Chapter 0001

SOPHIA

I threw my head back and laughed at all our good memories as I walked down the corridor that led to Asher's room.

Or rather, Alpha King Asher's room.

It was the eve of my boyfriend's coronation, and he had asked me to be his Luna last night. My joy knew no bounds! Finally, we were going to be together. I was hurt and heartbroken when I first found out we weren't mates, but when he told me he didn't care and only wanted to be with me, I knew that I was the luckiest girl in the entire Werewolf kingdom! And Asher? He was the sweetest man, and I loved him with everything I had.

As I approached the door of his room, I started to hear strange noises. The first sounded like a breathless moans from him. I narrowed my eyes on the door as I walked closer, my footsteps grew slower as I clutched the wrapped box I had carefully hidden his coronation gift in.

The closer I got, the louder the sounds became.

"Yes baby! Fucking yes!" I heard him scream.

I paused immediately. Blood drained from my face as I froze in front of his room door. Everything in me was telling me to turn around and run, run as fast as I could, but I couldn't. I wanted to see for myself, I wanted to see that my ears were deceiving me, and the sounds of flesh slapping against flesh was not what I thought it was.

So, I took the first step forward and there was no turning back. I was inside his room, watching him as he thrust himself into my foster sister's body. Her back was arched, and he spanked her ass repeatedly. Hearing her scream Asher's name the way I used to made me sick to my stomach.

"Who's daddy's precious mate?!" Asher growled, pulling her hair backwards, while the pace of his strokes hastened.

Adeline - my foster sister - was red with pleasure. She dug her fingers into the sheets and screamed.

"I'm daddy's precious mate!"

My trembling fingers could no longer hold the box. I watched it slip from my fingers and crash to the ground. The noise was the only thing loud enough to shock the both of them.

Asher pulled out of Adeline immediately, and fell into the bed. I watched as Adeline pulled the duvet up to her chest to cover her naked breasts, but Asher did nothing to cover up himself.

Wasn't he ashamed?

No. He wasn't. There was nothing in his eyes, not even the faintest glimpse of remorse.

It was then tears filled my eyes. Seeing the emptiness in his absolute crushed me.

"Oh no." I muttered, chuckling bitterly.

"Please don't let me stop you. Carry on. I just came to drop this." I pointed at the box on the floor, but his cold eyes didn't leave mine. I caught Adeline flash me a mocking smile, and my heart twisted in my chest.

She had never liked me, not from the second the beta, her father, adopted me. But did she have to go so far to spite me?

"You weren't supposed to find out like this. We weren't going to make an announcement until my coronation." Asher spoke, rising from the bed.

The casual tone of his voice confused me. He spoke as though I had not just caught him cheating on me! And "we"? What did he mean by "we"?

"Can you even listen to yourself? You're saying that you were planning to announce that you were cheating on me with my sister, in front of the entire pack on your coronation tomorrow?!" I screamed at him.

"What? No." He chuckled. He slowly put on his boxer briefs as he smiled at me.

"I was planning to announce my union with my mate, Adeline."

I saw red. The blood that had drained from my face quickly rushed to my eyes. I wanted to cry, wanted to tear my hair away and scream at the top of my lungs.

"Are you kidding me?! You said you loved me! You asked me to be your Luna just last night! And we made love after I said yes! You can't possibly be doing this to me, Asher."

I couldn't believe it. I was begging him, pleading with him to reconsider even after what he had done. Was this how much I loved him? He was the only one who I had ever loved in all my eighteen years.

He stood still, placing both hands on both sides of his hips before he turned to look at Adeline. The lust in his eyes sparkled so bright. He had never looked at me that way before.

"You said...you said you loved me." Was all I could cough out in tears.

"And I do, Sophia. I really do. But when I found Adeline in the garden and my wolf called out to her, I couldn't stop myself. I care about you, but Adeline is my mate. We are meant to be together."

They were meant to be together?

Funny how he had said the same thing to me last night.

"You said you didn't care about the mate bond. That it didn't matter, as long as we were together, we could face anything." I didn't know why I was still talking, but a part of me hoped that reminding him of his words would bring him back to his senses.

"And that was until I met my mate! Come on, Sophia. Don't you want me to be happy? We are not mates, yours is probably somewhere out there too. Find him and be happy. I found mine, and I know we would be happy. I would do anything for the one the goddess has blessed me with." As though I wasn't there, he turned to smile at her, and she smiled back.

I swallowed hard. The lump of tears stuck in my throat wouldn't find their way out, no matter how hard I tried.

"Anything baby?" Adeline asked. Her high pitched voice scraped my ears. I had almost forgotten she was there.

"Yes, my love. Anything."

"Very well then, I have a small request."

"Speak. This kingdom is yours as well as mine."

"Well," She folded her arms underneath her chest and turned to me.

"Now that I will be living in the palace with you, I will need someone who knows me well enough to attend to all my needs without me needing to stress about giving instructions and all that. That is where my dearest sister here, comes to play. I will really appreciate if she can be given a job here in the palace, as my personal slave...I mean, maid."

I felt dizzy. The walls around me were starting to spin, and I was too confused to move, but I sure as hell wasn't going to allow Adeline make mockery of me.

"You heard your queen, Sophia. You must come work for her in the pack house."

Asher's next words had me spinning my head towards him.

"You're joking! clearly you are joking!" Tears streamed down my eyes as I screamed.

"I will never do that! You can't make me do that! You can't choose her over me!"

"And why can't I?"

I gasped in shock. His eyes were no longer empty. This time, they held contempt.

"She is the beta's daughter, my mate, and a strong wolf. But you? You are nothing but an orphaned omega, even lucky to be brought into royalty..." He stopped speaking. I could see hurt flash in his eyes, almost as if it broke him to speak to me in that tone. In that split second, I saw him again - the Asher Morris I had fallen head over heels in love with - but he didn't give me a chance to speak before he dissolved into the monster standing in front of me again.

"Do not test me, Sophia. Or my first task as alpha king would be to banish you from this pack."

He meant it, every word of it.

I lowered my head to the ground as I sniffed in my tears.

"Yes, alpha." I muttered underneath my breath.