17. The ceremony 3

Just when they were starting to think that nothing would happen and they had just wasted their time, they heard footsteps approaching. Fast. right after that, they could also hear the sound ad paws hitting the ground at a fast pace. For them to have been able to hear them so clearly meant that they were close. They then noticed an abnormality in the situation.

They could not pick up any scent.

With this realization, Lazarus looked at Dana and Kora standing next to him. "Take her and go inside." He said to Dana holding her hand in his. "Stay low, I'll come for you," he said and kissed her knuckles. "Take care of yourselves."

Dana was hesitant, she didn't want to leave him but she knew that Kora should be kept hidden and it would lighten the weight on his shoulder if she gave him some space. "Don't worry, he will be fine," Kora said to Dana who then nodded and left with her into the pack house.

Once they were gone, Lazarus started giving commands through the mind link. Raven and Ezra each led a group of warriors as got ready. Soon, the footsteps stopped and they could see who they were. It seems that they have also noticed that something was off. They stopped at the bother and looked at the place.

The beasts with them started sniffing the air and then growled violently after catching the alpha's scent in the air. Just then Lazarus stepped out of his hiding knowing that he had been found out and Raven and Ezra came and stood by his alright and left sides as they stared at their enemies.

"Why are you here?" Lazarus asked

"...."

He was met with silence. Buy from their gaze it seems as though they were looking beyond them toward the pack house. "Get ready." He said through the mind link. "Take your positions."

As soon as he finished speaking through the link there was a sudden attack almost taking them off guard.

********

At Shadow Moon pack

All the elders, from all the packs, were up on the podium standing in a circle putting the beta and gamma in the middle. All of them were dressed in white robes. They stood still while they waited for the alpha to come out.

As all these were happening, the members of the Shadow moon pack who had refused to believe that Darren was worth all 'of this' were astonished. They had never thought the one whom they once treated as an omega would end up having so much power at his disposal.

They have started developing a fear of him. From the moment he killed the former alpha, Alpha Lucas, they had started to fear him. Back then, it was mostly resentment they felt but now fear has taken a whole new height and reached a level that they could no longer deny. They feared him.

Looking back on the stage, Sir Williams was also among the selected elders, it would be a shame if there was no one from the Alpha's original pack among them so Williams was added as one of them.

"Everyone, please may I have your attention?" Lucinda said drawing the attention back to herself. "These people up here are all assigned to keep and maintain the relationship between our various packs. They are also to serve as mediators in our packs, handling minor conflicts and only reporting the major ones to the Supreme Alpha." Lucinda said, taking a break so everyone could understand what she had said. "Today, these elders here will be the ones who will perform the marking ritual of the Alpha supreme."

When she was sure that they had understood and all that she had said had sunk into them, she introduced Darren. "Now let's welcome the Alpha Supreme, Alpha Darren!"

As soon as she said that everyone stood up.

Leo and Logan opened the double door and Darren walked out. He was led up the podium by Lucy followed closely by Leo and Logan, they stopped a few steps away and Darren walked up the podium dressed in white and gold garments and stood in the middle between Mateo and Levi. They all bowed their heads to the alpha Supreme.

The elders came to him and bowed their heads. "Alpha!" They all said humbly. Each of them is dressed in plain white. Darren nodded and turned to face the people. His face was stoic, his gaze deep and piercing. He looked at them wordlessly as if taking in all the faces present there. "Proceed," he said authoritatively.

Everyone was still standing as they waited. One of the elders stepped down and came back shortly with a hot rod in his hand. The head of it was the shape of a wolf's head he came forward and handed it to a female who was the oldest amongst them. She was from the Jewel pack.

She took the rod from him and spoke a few words to the people below. "From now henceforth, this will be an instrument for the Marking ritual for every Supreme Alpha," She said and raised the rod in the air so everyone could see. "We the elders have discussed and we have all agreed to it. It has also been approved by the Alpha himself."

She said and turned to Darren who nodded to her still looking at everyone else. "With your permission once again we will continue with the process, Alpha." The elder asked.

"Granted." was all Darren said.

She nodded and looked at the other elders standing by the side. Two of them came forward and went behind Darren and started to strip his upper body. Soon, his chest was bare as he stood before the crowd. Everyone paid close attention to all that was done on stage. This was the first time that they were witnessing something like this. This was history in the making.

After they were done striping off his upper body, the Elder woman who had the rod in hand came and stood in front of Darren and raised the rod pointing it to his left side just below the shoulder close to his chest.

Just then, the sound of gunfire was heard. Next, they saw Darren move a bit from his position as if trying to dodge something. After that, they saw blood flowing out from his chest, from the right.