"The Moon is up."
Someone behind the door exclaimed.
That was their signal.
Marcus looked at his soon-to-be mate with loving eyes. He nervously asked, "You ready?"
Giselle took a deep breath before firmly nodding. Let's get this done!
As they heard the wedding song play, they pushed the door to the garden open. Marcus held Giselle's hand in his; they walked down the aisle together.
At first, when Giselle saw all the eyes on her, she was literally shaking. However, Marcus stayed closed to her, his warm body heat transmitted through her white glove, making her heart stay calm. Giselle reassured herself that she was going to be okay.
She looked up to Marcus, signaling for him to go.
Marcus beamed, the Alpha leaned in, placing a peck onto her forehead.
Giselle felt burning at where his lips touched her through the thick veil. Her heart skipped a beat, and her wolf...her wolf was strangely quiet.
The people who attended the ceremony stood up when they saw the two of them. For a moment, everyone's sights were on the two main characters of the night, Marcus and Giselle. Everyone's face has different expressions on them. Some people were happy, some were confused, some were unhappy, but what they thought was not important to Giselle.
At least when Marcus was holding her hand, leading her through the crowd, he was holding her hand tight. Giselle felt so right yet so wrong, but nothing mattered then.
Marcus led her, slowly walking on those white rose petals, and headed straight for the ceremony table where the priest
was waiting.The wedding ceremony was held at Bailey's castle, which was hundreds of years old then. Normally, the Baileys rarely returned to the place. It was said that since the accident that killed Alpha of Bailey's pack happened, Lady Bailey and Marcus had not returned to this place much. The two only came back for a few hours on special occasions, but never overnight.
The entire ceremony was decorated with the theme of a rose, white roses to be exact. Even the aisle had white rose petals laid out. By looking at the design of this ceremony, everyone could have had an idea of how much Marcus had put his heart into the decoration; he adorned everything with roses, which was Tina's favorite.
However, it was also quite ironic. Because did Tina have the dignity of the rose?
The intense smell of roses in the air made Giselle feel dizzy and a little bit of a migraine. Yet, fortunately, it also made her eucalyptus scent more or less drowned out.
Giselle shook her head, trying not to think about Tina.
The wedding was held in the garden of the castle. According to the Baileys' custom, the ceremony would only be lit with candles, but not too many candles, because that would overwhelm the Moon. They did not want that.
The Moon would be the God of Witness in such an important ceremony as this day's ceremony.
Tradition said that the Goddess of the Moon is the gentle mother of the werewolf. Legend told that once a werewolf is born, that pup is blessed with a destined mate. Werewolves called those destined mates: soulmates.
In their lifetime, some would meet their soulmates. Some would not. If they met their soulmate, they would have had imprinted on them. Then, no one or nothing could separate them, even the Goddess of the Moon.
But what if they did not? Then nothing would change. They would go on with their life, find mates of their will, and get married. Most of the werewolves were in this state. They did not meet their destined mate.
The number of werewolves who had met their soulmate in their lifetime was just a few, and it happened in a pretty occasionally time. It was so rare that the all "the Goddess gave you a soulmate when you were born" thing became a mystery then. Yet, when they all thought it was a mystery, Lady Bailey and her mate recognized each other as "soulmates". It was such a blast.
Lady Bailey and her mate found out they had been destined together by the Goddess of the Moon on the day of their wedding. It was not until when they knelt in the moonlight that they knew they were destined to be together. And they were really happy until the day her mate left her.
Lady Bailey unconsciously touched her pendant, feeling bittersweet.
Concurrently, Marcus and Giselle arrived at the small table in front of the priest. Marcus supported Giselle to kneel on one side of the table, and he quickly knelt to the opposite side of hers. Marcus held Giselle's other hand in his own, cherished. His eyes were filled with expectations.
"Today, we gather here to witness the connection of Mr. Bailey and Miss Brown's souls. The Goddess of the Moon testified and graced you two."
With that, the silver moonlight suddenly shone on Marcus and Giselle, kneeling across from each other at the altar. The Moon radiated the two's shadows on the ground, interlocking them shadows into a perfect entity.
"May Luna blesses you.", Lady Bailey whispered.
The moonlight was getting brighter, clearer, and focused only on Marcus and Giselle. All of sudden, they both felt something within themselves, and their inner wolves felt odd. But, it was not bad-odd. It was a good kind of oddly feeling. Euphoria almost.
Their eyes both flared yellow and red.
Their scents became thicker to another.
Their breath became shallower.
Their wolves were restless. They were going wild, mewling and growling.
At that moment, the two were really sensitive to their significant other's scents.
Giselle felt her inner wolf submerged to that tempting cedarwood scent from Marcus. His aroma was so strong that it overpowered others' scents floating in the air. Something inside of her was clicking. Her heart was pounding in her chest like it wanted to break free. And her wolf, too. Her wolf also wanted to break free from her control. It wanted to run to its...mate.
Not only Giselle's inner wolf was out of control but also Marcus, too.
He felt strange. There was not a rose-smelling molecule that entered his nostrils but, on the contrary, the smell of passionate eucalyptus that captivated his lung; clouded his mind and made his wolf go wild. His heart rate increased in just a matter of a second. It was beating so fast that he felt as if it could burst out.
He wanted his mate.
Something deep in their mind was telling them that Luna had blessed them.
"I accept you as my mate, until the end of time."
No one insisted on him, no one forced him, no one told him to repeat after them. Those words just came out of his mouth so naturally. Like it was in his vein. Like it was his instinct. It came out so easily.
And so did Giselle.
It was almost midnight.The party had been over thirty minutes ago. The Brownson pack had already left. The Bailey's pack members still celebrated, but they had winded out most of it. There were only a few staying behind. They were sitting with Marcus, drinking and talking. Their laughter echoed through the quiet garden into Giselle's chamber.Giselle sat on the couch near the windowpane.However, Giselle was a little troubled. She clutched the phone in her hand.Giselle had found an excuse to go back to the front room, even before the party was going on. Edsel, who was playing a devoted father, told Marcus and others that it might be because she was already worried about today's ceremony that she was a little tired then.Lady Bailey quickly understood the reason behind it. She convinced Marcus to let Giselle go to the chamber first. Marcus felt strange, but he followed suit. He would ask her about all of these distant things later.At that time, she wa
Giselle gulped.At this point, words had left her.Giselle's lips quivered. She couldn't speak or think of anything to say that was suitable in this stressful situation.Although Giselle had been opposed to Edsel's Beta henchmen many times before, also, she had been stubborn enough to face the intimidation of an Alpha like Edsel. At such times, Giselle did feel afraid. She should be scared. It was her instinct because she was an Omega, an underdog to all.However, she had never been so frightened as of right then.It was not just fear anymore. Giselle could clearly feel her heart turning upside down. The numbness quickly spread throughout her body, taking over every cell in her body.
"You knew about this!"Marcus exclaimed. Never in his life had he felt so betrayed. Not from anyone else but his mom!His beloved mom!Lady Bailey was in no hurry to answer. She went to the bar and poured herself a glass of wine. She took a sip, then slowly replied to Marcus, "What are you talking about? What do I know?"Marcus frowned, unable to believe that Lady Bailey was still acting as if he didn't know anything."You know my bride is not Tina! You didn't even tell me! You tricked me into marrying a stranger!""Watch your word!" said Lady Bailey sternly, "How do we propose to the Browns? You said you wanted to marry the Brown Alpha's daughter. I had also given them your words. They did exactly what you wanted - A daughter of Edsel Brown. Giselle is his daughter. She is a Brown, too. Her bloodline to her father, Mr. Edsel, was proven. If so, what right do you have to say I'm deceiving you?"Before Marcus could even respond, Lady Bailey continue
The Browns' mansion.Edsel Brown sat at his desk. In front of him was his daughter, Tina's phone. At that time, this phone constantly displayed calls coming from none other than Marcus Bailey.Edsel frowned, thinking that Marcus had seen that the Omega he had married to was not Tina.In his head, he quickly came up with a plan.Edsel cleared his throat. He then picked up the phone, "Marcus?"On the other end of the phone, Marcus's voice rang out. It sounded somewhat surprised, "Edsel?"It was like he was not expecting Edsel to pick up the phone."Your wedding night, and you didn't even pay attention to your mate, but calling Tina like this?""Where's Tina?", Marcus no longer bothered to beat around the brush with Edsel.Edsel nonchalantly replied to Marcus, "I don't know where she was, Marcus. She has disappeared.""She has disappeared?" exclaimed Marcus, unable to believe what he had just heard.Why did Tina disappear?Whe
Giselle.I opened my eyes to see that I was in my comfy bed at home, and my surroundings ever felt so homie.I sat up, got out of the bed, making my way down to the kitchen, where I heard the clanking sound of pots and pans. As I walked down the hail, my mom’s singing reached my ears with the most soothing effect ever.As I reached the kitchen, mom was making dinner. The tempting smell of her hot chicken soup and toasted garlic butter bread filled the whole room. The TV was on, playing an old-school TV drama series which my mom loved wholeheartedly. She was singing its theme song.I stood in the hallway and was definitely in awe.Mom looked younger than when I last saw her. But then, I looked around and realized our apartment décor was so old. Even that TV drama series my mom loved to watch had stopped airing like twenty years ago.Mom was happily singing and swaying when she spotted me standing still in the dark hallway. She tilted her hea
Marcus.I woke up to the sweet aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans and the sound of it crushed under the sharp blades of the coffee beans blending machine, which I had not used in a pretty long time.I sat up in my bed, half of my body still covered in my greyish and fluffy comforter, too comfortable to get out to my liking. However, after being such a procrastinator for a good fifteen minutes, I got up from my messy bed, heading to my bathroom.I looked at myself in the mirror. The man in the mirror stared back at me. His eyes were tired. He looked like he had not slept in days.Indeed, there was not a single night in which I could go to sleep in peace. I could not sleep. If I ever tried to close my eyes, that night’s horrible scene would replay all over again in my head, it prevented me from sleeping.My inner wolf was angry at me, too.I sighed and walked out of my bathroom to change.I did not want to think about it anymore. Not today.
Marcus.The council members had gathered at the meeting room inside of the packhouse. They were all sitting at their positions, discussing something I was not interested in.My mind drifted to this morning when I put out my anger at Giselle.My wolf crawled back and forth in my mind. He hissed at me and looked at me with a disapproving look.He was judging me. He was blaming me for his sadness, his ache.I could not help but admit ever since that night, my wolf constantly felt aching.But not only my wolf.I reached where my heart was. It hurt right there, too. Every time I thought of that night or wrapped my mind around Giselle.But I could tolerate it. I had to.“..Mar…Marcus…”Mom shook me, snapping me back to reality.I looked at her, realized that I was a little lost in my thought. Everyone in the meeting room looked at me with confusing looks on their faces. My uncle, Raiz, had stood up, and clearly, he had just done his talking.&nb
GiselleHe stormed off as always.But this morning, he decided to give some of his harsh words to me. He presumed that I deserved it. And even if Iwanted to defend me, there was nothing I could say to him.Should I tell him that I was not in the wrong here?Should I tell him that it was Tina who deceived him?Should I tell him that Edsel had my mom as a hostage, so I had to do what he said?Would he believe in me?That was why I decided not to say anything. I bit my lips to keep my words at its bay.I flinched as he slammed the door hard, signaling that he was beyond angry. It was frustrating. Marcus hated me to the gut.I turned to look at the sandwiches I had made on the table, then to my coffee. My vision got blurry. Tears were welling up, threatening to drop.But I held it in. I could not cry.I chose to do this myself.I chose…***Just the thought of going bac