Chapter 5 The Mate Ceremony

For two days I perfected the art of being a ghost. I slipped past others like smoke, hiding in the corners of the kitchens or the forgotten shelves of the laundry. I ate in the kitchen when no one was around, I took the long way through the laundry corridors, to slip out when returning to my cottage while the other omegas gathered to gossip, not like they noticed anyway.

I couldn't bear the sneers, the whispers, or worse the looks of pity. I wanted none of it. It wasn't hard. People already didn't see me. Blending into nothingness just required less effort than usual.

I sat on the creaky bed in my cottage looking at the simple plain dress I'm to wear this evening.

Tonight is the mate ceremony, lanterns already being strung through the courtyard and the heavy scent of fresh pine covering the stale air of the Ranch.

I couldn't ignore the weight pressing down on me, the ceremony was supposed to be a night of promise but every year since the rogues and the witch came, it had turned into something else.

After the incident three years ago, we've not had a mate in the mating ceremony. A lot of people mumbled, they said the Moon Goddess had turned her face away from us. Others whispered that the witch had placed a curse on the pack. And every ceremony since then has been a mockery of what it used to be.

Three years in a row and not a single wolf got a mate. Three years of emptiness. Three years of us lining up like cattle beneath the moon, waiting for a sign that never came.

And me? This would be my second year. My second year of humiliation. My second year hoping that maybe the Moon Goddess would get me out of this place.

I told myself last year would be different. But my wrist had stayed cold, my skin bare and unmarked.

And this year, I have zero expectations towards the mating ceremony. I'm attending just to fulfil all obligations because I know once my mate finds out of this pregnancy he'll reject me.

I got up from the bed and I touched the faint birth mark on my stomach hidden beneath my clothes, the birthmark I didn't understand.

I decided to get ready for the mate ceremony.

*******

The path to the ceremony field seemed longer than usual,as I walked down the path, my steps became hesitant. My feet moved slowly through the grass.

The field was beautifully arranged, it seemed different from the last two years. It was brighter somehow, nearly cheerful in how it was set up.

The chairs were arranged in perfect rows, the wooden chairs were neatly polished and set out for the she-wolves together on the left while the he-wolves were to be seated on the right.

The high platform at the center was where the Alpha and the Beta twins Alex and Zander sat , and their twin mirrored faces made them almost uncanny to look at. Both of them were tall and muscular, they both had piercing dark eyes and sharp cheekbones. Alex carried a scar on his jaw, while Zander's skin was unmarked but equally commanding.

The elders of the pack were seated adjacent to the Alpha, Elena had sat with them, meanwhile the rest of the pack spread out across the field. I scanned the crowd for a moment because I had arrived there a bit late. Most of the young she-wolves had occupied the chairs, they sat murmuring quietly among themselves.

I caught Raven glaring at me, but I immediately looked away from her.

I found an empty chair at the very edge and slid into it with my hands on my lap. The seat was good for me, far enough not to be noticed and far enough to watch the ceremony unfold without involving myself in it.

The moment the moon shined the brightest, Elder Thanon stepped forward with authority, he stood tall and stoic. His long grey robe brushed against the floor, he raised up his hand to silence the pack then folded his hands behind his back.

"Packmates," he began " Tonight, we gather to honor the bond of the soul, the bonds of mates..... A mate is not merely a companion, but the soul intertwined as one. A mate is not just chosen, it is recognized. And yet each wolf may choose to accept or reject what is offered. But remember that rejecting someone doesn't free them, it ties them to the choice you make."

I could feel the words settling inside me, twisting in my chest.

"Rise, Pups," Tharon said. " And face one another."

My stomach tightened as the she-wolves and he-wolves stood up to line in a mix of order and anxious anticipation.

The she-wolves stood to the left while the he-wolves stood to the right facing each other, eyes scanning faces as if hunting for some hidden spark.

The elders got up and stepped out to form a circle then they began chanting. I had expected Kai to step into the field as he did the previous years since he had no mate but he remained seated.

The chant was low, their voices rising and falling. The vibration settled in my chest, and without thinking I pressed my hand to my stomach, feeling the crescent mark pulse faintly under my palm.

I tried to breathe, tried to steady the pounding in my chest as the ceremony gushed around me. The elders' voices lifted, chanting in waves that washed across the field. One by one the wolves were matched, a spark flared between them that I could feel with every fiber of my being, I could feel every spark and every spark of recognition.

My hands trembled and the crescent mark on my stomach burned faintly beneath my gown.

Then... it all stopped. The sparks thinned, and the energy in the field shifted

That was when I felt it, the pull, a sudden and impossible tug to ignore. It was like an invisible thread pulling me forward, my eyes moved about looking for something, someone even.

And my heart kept beating against my ribs, that was when my eyes found his, he stood there frozen across the field looking at me.

His brown eyes locked on mine, wide, sharp, unblinking. I felt the world go silent. The wings fell silent, the lanterns dimmed and the chants of the elder dissolved into silence.

I heard it..... the voice, low and urgent, whispering in my head:

The Alpha. He is yours. You are his.

Kai's eyes widened, and he got up from his chair. His identical Beta twins exchanged startled glances, but he didn't falter as he walked towards me. He looked at me like he had just remembered something he'd always known but was buried deep in his soul.

"You're..." His voice shook, low and strained. "...mine?"

"Mine," I whispered, voice trembling, as the thread between us kindled into a pulse that the whole field seemed to feel. Heat, power, it all surged in one overwhelming heartbeat.

The chant had stopped and the crowd had gotten quiet, Kai locked eyes with mine. It felt beautiful, I could feel the warmth of belonging cause then it felt as though the moon goddess hadn't abandoned me.

The silence that followed me getting my mate was deafening, then I heard murmuring.

"She's his mate?"

"The Omega?"

That was when he said, "I reject you." without flinching.

" I, Kai Sterling, Alpha of the Silver Moon park reject you, Lila Ashworth Omega of the pack."

It wasn't loud, but it was final.

Pain shot through me as I felt the bond snap, it felt like a claw tearing at my chest.

Elena gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, eyes wide and shiny with disbelief.

The voice in my head echoed incoherently:

No... flame... wrong path... pain

Then silence.

The reaction of the rest of the pack was instant. Gasps, whispers, and the sting of laughter hidden behind palms. Some wolves shifted uneasily, others stared at me like I was cursed.

"I... I accept your rejection, Alpha." I spoke quietly, but everyone in the ceremony heard me.

Raven tilted her head, looking pleased, like she'd planned all of this and was enjoying the ending.

Kai turned away quickly, brushing me off like I didn't matter. But I saw his hand curl into a fist, a tiny pause in his step like he wasn't as certain as he wanted to seem.

I just stood there, shattered