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To answer the challenge, Ryker really was a true alpha. He relied on the deadliest parts of both of his halves: his animal instinct to survive, his alpha nature to dominate, his claws, his fangs, and his human urge to put Shane in his place.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t nice. But we’re shifters. If he thinks anything that happened is going to stop me from mating him, then he still doesn’t know jackshit about me at all.
So it’s not a hand, but a paw. I grab that paw, claws extended into razor-sharp points, and notice that they’re coated in blood.
Shane’sblood.
I won’t taste it, even if my wolf is curious enough to wonder how tainted it is. Instead, I fold my fingers over his, showing him that I’ll always accept him, no matter what.
“I love you,” I tell him. Luna, it feels so good to just say the words. “I love you, and I want to be your bonded mate. Your forever mate. Not in the future. Not next month. Tonight.”
Taking his paw, I wipe the blood on my white dress. It’s already spattered with gore from the fight so all I’m doing is smearing additional streaks along the middle.
“We can postpone the ceremony if you want to. Hell, we can blow off the public part entirely if that’s better. But you asked me to be your mate. Repeatedly, I might add. I finally agreed. So let’s do this, Ryker. I’m ready when you are.”
He searches my face for a long time, looking for some clue that I’m teasing or, I don’t know, fucking with him.
Nope.
I’m completely serious.
Ryker shudders out a shaky breath, lips curving just enough as the fear in his eyes turns to pure affection.
Pity that I only get to see the love written in every harsh line of his face for a single second before he glances away from me, looking down at himself.
His silken button-down is shredded at the hems of the sleeves, covered in rips and tears from Shane’s claws. His slacks have burst at the seams, leaving them to flap around his boots. During a partial shift, the body bulges, preparing to go from fur to skin, from two legs to four. Something about the distribution of mass pushes against the fabric we wear when we’re in our human shapes. It’s the same reason why clothes explode into tatters during a complete shift. He’s still dressed, but barely.
That’s okay.
My white dress is stained crimson with blood.
Perfect way for two alpha wolves to pull off a shifter wedding, right?
18
While the Luna Ceremony is the closest thing to a human-style ritual that we shifters have, I expect the theatrics to die down once it’s complete.
But this is Ryker, and I should’ve known better. He’s the male who cast me a necklace out of his own canine to one-up Aleksander, and he’s the same male who was willing to do this with the both of us covered in his former Beta’s blood—once I made it clear that I was, at least.
The ceremony itself is simple. Beneath the moon—and with the pack as witness—Ryker pledges himself to me while I promise to accept him. Then, because he’s Alpha, I vow to serve Mountainside as part of the Alpha couple. And… that’s it. Our assembled family, friends, and packmates all cheer their congratulations, while others playfully rib their Alpha about the next part of the ceremony.
The vows are made in front of the pack, but the mating? The claiming? The marking?
That’s just for me and Ryker.
Tonight’s the night I’ve been looking forward to since I was fifteen. Young and naive, I looked into seventeen-year-old Ryker Wolfson’s golden eyes and saw my forever staring back. And, sure, there have been more than a few bumps along the way. Me, pining for ten years only to be destroyed by—what I thought was—his rejection, and Ryker, who spent thirteen full moons locked in his basement when his wolf wanted his mate but he couldn’t have me.
Then there was Aleks. Shane.
Wicked Wolf Walker.
But none of that matters now.
As soon as we finish making our promises in front of the pack, I take a few seconds to say goodbye to my parents—since they’re heading back to Lakeview now that the public part of the ceremony is done—while Ryker tells his council that, unless it’s a matter of life or death, no one is to disturb us until the full moon is over.
Then, to a chorus of howls from my newly forever packmates, Ryker lifts me up and carries me to the front door of the Alpha cabin.
It’s another ritual. Apart from the den, the rest of the Alpha cabin belongs to the Alpha and the Alpha alone. No one else is supposed to step inside until he’s mated, and then that honor goes to the female who creates the Alpha couple with him.
