Chapter 3 : The Mating Ceremony

The journey to the lands of the Rising Moon began, and there were very few options that I had at my disposal now. I could run away. I could break out of the car that was carrying us there and I could just shift and run. It was an option.

It was also likely not going to have any actual effect.

Varon had come with seven other wolves. There was no way that I would be able to run away from all of them. I had, at the very best, a chance to get away from some of them. But some was not all, and I would most likely get caught either way. Not to mention the fact that I had nowhere to go since my father had been the one who traded me to him.

“Don’t think about it,” Varon spoke from beside me in the back seat of the car.

I didn’t answer him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“You think you’re an Omega,” Varon spoke again, apparently not needing any encouragement from me to speak. “And you think because you’re an Omega, you have a chance to escape. You don’t. My wolves will catch you before you get any distance. I will catch you myself.”

I turned to him sharply.

“I don’t need any more threats,” I told him firmly. “You already made it very clear what would happen if I didn’t come with you today.”

“Ah,” Varon said again. “But I am realizing now that maybe I wasn’t as clear as I could have been. So humor me and allow me the chance to be clear now. If you even try to escape, I promise you that you will fail. And then, as punishment for the insult and trying to renegade on our deal, I will decimate your entire pack.”

I leaned back against the headrest and closed my eyes.

Like earlier, I didn’t doubt his words. I didn’t doubt that he would follow through entirely on everything he said.

“Thank you for repeating yourself every five minutes, I’m sure I would be lost without your constant threats. But as I said,” I continued, not daring to look at him, “you don’t have to threaten me. But thank you for reminding me of the kind of person that I’m dealing with. That I am to be mated to for the rest of my life.”

I was silent for the rest of the ride.

The Rising Moon pack lands had wolves that were bigger than the wolves found in the Silver Stone pack, but that was about the only advantage that it had. It wasn’t as grand as ours was, and I couldn’t help but point it out to him.

“I see why you threatened to take my father’s citadel brick by brick if you had to,” I said after a while. “You haven’t built much up of your own.”

Varon’s face twisted for a moment, so quick and so slight I almost didn’t see it. But then it was back to normal again.

“The Rising Moon is taking some time to get together,” he acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean that we won’t get there. Besides, we prefer to build ourselves up with our own wealth.”

That was a jab I probably had set myself up for. But it didn’t bother me all that much. I hadn’t taken out the debt. And besides, many packs took loans from others since it was important to build up our walls and to build them up with stone. Before the Hunters came knocking.

I leaned back against my seat.

“Wake me when we get there,” I told him. “I’d like to see my new prison from the outside, at least once. I’m not sure I’ll get the chance again.”

I caught a slight smile on Varon’s face, and it seemed different from the others.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” he murmured softly. “I will.”

But in spite of my threat to him, I didn’t fall asleep. I felt every bump in the road as we crossed through the pack lands, and I felt the road change when we probably reached the more built-up parts of it. Still, I didn’t open my eyes.

“I know you’re awake,” Varon said after what felt like hours of silence. “But we’re here.”

I opened my eyes, and I could see the brick building of the wall, small though it was.

“Is that your boundary wall?” I asked him, inching a little forward on my seat.

It was so small. There was no way that it was what was protecting his pack.

“It is,” Varon murmured.

Then it hit me.

“You have a shield,” I murmured softly. We crossed through the opening of the wall, and I felt nothing. But I wasn’t part of the pack, not yet anyway. I wouldn’t have felt it anyway.

Varon raised an eyebrow at me.

“That’s very perceptive,” he said, a neutral tone to his voice. “Most just assume that we rely on our brute strength. But yes, we have a shield. You haven’t felt it, but you will by tonight.”

I frowned, turning to him entirely.

“Why by tonight?”

“We will be mated tonight,” Varon said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “Your father promised me an heir. My pack doesn’t recognize illegitimate children. And I am the Alpha, I would be killed for taking a wolf to bed without making her my mate first. The Moon is not so forgiving in our laws. We will be mated tonight.”

There were just so many things that I had to uncover in that one sentence that I couldn’t fathom it.

But one thing I could focus on… We would be mated tonight. I would be mated to him… tonight.

The rest of the drive continued for a few minutes longer, with neither of us saying anything else. And then we pulled to a halt.

Varon got out of the car and held his hand for me to take.

I was taken aback for a moment. This behavior was not what I had seen before. Was this real?

“I won’t threaten you for every single thing, so I won’t demand you take my hand,” Varon said. “But you should know that every action comes with consequences.”

No, it wasn’t.

I didn’t take his hand and stepped out of the car all on my own. I was prepared to take those consequences.

“Very well.” Varon shrugged. “I am going to show you around the pack land. This is our center of life.”

I looked around at the place where we stopped, there was no doubt that it was the middle of the pack. There was a fountain in the center, and the area all around it was cobblestoned. We were parked just a little away from it.

For a moment, the beauty of the fountain made me forget where I was.

“The Fountain of Thoros,” I murmured.

Every wolf alive knew the legend. It was the one good thing about this pack’s lands. It was rumored that it was built by the first shifters ever. A place where they bathed as wolves and men, and then drank from to change between the two forms.

It was said that it was the first time our kind was not dependent on the Moon to shift.

But my attention was taken away from the fountain, by the wolves that were looking at me.

“They’re staring,” I told Varon, standing awkwardly beside him. It felt a bit uncomfortable to be the center of attention.

“I sent word ahead that I was coming with our new Luna,” Varon explained. “They know who you are.”

“And they know that you bought me,” I said stiffly.

“My pack is informed of most major happenings,” Varon said, guiding me to walk around the fountain. I followed after him. “They knew that I went to reclaim a debt, whether freely or by force. They were just expecting gold or blood. Not a Luna.”

I didn’t say much, but they were curious, and I held my head high. Even if I was something that had been bartered with.

“They will respect you either way,” Varon continued. “And like me, they will expect an heir soon.”

I said nothing to it. I honestly couldn't think of an answer for that.

“There are more than a few differences between our packs,” Varon changed the topic of our conversation, pretending it wasn't a big deal. “You will be expected to adjust.”

Still, I said nothing. I couldn't find the words to argue with him about it anyway. And then he led me back to the car. We climbed in, but this time, he didn’t offer me his hand.

We drove off and soon, we reached what I guessed to be their equivalent of a citadel, though it looked smaller than one of our noble houses would have been. Varon had a servant show me to my room.

“Rest,” he told me. “The ceremony will be at moonrise. Someone will come and help you get ready at sunset.”

I didn’t answer, but his words were true. I slept for a bit and then was woken by two wolves I had never seen before, holding a silk gown.

“Just do what you’re ordered,” I told them and allowed them to bathe and then dress me without complaint.

I kept one thought on repeat in my mind. Varon had made a promise, and I knew that he would carry it through.

If I wanted my pack to survive, if I wanted Salmakia to live, then this was the cost.

The dress they pulled over me was made of eyelet silk, and I relished the feel of the fabric over me. Had this been any other occasion, I would have loved the dress.

I looked at myself in the mirror, with my white-blonde hair and pale gray eyes, wearing this dress. I looked almost like the personification of the Moon.

Once we were done, they led me outside, where the Moon shone high and everything had been organized.

As I walked down the aisle toward Varon, I had the time to properly study him for the first time. His eyes were trained on me, as mine were on him, as necessitated by tradition, both of my pack and his.

It was strange how very different our packs were, and yet we had the same traditions. To be fair, this was one that was similar in most of the packs. I just haven’t heard of the staring ritual being practiced differently in any other pack.

I was tempted to look away. I was tempted to look up, or down, or anywhere other than him. But I didn’t. Because that wouldn’t just be about me and him, it would mean disrespecting both our packs and the ways we honored the Moon. And I couldn’t do that.

There was something else, also. Something else that made it impossible for me to look away. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. For some reason, my gaze was locked on him. And it was about more than just tradition.

So I kept my eyes on him. And studied him.

Like my dress that was all white lace, he too was dressed in white. His clothing looked like it was made of cotton gossamer, and his skin could be seen through most of it. There was no doubt that it was beautiful.

I reached Varon, and he held my gaze. His eyes were an intense brown, though his skin was lighter. His hair was dark too. He had no scars on his face, which was very common for Alphas. He was actually quite handsome.

“We have gathered beneath the Moon,” the Elder began to speak, but Varon nor I turned to him.

We were focused on each other.

I knew this part of the ritual, and I would never insult the Moon by doing anything else. I knew that she was watching over me. And I still couldn’t look away.

The Elder spoke and I barely heard what was said. Until the end.

“A bite will mark the bond,” the Elder explained. “Honored by the Moon.”

This next part was going to hurt, I knew that much. If we had been fated mates, it wouldn’t have.

I closed my eyes and felt Varon come closer to me. I felt his body press against mine, then his teeth grazed my skin. I had no time to focus on how I felt about his lips touching my skin, because the burst of pain I felt right after was something I had never felt before.

But the pain spurred me on. And the threat of my pack dying.

And I sank my teeth into his flesh just the same.

We held still for a moment, then pulled away, and waited.

And waited. And waited. And waited.

And nothing happened.

There was no moonlight that shone on us. There was no light that came from within us. There was just nothing.

I heard of something like this happening before, but this was the first time that I actually witnessed it. Up until now, I didn't think it was possible.

But it happened.

The Moon rejected the bond.