Chapter 36 THEY'LL NEVER ACCEPT ME
AMBER’S POV
It’s not like I expected a warm welcome, but it’s freezing out here, and it’s not the weather.
The look in their eyes screams everything vile, and I can almost hear them say it.
Imposter!
I can almost taste the potency of their dislike for me, and they’ve not said a word, simply impaling me with dagger-like glares that have goosebumps rising on my skin.
Hell would have to freeze over first before they’ll accept me as one of their own, so I search for the one person who has completely accepted me, but I don’t see him.
Rather, I find a pair of forest green eyes that look dazed as they stare intensely at me, which makes me smile.
“The enemy I know is better than the friend I don’t, right?” I ask Hera, who is standing completely still and nervous beside me, and I consciously ignore the low growls I hear at my question.
Their displeasure doesn’t bother me right now. All I want to do is get through this without breaking down.
My parents are supposed to be here.
It’s expected that the parents of the Alpha’s betrothed are to be present during the ceremony when their daughter becomes the Luna, but that’s impossible here.
The chances of this happening are as nonexistent as the love between me and Derek, someone who’s supposed to be the pinnacle of love for me.
My smile doesn’t waver as I begin walking gracefully, looking like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be, but with every distance I cover, I hear angry growls that raise the hair on my neck.
I give no reaction, walking towards Derek with tenacity as though my life depends on it, because looking at this crowd of hundreds with disdain in their eyes, my life most likely depends on it.
I get to the front, and he stretches his hand to help me off the pavement, and I give it to him without hesitation, eager to be by his side, away from potential danger.
“Let’s begin now, father, the moon is almost full,” he says to the alpha, who I just notice is directing a hateful glare at me.
I immediately look away from him and back to Derek, who happens to be the only sliver of safety I have right now, ironically, because he’s been the one person who has been the vilest to me.
And also, the one person I’ve been most intimate with.
Staring into his eyes right now as the preparations and chants are being said by his father, the fact that I’ve all but bared my soul to him is crystal clear in his eyes.
But I can also see him, I can feel him, every hollow feeling and every peak emotion he feels courses through me like blood in my veins, and he doesn’t look away.
I can read him like the palm of my hands, and his most prominent emotion right now keeps me in a trance, blurring everyone else present, making him the center of my attention.
Care!
I feel that he cares for me.
When has he ever cared for me?
I can tell he feels my confusion when he raises an eyebrow at me, but I cannot help how I feel, and with each second I stand here, these emotions grow stronger.
He cares for me.
‘I care for you,’ he says. No, he doesn’t say. His lips don’t move.
‘Did he just - ?’
‘Yes,’ he says again, and I stagger back gasping as the realization of what’s happening sets in.
“How can -?” I say out loud, but he interrupts me telepathically.
“Shh, Amber, use your mind. Everyone here is at peak strength, so they can hear every word you say,” he says, and I lift my hand to shut my mouth, staring at him with wide eyes.
‘How is this possible?’ I ask through the mind link.
‘The moon,’ he says, and I look up, realizing that the moon is at its peak.
“It’s time,” his father says, drawing me out of my trance to the reality that every eye is on us.
Derek moves forward toward his father and kneels, but still speaks to me, ‘As long as the moon is at its peak, I can hear your thoughts. We are at full strength, hence our emotions are heightened; that’s why you feel that I care for you.’
He completes his statement just as his father picks up a blade decorated with red rubies and cuts his hand, stretching it for Derek to take.
‘I thought you could only hear my thoughts and feel the magnitude of my emotions when I carry your mark?’ I ask, confused, watching him drink the blood flowing from his father’s vein.
Instantly, I feel a tremendous shift. I feel a new level of power emanating from him that crawls up my skin and mystifies my wolf, who is in awe of the power shift.
He doesn’t reply to me as his father begins speaking, letting his blood drip to the earth, before the wound heals in seconds.
“With an offering of my blood under this blessed moon, I consecrate your lips, giving your speech authority. With my blood coursing through your veins and feeding your soul, I give authority to your will. With my blood spreading through and pumping in your heart, I give authority to your being. I transfer ordinance unto you to harness the power of the blood moon as the fathers before us. I give unto you power to lord over every soul, heart, and spirit of the pack. I give you authority as the new Alpha of the Blood Moon pack. Do you accept it?” he asks.
“I accept,” Derek says, and his father takes off his ring and puts it on his finger, symbolizing the completion of the induction and transfer of authority.
There’s a clear shift in Derek’s aura, which has always been threatening, becomes more dangerous and suffocating.
I hear movement behind us, and I turn to see everyone falling to their knees and bowing down to him. I turn back to find his father kneeling and bowing to him as well.
It’s a clear indication that he’s the alpha now.
I drop to my knees instantly in respect, just as others, and I bow, but a wave of amusement coming from him confuses me.
‘Stand up and come here, Amber,’ he says through the link, and I look up to see him maintaining his stoic expression, but there’s humor in his eyes, and I don’t hesitate to stand up and walk to his side.
I watch him pick up the knife his father used and cut himself on his vein, and his father immediately lifts his head, attempting to stand up.
“Don’t move, father, pay your respects to the Luna,” he states fiercely, glaring at his father, who immediately returns to his kneeling position and bows. ‘Drink,’ he says to me, and I obey without a thought, latching onto his bleeding vein and sucking his blood.
In an instant, I feel a swift change within me, and I realize that I just lost my connection to the spirit pack, and now, I’m completely connected to every single werewolf of the blood moon pack.
Since he’s now the alpha, drinking his blood sealed my initiation.
I feel everyone with at their amplified strengths, and it’s overwhelming. My head starts spinning, and I feel myself about to lose consciousness, but Derek holds me, pulling me against him.
“Not now, Amber, stay awake,” he commands, and my wolf listens immediately, rejuvenating my strength, but I don’t get a second to breathe when I feel I deep cut on my wrists and I gasp at the pain.
“Ahh,” I moan in pain, the wound stings like I was impaled with ten swords.
He doesn’t say a word as he picks up a cup, letting my blood drip into it, before cutting himself again, as the first wound had healed, and letting his blood mix with mine in the cup.
He drinks from the cup and places the cup to my lip, urging me to drink, and I do, not understanding what’s going on but unable to resist the compelling look he gives me.
Once I do, the force of enormous power I feel threatens to knock me out instantly, but my wolf struggles to keep me conscious as Derek had commanded, and I cling to him, unable to stand on my own and feeling my body tremble and grow weaker by the second.
I begin to break sweat, and I feel as though air is being drawn from my lungs; it’s surprising that I’m still conscious.
‘Shift Amber,’ he says through the mind link, and my wolf picks up on the command immediately, like the ass kisser that she is, aiming to please him, and I start turning once he lets go of me to stand on shaky legs.
As I shift, I realize that everyone else is doing the same, including him, and in a second, I feel a familiar presence, one that warms me, and my eyes instantly find his.
Hurt blue eyes stare at me as my wolf takes shape, and my eyes remain fixed on him until I hear an angry growl from Derek.
‘Shit,’ I say in my mind once I see him glaring between Damien and me with fierce possessiveness.
TWO FLAMES, ONE AMBER