“What about you? Did you find someone” I had a feeling that he already knew I did. 

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. It felt like I betrayed myself somehow. 

“Oh. Is he like-is he like also from a different pack?” He and I knew what it meant. We might not be able to see each other again for a long time. Ace will still be here, but I will have to leave. Such was the stupid custom. Unless his mate was in a superior position than he was, he could stay here. And something told me that my mate was definitely someone who held authority in his pack. I could feel it, I could feel him.

“Yeah, he is.” Ace understood me, he knew I was going through a turmoil of emotions as he pulled me in for a hug and gently pat my head. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, trying to run away from the reality. “Ace, I don’t know what to do, I don’t like this.” I mumbled and held him closer to me. 

The sudden sound of drums pulled me away from Ace as we saw more people pouring in to the already crowded space as people from different packs came in for the final phase of the ceremony. There were three other packs who participated, except for ours. Lunarbane, Moonscar and Moonshadow. The excitement in the clearing became more and more louder, so much that it was almost impossible to understand what the person next to me was saying. 

I could feel Ace getting anxious as well when the unknown faces poured in, he was hoping to see a known one among them. It made me happy to see him this way. He has always adjusted to my solemn mood and often skipped on going out and living his life like a normal young adult just because he knew I needed someone by my side at my lowest. And for that I am and will always owe him. But I shouldn’t hold him back anymore.

“Ace, go. I know who you are looking for, she is surely looking for you too. Go, get her. I wanna meet her before I get dragged away to wherever I am taken.” The word, my mate, a mate for myself, still felt too foreign and alien to me that I had great difficulty in just pushing it out of my mouth. Such a huge change for someone like me was difficult.

“You sure you’ll be okay on your own? I’ll be back before you know it?” He took a step away from me, and I smiled and nodded in agreement. I knew that things won’t be the same anymore, not even between Ace and me. He will have someone else to put forward first now, and I am fine with that, but the way we used to spend time, talk to each other, not talk to each other, all that was going to change. And I was okay with it because he didn’t have to be sad anymore just because I was.

I pulled my eyes back towards the stage as the place got more crowded by the second. The Alpha and Luna were talking to each other as the Luna fixed his tie with an adoring smile on her face for him until he said something to make her laugh. Yeah, that kind of love was aloof to me. Maybe forever will.

I felt it at the back of my neck first, the prickly sensation of someone watching me. It slowly crawled down to my chest as my heart went rampant, beating faster than the second. I scanned the room to search for the same set of eyes I saw in the forest, the burning fire in them, a mysterious dark abyss that kept pulling me in. But I failed.

“Okay, everyone, let’s settle down. I believe everyone who took part in the ceremony is present here.” Mr. Colt drew the attention of the chaos towards him and silenced it in an instant. His voice boomed across the clearing as everyone paid attention to him.

“Just like every year, we held our holy ceremony Sodalis and wolves from differently packs took part in it. And, like every year, so many of you found your mate. The ones who didn’t, don’t lose hope, the other half of yourself is still out there and patience is a virtue my dear friends.” His Luna smiled at him lovingly as they both perhaps reminisced the same wait they had to go through. They didn’t find each other until their late twenties, whereas the youngest who can take part in this ceremony is 19.

“But this year probably marks a great achievement for all of us, especially for the Moonshadow pack. It gives me so much delight to finally announce that the Moonshadow pack has found their Luna!” The entirety of the clearing boomed up in cheers and shouts of joy. There was more to what met the eye though.

The Moonshadow pack’s current Alpha was stone heart cold without any mate. He hadn’t felt the touch of love, and it showed as he relentlessly purged other weaker packs and claimed them for his own. It created a lot of fear amongst most packs because no one knew who was next and if this kept going on then after a certain time, when he becomes stronger than all, he will start challenging the larger and more powerful packs and ultimately claim all for his own. 

That’s why everyone seemed so happy because now that he had a Luna, he will feel the touch of love and perhaps that will melt his heart into seeing the world in a different light. Also, the fact that the Luna was from a different pack, meant that the pack that she belonged from, will get a lot of influence on him. And yet, only time can tell how he will behave.

Will he dominate or will he submit.