2

It was the seventh day of Xenia's fasting, and also the day of the full moon; the day she was expected to find a mate. The Luna was nervous, so nervous that she took Xenia to a sacred place for seven days and also made her fast. Luna Elisa didn't know how, but she knew Xenia would get past this phase successfully, by all means. She trusted her faith. 

Xenia was lost as she stared into the mirror, while the omega styled her hair, preparing her for the event. With every tick of the clock, Xenia's heart sank, she had never been this nervous all her life. She had avoided the case where people had requested her to shift, but today, there was no hiding place for her. 

Xenia's foundation wasn't light, nothing about her appearance today was light. The plan was for her to look her best, and the omegas did just that. The beauty she exuded was beyond any word I could find in my dictionary.

 Xenia looked great, but her anxious expression threatened to ruin everything. She fought to maintain a pleasant demeanor. This was the seventh day of her starving herself, she only prayed that the moon goddess would come to her aid. 

There was solemn music, with people walking around exchanging pleasantries. Although there were ladies present, the men overshadowed them. They were all clad in expensive and stunning apparel, the men were much more than the women. Xenia was every man's dream. It was mouth-watering to have such a beautiful wife, it only gets better to know that her husband was going to rule the great mountain pack as long as he lived. Xenia was like a blessing to men. 

The Alpha sat confidently on his throne alongside his Luna, surveying the crowd with a sense of pride and purpose. When it was time to invite Xenia in, silence embarrassed the entire hall. Alpha Ray had a smile on watching his daughter take gracious steps forward, they taught her right. On the other hand, Luna Elisa focused on her breathing, striving to find calmness within herself. She held onto hope, channeling her thoughts into positive prayers for strength and clarity.

Xenia confidently approached the designated spot before the crowd. The great witch of the Diamond pack wasted no time to walk to the forefront. 

Zina sat with her legs crossed and began her chant; it was night and when she muttered these words the moon shunned brightly, sending heat to every present wolf of age. In this moment, discovering your mate becomes a natural process; every wolf has a strong instinct to be drawn toward its mate, much like the pull of a magnet.

"Now! Xenia, proceed and get your mate," Alpha Ray mouthed from his throne. 

Xenia wished she could feel the heat, but unfortunately, she couldn't, she couldn't feel a thing. Obeying her father's order, she progressed into the crowd in search of a mate she didn't think existed. 

She was perplexed as wandered through the crowd. Young girls, still in the bloom of their youth and yet to discover their destined partners began to spot them amid the bustling crowd, their eyes lighting up with curiosity and excitement as they navigated through the sea of faces. No one cared or paid attention; Xenia was the key focus of their efforts. But to their utmost astonishment, she wove her way through the crowd, only to return empty-handed, having found no one at all.

"Xenia," the Alpha's expression shifted into a thoughtful frown, while Luna observed Xenia, her palms beginning to feel clammy.

She worried that the entire pack might hold her responsible, not just for not being able to bear an heir, but also for bringing forth an heiress who lacked a wolf. She feared they would view her and her child as a disappointment to the Alpha and the pack.

"What's the problem?" The Alpha shifted his gaze, first locking eyes with Xenia, then Zina, before finally resting on his beloved Luna. Each glance was charged with unspoken emotions, a silent conversation that conveyed both strength and tenderness.

"Isn't her fate amongst the crowd?" an elder asserted, turning to Zina with conviction.

Zina exhaled sharply and fixed him with a steely gaze. "Even if he's not here, the intensity of the heat will draw her to him; otherwise, he's dead," she articulated firmly, fully aware that Xenia didn't possess a wolf.

The elder returned his eyes to Xenia, who everyone else was staring at. Despite her intense desire to cringe and avert her gaze, her unyielding personality forbade her from showing even a hint of weakness.

"Xenia doesn't look like she's in heat," the elder spoke, watching her with a skeptical gaze. 

"Absolutely!" another chimed in. "Under this full moon, any wolf would be in heat. Unless," he locked eyes with Xenia, "you're not a wolf at all."

Xenia held her head up, her mouth sealed, not prepared to give a response to anyone. 

"Xenia, what's wrong?" The Alpha blasted. "Zina what's wrong!" fear and restlessness were evident on the Alpha's face as he questioned the witch and his daughter. 

"Alpha the case is strange, I'm also curious why she isn't in heat," of course, Zina wouldn't pronounce that Xenia didn't have a wolf, even if she already knew that was the case. 

"Else you don't have a wolf," Beta George, Alpha Ray's Beta turned to Xenia with curious eyes 

Silence took over the atmosphere, all eyes on Xenia, awaiting her to explain the situation but she didn't utter a word. Her greatest fear, her worst nightmare, was currently occurring. Fear had tendered her mute and motionless. 

"Xenia! Say something for yourself," the Alpha roared. He could sense the Luna's nervousness, and with how mute was all through the commotion, he could already tell she knew something that he didn't and so did Xenia. 

"I've got nothing to say, Father, for I do not know what is wrong either," she looked gloomy in her beautiful dress and accessories. 

"She doesn't have a wolf" one amongst the Alpha concluded. "Which doesn't make any sense," he added. 

"How possible is it that the daughter of a great Alpha doesn't have a wolf? Is it injured or being restricted?" Alpha Dante voiced. 

Alpha Ray had invited his colleagues to watch his daughter choose a mate, he wanted everyone to witness who the next Alpha of the Diamond was. Little did he know it was going to turn out to become his greatest embarrassment. 

"Xenia, do you have a wolf?" Her father leaned forward and asked plainly. 

Xenia found her head nodding without her consent. "Then let's see," those words hit her so hard. She just stood on her spot unable to move and speak either. 

"I said I want to see!" Alpha Ray thundered, and for the first time she cringed, her eyes fell to the ground; and it didn't take much to get tears out of her eyes at the moment. 

"She does have a wolf, and more importantly, a mate?" Obed's deep, commanding voice boomed through the hall, silencing the crowd as he strode through their midst. His presence was formidable, exuding an aura of danger that made others instinctively give him a wide berth.

Obed sauntered over, his deliberate stride exuding confidence, until he finally came to a stop beside Xenia. With a possessive glint in his eye, he wrapped his fingers around her hand, his touch sending a spark of electricity through the air. "I'm her mate," he declared, his voice low and husky, accompanied by a roguish smirk. "Sorry for the delay, folks."

A collective gasp swept through the gathering, with the Alphas, Elders, Luna, Zina, and even the oldest pack members exchanging stunned glances.

Xenia's eyes bulged in surprise, staring at the person holding her hand. It was the man in her dream, the man that she thought didn't exist. "So he's real," she thought, watching him in total shock and confusion. 

"Alpha Atlas!" Alpha Ray rose to his feet with a deadly demeanor and so did the other Alphas. The soldiers had their swords drawn, ready to attack. 

"The name is Obed, sorry that I look so much like my father," he was amused by the look on their faces. 

Luna Elisa's eyes blazed with fury as she tried to rush to her daughter's side. "Get your hands off her!" she spat, but before she could take another step, Obed's gaze snapped towards her, its intensity sending her crashing to the ground.

"She's mine now!" The gravity in his voice was unmistakable.

**

"Ugh," Mina coughed in the middle of her sorcery. She held her chest, panting slightly. 

Her younger sister Reyna watched her with a frown on her face. "I told you to take a rest. What task has the Alpha issued you that you've got to cultivate this hard," Reyna looked slightly pissed. 

Mena exhaled and sat probably ready to resume her cultivation. "Everything has to be perfect, the ritual begins soon" Mina's words caught Reyna's entire attention. 

"The Alpha's mate is here?" Reyna asked that question although she knew it wasn't possible; As the head of pack affairs, she was always informed of every detail. No one could arrive without her knowledge

"She'll be here soon, in less than a day," Mina revealed. 

"What?" Reyna looked impressed; the Alpha never ceased to amaze her with how he always made the impossible possible. He does whatever it is he utters. "Such great news; why am I just getting to know?" 

"Because you blab vastly; don't say a word to anyone till she arrives," Mina sternly sounded the warning. 

"Interesting," Reyna rolled her eyes, sitting properly on the chair with her hands and legs akimbo. "Alpha Obed is about to become immortal," she didn't bother to hide her interest in the Alpha before anyone, she didn't feel there was reason to. 

Reyna had already established herself as the superior authority among the pack members, who had begun to regard her as their Luna. Given that she was Mina's sister, the woman closest to Alpha, it was a position she was naturally suited for.