Chapter 86

Chapter 86
“I, Kelly Evens, denounce my ties to Alpha Paul and to the Smoky Wolf pack,” Kelly brought her hand up and inhaled sharply as she grabbed her heart. Alpha Paul also winced but kept his composure.

“I, Reed Weston, of the Dark River pack, accept you, Kelly Evens, as a member of our pack, my mate, and my luna.”

“I, Kelly Evens, accept you Reed Weston of the Dark River pack as your mate and as your luna.”

“Take the knife and cut your palms and let your blood drip into this chalice,” Alpha Paul said as he grabbed an antique ceremonial chalice and held it under their hands that were clasped together. Reed took the knife first and sliced his hand, letting a few drops of blood fall into the cup. Alpha Paul handed him a scrap of fabric that he fastened around his hand. Kelly then took the same knife and cut her hand. She winced a little but otherwise didn’t make a sound. She also let a few drops of blood fall, but Reed took the fabric and fastened it for her.

“As you guys drink, you will officially be alpha and luna of the Dark River pack. Do you solemnly swear to put the pack’s needs first, to rule with your heart, rule with honor, and to die before any harm come to a member of the pack?”

“I do,” Reed said and drank from the cup.

“I do,” Kelly said, accepting the cup from Reed. As soon as the liquid touched her lips, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she began to sway on her feet. Reed caught her and helped her balance, and she was beaming from all the new voices in her head congratulating and welcoming her into the pack. A stray tear fell from her eyes as she looked up at her dad. Alpha Reed was beaming with pride and pulled her into his arms for a large hug.

“I am so proud of you, Kelly. You will be a great luna. We are always just a phone call away if you need anything!” Alpha Paul said. Reed didn’t take it as a threat since it was her dad, and honestly, if he was having a girl, he would do the same. Reed and Kelly turned to their family and friends, and everyone erupted into a cheer!

Luna Autumn was the first person there to greet the couple. She was bawling like a baby, but Alpha Paul pulled her off of Kelly, allowing her to continue down the line of people wanting to congratulate the couple.

After about ten minutes, everyone started to calm down. “Are we ready to continue on?” Alpha Paul asked. Wyatt and I stood up, and Reed and Kelly took our seats in the front row. Kelly’s face was red and splotchy where she had been crying. She beamed up at me as I looked at her happiness she was exuding.

“This will be a little different since you are already a member of our pack. This will just be a luna ceremony. You two have already accepted each other, but we will make it official with this.” Alpha Paul nodded to Wyatt.

“I, Wyatt Evens, accept you, Nina McCoy, as my queen, my mate, and my luna!”

“I, Nina McCoy, accept you, Wyatt Evens, as my king, my mate, and my alpha!”

Alpha Paul handed Wyatt the knife and he cut his hand, letting the blood flow, just as Reed did. Wyatt handed me the knife and he wrapped his hand in a piece of fabric. I took the knife and shut my hand around it, pulling down in one swift movement, affectively slicing my palm. I let the blood flow as Alpha Paul took the knife and handed Wyatt another piece of fabric. He fastened it to my hand.

“As you two drink, you will officially be alpha and luna of the Smoky Wolf pack. Do you solemnly swear to put the pack’s needs first, to rule with your heart, rule with honor, and to die before any harm come to a member of the pack?”

“I do,” Wyatt said, and he took a sip.

“I do,” I said, and I took the chalice Wyatt handed me. I looked in the cup and saw the blood swirling at the bottom. Strangely enough, there was almost a green tint to it. Bringing the chalice to my lips, I fought the urge to let the blackness take over as my head was full of voices congratulating me. However, I was met with more than just voices. All their emotions hit me like a ton of bricks, just slamming into me. I wasn’t prepared for it. I had gotten used to small crowds and certain people but not this many people at once.

I didn’t even realize I was screaming out loud and had fallen to the floor, grabbing my head. I tried opening my eyes, but I couldn’t. I could hear frantic voices and feel all the concern around me. By the sparks that erupted from my body, I could tell Wyatt had taken my head in his hands and was shooting all the calming feelings he could to me before I passed out.

“Nina! Shut the door! Shut the door now!” He used his alpha voice. I frowned as we both knew it didn’t affect me, but he was right. I focused all my energy on the door that was busted wide open. Eventually, I was able to secure it shut, and I was back into my own body.

Breathing hard, I opened my eyes to see everyone standing above me, and Wyatt was sitting on the floor with my torso on his lap and our legs out straight.

“I am so sorry, Nina! I didn’t even think about all their emotions coming at you like that!” Wyatt said in a bitter voice.

“I didn’t think they would, but I guess being officially luna has opened a few things we weren’t prepared for,” I said as I got my breathing under control. Reed helped me stand and immediately let go of my hand as Wyatt stood up and helped me to a chair. “I’m okay! I promise. It was just a shock for me, that’s all!” I said to the worried voices around me. I saw Wyatt and Paul exchange looks like they were having a conversation between them two about this. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. “Can we have cake now?” I said, trying to make light of the situation and get it back into a fun atmosphere.

“Of course, dear. I will bring you guys cake. Kelly, you stay here with Nina, and I’ll be right back!” Autumn said and she walked over to the table with the sweets.

“Chocolate!” I yelled. Autumn turned and gave me a smile, so I knew she heard me. Everyone had found seats and started talking amongst themselves. Wyatt and Reed had sat down beside us. “No, no war talk! We are having fun tonight!” I said as I accepted the glass of water Wyatt had brought me.

“Well, miss queenie, what would you like to talk about?” Kelly said.

“That baby! When will we know if it is a girl or boy?” I asked, excited to be an aunt!

“Well, since our pregnancies are more like five months, I am about one and a half months along. I will be due this fall. I think the doctor said we will know in two weeks if it is a boy or girl, but I really feel like it is a boy.”

“So, you still like Maximillian?” Wyatt said. He wanted to be able to say he named his nephew. I smiled at him and put my hand on his leg. He had scooted his chair, so he was straddling my chair with his arms around me, one on the back of my chair and the other on the table. Reed had done something similar, but he had rested his hand on Kelly’s belly bump.

“It’s on the table but we haven’t decided yet,” Kelly said and looked at Reed for confirmation. Reed nodded in return.

“I was thinking Dominic, after my grandfather,” Reed said, looking at Kelly. He must not have said that to her before because she leaned back with a shocked expression on her face.

“Dominic?” Kelly repeated a couple times like she was tasting it on her tongue.

“I think Dominic would be a wonderful name, but you still need to think about girl names until you know!” Autumn said as she brought over the slices of cake. She set down a very large piece of chocolate cake in front of me and a pretty sad piece in front of Wyatt.

Wyatt went to eat part of my cake, but I swatted his hand away. “That is my piece!”

“But mine is so tiny!” Wyatt said without thinking.

I had to squeeze my lips together, so I didn’t laugh. Kelly, however, did not.

“That is what she said!” Kelly said, laughing between breaths. Reed also looked like he was trying to hold back and still do ‘bro code.’ I lost it at that though. I died laughing as Wyatt sat back and shoved his cake into his mouth with one bite, rolling his eyes at us.

The night went on like this and we finally called it quits around 11:00 p.m. We all wanted to keep the happy spirit alive, but we all knew what was happening tomorrow. As we got to our bedroom, I stopped Wyatt before he started to advance on me.

“What did you say to your dad after I was bombarded with emotions?” I narrowed my eyes at him, daring him to argue.