Betrayal

SORA'S POV:-

It was the time when both the moon and the sun were not in the sky. The sun had settled down and the moon hadn't risen up. I was running deep into the forest. I was turning my head from time to time to see if I was being followed. I couldn't hear a pair of footsteps, his footsteps, behind me. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. But after all, I was just a mere human while he was a werewolf, running after me using the strength of his wolf.

"The more you make me chase after you, the more you will regret the moment I catch you. It's better for you to give up, Sora." I heard him growling at me from behind. My heart shivered with fear but I kept on running. I was constantly changing my ways, just to spread my scent around. 

I was constantly looking behind. With my human ears and normal hearing, I could only sense him running behind me. I looked in front of me and gasped as I found him standing in front of me. His arms were wide open, in order to catch me. I tried to stop myself but it was too late. As always, I fell right into his trap. 

Before I could have broken my nose, he caught me. He fell on the ground and we both started laughing. "How do you do it every single time? I work twice as hard as any of you. No one can beat me at the academy, but you always find a way to get to me." I spoke in an annoyed tone as I sat up on the ground, slapping his chest.

"If I can't find one of my pack members if she doesn't have a wolf, I can never be the Alpha I am meant to be. Besides, you are my best friend. And I can't risk losing you." Noah replied in his usual soft tone that he only used whenever I was with him. To the whole pack, he was a rude jerk. That's why no one believed me when I told them that Noah was such a sweetheart. Smiling at his response, I wrapped my arms around one of his arms and placed my head on his shoulder.

Noah was the only son of the Alpha of the Ice Crest Pack. That meant, he was born to be the alpha in the future. I was the daughter of the beta's sister who used to serve the king when she was younger. I live with my mother and my sister in the beta's quarters. My sister and I were orphans . And my mother never told us anything about our father. Pack couldn't care less about me, while my twin sister, Solana always found new boys to pamper her. But for me, Noah was everything.

Noah and I grew up together. We played in the same yard, we trained together and I even dreamt our future together. The only thing we couldn't do together was shifting. Unlike all other wolves of our pack, Noah shifted the day he turned fourteen. While I was still waiting for my wolf to finally wake up as I was counting days to turn seventeen soon.

Noah was a year older than me. And he was soon to turn eighteen. That means, he was supposed to be looking for his mate soon. That one thing concerned me so much. "What if I never awakened my wolf, Noah?" I asked him that same question again and heard him sigh. Despite my nagging personality, he was always very patient with me.

"So what! We will always remain as best friends. And you will always be part of this pack, my pack. I will never let anyone harm you in any way." He promised me something that always terrorized me. I smiled and nodded my head. 

………………

I went back home at night, only to find my mother all packed up and ready to leave. "Are you going on a vacation or something, mom?" I asked, smiling at her as I grabbed a bottle of water and poured some in a glass.

"No! We all are going together. I have already packed up your stuff as well. Solana and I are ready. We will wait for you to shower." She replied and I spat the mouth full of water on the ground. I had choked on the water that was in my mouth. I started coughing hard due to the sudden surprise.

"What are you talking about?" I asked out of confusion.

"Oh, you dirty girl! You have no manners at all." Solana growled at me as she walked toward me. 

"Anyway, mother has accepted the proposal of Alpha Oliver. And we are going to the Dark Crescent Moon Pack to live with Alpha Cougar and his family. Isn't it exciting?" As always, Solana was busy buttering our mother while no one asked me what I wanted.

"That's out of discussion. I belong to this pack, the Ice Crest Pack. And I am never leaving. I have already submitted to the alpha and I will do the same once Noah becomes the alpha. You can't just ask me to pack up and leave." I was almost screaming at my mother for being so clueless, especially about me.

"I thought you'd say that. And I had decided never to say anything else. You made that decision, you will be the only one to suffer. Solana and I are going. You can rot in here." My mother cursed me as always and walked away with Solana and her stuff.

My heart ached at the thought of losing my family. It had been like this since I could remember. Solana was mom's favorite. While I was more of an outcast despite all that I had been doing for them. Aside from my military training, I was also earning to help my mother. My vision blurred due to the tears in my eyes as I watched my mother driving away.

I stayed home for two days. I didn't even go out for training. Then it was the night of Noah's eighteenth birthday. I was standing in front of the full view mirror, staring at my reflection. I was wearing the dress Noah had picked for me by himself. "I can do this!" I whispered to myself and walked out of the quarters I was in.

I stepped into the alpha's mansion and bumped into Uncle Leo, the beta of the pack. "Sora? What are you doing here? I thought you went with your mother?" He asked me and I smiled nervously. 

"I belong to this pack, I am not going anywhere. Do you know where Noah is? I have something to tell him." I replied confidently then asked Uncle Leo about Noah. As soon as he heard the name, I saw beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Oh! Never mind. I found him. Thank you, Uncle Leo." Without another word, I walked away. For some reason, I had a bad feeling about him. 

"Noah! Happy birthday!" I wished him from behind. Noah turned around and I saw a confused look on his face. He looked at me from head to toe and his eyes glowed red in the light of the moon. 

"Mate!" I heard him growl. A second later, he shook his head and looked around. 

"I need to talk to you." I whispered, staring into his eyes. But he was busy looking at his surroundings. He grabbed me by my arm and dragged me out of the mansion. He took me straight to the forest. 

"Why haven't you left with your mom?" He asked me angrily, making my heart clench at his question. My eyes started to water up as I was not expecting him to be mean to me as well.

"Why are you asking me that question, Noah? I thought you would be the one person who would be happy that I stayed." I asked him, my voice cracked as his questions echoed in my head again and again.

"I love you, Noah. And I can't watch you being with anyone else. I just don't know why but…" I was unable to complete my sentence as Noah grabbed me by my neck and slammed me against a huge tree. The rough surface of the tree tore my dress and pierced through my skin. If that was not enough for him, he started squeezing my throat, choking me. 

"Why, Moon Goddess! Why me? Out of all the powerful women, I got to have this wolfless burden as my mate." Noah growled angrily, shattering my heart with each word that he spoke. He let go of my neck. Gasping loudly for the air, I fell on the ground. I was taking deeper breaths to relieve that burning sensation I was feeling inside my chest. 

Noah grabbed my hair and forced me back on my feet again. "This can't happen. No one can ever know that you are my mate. Do you understand me?" He growled at me. For the first time, the sweet Noah I knew was gone. And the Noah in front of me was scaring me. But the love I had in my heart for that man was far greater than any other feeling I had ever felt for anyone before. Despite that fear in my heart, I wanted to tell him my feelings again.

"Noah! I don't know if you are my mate or not. But I love you. I don't know when I started to have feelings for you. But I know for sure that I love you more than I love myself." I confessed my true feelings , my love to the man I believed would be a perfect mate for me. Unfortunately for me, he started laughing at me as soon as he heard my confession. The man who was also her best friend, the man I had submitted to, the man who was my whole world, was heartlessly laughing at my confession.

"Oh, I am your mate, Sora. But what made you think that I would ever want to be with you? You! A low life wolfless woman. I am the future alpha of my pack. I can't be with you." Heartlessly, Noah replied without caring for the tears that appeared in my eyes. He even ignored the pain he might be able to see in my eyes.

He grabbed me by my neck again and choked me. "I, Noah, reject you, Sora, as my mate. Now take your ugly face away from my pack and never show it to me again. You and I are done." He rejected me just like that. He didn't even let me feel the sweet bond myself. He took that right from me. Without waiting for my response, Noah walked away. The man who couldn't see tears in my eyes, actually left in tears.

I covered my face and started crying. I didn't know what to do. After everything we had done together, the man I loved, the man the Moon Goddess chose to be my mate, betrayed me. I never expected him to betray me. That too when I was all alone. 

After a while, I wiped my tears as they no longer concerned anyone at all. I stood up and started walking toward the Beta quarters again. I had my arms wrapped around my chest because Noah tore my dress. As soon as I got home, I saw that the front door was open. A growl escaped my lips as I walked toward the quarters. Before I could step into the cabin, I felt a sharp pain in the nape of my neck. 

As I touched my neck, I found a tranquilizer dart on my neck. My vision started to blur almost immediately. I saw two tall figu

res walking toward me. Before I could even try defending myself, the darkness swallowed me whole.