A gasp rings out through the crowd.
“This!” Odette exclaims. “This is what I’m talking about. She brings a mutt to our alpha’s mating ceremony.”
The crowd murmurs.
“But that isn’t my challenge. No, she is only mating Rowan to keep the capacity to bear children! Any panther that refuses their fated mate will lose the ability to have kids!”
Rowan laughs loudly beside me. “Do you think I didn’t know that?” he challenges. “Of course, I knew.”
“She took you away from the pack to seduce you!” Odette yells.
“No,” Rowan replies with a shake of his head. “I told Mavis to help me. To stop her from refusing me and ending our bond.” He smiles down at me before stepping toward Odette, and I know this isn’t going to end well.
****
Rowan
I knew that this would come back to bite me in the ass eventually, and if I had been smarter, I would have told Kira before today. But I didn’t, so now I have to face the music.
Striding toward Odette, I make sure everyone can hear me as I speak. I look directly at her. “I had Mavis lie to Kira. To tell her we had to spend the time alone before the mating bond could be severed. I needed time to show her that I had changed. To convince her that we as a pack had become better than she remembered.” I shake my head sadly. “We were wrong. How many of you humiliated or hurt Kira? How many years did she live as a doormat to this fucking pack?” I yell out in frustration.
“She is agemors,” Odette calls out.
Gripping her throat tightly, I lift her from the ground. Her hands try to pull my grip away.
“Understand this now. The wordgemorsis outlawed. Idon’t care who says it, I will have your head if you use that word after today!” I say before pushing Odette away from me.
She lands on the ground with a huff as all the air leaves her lungs. Turning, I stride back toward Kira. My gaze finds Silas, and although he looks sad, he nods his head in approval, knowing that what I did was right.
Kira stands before me with unshed tears brimming in her gaze. I gently cup her face and kiss her sweetly. I turn back toward the gathered pack.
“There are no false pretenses in our mating. Yes, I lied to get Kira to spend time alone with me. And if she feels that is grounds to end her bond with me, that is her right.” I take a deep breath before speaking my truth to the pack that reveres and trusts me. “But know this. I was willing to give up being an alpha, to leave this pack to be with my mate, and I still am. It is only by her grace that I am still your alpha.”
Gasps of shock ring out through the clearing as my pack stare at me.
“Rowan,” Kira says before taking my hand in hers. “The past is the past. We aren’t leaving.” Her bright smile calms my panther. Knowing that Odette hasn’t been able to rock our relationship with her shit relaxes me.
“Silas,” Kira says. “Would you like to see Odette home?”
Silas nods before hugging my mate. “Thank you for letting me do this. It’s going to be hard on my mother.”
“I’m so sorry.” Kira sniffles. “But she made her choice.”
Silas nods before walking toward his sister. Silas grabs her by the arm before dragging her out of the clearing, kicking and screaming.
“Now—” Mavis says, but I cut her off.
“No.” My voice travels through the clearing. “Kira and I are mated. We don’t need this ceremony to prove that, tradition be damned. Bow before your alpha and his queen. Accept whatfate has already decided.”
As one, each pack member kneels before us, and I grip Kira behind the head and kiss her deeply.
Chapter Fourteen
Kira
We celebrate our mating with the pack through the night and into the early hours of the morning. Many members approach me to offer their congratulations, some offer their condolences on my father’s passing, and a few apologize for their past behavior.
Silas does not rejoin us, and my heart breaks for him. It can’t be easy. Knowing that you won’t see your sister again unless you choose to leave your pack. But every time I start to feel any melancholy, Talia is there to cheer me up.