Chapter 3 - The wedding

Lucine was a wolf of the Boram pack, the almost extinct Boram pack, a bunch of rogue and cruel rascals, including her parents. She would never forget the day they cornered that female, what they did to her was cruel, and all that just because she was from the Lycans clan.

Their leader had hunted them down and finished off almost everyone, only two gammas, Lionel and Ralf had managed to escape taking Lucine with them. She had lived only as a burden to the pack, for she did not share their ambitions. Her parents only thought of the damn war, about acquiring power, money and applying blows.

The night the Alpha Lycan killed them all, the Gammas took her and could do with her what they always wanted, they took revenge the way they were treated by the Alphas and Betas of the pack.They put her to do all kinds of work at the hideout, in the months they held her captive, until Lionel decided he needed a female, and that he was good enough to have an alpha.

Ralf at first was reticent, doubting whether it would bring them any more trouble. But the days passed and no one went looking for them, soon began to feel comfortable to do what they wanted with Lucine. Her parents had kept her virginity as a bargaining chip, for some bargaining in the future. This only made the whole experience more terrible, the months she was at their disposal.

She lived as a prisoner, they kept her almost always tied up and at the mercy of their abuses. Until one day she managed to free herself while they slept, she was lucky enough to take a knife and kill them without them waking up. As her parents were the Alpha and Luna of the pack, when she killed Lionel and Ralf, something happened to her. Lucine felt a great wave of power go through her body, an energy that she couldn't contain and transformed herself, even though it was not a full moon night.

Lucine was a gray wolf, her fur was a tone similar to that of her hair, everyone said. When she transmuted back to human form she remembered the ancient legends, she had murdered the last two members of her clan, and with that, had become a supreme Alpha wolf.

The supremes were the most powerful Alphas of all, possessed incomparable strength, agility and speed, even without being transformed into a wolf. When well trained, it was said that they could transform even without the full moon. In animal form, they maintained human consciousness, and were able to articulate rational actions and attitudes.

She wasn’t yet at this stage, had managed to transform herself only once and had been involuntary. She believed that time and practice would bring her dominion over this power, that's why she needed to stay calm, and stay alive, to be able to evolve and to dominate the power of the supreme Alpha.

She went in the direction of the room that the male had indicated and saw on the bed the robes she was supposed to wear at the wedding ceremony. She looked in the mirror when entering the bathroom, her appearance as she had imagined was deplorable. She didn’t remember how many days had passed since she had bathed and changed clothes for the last time. The gamma brothers were not big fans of personal hygiene, needed to beg them to release her to take a shower.

Undressed and opened the shower, the hot water fell as a blessing on the aching and tired body. The whole body was covered in injuries, the ankles were worse, there were wounds over scars, due to the time he spent on the restraints. When she ran from their hiding place, wandered aimlessly seeking salvation, until she was found by those werewolves. While she was in their domain, they kept her locked up in a basement all week.

She had to wait for them to decide what they would do with her until that morning when they took her up and warned her that they had given her as a gift to the Alpha who was hunting her pack. Lucine was sure she was going to certain death, that idea of marriage had been quite a surprise. Not that this was really better than death, due to the experience she had with males, she would rather die than be with some.

However, something in the tone of that Alpha’s voice made her believe that he didn’t really want her as a female. In his eyes, she saw sadness and genuine disgust when he looked at her. In fact, for a few moments she thought he almost looked as victim as herself.

She tried to push that idea away, needed to focus on his goal and stay firm. She washed her hair and body well, but no matter how much she was rubbing herself, she could not get rid of the dirt she had been exposed to. What the damn gammas had done to her was something she could never get rid of. Not all the soap and water in the world would make her clean again.

When she thought it was enough, she got dressed and detangled her hair with a comb she found in the bathroom.

Aram was waiting for her in the living room, had left her clothes in the kitchen, and had changed his clothes quickly.

Among the Lycans the union can be combined between the families or spontaneous between the couple, as long as there are no moral impediments. They usually marry between the Alfas, Betas and Ômega castes. The ceremony is blessed by the Goddess Moon, the greater divinity of wolves, and ruled by a priestess of the religion.

Marriages could also be held in retribution. If someone offends someone, that person has the right to acquire a woman as payment of the debt of honor. As well, if someone saved the life of one member of your clan, or another, could claim a female of this family.

Marriages were for life and the male had a duty to maintain and protect his wife, build a home and treat her with honor. The partners should be faithful to each other, cases of adultery were taken to the council and the Alpha, who would decide the punishment. This could be some punishment, banishment and, in ancient customs, even death.

When love arose between two wolves spontaneously and genuinely, they were said to be companions destined by the Goddess Moon, since before their birth.

First the wedding should be agreed, then the ritual of coffee was performed, in which the groom should drink a whole cup of coffee, seasoned with salt by the bride, in front of as many people as possible, as proof of his real interest and that he was willing to do anything for that female.

Aram led Lucine to the front of the house, and there was already a small crowd. A woman handed him the cup of coffee, and the salt to Lucine, who was instructed to season the drink. She had heard of this ancient custom, but had never seen it. She was surprised how the groom managed to drink the coffee so quickly, given the amount of salt she had put in it.

Then a great banquet was prepared, each member of the clan donated what was available for the party, which was always grand. The priestess gathered the bride and groom, right in the center of the circle of tables, where the food and guests were, made them stand right in front of her and started the ceremony. As usual, she blessed them with reverence and prayers to the Goddess Moon and other of her ancestral goddesses, the Goddess of love and the Goddess of fertility.

For Lucine, that was a very exaggerated spectacle, it was strange how the Lycans had stopped in time, following traditions and customs that the Werewolves had long since abandoned. That whole village seemed to belong to another time, the way people treated each other was different from everything she had ever known. She remained silent the whole time, just watching everything around her.

It came to be funny how each of the guests seemed not to want to be there, they performed everything mechanically, there was no joy or excitement that a party asked for. The groom himself, she noticed, appeared to be in a funeral ritual. She also noticed several looks of contempt and disapproval in her direction, apparently her husband Aram, as they called him, had spoken very seriously about her being hated by everyone.

At the end of the celebration they received the greetings of all and withdrew to the second most important part of the ceremony, the consummation of the union.