Chapter 7: The Ceremony

Solomon shifted into his wolf form. He stood at the edge of the woods. Layla desperately wanted to shift and run off with him. But she stood with her feet firmly planted on the grass. She watched him slowly make his way into the woods. She stood there till she could no longer hear the snapping of twigs under his feet.

She sadly turned towards the hall and made her way back into the crowd. She had never seen her pack get this belligerent as they currently were. There was a small group of men wrestling in the corner and another circling around a musician loudly singing off key drinking songs. She wasn't even aware that there was a musician in the pack. Tabitha was located by her father next to the fire, dancing with a tall man with short ashy blonde hair. She knew right away he was a Beta but had no idea who he belonged to. He spun Tabitha in a circle and relieved an insignia embroidered on the front of his tunic, a thunderbolt encased in a new moon, essentially a thunderbolt in a circle.

'What a stupid crest,' she thought rolling her eyes. 'I will never wear that.' She scanned the room to see what her father's pack insignia was but she couldn't find anything anywhere. But she instead found her father laughing with an older woman with grey unkempt curls wearing the same stupid insignia on her dress.

She approached them sitting at the head of the banquet table. They smiled at her arrival.

"I see you did not change," Anthony laughed. Layla brushed her oversized tunic. And sat down next to him.

"Father," she said sweetly. She had decided to try another route to push off the ceremony since he refused to listen to her before. "I have some questions about the ceremony." Such as, why must they do this?

"Oh bless your heart!" The older woman said gleefully. "There is nothing to worry about. Mating is a beautiful thing. The ceremony will be beautiful."

Layla forced a sweet smile, "I'm not worried about the mating. I hope no one expects us to do it in the middle of this room."

Her father spat out the sip of ale he was in the process of consuming. "Layla!" The older woman laughed.

"I was just wondering, since the ceremony is a religious one and we are not a religious pack, what is the point of it?"

The older woman's eye twitched but she kept the same condescending smile plastered on her face. Anthony's drunken joyful countenance fell and was replaced by a dark seriousness.

"It's important to show the packs and in front of-" he began.

"The Goddess?" Layla quickly butted in. Anthony grimaced. "That's my point. If no Goddess," she felt a sharp pain in her stomach as she tried to manipulate her father, "then who are we swearing on?"

"We are swearing on tradition and family." The old woman chimed in.

Layla smiled at her. "I'm sorry, I don't think we have formally met." She extended her right hand to the woman.

"Calista Littlefyre." Alistar's mother. The rumors extended far and wide about Calista Littlefyre. Many often called her Calista Littlefyre-starter. She had the reputation to cause chaos and drama. Her father was the Alpha of the Thundermoon pack, hence the stupid literal insigna. She was the ambitious middle child hellbent on gaining power but she had a pesky older brother in her way. Calista was the closest to her father and knew how to bend him to her will but the one thing she could never do was convince him to name her as heir even after the birth of her only child, Alistar. Her brother died childless of mysterious circumstances and her father followed shortly after. No one knew the cause of these deaths and all suspected that they could be traced back to Calista's ruthless ambition.

Layla's heart sunk, you can't out-fox a fox but she wasn't going to give up. The Littlefyres were up to something and Layla wasn't going to fall victim to it even if it was obvious that her father was. Someone had to protect their pack.

"How do you do," she responded saccharinely. "I understand respecting tradition but the Goddess has not been traditional of this pack for a very long time. If Alistar and I are true mates, why must we go through all this ceremonial nonsense? Isn't that enough?" She clung to the hope that this was the loophole, she wouldn't formally be tied to a liar and his nefarious mother.

Anthony drunkenly hiccupped and slammed his tankard down on the table. "Daughter, you are not wrong!"

Calista dropped the perfectly curated mask and glared at Layla. "Well, let's not get too hasty. Things have been done this way for generations."

"Oh Calista," Anthony did not notice the change of her demeanor and continued as if she was still his friendly drinking companion, "why cling to the traditions of the past? Alistar is an Alpha. I am an Alpha, we make the traditions of our packs. I do not see any reason to swear on a dead Goddess." Both Calista and Layla physically cringed at the blasphemous remark from Anthony but both dared not speak out against him. He did not notice.

"I think it would legitimize this union. It's not just our children who are joined together but our packs as well," Calista asserted.

"Is the word between two Alphas not good enough?" Layla asked with feigned innocence. She gave her father puppy eyes.

Anthony patronizingly patted her cheek and flashed Calista an overtly familiar smile. He chuckled to himself, "Yes, Calista. Is the word between two Alphas not good enough for you?"

Calista returned the smile. The tension at the table was palpable and echoed throughout the party. Layla understood that she and Calista were in the middle of a political game of chicken, she would not be the first to look away.

"Of course it is good enough for me," Calista said, "It's just that I can't speak for my Alpha, Anthony. I hope you understand."

"Of course. Where the hell did he go anyway?" Anthony said joyfully.

The party at the table began to scan the room for Alistar, he was nowhere to be found in the crowds of people. Layla had not seen him since his encounter with Solomon and her eyes darted over to Tabitha. Layla gave a look to her as to say "where is the bastard?" and Tabitha replied with a shrug as to say "no effing idea."

"Javier!" Calista ordered and the tall man Tabitha was dancing with rushed to Calista's side.

"Yes, Luna?" He bowed his head.

"Go find him." She barked through gritted teeth. She turned to Anthony and Layla and smiled her fake politician smile. "Oh, you know how young men are," she chuckled awkwardly.

"Oh yes, I remember that well." Anthony playfully slapped Calista's shoulder.

Layla grew impatient while waiting for Alistar. She had almost convinced her father to not make this union legal and she was almost out of the deal. She only had one more hurdle and she was losing the confidence in herself to pull it off. Especially after Solomon.

While they waited, Anthony and Calista went back to the frivolous chit chat they were engaged in before Layla joined them. Layla nervously played with the hem of her oversized tunic while she surveyed the room for Alistar. She couldn't tell if it was the nerves or if it actually took forever for him to be discovered but she saw him appear out of a side room with Javier before Anthony and Calista did.

He was disheveled. His shirt was opened, relieving his chest and his hair was in complete disarray. She watched as he approached the table that shortly after he left the room, a young woman, the same one who was following him around earlier, ducked out behind him in a similar state. He sloppily tucked his shirt into his pants before he announced his presence. Layla rolled her eyes.

'Classy,' she thought sarcastically.

She locked eyes with Alistar and he gave her a quick flirtatious wink. Layla wanted to vomit.

"Mother," he said as he bent over to kiss her cheek. Calista jumped at his kiss. "You wanted me?"

"Oh there you are, my boy!" Anthony called as he extended his hand to shake Alistar's. "We need you to settle something."

Alistar walked over and sat next to Layla. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and her entire body wanted to run. Her inner wolf was quickly altered and ready for any danger. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. She fought the urge to not shift right then and there and bite his hand off. It felt impossible to do so.

"What do we need to settle?" He asked, unfazed by Layla's clear disgust.

"It's silly, really," Calista began. "But Anthony was suggesting that we do not have to go through the ceremony tonight."

"Well," Anthony laughed, completely unaware of the tension rising. "As you know, we are not a religious pack."

Alistar laughed along with him, "yes, I am aware. I really admire that about you, sir." Alistar rubbed Layla's shoulder with his thumb.

"I just think that it is dumb to swear to the Goddess and do the whole thing when we don't really do that here in this pack."

Alistar cleared his throat. Careful not to upset Anthony, he said, "then what do we do?"

"When did the word between two Alphas become less important or official than a couple fancy words in front of a dead Goddess?"

It was difficult to hear Anthony say that phrase a second time. Layla had spent her entire life listening to her father and his views on the Goddess but he was never this bold. She blamed the ale, or at least for his sake it was ale.

She smiled nervously and turned her gaze to Alistar. It was painful for her to do so but she would do anything to pull this off. She held her breath as she waited for his reply.

"They never have been," Alistar replied.

"So why messy this party up with all those stupid formalities. You are Layla's mate. She is yours." Anthony said happily. "In my eyes, that is enough."

Alistar genuinely smiled for the first time since Layla met him and she noticed the small lines around his eyes. For a moment she had almost forgotten that he was a liar who was manipulating her father. For a moment, he looked kind. And for a moment, she saw a glimpse of a person she could possibly like.

"It is enough for me!" Alistar responded. He and Anthony stood and embraced each other. Layla finally exhaled. She clapped her hands once in joy which everyone mistook as her happiness in the match but she was thrilled to have pulled this little game off. It wasn't official. It wasn't on paper. Calista was not as pleased but Layla did not care. She would deal with the old woman later.

Alistar broke from his embrace with Anthony. He threw his head back and howled loudly. The room became silent and then every member of the Thundermoon pack responded in a similar howl. Layla was shocked and embarrassed. She had never witnessed such a display and struggled to process it. Like their insignia, they were a little too on the nose of the whole wolf identity. It was a lot. They howled two more times with her father and his pack joining in on the third howl. It was ludicrous.

She stood to leave the table after the third howl. She was over the party, over the people, over this "mate". She was ready to sleep. Alistar took this moment to pull her in for a rough kiss. It was sloppy and aggressive. She thought of the kisses she shared with Solomon and the difference was night and day. Solomon kissed her like she was the Moon Goddess and the kiss was an act of worship. Alistar kissed her like she was a piece of meat and he hadn't eaten all week. She missed being worshiped. Alistar wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her in closer to him. She could feel him get excited. He tried to deepen the kiss but she pushed him away.

He laughed and the entire room cheered. They went back to their celebrations. All the joy she felt in avoiding the official mating ceremony was gone. She realized that she was right, the word between two Alphas was all that was needed and this kiss sealed her fate. She was mated to Alistar whether she liked it or not.

She pushed her way through the crowd making her way to a stairwell that led to her bedroom. She was done. Little did she know, she was not alone.