Chapter 1: Heartbroken

*Amelia* 

This is the day everyone has been patiently waiting for, especially me, and the reason why I have been longing for this day to arrive is because today is the day Adrian, my childhood crush and the love of my life, was finally going to be crowned as the next Alpha of the Pack, and afterwards, he would announce to everyone that I'm the one who he's going to mark as his mate, and the first thing tomorrow morning, he would mark me as his mate and also crown me as the new Luna of the Pack.

It's true that neither of us are really fated mates, but from childhood, we have promised each other that even though we ended up not being fated mates, we would still mark each other as mates, even though that meant rejecting our fated mates, and to prove to him that I really took the promise seriously, I even allowed him to take my virginity last night, and according to the rules of our pack, a she-wolf was supposed to give her virginity only to her fated mate, and since I already considered him my fated mate, I saw no reason not to give it to him. After all, I wasn't planning to give it to anyone else aside from him, and, to be honest, I didn't regret letting him by my first.

As these thoughts were running through my mind, my phone that I was holding suddenly vibrated, and with that, I quickly lifted it up to check the notification which I thought was a reply from my best friend and roommate Sarah, whom I hadn't seen since morning when I woke up, but unfortunately the notification wasn't that of a reply from her; it was rather another unimportant notification from my social media app.

Sighing heavily, I lowered the phone while wondering where she would have gone earlier this morning without letting me know as usual and also why she wasn't replying to any of my messages and calls. At the same time, the beta of the pack came out and announced that the ceremony was about to begin, and just after the announcement, Alpha Damian made his way out accompanied by Adrian, who was going to be crowned as the new alpha, and his mother, who was the Luna of the pack.

After they all came out and took their seats, I waited patiently for my gaze to meet with that of Adrian, who was looking through the crowd in front of him, and when our gaze finally met, I immediately waved at him, but contrary to what I had expected, he didn't wave back or even smile at me; instead, he quickly looked away as if he didn't see me waving, and thinking that maybe he didn't really see me, I slowly lowered my hand.

After giving a speech that lasted almost an eternity, Adrian was finally crowned as the new Alpha of the Crimson Pack, and when the applause and the jubilation finally calmed down, he took the microphone, ready to make the announcement that I had been waiting for since all this while.

Even before Adrian could even start speaking, I could already feel my heart raising in excitement because not only have I been waiting for this moment for a very long time, but the announcement Adrian was about to make was going to change my life completely. 

Unfortunately, my best friend Sarah isn't here to witness this unforgettable moment with me, and I still don't know where she is or why she still hasn't replied to any of my text messages yet.

"Hello, everyone. Thank you all for being present; I really appreciate it." Adrian's voice resounded through the whole hall, and with that, all those who weren't paying attention quickly turned their gazes towards him. "I know you are all impatient to know who my mate and the next Luna of our pack is going to be, but before I announce that, I would like you all to know that not only am I going to reveal to you all who my mate and the next Luna of the pack is, the mating ceremony is also going to take place immediately," Adrian announced, and with that, I furrowed my brows in confusion, as he didn't make mention of that to me yesterday, and also, since all this while, he hasn't even spared a single glance at me; it was as if he was avoiding my gaze for a reason that was still unknown to me.

"Amelia, are you sure that you are the one Adrian is talking about? If not, I have a strong feeling that he's talking about someone else," Elsa, my wolf who has been silent all this while, said to me through our mind link.

"And who exactly would he be talking about if it's not me?" I asked my wolf with a confident tone even though deep down I was also beginning to have a bad feeling about everything that was going on. "I know you don't like Adrian so much because he's not our fated mate, but you really need to stop saying things about him," I said to Elsa, who scoffed angrily at me before shutting off the mind link.

"Without wasting more time, let's welcome to the stage my beautiful and lovely fated mate and also the new Luna of our pack," Adrian announced, and thinking that he was talking about me, I was about to make my way to the stage when the last person who I was expecting to see suddenly made her way to the stage while dressed in royal attire like the future Luna of the pack, and right besides her were two guards who had accompanied her to the stage.

On seeing her, Adrian immediately walked towards her with a warm smile hovering over his face, and immediately after he got to where she was, he lowered his head and kissed her before everyone, and with that, the sound of applause and jubilation filled the whole hall as everyone had gotten to know who the Alpha's fated mate and also the new Luna of the pack was. 

Meanwhile, I, on the other hand, stood where I was, unable to make a single move due to how shocked I was with the discovery that the new Luna of the pack and Adrian's fated mate was no one else but Sarah, my best friend, and despite all the promises he had made to me, he still chose her over me.