I feel my pulse racing in anticipation as I wait for him. Then, over the heads of everyone else, is my towering mate, crown sitting proudly on his head.
Everyone bows, leaving me the only one standing, smiling shyly as his eyes lock onto mine. He takes a breath of relief as if it’s been painful to have me out of his sight. Or, maybe he was just nervous I wasn’t going to show.
“Hello,” I whisper as he takes his place by my side.
I slide my hand into his and he grips it like he’s never going to let me go.
“You lookravishing,” he says, those bright gray eyes looking me over like I’m about to be his dessert.
I look up at the full moon, knowing what it signifies. It means I will be his dessert tonight.
“Can we go first?” I ask.
He smiles sadly at me. “The King and Queen always go last.”
I shake my head and let out a frustrated laugh. “Of course, they do.”
Since Alaric is busy with me, his advisor, Rurik, is conducting the mating ceremony. I watch each couple step onto the dais and mark each other as Rurik says the sacred words.
I get kind of nervous after seeing what it entails. I guess I thought marking your mate’s neck was a symbolic gesture, but it’s not. They’re literally biting each other.
I look up at Alaric’s big jaw and gulp.
But then he looks down at me with those soft loving eyes and smiles, and I know he would never do anything to hurt me.
When it’s our turn, the whole place cheers deafeningly loud as we step onto the dais, hand-in-hand.
Rurik looks at the king with a proud fatherly smile. Alaric smiles back and turns to me.
My eyes get hot with happy tears as I look up at him, knowing we’re about to be bound together for the rest of our lives.
“Before the moon, the pack, and the crown,” Rurik says in a deep booming voice for the massive crowd to hear, “you stand to bind yourselves. Do you claim this woman as your mate, to guard her with your life, to honor her above all others, and to stand by her side for as long as your wolf draws breath?”
“I do,” Alaric says without hesitation.
I swallow hard.
“Do you accept this man as your mate,” Rurik asks me, “to walk beside him in strength and in struggle, to share your lives, your bond, and your fate, and to choose each other for all your days?”
“I do.”
Excitement ripples through the gathered pack.
“Then bare your throats,” Rurik says. “And be bound.”
Alaric reaches for me and I slip into his big protective arms.
“It will be okay,” he whispers as he holds me tight.
I nod, close my eyes, and tilt my head to the side.
He presses his lips to my neck and kisses me softly under my ear. I hold my breath as I feel his grip tighten.
The tender kiss turns to sharp pain as he sinks his sharp canines into my flesh. I grit my teeth and whimper, but the pain only lasts a moment.
A deep flooding warmth travels through my body as the mark takes hold.
I’m his now. I feel it from my head to my toes. I belong to him.
