Ceremony

It was six years since I started dating Duke when I asked, "Shouldn't we prepare for the marking ceremony? It's almost July." Duke stiffened, lowering his eyes to avert his gaze. "You know I'm the Alpha of the Forest Pack, Fiona. And things have been busy with the pack, so I really don't have the time to think about it." "Okay." I smiled faintly—he really had forgotten about the promise. While I had been preparing for the ceremony for days, I had also anticipated disappointment. If he could forget about something so important, that only meant I didn't mean much in his heart. In that case, I should just leave.

Isaac White, future alpha of the Ozoic pack, joins his friend Oscar Shine, alpha of the Pearlwood pack, at his Luna ceremony along with his beta, Liam Slayer. Isaac will soon become the alpha of his pack, but before that he has to find his mate. Despite being 27 years old, he covered almost all the nearby packs to find his mate but always failed. Anahita Ivanov also attended this ceremony with her only friend, Natalia. Isaac almost forced himself on Anahita due to misunderstandings.Thankfully; she escaped, but not exactly. When Isaac wakes up the next morning, he realizes that he found and lost his mate last night. Along with Liam, he sends his best hunters to find her whereabouts.

For sweet and innocent Adriana , life was nothing but a walk through the park. That was, until she turned 18. Adriana feared for this day her whole life, but it was finally time to face them as so many women in her family has done in the past. It was the day for her to attend the Revendal, an annual Grand Ceremony which was held for none other than the pure blood, Draven Cruz. Not only was he famous for his good looks but his temper was well-known among the vampires and the humans as well. And now? It was time for him to choose himself a keeper from the ceremony and Adriana silently prays that she wasn't the one. But what happens if he does take a sudden interest in her? Does a human really stand a chance with a vampire?

On the day Andrew Selwyn is elected as the pack's Beta, we promise to have our bonding ceremony a month later. Seven days away from the ceremony, he suddenly decides to pursue his first love, Lucy Grimm. He wants to make up for the time they had lost apart. If he gets back together with Lucy, he hopes I will give them my blessing. If he can't win her over, he'd let go of his obsession and return to complete the ceremony. He'd spend the rest of his life loving and protecting me. Gazing at his sincere expression, I smile and say, "Alright. As long as it makes you happy, I won't stop you." The moment he turns and leaves, I can no longer hold back my tears. All along, Andrew's heart belonged to someone else. Later, I contact my best friend, Selena Jones, through the mind link. "My bonding ceremony has been canceled," I say flatly, my voice thick with helplessness. "Didn't you want me to lead the research team at your institute out of town? I'll do it. When do we leave?"

I've been married to my mate, William Parker, for three years. Yet, he has never claimed me. He always says that once his territory expands, he will hold a grand marking ceremony for me. I believed him and willingly waited for three years. But today, I witnessed with my own eyes William claiming my younger sister, Naomi Jenkins, at the altar. In fact, she has been missing for three years. At the marking ceremony, my three older brothers stand firmly by Naomi's side, supporting her. "Naomi was too young back then and was deceived by the Beta of the Northern pack into fleeing. Now she's been poisoned by silver nitrate and doesn't have long to live. Her only wish is to become your mate," they say. William nods and replies calmly, "For three years, I didn't hold a marking ceremony for Patricia. I was waiting for Naomi to return and explain things to me. "I will claim Naomi as my own to fulfill her final wish. But Patricia must never know. If she finds out, she'll leave me." My brothers, however, are certain. "It's fine. She loves you that much. Even if she knew, she wouldn't leave. Right now, nothing matters more than Naomi." I flee in despair, realizing that those three years of waiting were nothing but a cruel joke. The marking ceremony was always meant for Naomi. After she left, my brothers showered me with affection. I foolishly thought I was finally loved. But the truth hurts. Whenever Naomi returns, all their love goes back to her. The moment I learn the truth, my heart shatters, and I leave. Yet why, after I'm gone, do they all regret it?

My mate is Ryder Blackwood, Alpha of the pack. As the approaching bonding ceremony, he tells me that his "savior", Isabelle Morrison, is dying. She took a silver dagger meant for him three years ago. Now she is terminal, and her days are numbered. Her last wish, he says, is to leave behind a pup bearing the strongest Alpha blood. I tremble. "What about me? I'm your only mate." His voice is cold, emptied of feeling. "Don't worry. I'll always be your mate." Two days later, I receive the pregnancy test results. Isabelle is five weeks along. Turns out there was never a choice. All I get is a belated notice. What he doesn't know is that I'm the one who took the silver dagger meant for him three years ago. The healer tells me I have, at most, a month to live. I neither weep nor protest. I cancel the bonding ceremony I've dreamed of and quietly book a flight out. It leaves on the very day of the ceremony. Ryder stands at the venue of the canceled ceremony when my message reaches him. It's my unwavering rejection of him as my mate. That's when he finally breaks. For the first time, the Alpha who controls everything tastes a fear that tears the soul. He searches for me frantically, only to find every trace of me erased from his world.

The night before the marking ceremony, Joanna Grant kills my father by running him down with her car. At the same time, my fiance, Samuel West, breaks the pack's betrothal agreement and asks to end our engagement. The next day, Samuel and Joanna show up at the marking ceremony that was meant for me. With the entire pack as their witnesses, they pray to the Moon Goddess for her blessing. Just then, I arrive at the ceremony with the surveillance footage from the crash, demanding that Joanna pay with her life for what she's done to my father. Joanna is arrested by the Alliance guards, yet I am exiled from the pack and cast out as a Rogue. Out on my own, hunted and mauled by wild beasts, I am rescued by the Alpha of the Redmoon pack, Alexander Rowe. He saves me when I'm on the brink of death and then proposes to me, pulling me out of hell itself. But after two years of marriage, I overhear a conversation between Alexander and his Beta, Marcus Hale. "Alpha, you forgave Joanna in the Luna's family's name and helped secure her release. If this ever comes to light, the Alliance will arrest you, too." "She'll never know," Alexander says. "Joanna has served a year in prison. That's enough. She deserves the chance to move on and find happiness." So, the marriage I think saves me turns out to be Alexander's carefully planned trap all along. I decide it's time for them to pay the price.

Chrysler Lianna Salvatera is the red-haired and only daughter of the newly elected President of their country. What happens when at the day of her father’s inauguration ceremony, she gets abducted by the most powerful half vampire, half witch, and half werewolf – Niklaus Deveraux?

There was only one week left until my marking ceremony with Alpha Mason Wright. And this time, he was asking to postpone it yet again, all because his puphood sweetheart, Eira Padmore, the she-wolf who once saved his life, had another episode. She was in tears, begging to go to Bhador to see the snow, just like every time before, claiming she wouldn't be able to breathe otherwise. The ceremony had already been pushed back three times. All the wolves of the north had been waiting for us to complete it. But I was done waiting, and so was the pup growing inside me. If Mason refused to mark me, then I'd walk away and build my own future. But what I couldn't understand was... Why was it that the moment I left, Mason went mad searching for me, and suddenly insisted on marking me after all?

During a partial solar eclipse, Olivia, one week pregnant, looses her lover, Camil, to a resulting tornado. Some months later she gives birth to Frances, who grows up to a beautiful teen. Frances works in a bookstore. There she meets Alban. They become friends, and in a few days they fall in love. Alban invites Frances and her mother, Olivia, to his mother's inauguration ceremony at the MIT. Frances and Olivia arrive at the ceremony, but after seeing Alban and his father (who suffered amnesia some years ago), Olivia slumps and passess out. Olivia later tells Frances that Alban's father is Camil -- Frances's father too. This leaves Frances heartbroken. Now she is left with the decision of either continuing what she had started with Alban or unite the entire family by helping Camil regain his lost memory.