Chapter 15: Ceremony

Delaney POV

56 minutes later and the limousine driver navigates us down a long tunnel, deep into a legendary ancient den of the first werewolves. We drove further in until we got to a large underground, city. Abandoned now unless used for rituals but I'm sure this place was beautiful in its day. Inside, unmated werewolves from every pack of this side of the mainland gathered for what was treated as a large party.

Here wolves from every pack have a chance to mingle and try to find their one true mate. Each person hoping to feel the force of a true authentic were-match. Usually, alphas who are more domineering, aggressive, and violent are the first to fight off rivals and mark their mates, then lower ranks move in.

I touch my neck, my mate mark looks like a contour across my left shoulder, looking a tad bit like lightning, just in an intricate pattern.

This part of the ceremony can get rough and violent and I giggle to my self as I look out the window, I won't have to deal with any of it! With having been marked twice already, not many male wolves will even look my way during this part of the ceremony.

Ronan POV

That bloodline is strong and now more than ever Delaney is more vital to obtain my goal than I thought.

I have to make her mine tonight. My busy mind wonders back to Luca. It's not normal for a girl to take on two marks...but Delaney is Royal. If she wants two mates then she shall have two mates, No questions asked!

I'll just have to make sure Luca doesn't leave here alive.

Suddenly the smell of power and a hint of lavender waffs over to me. It's her. My eyes scan for Delaney and when I finally find her the largest smile spreads on my face. Delaney is a beautiful goddess. I can feel my connection to her mark and it makes my heart pulse. My tension alleviated and I completely forget about hating Luca. The memory of finger fucking her was still fresh in my memory and Luca being there didn't bother me a bit. I still don't know how she did it but my girl felt so good it was like i was truly there with her. I can feel my self swooning over her again. It has to be the red moon and my mark on her that's making me feel this sizably for her. She is nothing more but a piece of a puzzle. But Fuck. She smells sooo good. Her smell leaves a sweet taste in my mouth like pure power. I've smelt this same scent before only thing is, is it came from the king of wolves, my father in law. Well, obviously the former king, I smile to myself. Delaney smells like power now and it looks like everyone here smells it too. I needed to get my little prize before another asshole tries to claim her too.

I start to walk over and notice people advancing her. Torak demands to switch places. "She is not safe." He can smell the testosterone in the room. But the sudden smell of arousal made me uncomfortable and that was all Torak needed to decide they all had to die. What the fuck is going on down there. "Switch now!" Torak roared.

Delaney POV

The driver drops us off and I find out just how wrong I was about not getting looked at.

You see there are two parts to a mate mark, the first is the physical mark.  All that really took was desire, willingness to mate, and of course the bite! The second part of the mark is to deter rivals and link you as a couple permanently. I don't have that part of the mark yet.

As soon as I stepped out of the limo a whole lot of eyes fell on me. Werewolves are attracted to strength and power. Apparently, my royal mark made me the most powerful wolf in the room.

I suddenly became extremely nervous. Amalie could sense my fear. She began to growl behind her teeth. Her eyes looked wild again.

I wanted to flag down the limo that was slowly disappearing but Rune demanded that I listen. "You are the queen of the packs. These are your wolves. If you don't control them here you will never control them out there."

She made sense but what the hell. "I turn 18 at 12 pm so technically I'm still a kid. A kid that has never sat through a political lesson or even versed in one single royal duty. How am I somehow just supposed to control a bunch of uncontrollable, strong and horny werewolves?"

"You have more power than you think." Rune brings up. "How else do you think you managed to turn the head of every male and possibly even female in the place?"

"Don't exaggerate Rune," I chuckle to myself. And then i look up. "oh!" This time Rune chuckles. She was right lol

Some of the stronger wolves work their way through the crowd. I can feel each one of them. How odd, I think to myself.

I concentrate on the biggest one of them. He has already made it pretty close. "Stop," I command! Not only did the large wolf stop but so did the others. Rune purred. All of these men wanted us and she wanted to explore. "I want to see that oddly large man in wolf form. Yummy!"

"You dirty wolf," I say lovingly yet completely judging her! "Come forward," I order. I really enjoy being dominant. This can be fun.

The large wolf walks forward and Rune licks her lips. "Make him change!"

"Shift," I demand.

The large man takes his dressings off letting me see his complete package. Then he gives me a sexy wink before he shifts.

I'm sure my eyes sparkled.

His wolf is a sandy color with strawy hair. He is nothing special and with one look Rune immediately seems displeased completely rejecting him.

The other men around me began to shift. They clearly thought I was picking my mate. I can't help but laugh.

Without asking, the male suitors one by one shifted and waiting to be assessed and picked. I laughed harder when I even spotted a female or two shift. Rune was definitely right.

"Having fun?" asked an angry yet amused voice from behind.

I instantly recognized the voice as Ronan's. "Did you miss me, baby?" he reached out and stroked my mark, claiming me in front of everyone. My body promptly responded to his touch and the male in the room smell it. Howls began to erupt and I feel myself losing control of the pack.

Damn it, i thought to myself. Control yourself, woman. I bit my lip and pulled myself together.

At this point, some of the stronger more dominant wolves began to shake off my 'stay command' and attempted to try their luck by advancing towards me.

Ronan and Amalie start to get stiff. They had just been in a skirmish earlier but now seemed to be aligned as a team. They clearly realized what was about to go down.

The largest wolf that Rune had just rejected tried to advance first in his wolf form. In his mind, he was the strongest and fittest and as such he has earned me. He feels his right to own me. His eyes were zoned in on Rune and drool hung from his mouth and he was set to spring at us. Amalie and Ronan swiftly shifted ripping through their cloths.

I looked at Amalie's shredded handmade outfit and i became livid. She had worked so hard on that.

The large wolf took his chance and darted toward meeting a ferocious Amalie head-on.

The next strongest wolf took this as his opportunity and darted past the fighting wolves and headed straight at me. Ronan postures himself and attacks.

Now Rune was outraged. Her mate was being hurt. I took off my garments making a lot of the wolves stop advancing to watch, giving us a little more time, and then I shifted.