ter 84
Warren
I’ve seen my mate looking sweet and shy when she’s in front of the pack, I’ve seen her looking confident and powerful when she’s in the hospital, I’ve seen her looking passionate and fiery when we marked and mated, but tonight, when she walks out, arm–in–arm with her other ranked members, I see her looking like the Luna that she is. She’s breath–taking. And while I love that they are literally creating a unified front by walking out the way they did, I can’t take my eyes off of her.
“Damn,” I say, hearing my Beta and Gamma saying the same.
The entire pack goes quiet as they watch their ranked females making their way to the stage. Yara is holding the bouquet of wildflowers that picked for her. I thought she’d appreciate the sentiment, and it seems like she did. They have a ribbon holding them together that matches the ribbons in her hair which also matches her dress. Her head is held high and I can see and feel that she’s fully accepted her position in this pack.
When I watched my parents, and the love that they shared, I knew I wanted it, knew that I had to have it. But I had no idea that it would be like this. This love, this admiration, this bond between us is everything. She isn’t just the other half of my soul, she is my everything. She’s my life, my love, the mother of my pups, the Luna of my pack, the air that I breathe, the reason that I love getting up in the mornings, the reason that I can’t wait to go to bed at night. This world isn’t just a better place with her in it, she makes this life worth living. Even if we were still fighting all day, every day, knowing that I had her to come home to would make it all worthwhile.
As she makes her way to me, I feel her open the link in our bond, her love for me flowing through freely. I watch her as I open the link from my side, pushing every emotion that I’m feeling for her through the bond. I watch as she gasps with the power of my love for her, her eyes welling with tears.
As one, the three of us walk to the edge of the stage. I reach my hand out for Yara, helping her up the steps and leading her to the table that is set up for tonight’s ceremony. Charlie escorts Noelle to our right, and Haynes escorts Laney to our left.
“My pack,” I say, raising my voice and finally dragging my eyes away from my mate to look out over our pack members. “Tonight, for the first time since I’ve been your Alpha, the leadership of this pack is complete.”
The pack roars with cheers and howls, the stage underneath us vibrating with the power of their excitement.
“Tonight, your ranked members will officially take their place in this pack and you, our pack, will declare yourselves to us and this pack.”
When the cheers die down again, I hand the ceremonial chalice to Yara, turning to face her.
“Do you, Yara Ellis, accept me as your mate and Alpha?”
“I do.”
“Do you accept your role as the Luna of this pack, vowing to love and protect our pack members with your life.”
“I do.”
“Do you swear to honor and love me and this pack, until the day that you
die?”
Yara turns to look out over our pack members. “I couldn’t love any of you more than I do. I swear that I will honor and love all of you, until the day that I die,” she says, turning back to me. And you as well, my mate, my Alpha, the love of life.”
She holds out the chalice and I slice my hand letting my blood drip into the cup, my eyes never leaving hers.
“If you accept your role and place in this pack, drink my blood and let it be so.”
She pulls the cup to her lips, still holding my gaze as she drinks. It’s as if the final tie that binds us wraps around us, sealing
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Chapter 84
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us together in this unified bond forever. When her eyes widen, I can see that she feels it too.
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I know we have more, much more, of the ceremony to go, but I just need to kiss her. The feelings inside me are almost overwhelming and I need to mate to ground me. I pull her into my arms and kiss her, barely hearing the sounds of the pack as they cheer and howl again.
When I finally pull back, both of us are panting.
“Goddess, I love you Yara Ellis.”
“And I love you, Warren. But that’s not my name anymore.” She turns to look at the pack, raising her voice. “I’m Yara Hill
now.”
While the pack cheers, I pull her to my side, nodding at Charlie and Noelle to take their place at the front.
We go through the ceremony of officially making them our Betas. I finally have a moment to look at Noelle and see that she’s dressed as beautifully as Yara, Although my mate outshines her, she looks every bit the Beta female she is.
When they’ve sworn themselves to me and Yara, they step aside, letting Haynes and Laney stand in front and in between us. We go through it again, each time, slicing our palms and adding our blood to the chalice so that when it’s time, there is enough for each pack member to come forward and swear themselves to their new ranked leaders.
The ceremony takes a couple of hours, each member swearing themselves to us, even some of the older pups who don’t yet have a wolf wanted to participate, which Yara found endearing so I allowed it. They’ll have to do it again once they have their wolves, but she’s right, it’s wonderful that our entire pack wants to be a part of what we’ve created. I was happy to see that all of Quinton’s pack members joined our pack, as did Trena. It reminds me that I still need to deal with Simon’s remaining pack members.
When the last person has sworn themselves to us, I pump my fist in the air, Charlie and Haynes joining me as we wrap our arms around our mates and the pack howls and cheers.
“I have a couple of announcements before we begin our celebration,” I say, waiting until the crowd quiets down.
I look at Yara, and I know my love for her is shining in my eyes. “Your Luna is pregnant…”
That’s as far as I get before the pack roars with happiness again. I take the time while they are cheering to kiss my mate again, sending all my love through the bond that somehow feels even more unbreakable now.
When I pull back and the cheers quiet, I look up at Charlie.
“And I have an announcement,” he says. “Your Beta is also pregnant…” and once again, anything else he says is drowned out by the overwhelming happiness and loud cheering of the pack.
Charlie does what I did, kissing Noelle through the cheering. I pull Yara to me, kissing the top of her head as I let the love and happiness of the pack flow through me. It really is intoxicating.
When the cheering dies down, the pack, almost as one, turns to look at Laney.
“He just marked me a couple of days ago,” she says, frowning as if we’re all crazy.
Haynes shrugs, pulling her against him. “Next week then,” he says, making everyone laugh.
“Let’s celebrate! I say and the pack begins to move around, getting food, while someone turns on music. As we leave the stage,
I see pack members dancing with their pups, while others get their food and find tables to sit at and eat.
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