Mating Ceremony

Whispers broke through the crowd when Alpha Prince Reyes suddenly stood up and said "mate" in the middle of his father giving a speech. The old Alpha king paused and turned around to look at his son making his way past him and into the crowd of people. A smile came to his face and he slowly nodded his head.

Alpha Prince Reyes Thorold, black wolf of the Nightshade pack was the dream of most girls in Nyxoria. He was perfect to a fault, cold and many knew him to be ruthless but this change only came after he had turned eighteen, the age of maturity for every werewolf and truly, the time when ones true self showed.

Every child in Nyxoria, after the age of ten, possessed the ability to transform into any size and color of wolf they wanted, these transformations were limited to once a month under the full moon, but the last full moon before they turned eighteen, they could only transform into the kind of wolf that reflected their true self and true nature. So really, there was no surprise when Priince Reyes became, literally, the big bad black wolf.

He had turned eighteen five years ago, and every year after that he had attended this event in hopes of finding his mate, but then every year the event had come and gone without the prince finding his mate. Now he was twenty three and finally, he heard the call and felt the pull, it was indeed a moment. It was his moment.

The females in the crowd who had just turned eighteen and knew they felt no pull towards the Alpha Prince sulked back in disappointment as they watched him walk past them, heading further and further into the crowd, closer to the entrance door.

"Mate," he said again, coming to stop in front of the girl who had just now entered into the hall with her only family. Her mother Rhea Vegne.

Zina Vegne stood before Prince Reyes and in front of her mother. She had made every effort to look the best among every girl that would attend this event as she had just come into the age of maturity. Her very long, curly blonde hair, treated and styled with extra care fell over her shoulders, reaching up to the small of her back. She had purposely chosen to wear a black dress, a color that was the prince's favourite and the corset on it matched her brown eyes.

She smiled up at the prince, her cheeks heating up to a bright red color. She was not quite sure what she was feeling, but asides from the regular crush she had had on the Prince for years now, she really wasn't feeling anything else that was so strong. Was this how the mating bond worked? She didn't know, wasn't sure but she said the word back, because who wouldn't?

"Mate," she smiled.

Prince Reyes smiled back. He was satisfied with the girl. She was pretty and her brown eyes shone back to him in respect and admiration. It was not the first time he was seeing her, although they were not quite acquainted with each other, he had liked her, kind of, and now to find out that she was his mate was indeed a moment.

He stretched out his arm to her and she took it in hers as he led her through the crowd to present her to his father as his mate and the soon to be Luna of the Wolf's Bane pack once he took over the position of Alpha.

"Remind me again why we have to attend this?" Ivone complained to her sister as she was being pulled through the castle hallway towards the main hall where the ceremony was being held.

Ivone and Damaris Thane were twin sisters who had just come of age, but no one would know they were twins, not really because they didn't look alike, but because Ivone was smaller in stature and looked like she was younger than Damaris by at least three years. Both girls had dark hair, Damaris liked to keep hers really long, Ivone prefered it not so long, it barely covered her back.

"Because," Damaris begain to answer to her sister's incessant complains. She peeked from the corners before continuing, making sure to keep her footsteps light. She had to be careful not to be seen by their step mother because she had forbidden them from coming for the event, which to Damaris was just unfair, "We just turned eighteen and should be here to find our mates."

"Okay, but step mother said we shouldn't come out," Ivone pointed out. She could begin to hear the sounds of soft music being played and then a loud cheer and sound of applause.

"If we do not attent this ceremony this year, Ivy, we will remain unmated, just like the old wolf," she said and then turned to face her sister with a sly grin on her face, "Do you want to end up like the old wolf?"

Ivone swallowed and shook her head. Damaris smiled, "Then stop your whining and just trust me."

"But if step mother..."

"We're close," Damaris turned swiftly to her twin sister, the joy ever so evident on her face before she turned back around and pulled her towards the door.

In her hurry, she ran right into the chest of a young man, also seemingly in a hurry to leave the hall.

"Oooouu..." she said as she landed ungracefully on the floor.

"I deeply apologize..." the man started, but then stoped instantly as he stretched his hand out to help Damaris from off the floor, "Mate."

Damaris' head snapped up at the man and her mouth fell open slightly. He had eyes like she had never before seen, silver, a color that matched the long hair cascading over his shoulders. Without being completely conscious of what she was doing, Damaris' hand came up to meet his as he helped her off the floor, holding her close to himself with a hand across her waist.

"Mate," she said back to him in a whisper, acknowledging and accepting him.

They stood like that together for what seemed like an eternity until someone called out to him, snapping him out of his trance like state.

"Triston! We have to leave, now!" the person called in a loud whisper from down the hallway.

Triston blinked severally and took a step away from Damaris, allowing his hand fall away from her waist, "I am sorry we have to meet under such circumstances, but I have to... leave you now," he said with an air of hesitation, like he didn't want to do anything else but hold her close.

Damaris only nodded her head slowly, unable to say a word and unable to tear her eyes away from him. Not only had she met her mate even before entering the ball room, but he was the most handsome person she had ever set her eyes upon. She watched him run down the hall way in the company of some other men and she could only just smile and wave him goodbye.

"What just happened?" Ivone asked her, perplexity written all over her face.

"I think I have just been mated," Damaris answered slowly, under the influence of her intoxication over such a beautiful man, and still in a trance like state.

"Well," Ivone said and grabbed her sister by the wrist, "Let's go find me my own mate," she said and pulled her sister into the main hall.

"Ah, I guess that concludes the mating ceremony," was the first thing they heard as soon as they walked in through the doors. The girls exhanged a look of fear at first, because Ivone was yet to be mated.

"Concludes?" Damaris asked the young man that had just spoken and he turned to her, eying her with lust in his eyes.

Ivone was quick to step up, coming in between the man and her sister with a frown on her face "She's mated mister, slow down with the looks."

The man looked down at Ivone with a chuckle, looked back at Damaris and tilted his head slightly down in apology, "The Alpha prince has just been mated, somehow I would seem like this whole thing was set up for him, and now that he is mated, doesn't that kind of end it?"

Ivone turned to look at her sister before she faced the man again, "But isn't the mating ceremony for the girls?"

The man laughed out, "Mostly, yes."

"Are you mated?" Damaris asked the man, bringing his attention away from Ivone and to her. He allowed his eyes linger on her longer than was appropriate and that sly, silly smile came to his lips again. Ivone rolled her eyes and groaned, then pulled her sister away from the man, further into the room.

"What does that mean for me, Dami?" Ivone asked her sister as she slowed down and stopped.

"Nothing," Damaris assured her, "Look at how large this crowd is, everyone cannot be mated."

But Ivone was not convinced as it seemed that people were now beginning to troupe out of the hall, "But they are leaving."

"Yes," Damaris said to her and began pulling her further into the hall, "Those that are leaving have found their mates and hence, they see no need to remain here..."

"Just like you?" she asked with a sad smile and Damaris chuckled.

"Yes, baby sister, just like me."

"I'm not your baby sister," Ivone said, feeling less, "I'm your twin."