Alpha Cole's Inferno

"I will love you forever, my mate. I will never put anything above you."

A promise we made to each other beneath the full moon, drenched in the heat of each other's bodies after we made love for the first time.

***

I had never seen my sister this excited since the night I was mated to Nathan, the future Alpha of our pack, the Silver Moon.

"Aria, you are so getting this dress, imagine walking into the main pack house with the flowers on the floor making your brown eyes pop, you will be the most beautiful gifted bride ever! Oh you will so make a good Luna and put that bitchy Ella to shame!"

Gifted Aria, the people in my pack refer to me in those words.

Ever since it was discovered that my dreams always came to pass, I had been treated as a special wolf and sent to the most prestigious school.

It also benefitted my father, the beta. Our entire family was respected and the Alpha treated my father like an equal.

I was blessed, and I never took it for granted that my gift was supposed to be for a good cause.

My visions had prevented several wars, and strengthened our relationship with the Alpha king.

I had always been treated as a special child too, now at nineteen I could speak several languages, plan events and dance perfectly.

Just like I was planning to dance with my mate on the night of our upcoming mating ceremony.

I discovered that Nathan was my mate on my eighteenth birthday when he was in his final year of college.

He was the hottest and most popular and I never considered him in my league. Hell, he was even dating Ella, the bitchy Queen bee daughter of the Dawn pack.

I was grateful that the Moon Goddess hadn't chosen to mate me with someone as evil as the Alpha of the Shadow Walker pack, the man whose ruthlessness was more famous than his face.

People barely saw him, because an encounter with him usually led to one path,

Death, destruction.

As I watched my sister, Emerald, browse dresses on the internet in preparation for my mating ceremony, I couldn't be more grateful for what I had been given.

"Yes, add it to the cart, please. I love it." I flashed my younger sister my most sincere smile.

"Great! Done! Now, shoes...sexy as hell pair of stilettos that would make your mate crazy for you on that day."

Oh dear, I couldn't help but laugh; Emerald had always been the bold one and I admired her for it.

But we never got to pick those shoes; a loud noise of shattering glasses interrupted our discussion.

"What's happening?" Emerald quickly dropped the tablet on my big bed and pushed herself upwards, slipping her feet into a pair of flip-flops. I did the same, curious about what was going on downstairs.

When we opened the door, confusion flooded my eyes as I saw our pack warriors turning our seats upside down, their eyes full of determination.

What the...

"We've told you before that we don't know what you are talking about!" My father was saying, his hunky frame attempting to prevent the warriors from scattering our properties.

Beside him, my mother who had been a highly regarded Alpha's daughter was shedding tears, her voice crooked as she explained something I couldn't decipher.

Emerald and I exchanged glances and quickly ran down the stairs, just in time to see the expensive painting the Alpha King had gifted us being pushed to the floor, a lock replacing the space where the painting had been.

"You have a safe here? Open it, now!" That was the head of the pack warriors, Ambrose. He always stood guard when Nathan and I went on a date and bowed whenever he greeted us.

But now he was talking down on my father, and I couldn't understand what was going on. I decided to butt in, acting on impulse.

"What's this, Ambrose? Is Nathan aware that you are harassing us this way?"

Ambrose looked at me as if I were dirt, his eyes narrowed as he handed a paper over to me. I took it with shaky fingers.

'The Alpha of Silver Moon pack orders you to search and seize Beta Miller's properties...

Signed: Nathan Duncan,

For the Alpha'

"It's a fucking lie!" I squeezed the paper in my palm and stared at Ambrose, unable to understand what was happening or what had brought about this.

I recognised my mate's handwriting as much as I knew the memory of his touch.

Nathan loved me, he wouldn't do this without cause.

But what in the world could be the reason for disrespecting my family this way?

"I... Why?" It was all I could ask. I was dumbfounded.

Then Ambrose turned to me again, chest heaving, eyes staring directly at me.

He could never look me in the eye before.

"Don't act dumb, Aria. You know that your father is going to commit treason against the Alpha and take the leadership of the pack. You saw it in your dream, you can't pretend anymore to save your family."

What?

In my head, I screamed in confusion, from my lips, nothing came out. I was...numb.

I didn't realise that Emerald had been holding me till her hand slid from mine, the lack of support making me stagger slightly.

"You saw what in your dream, Aria? I have always been loyal to the Alpha and revered him as the leader of the pack. What kind of bullshit is this? Is this your plan to replace me as beta and have the pack to yourself?"

I was staring at my father's eyes, listening to his voice, and perceiving that towering aura from his wolf.

Yet I couldn't understand a thing.

"I..." I couldn't complete my words anymore. Was that the interpretation of the dream I had last two days?

I had been handed over to a seer the moment my gift was discovered. While I saw some things that always came to pass, I hadn't been gifted with interpretation.

Whenever I dreamed, I wrote it somewhere and had it forwarded to the seer.

It was she who interpreted every dream, and each had come to pass.

And now my family...

My mother was looking at me in horror, my sister staring at me with hatred. My father's eyes were filled with anger and disappointment.

I was shaking internally, unaware of what to do.

"On the orders of the Alpha, the beta is thereby stripped of his title and his entire family exiled from the pack. You have two hours to get your shit out of here or we'll be forced to throw you out."

My father, the most respected man after the Alpha was now being referred to in this manner and it was all my fault.

As soon as the warriors stormed out of our house which was in a large compound shared with other members of the pack, my father let out a loud howl of pain and slumped into a seat.

My mother and Emerald surrounded him.

I was immobile as I stared at my strong father, his eyes reddened, his firm fingers which had brought glory to our pack shaking.

"I...I'll find out what happened and fix this." I managed to say. But my mother's eyes were full of resentment when she looked at me.

"I should have never given birth to a curse. Being childless is better than this."

An ache slammed into my chest, my vision blurring as tears pooled in my eyes.

"Fucking freak. I knew this would bring problem one day. You weren't satisfied to be treated as the most special bitch and now you want to destroy our family and have it all to yourself!"

I was shaking my head in denial, my lips trembling as the weight of my sister's accusations slammed into my heart.

"Dad...mum...Emmy, please. I...didn't know...I know nothing about this..."

"Just get the fuck out of my house. Or no, you can share it with that bastard mate of yours when we leave."

I was emotionally torn from my family, but I swallowed hard when he mentioned my mate. Nathan would never do this to me. He loved me. I was going to fix this for my family.

***

If I had been hurt for the way my family treated me, nothing came close to how I felt when I got to the room I had shared many nights with Nathan and saw him in bed with Ella, his ex.

He didn't attempt to hide or explain anything when I opened the door. My mate had his dick in her mouth, and was grunting and gripping hold of her hair.

"Na...than?"

The rest of the world became a blur. Useless, painful. And when he spoke, sweat rolling down his heaving chest, I wanted to die from the ache I felt.

"C'mmon Aria, you don't expect me to take the daughter of a traitor as my Luna. I Nathan Duncan, reject you Aria as my mate..."

I could have kissed death instead; it was better than this pain.

My clothes tore into shreds as I shifted and ran aimlessly for hours.

When I finally made my way back to the house where I had grown up, my family was gone.

There wasn't any note asking me to meet them somewhere...

I was alone in the world.