004

RAYLA

By the time I got home, the news of what happened at school already spread like wildfire. Every servant was snickering in my direction and whispering amongst themselves as I walked past and went into my room.

I flung my backpack on the bed along with myself. It doesn't help that every time I close my eyes, I still get flashbacks of what happened in the cafeteria, I couldn't decide which one to be mad about.

Brandon rejected me and then accused me of planning it with Damien or Damien kissing me in front of the whole school and then declaring me his mate! Nothing makes sense anymore, I buried my face into one of my pillows, screaming into it.

I lost how many minutes I had been screaming for until a knock at the door interrupted my screaming section. Fearing it was Damien, because I would do anything to avoid seeing him now. As the door opened a second later, my mom walked in.

I immediately stood up, knowing why she was here. "I can explain..." Even though I have no idea what I was explaining, I have done nothing wrong. Damien was the one who lost his mind and kissed me in front of the whole school.

"Alpha wants to see you in the family room, Damien is currently waiting there." She turned to leave but I ran after her, blocking the exit.

"You believe me right? I would never do anything that will bring shame to you or Alpha Jordan for that matter. This is all Damien's fault and it's part of his childish pranks." I pleaded desperately, hoping she would trust me enough to defend me against whatever Jordan might accuse me of.

"I don't think this is a prank Rayla and if you want me to be on your side, then you probably should stop lying to my face." She gently brushes past me as she walks out of the room.

I took a deep breath trying not to panic, maybe I'm the one overthinking this. I will clear the misunderstanding with Alpha Jordan and hope things will go back to the way it was. I've faced enough humiliation for one year in a day!

"Good day Alpha." I greeted a few minutes later. I couldn't bring myself to look at Damien where he stood against the wall by the entrance. What's with him and walls?

"I'm sure you're aware of the rumours parading in the pack. I want you two to tell me it's just a rumour, so I can shut it down." Alpha Jordan begins, looking back and forth between the both of us.

"It is true that Brandon rejected me, I don't know why because he offers me no explanation. Damien was only being a big brother by stepping in to help me, I guess the situation was misunderstood and it escalated into these filthy rumours." I responded, meeting Jordan's stare and completely avoiding his son's own.

Before his father could answer, Damien chuckled, pushing himself away from the wall. "Is that the story we are going with... Mate?" He spat out the word "mate" while glaring at me.

"Mate?!" Our parents shouted at the same time.

I ignored them, facing Damien. "Will you stop lying already? Everyone knows we cannot be mated to each other! We are siblings for crying out loud!" I shouted, hoping somewhere along the line, he could come back to his senses.

"Why do you keep denying it? If I wasn't your mate, your body would have rejected my touch especially after Brandon just rejected you. You couldn't even touch Brandon, in the moment of pain, your mind, body and soul craves your mate, which is me, that’s why you couldn't feel the pain of Brandon's rejection after I kissed you."

"Enough!" My mom interrupted, alarmed as she looked at us. "Damien, I'm sure you must have misunderstood the situation. Rayla is your sister, therefore you cannot be her soul-mate."

"She is not my sister!" Damien growled at my Mom, causing his Dad to stand up. "We are not blood related, let me prove it to you!" He reached for me but Jordan blocked him.

"Don't you understand what's going on Damien? You might not be blood related but we raised you two as siblings, as blood related and incest is forbidden in this pack and in my household!"

"I don't fucking care what your rules are!" He hissed back at his father. "Rayla is fucking mine."

"Jordan, I believe we should talk to the children separately. All these yelling and shouting at each other is clearly not working." As soon as her mate agreed, my Mom was pulling me away, not after flinging a disgusting look in Damien's direction and that pissed me off.

I let go of her hand once we were in my room. "Wow Mom, have you been dying to look at him that way all these years?" I snapped before I could get a grip on my tongue.

She spun around so fast, giving me a disbelieving look. "Are you seriously going to defend him? Tell me he's right?" She demanded, causing me to swallow hard.

"I'm not defending him Mom, I just don't like the way you looked at him."

"He deserved to be looked at that way! It's perverted, disgusting and sick to look at one sibling in a way he was looking at you. Tell me everything he's saying is not true." She pleaded, grasping my hand.

"I don't know!" I cried, twisting my hands out of hers. "Nothing makes sense anymore, okay? Brandon tells me he loves me and then he rejects me in front of the whole school and now my stepbrother is claiming to be my mate!"

"If he is your soulmate, you would know." She pointed out, ignoring everything else I just told her. "I'll give you a few minutes to recall all that happen and then you will answer me honestly."

I closed my eyes, recalling the moments back at the cafeteria when Damien kissed me. I remember touching Brandon but his touch burns, yet I still crave for my mate. Each time I touched him, I kept getting hurt until Damien kissed me.

At first my body was shocked but then it shut down and accepted his kiss, like I have been waiting for it my whole life. My face heated just by thinking of the memory and when I opened my eyes, my mom was staring back at me with tears in her eyes.

"Mom..." What should I say?

"Don't!" She cried. "Don't you dare say it."

"I...I..."

"You don't understand do you? Do you have any idea how the world will look at us now? How will the entire pack treat you now?"

I snapped then. "How? They would treat me worse than they did before? How is that anything new? You are suddenly interested in my life after ignoring me the minute you mate with Jordan! If you weren't gushing about how much he loves you then you are gushing about how much Jenna looks like him. It's like I become completely invisible to you!"

I screamed, letting it all out.

"What? Are you saying it's my fault you are mated to your brother?" She cuts me off thinking I wanted to deny it when in fact, I wanted to remind her that Damien wasn't my brother.

"You know what? I'm taking full responsibility for it, which is why I'm ordering you at once to reject him!"

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TBC