you hate me so much that you would ruin my life just to save yourself?" I asked, and my voice cracked as I stared at my own brother.

"Because every time I looked at you, Father reminded me that you were the reason our family was going to die," Ethan said, and he dropped his head while his shoulders shook.

"What does that even mean?" I asked, and I shook him by his shirt collar to make him answer me.

"Our mother isn't actually your biological mother, Raina," Ethan whispered, and he looked at the door to make sure no one was listening outside. "You were adopted when you were just a baby, because your real parents belonged to that ancient Alpha dynasty that everyone thought was completely extinct, but you were the only child who survived that attack."

Ethan pressed the burnt scrap of paper into my hand, and I turned it over to look at the date written on the back, along with a short message right under it that read: Damon Frost's father knows where the surviving heir is.

Damon's family knew who I was all along, and they deliberately made Damon reject me, convinced my own family to hate me, and kept my true identity hidden from me my entire life so they could kill me before I ever found out the truth.

"You need to leave right now, because Father ordered the guards to hunt you down tonight," Ethan said, and he pushed me back toward the window as fast as he could.

I climbed back out through the window and ran straight into the woods toward the border, but as I stopped near the edge of the trees and looked toward the Frost territory, a powerful heat spread through my entire chest. My eyes flashed silver in the dark night, and for the first time, my inner wolf spoke inside my head with a voice that was completely strong and deep.

Go back to Damon Frost right now, the wolf said, and her voice echoed inside my mind until my whole body felt full of energy. He is not your enemy in this fight, because his father is the one who set all of this up.

I stood at the border and realized that the boy who publicly broke my heart in front of the whole academy might actually be the only person who can help me stay alive against the people who want me dead.