novelraw Chapter 27
Chapter 27
Cherry
But the banquet hall had been cleared of its huge table, leaving rows and rows of seats, and an aisle between them, up to a stage. Behind the stage, the huge balcony, open to the blue sky, provided a beautiful backdrop.
The different décor and the fact that lots of my old friends surrounded me with merry chatter distracted me from the past. Bert went up nearer the stage, taking a seat in the front row, but I chose to stay nearer the back of the room, determined to keep out of the limelight. At the rear of the room here, another balcony lay open. A welcome breeze dampened the heat caused by the large gathering and the mild day.
When the old Alpha walked into the room and down the aisle, the pack stilled, and we all took our seats. Heather came next, the old Alpha and Luna, turning to look at us all from the stage.
My heart tripped over itself as Dylan strode down the aisle next. In a tuxedo, he was devastatingly handsome, but I recognized the power and presence he exuded too. His every movement was strong and purposeful as he mounted the stage, standing between the old Alpha and Luna. Once again, my stomach clenched as I responded to his presence, even after seven years. I admitted to myself that his effect on me hadn’t weakened whatsoever.
At that moment, the phone in my handbag vibrated. With embarrassment, I slumped down in my seat, covertly answering it. Thoughts that something might be wrong with Fern instinctually had me picking up the call. At least I had taken a seat near the back of the room.
“Hey, Hun,” Carl’s voice sounded in my ear as I answered, and I internally cursed myself for not checking who was calling.
“Hey, Carl,” I said, my voice hushed. “I’m not in Berlin at the moment. Now’s not a good time.”
“No worries, Darling, I just wanted to hear your voice,” he answered smoothly. “Also, I’ve been thinking about my mess up with the butter and Fern. I want to make it up to you on our next date. Let me book a hotel for us.”
His request stumped me, and the fact that I was sitting at the ascension ceremony of the new Starsmoon Alpha slipped out of my head. My thoughts whipped back to Carl’s confession the last time we were together: he loved me. But… I hadn’t been able to say it back. Now he wanted to book a hotel room. Clearly, he wanted us to go to bed together. Uncertainty washed over me at the thought of him and me being alone in a hotel together. My head felt too full right now to think about it, and I said, “Carl, I’ll think about it when I get back, but I’ve got to go now. See you soon.” I hung up, my heart now working overtime.
Then, my whole pack rose from their seats, a round of applause breaking out. I stood, joining the pack in celebrating the new Alpha. As the clapping died down, the old Alpha gestured for everyone to be seated.
We all returned to our seats, and my thoughts were in danger of slipping back to thinking about Carl’s request.
I distantly heard our old Alpha’s voice ringing through the room. “After the joyful ascension of my son to Alpha, I am happy to announce that he will shortly be marrying his mate, Lucy, and the Starsmoon Pack will once more be carried into the future under the protection of an Alpha and Luna.”
My heart charged, and alertness prickled over me. My attention crept over Dylan’s tensing body, and I swore I felt his pressure in the air like a sudden storm. His brown eyes darkened as he regarded his father.
Dylan’s low voice cut through the room. “My relationship with Lucy is unstable. We need to talk about the future Luna of the pack more, Father.”
Disbelief punched through me.
Chris’s face looked like thunder as he stared down at his son. “You will do your duty to your pack, Dylan.”
Our new Alpha’s jaw hardened, his hands balling into fists as he stared the old Alpha down. He shook his head. “I will not marry Lucy.” And just as his dark eyes left the old Alpha, they found me. Their heat was so intense that it was as if they burned our surroundings away until only Dylan and I remained.
*******
Dylan
As my father named me the new Alpha, bowing ever so slightly to honor my new position as pack leader, my wolf growled with gratification. I was the Alpha of Starsmoon.
I turned to survey my pack from the stage, and a wave of applause erupted from the crowd. The happy, smiling faces looking up at me made my beast rumble again. I felt a surge of protectiveness steal through me as I contemplated them. I would always do what was right for them. I felt that certainty sank into my bones and settled into my marrow.
My pack.
As my gaze wandered the crowd, they tracked over the faces and forms in search of what would complete my ascension to Alphahood. When my eyes eventually stopped on Cherry’s form, draped in a soft pink dress, the color of cherry blossoms, I thought with fondness, my wolf rumbled with want. Anger bristled in me, too, as I noticed she’d positioned herself at the back of the room as if she wasn’t important. Well, soon, I resolved with renewed confidence she wouldn’t be anywhere but in the place of honor: at my side.
My father gestured to the pack, inviting them all to be seated again.
As I admired Cherry’s pale heart-shaped face, the porcelain skin of her shoulders and arms, my wolf’s hunger grew, and I knew with certainty that my love for her wasn’t something I could fight anymore. It was something that I was meant to submit to. The only thing as Alpha that I ever intended to submit to from now on.
My father’s voice reverberated from beside me on the stage, “After the joyful ascension of my son to Alpha, I am happy to announce that he will shortly be marrying his mate, Lucy, and the Starsmoon Pack will once more be carried into the future under the protection of an Alpha and Luna.”