Chapter 9 – In an uproar

"Damn it Grayson…" I looked at Dylan after his comment as he was glaring at Grayson.

"Dylan, can you come…oh, Fire, what a surprise. I thought that was your smell." We all turned to look at the former Beta and I smiled. "Nice to see you again."

"Same here; I'm going to miss talking with you David."

"Likewise. Excuse us, Dylan please come with me." We watched them go and Grayson tuned to me.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I love to." He sat his glass down and took my hand, leading me to the dance floor. "You know," I started as I rested my hand on his shoulder and his arm slipped around my waist, "you better stop growling at the little things, especially if you don't want everyone to know anything."

"I know, but it does feel very odd for me, and my beast, we have never been the possessive type and yet…" he trailed off and I smiled.

"I get it, but we still aren't sure what road this is all going down." He nodded and pulled me closer and I sighed to myself, taking in a deep breath, capturing the scent of the mutt, the scent of the roses and the cologne he had on, and it all made my mouth water. I had to swallow hard to push down the feeling.

"Are you okay?"

"Maybe being so close isn't good for my senses. Everything about you right now is making it very hard not to bite you."

"Is that all?" I laughed and tilted my head to the side, rolling my eyes. "What was that for?"

"The things I'm hearing." He glanced around but then looked at me.

"Who is saying what? And how the hell are you hearing anything?"

"Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

"Us supernatural's all have better senses but some of ours beats out the other supernatural's, like wolves were blessed with the gift of extra ordinary smell capabilities. And witches have amazing and keen eyesight. And us poor, puny and simple vampires have quite the best hearing of the bunch."

"So, what are you hearing?"

"What the other she wolves are saying. It's no mystery what I am, if my stench doesn't give it away, than my looks do, especially compared to the wolves." He glanced around and then locked eyes with mine.

"We will come back to that. But you still didn't answer my question."

"You have quite the fan club here it seems, as well as a couple past flings." I tried to keep my posture and breathing the same, not wanting to think about the past both him and I had; after all, he was 32, highly doubt a virgin. And not that it should bother me anyway. Again, wasn't sure what road this all was going to take, so couldn't let it bother me. But, I was also smart enough to know that not being honest with myself was the worst thing I could do, so with that thought, I had to be careful because, yes as dumb as it was, it bothered me.

"Ah, yes I do." He let my waist go to spin me around and brought me back. "So, what are they saying?"

"That the wrong female is in your arms, that they can't understand how you could want to be close to me, that the stench must be awful, and that you should," with the next comment I pulled back to look at him, "be hiding in some dark corner and fucking them."

"Now, I wonder why they think I would leave my own party to do that."

"Should I leave you to go and ask them?" I tried so hard to keep the venom out of my voice but the smirk he gave me told me I had failed big time. He pulled me close and brought his lips close to my ear.

"Do you want to go shred some fur off some she wolves?" I stiffened within his embrace and he chuckled, his hand running soothingly over my back. "It's kind of hot seeing you get all jealous on me." I stopped dancing and pulled back, just looking him in the eye. I would love to say why those words bothered me but I had no explanation, I just knew they did and I knew I wanted room to breathe for a moment. "Fire, I'm…"

"Please, don't." I took a deep breath and offered him a friendly smile.

"That's the least Fire smile I've seen yet."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you like to think." His eyes narrowed at the jab, for what did we really know about each other; not much.

"Maybe I don't." He was about to say something when Tyler walked up to us.

"Excuse me Fire, I must take my son, it's time."

"Of course. I'm going to go grab myself a drink." Grayson watched the retreating back for a moment. He had felt every emotion radiating off the woman in his arms, he could tell that whatever the women were saying was really bothering her. But he couldn't make them shut up and he couldn't change his past. They both knew that each other had pasts and probably not pretty ones, but that was just something they were going to have to deal with, if that's the way they went.

Granted, he could understand her thinking because he could barely stand to see others checking her out; and he caught plenty of the men around watching her in her sexy dress and gorgeous heels, vampire or not. So, the thought alone of someone or even many someone's touching her, made him see red. But, again, there was nothing that could be done. One couldn't change it so they just had to deal.

"You have everyone in an uproar right now, including your mother; you know that right?"

"You know what she is; you know I wouldn't be able to stay away."

"It's the hardest thing to do. But you still have many young females who find you attractive and feeling snubbed that you danced with a vampire and not them." Grayson looked at his dad and laughed.

"If I had chosen one, they would still be in an uproar because it wasn't them."

"Oh, to be so wanted. Come on, it's almost midnight." Tyler lead Grayson up to the stage and the pack gathered around. I watched as I stayed in the back, not wanting to cause any more problems then I already had. Oh, I had picked up on a lot more things as I walked away, but I'll be damned if I shared them.

"Blue moon members," Tyler started and all attention turned to that booming voice. "Tonight, before you, Grayson takes his place as Alpha. After the ceremony, you can choose to run with the Alpha or not. Now, Grayson, please step forward." I watched as he did and had to smile to myself. This was the first time I had been to a ceremony and felt privileged to watch this, and proud to see my man doing it. Mentally, I rolled my eyes at myself at that thought; look, acting like a love sick fool already.

Tyler took out a dagger and raised it to Grayson's heart, a deep breath being shared from each man.

"Grayson, I hold this knife to your heart and upon it you shall swear. Do you swear to protect and value all members of this pack, from the elders to the pups?" Grayson nodded. "Do you swear to uphold our views and our visions, making sure the pack is the first thing in your mind, along with their well being?" Again, Grayson nodded. "Do you swear to lead this pack with a swift, but just hand?"

"I do," Grayson's voice finally rumbled out and I saw Tyler smile, seeing how even Grayson not answering was all part of this, to show his control and sincerity to the ceremony and the pack. Tyler turned back to the pack and smiled.

"Do you, Blue Moon Pack, swear allegiance to the rightful Alpha?" In a loud voice, the pack yelled 'I do' and with that, Tyler took the dagger and sliced Grayson's hand, then sliced his own and joined their hands, their scents quickly hitting me, causing me to bite my cheek.

"By my blood, I approve the choice of our next Alpha and bestow upon you the power of the title." As he said that, a cheer went up among the crowd. "Now, you can go change to get ready to run with your new Alpha." The crowd clapped and started to leave. Grayson walked over to me and I smiled before I let out a big hiss and started doubling over in pain.