The air is tense between our small group and their big one. No one is moving and it's as if the whole world is holding its breath.
I don't dare look to anyone in particular, especially not Raph, instead I let my eyes skim over the pack, registering every hateful look focused on the two of us. It's almost as if I can hear every single one curse us to hell and back and with every pack member I look at, my faint hope fades away and any energy I had before leaves my body.
'So it's true?' a strong voice finally breaks the silence.
My head snaps over to where the alpha stands protectively in front of his family. His stare is hard, trained on both me and Raph as we are barely standing an inch apart from each other.
I swallow dry as I prepare myself to answer, but mum takes this burden on herself.
'Yes it is Tim. They're mates.' There's a visible shift in the pack now. The anger I prior to mum's declaration thought of as suffocating now turns into a down right killing intent. It's almost nauseating, too much to bear.
'How dare you!' a high pitched voice now screeches over to us, 'How dare you disrespect my daughter like that! Raphael is her mate, it isn't possible for them to be ...! This is the alpha family! You have no right! You and your vermin of a son are the reason this is happening now!' The voice gets higher and more unbearable with every word and I'm not at all surprised when I find the source of it.
Sheila's mother is standing there, hunched over as if ready to shift, her teeth bared and her hands in fist.
'How dare YOU!' mum retaliates. She's now assumed a similar position and I know it's because of the insult aimed at me. After all, she is still a mother to a pup. They don't take attacks on their own lightly.
'These are my sons! Do not make lightly of this relationship!' her calm voice has a dangerous undertone and I know not to step up to her when she gets like this.
Raph's hand takes hold of mine and when I look over, I can see his eyes trained on my mother, who is protectively standing in front of both of us, with love and gratitude shining in them. She's not just my mother anymore, she's also his.
I squeeze his hand back and throw him a quick smile, but then focus back on what's happening in front of us. Immediately my eyes meet Sheila's. From the pain in her eyes, she's just witnessed the small exchange between me and Raph and I feel a wave of guilt wash over me. I couldn't care less about this pack being angry, not when I have Raph with me, but Sheila is as much a victim in this as we are. Having her suffer is the one thing I will always regret about this.
'MY DAUGHTER!' Alpha Timothy bellows over all the now extremely loud growls being thrown our way and it immediately becomes quiet.
'My daughter came to me a few hours ago, telling me that she was convinced her mates were going behind her back. She talked to me about several instances that made her doubt and waver. I told her not to jump to conclusions. So explain. This is your only chance.'
While he was talking, my eyes stayed locked on Sheila, even though she's not looking at me anymore. Her attention is entirely on Raph, whereas his eyes are fixated on Sam, who is crying at this point.
It doesn't come as much as a surprised as I would have thought it would to find out she realised. Raph and I have been told several times that we are obvious, but how can we not? It was such a fight to keep it all a secret, now to realise that it was all for nought, that we could have just come out with it and the result would have been the same; that is the real shock.
But this is it. I want to say something, to stand up for us, but I realise it's not my place. This is Raph's family ready to attack us on any wrong word, so I keep my mouth shut.
My eyes drift from Sheila to Raph, who is still staring at Sam. In this moment, my confidence wavers. Sam is with them. Sam, who is desperately trying to wipe his tears away but is failing to keep up with all the new ones falling from his eyes. Sam, who is shaking so much, I can tell from here. I want to go and hug him, comfort him and hoping he would let me, but I can't because, once again, this is Raph's call to make.
There is so much love in his eyes as he's watching his own brother being reduced to such a state that I start wondering what I would do should he decide to beg and stay.
I get pulled out of my thoughts when he squeezes my hand once before letting go. When he sinks to his knees and bows his head it's all I can do to not give in to my shaking knees and fall to the ground next to him.
I feel desperation wash over me as he stays there, grovelling on the floor by the alpha's feet.
He's begging and now, with him not holding my hand anymore, I get ready to run. With Raph gone, I have no place here anymore. I know mum will follow and so it's once again a new place. I tell myself it will be better, but I know that that's a lie. There's a brief thought spared to Mary, whom I've come to like a lot. She is a good friend, even though she annoys me more times than not. Then, my eyes go back to Raph, who is kneeling on the floor, still unmoving and still without a word.
It's a good few minutes later that he finally starts talking.
'I'm sorry.' I feel my throat close up and my lungs stop breathing when he says that one word.
'All of what you said...' There's an anticipation in the air and it's not of the good kind, 'It's all true.'
That's when my body slumps. I fall to the floor, right next to Raph and it takes me a moment to regain my sense. He hasn't moved, but from where his forehead touches the ground, I can see worry in his eyes that are glancing at me from the side.
I quickly get into the same position as him, begging, even if I don't yet know for what. Doubting him was stupid. So I sit there, with my forehead touching the ground, hands outstretched, and waiting for what Raph is going to do.
'Donovan Brigham is my mate.' My breath hitches.
'I am in love with him.' My heart stops.
'I would be even if he wasn't my mate.' At that I close my eyes and concentrate on breathing again.
'We have been together for a few weeks now. I'm sorry.' he apologises again.
After a few seconds of silence, loud protests are beginning to rise amongst the pack and this time, the alpha doesn't bother cutting them off.
'SHEILA!' Raph's shout momentarily makes them quiet down enough for him to continue talking, 'I'm sorry to you to. This is not something we chose. I'm sorry you were the victim in all this. I'm sorry that we lied to you for so long. And most of all, I'm sorry for denying you the wonders of having a mate.' With his last words, his hands slowly inches over to mine before grabbing it a powerful hold.
Sheila doesn't answer to any of this, and I don't dare raise my head and look up. It's a vulnerable position we are in. Should they choose to attack us, we wouldn't have any chance to react quick enough like this. I am tense and my head is starting to hurt with how focused I am on my hearing.
'How do you think I should resolve this?' the alpha asks with a deadly calm to his voice. He's obviously not happy with the situation but as alpha, he can't simply start a fight in his pack.
Raph's voice sounds tired and weak as he answers this, completely different to just a second ago.
'I just don't want to lose him.' my heart beats painfully strong at his words. He is suffering, it's so clear that it's heartbreaking. He loves all of these people, wolves, now they're forcing him to make decisions no one should have to make.
Before the alpha can speak again, there's the quiet platter of small feet that would have gone unnoticed was it not this quiet. Seconds later, Sam's small body is thrown over Raph's, whimpering into his back, but holding on to his brother with all the strength he can muster.
Raph doesn't move at first, probably too shocked by what just happened, but I don't even think twice. Instinctively, I push up from my kneeling position and throw my own body over theirs as I realise how much closer the whole pack came while neither me or Raph were looking.
'Sam.' I call out quietly. He hiccups a couple of times before calming down enough to answer me.
'You need to stay strong. It'll be fine. Raph will be fine. I promise. I'll keep him safe.' With those words, suddenly this whole situation gets pushed into perspective. Of course this isn't about me at all. It shouldn't be.
So whatever will happen, as long as Raph is safe, that's what counts.
Sam slowly folds himself out from between me and Raph as both he and Raph lean back onto their heels.
'What about you?' Sam then says, grabbing my hand with one of his that isn't busy holding on to Raph.
I close my eyes for a split second, not believing how much this child affects me.
I don't answer him as there is no way to tell how this will end.
'You can go.' the alpha's voice then interrupts us. All of our heads snap up, past mum's body still hovering in front of us. She's not said anything in a long while, too focused on paying attention so no one can surprise her.
There are a lot of voices from the pack that now make themselves heard, wanting to not let us go.
'They will leave!' the alpha then repeats, now aimed at the pack, but soon turns back to us, 'You will leave pack land. Don't come back either. This is not your pack anymore.' His voice is cold and I feel my heart stop. It's not for me though, it's for the people around me. Raph and Sam will lose their family and I don't even know yet whether mum will leave with us. Knowing her though, she's probably prepared for this already.
Raph looks over at me, then moves and hugs both me and Sam to him.
'We'll be fine. Together.' I swallow nervously, not wanting to appear so, but barely able to hold back the tears at this point.
Then the alpha once again adds a condition and it's then that rather than Raph reassuring me, I am the one now holding him up.
'The boy stays.'