The Hockey Alpha Captain's Secret Heir

ELENA I don’t know something is wrong until Brielle’s hand starts shaking in mine. “ You cold? ” I ask her, because it’s the only reason that makes sense. It’s freezing out here. Drums have not even started beating yet, and half the pack is still filing in around the fire lit on the Pack grounds to celebrate Damon’s victory in his first hockey match against the rival Pack. “ I am fine. ” Brielle doesn't look at me when she finally answers after a long pause. I have known that face since we were six years old. I know when she is lying. I just don't know why she is lying right now. Especially tonight, when I have so many things to hide myself. My hand finds my stomach without control. It’s been two weeks since the healer confirmed it and three days since I decided I was finally going to tell Damon, but I was failing every time. Even today, in the morning, after he finally got tired of filling me all night, I couldn’t bring myself to utter just three words. I am pregnant. ‘ You are doing it again. ’ Luna, my she-wolf, huffs in my mind. ‘If you keep touching your stomach in public, someone is going to notice before he does. ' ‘Shut up. ’ I tell her. ‘ Nobody is paying attention to me tonight. ’ That part, at least, turns out to be true. The Alpha steps in the middle of the clearing first. His sons trail behind him, and the whole clearing goes quiet the way it always does when he is about to talk. I search the crowd for Damon out of habit and find him standing behind his father. He has the same broad shoulders, the same stupid confident walk, and my stomach does the thing it always does when my eyes find him. Even now, after a whole day of being away from him, I can feel his mouth on my throat as he kissed me all over, his hand fisting in my hair, and his voice whispering ‘mine’ like he meant it. I shudder and continue to stare at him, but he doesn’t look my way, not even once. Suddenly, my gut twists. “ Something is wrong. ” I murmur under my breath. The drums start beating. I know that rhythm. Everyone in this pack knows that rhythm. It’s not a war drum, and it’s not a mourning drum. It’s the one they save for exactly one thing, and my brain refuses to finish that thought even as my whole body goes cold. “ Tonight… ” The Alpha says. “ my son takes his mate. ” The crowd erupts into howls before he is even done talking. I smile because everyone's smiling, because that's what you do, and I wait for Damon to cross the clearing toward me the way he is supposed to, the way I let myself believe he would after four months of promises whispered where nobody could hear us. He turns towards me, and our eyes meet just for a second. My smile widens, my heart fluttering in my chest. He is going to come to me and get down on one knee, then he will ask me to become his mate for the rest of our lives, like we always planned. He crosses the distance between us in a few long strides. Excited, I step ahead but he moves across me and goes to Brielle instead. Surprised, I whip around to look at him, and find him holding her hand the same way he used to take mine. My eyes jump to meet hers. Her whole face crumples like she is the one getting hurt here, which makes no sense. None of this makes any sense… She looks at me for one second from right over his shoulder. I find my heart drowning in the pit of my stomach. There is no happiness in her eyes. Her eyes scream ‘I am sorry’. “ Brielle Marsh. ” Damon's voice echoes through the whole clearing, loud enough that two hundred people will remember exactly how he said it. “ I claim you as my mate, before my pack and my father, for all the days I walk this earth. ” The howling doubles. Someone slaps my shoulder in celebration. I am still smiling. I don't know how I am still smiling, except that my body seems to have decided this is easier than falling apart in front of my entire pack. ' Elena. ' Luna's voice cracks with something I have never heard from her before. ' Elena, breathe. ' I can't feel my hands. He has not looked at me once. Not during the ceremony, not now, not even by accident. And under the noise, under the drums picking back up and some wolf howling out past the tree line, one thought lands in my head like a stone dropping straight through water. I am carrying his child. And he just claimed my best friend in front of Goddess and our entire pack. With that thought, I turn around and make a run for it. I don’t remember how I get home, and find myself sitting on my bed, but I do. ' Say something. ' I finally tell Luna, because the silence in my head is worse than anything she could say. ' What do you want me to say? That I told you not to trust an Alpha's son? I did tell you that. ‘ Tears start streaming down my cheeks. How could I be so stupid? He never once told me he loved me, but I believed he did. I gave him my body, my soul, my heart even when I knew I couldn’t shift into my wolf form. I am too weak to let Luna take over my body, and that’s why I am treated less than dirt in this Pack, so why did I think Damon would ever choose me as his Luna?