39: Mating ceremony


    Alpha Ryven smirked, letting his hand fall away from my face. I watched him as a hawk would


    watch a fish; with so much concentration. I didn''t want to miss anything. Not even an expression on


    his face.


    He scooted away from me as if the question had somehow made him ufortable. But I knew


    that wasn''t it. If he wanted toe to me telling me to be his Luna, I was sure he also had an


    excuse to follow up with whatever questions I threw his way.


    "What do you think I''m afraid of?" He threw the question back at me and my hands fisted on my


    nightgown. He knew what he was doing.


    "I won''t mate with someone I''m not in love with. I promised myself I would live the rest of my life with


    someone who cared and valued me. A lot. Even if that is hard to find, I''d rather be single than live


    the rest of my life with someone who thinks less of me."


    "What if I tell you I don''t think less of you? And that I''m the perfect man for you?" He asked me while


    he watched me.


    There wasn''t a trace of a smile on his face. He was like he wanted to say something more. To spill


    the truth. I could see the way his eyes hardened when he knew he couldn''t do so. And every part of


    me also knew he wanted to lure me into a bait.


    "I won''t believe you."


    "Why? I have proved my love for you by bringing you here to this pack and also choosing you to be


    my Luna. Do you have any idea how many girls would wish to switch positions with you right now?"


    He asked me and I sneered at him. But I wasn''t foolish enough to let it show on my face.


    "Then I would dly switch positions with them."


    "So bad that won''t be happening. I came to tell you so you prepare for it. You do not have a choice


    here. The mating ceremony is taking ce two days from now. You better get some rest," he said


    and smiled when he saw the horror on my face.


    "You are cruel! How could you do this to me?!" I yelled, standing up and ring down at him. I didn''t


    care what happened to me when I tried that on him before. My anger was making me brave. Braver


    than I could ever imagine.


    He stood up and I realized how short I waspared to him. I was barely reaching him up to his


    chest.


    He smiled down at me, the mirth back in his eyes in full force. "I can do anything I want with you.


    You belong to me. And the earlier you start acting like it, the better for us both." He patted my head


    and walked out of the room.


    Angry tears began to leak from my eyes while I red hard at the door he walked through. I knew it.


    I knew he was lying when he said all those things to me. What hurt the most was that I almost fell


    for it.


    A small part of me believed him even when I knew how big of a liar he was. Where was the man I


    met weeks ago that had me up on my toes for days? He was gone just like the wind. My


    subconscious said to me.


    As hard as that was to believe, I knew it was true. And I couldn''t run away. Where would I even start


    from? Alpha Ryven had guards all around the pack house day and night. It was like he was


    expecting an enemy. And the pack was always in a tense atmosphere.


    I picked up the pillow and hit it hard until I lost all my energy and plumped down on the floor and


    cried. I cried over everything that had happened to me.


    For once, I thought the moon goddess finally smiled down at me. But I was wrong. Just like I had


    been wrong about so many things in my life.


    I always trusted the wrong people. If there was anyone I should me for my ill fate, it would be me.


    I never learned and I doubted I would be able to in the future.


    A future I didn''t look up to. I dreaded it. Not because I was spending it with Alpha Ryven but


    because I knew I would never be happy here. I didn''t belong here. I belonged in my old pack.


    But soon after the news Alpha Ryven broke to me, I began to doubt where I truly belonged. What


    would my parents have wanted? I didn''t know. I felt guilty that I couldn''t remember them. They were


    blurry figures who had eroded from my memories with time.


    It pained me that there was nothing that reminded me of them. Thest remainder was the old


    house we stayed in my former pack. But Alpha Ryven had unknowingly stolen it away from me. He


    stole my past just like he is about to steal away my future.


    "Ma''am, you look beautiful," the maid who was assigned to dress me up for the ceremony gushed at


    me from behind me.


    I couldn''t feel her enthusiasm. If anything, I felt like I was about to be taken to the ughterhouse to


    be killed. However, I was about to be mated to the Alpha of their pack.


    The maid noticed I was moody. I guessed she thought it had something to do with me missing my


    family and friends from my old pack. It had something to do with it but that was just a little part of the


    numerous reasons.


    A lot of what-ifs swam in my head as she put more pins into my hair. I knew I would look beautiful,


    better than I had ever looked in my life. But that didn''t prepare me as I looked at myself in the full-


    length mirror in the bathroom.


    "You look lovely. I''m sure Alpha Ryven wouldn''t be able to recognize you," she said again and I


    smiled but it didn''t reach my eyes.


    I was wearing a full-length red dress which covered my feet. It had a low neckline that showed the


    upper part of my cleavage. My neck was pale, and the skin was smooth and bare except for a


    ne that hung around it almost in a chokehold.


    When I asked the maid why it was so tight, her answer was along the lines that it was what most


    girls wore these days. So I kept mute since I had zero to no knowledge about fashion.


    The hand of the dress stopped just below my elbows in a re way. The dress did little to hide my


    curves as it hugged me like a second skin. Just below my knees, it gave way to a huge re which


    was designed with little silver stones. The dress was beautiful but why did I feel that ache in my


    chest?


    "Yes, it''s lovely," I said when I saw she was still looking at me.


    "If you''re worried that no one will be here for you, I will be in the crowd cheering you on," she spoke


    behind me and my eyes looked to her in the mirror.


    All I saw in her eyes was sincerity. How did she know I worried about that? None of my family or


    friends were here, which happened to be one of the most important things to happen in a girl''s life.


    I missed my parents so much as I stared at my reflection. My eyes which were bigger now because


    of the eyeliner and mascara on them glistened with tears. My lips had been painted to a bright red,


    to match the color of my dress.


    I wanted to hug the maid or tell her something that would let her know how much her words meant


    to me. But in Alpha Ryven''s pack, it was forbidden for a maid and someone higher in status to form


    a bond.


    Two days ago, I learned her name is Louisa and she had been living in this pack since she was little


    with her family. They were poor which made her work as a maid for the pack house to be able to put


    food on the table. But what mattered most was that she was happy.


    I was given everything yet I wasn''t happy. I didn''t have the one thing I needed the most. And that


    was my loved ones around me.


    As I stood at the podium with Alpha Ryven in my left hand, I could barely register what the man in


    charge of the ceremony was saying. I was ovee with sadness.


    But what I noticed the most was how happy Alpha Ryven was. It was like he won a lottery. If he


    noticed I was sad, he didn''t say it.


    After doing the rites and being given a bitter liquid to drink, we spun around and faced the mass of


    people below us.


    A lot of unfamiliar faces stared at me. Some with expressions of joy. And I could recognize the ones


    with such expressions. They were the ones I healed in the hospital. While others had expressions of


    hurt, vengeance, and jealousy.


    They were thedies. Who would believe me if I said I didn''t want to be in that position?


    The ceremony passed in a blur with peopleing over to congratte me with faces filled with


    happiness or the ones masked with it, behindid bitterness. But I paid them no heed. I did my best


    to pretend like I was happy.


    And just like Louisa said, I spotted her from the crowd of people as she came to congratte me


    with a gift. It was a basket filled with fruits and my heart warmed.


    I was now their Luna. That word kept ringing in my head as I prepared for bed. Now the real mating


    ceremony is about to bepleted. I was to be marked tonight and have sex with Alpha Ryven for


    the mating to bepleted and I would be a full member of the pack.


    As Iy on the bed, waiting for him toe, my headache ate away at me. I knew I couldn''t finish


    the mating process tonight no matter what the traditions said. I needed to rest. And soon, my feet


    found their way to Alpha Ryven''s office.


    Pushing open the door, I was met with silence. He wasn''t there. What did I expect? It was his


    mating day. And he was supposed to be with his mate - me. But something caught my attention. It


    was a white folded paper on the floor close to the waste bin.


    I noticed it because of how out of ce it felt. The room was clean and arranged to a T. Only the


    paper felt odd.


    Following pure instincts, I walked up to the paper, closing the door with a soft click. On the paper


    was the crest of my former pack. I would recognize it anywhere as I have worked in the pack


    house.


    And on it was a name I never thought I would see again - Alexander.


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