Emerald: Omega to Alpha

Chapter 8

My father walked from his room to the front door of the house. He opened the door, then howled. It was a call to our pack members. Immediately, the pack members were gathering beneath our home. 

“Doug, Cherry, come here,” my father asked.

Cherry and I walked over and stood beside him. My hand held her tiny waist. 

While we were waiting for the entire pack to gather, my father said, “Cherry, my dear, look around! The pack soon will be your pack. As their future Luna, you’ll help Doug rule the pack. Do it well, my dear!”

“Certainly, dad. I’ll do my best,” Cherry replied.

I embraced Cherry’s waist and then whispered in her ear, “All will be yours, honey. Once we graduate, my father will prepare me further to be his successor. But our marking process will start from now. Are you ready?”

Cherry snuggled to my neck. “I can’t be more ready, darling. I’m all yours.”

I was so satisfied. I kissed Cherry on her lips but stopped after hearing my father clear his throat.

“Both of you should wait until we finish the marking ritual in front of our pack. After that, don’t hold back and complete the entire mating process.”

Cherry and I blushed to hear that, but we nodded. I kept touching Cherry’s waist and creating small circles with my thumb there. She was so adorable! I couldn’t keep my hands away from her. 

“You’re all I desire, honey. I can’t wait to touch you,” I said.

“It won’t take long. Hold on, Doug, then we can satisfy our hunger and quench our thirst later.”

I sighed. “This waiting is killing me. Why does it take so long for the pack to be here?”

“Then, in the future, think of something to speed up the process,” Cherry replied.

I nodded. “Make sense, I’ll think of that.”

Finally, all the pack gathered. The pack members stared at us. Some of them were talking to each other in such a loud voice, “It seems we’ll see the marking ritual for the future Luna today.”

“Are you sure?” the other asked.

“I can’t see any other reason our Alpha is gathering us here now.”

Then my father said, “My good pack members, it’s a day I’ve been waiting for so long. Finally, today my son brought his mate, Cherry Brown. Cherry is Jacob Brown’s daughter, our pack’s ally, and the Alpha of the Moonvalley Venture Pack.” My father looked around for a while, then continued his words, “It’s such a great joy for me that the Highest One matched both of them! So without further ado, let’s watch the marking ritual between my son and Cherry.”

I grinned, stepped forward, and then put my hand on Cherry’s shoulder. “I accept you, Cherry Brown, as my mate. For better or worse, you’ll be the only one for me. With all of my pack and my Alpha as the witness, from today forward, I’ll protect and love you.” 

Cherry blushed. She then put her hand on my waist. “I accept you, Douglas Campbell, as my mate. For better or worse, you’ll be the only one for me. With all of your pack and your Alpha as the witness, as they’ll be my pack and my Alpha, from today forward, I’ll love and honor you.”

Then I lowered my head. I bit Cherry’s neck until a speckle of blood gushed from her neck. I licked the blood to heal the tiny wound, then looked at her eyes. “Now, it’s your turn.”

Cherry did the same. She bit my neck. It seemed no blood was out from my neck since Cherry didn’t lick it at all. “It’s done.”

My father smiled. “It’s official now. Cherry is my daughter-in-law. Respect her! As you do, you respect Doug and me too!”

The pack members howled merrily to celebrate the marking process. After a while, the entire pack members gradually left the area.

“Now, two of you can complete your mating process. Cherry, dear, how old are you?” my father asked.

“I’m 17 years old, dad.” For werewolves, we could mate from 17 years old.

“It’s the right age. What a perfect moment! Go to Doug’s room, and hopefully, next year, you can give birth to a handsome pup. I want to have a grandson soon.”

I grinned to hear that. “I’ll do my best, dad. Don’t worry about that.” Then I pulled Cherry’s waist. “Let’s go to my room, our room.”

Cherry nodded, then she greeted my father, “See you later, dad.”

“No need to rush. Enjoy your time,” my father said.

As Cherry and I were in my room, Cherry looked around. My room had a king-size bed, a sofa, a cupboard, and a study table. It’s a masculine room dominated by black, grey, and white. 

“Your taste is not bad. I love your room.”

I smiled. “Since you’ll be here too from now, we’ll redecorate it to adjust to your liking, love. What do you think?”

“Add a little gold, and ivory would be better. It’ll still be elegant but less masculine.”

“Anything you say, love. Now, it’s time for lovemaking.” I kissed Cherry’s lips. 

Cherry opened her mouth. We kissed until I couldn’t stand it anymore. I didn’t waste time as I drew Cherry to the bed. We completed the mating process a few times. Then we went to sleep while hugging each other.

***

~ Emerald/Emmy ~

Meanwhile, I was alone in my room. Suddenly, I felt choked and ached as if my body was burnt. Somehow, out of nowhere, I knew Doug had marked Cherry and completed their mating process. I didn’t like Doug, yet the bond-mate connected both of us. 

I felt so hurt. Though I tried to rationalize the whole thing, I couldn’t shake my feelings that my mate had abandoned me. Infidelity was a terrible action, even more for werewolves. Doug had broken our bond-mate indirectly by marking Cherry. Yet, by doing so and not breaking the bond-mate between him and me first, he chose to be a coward and would reap the worst consequence from the Highest One. 

Doug’s betrayal left a rejection scar on my heart. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I didn’t love Doug, I was dumped. I felt useless and ugly. 

“It’s not fair! Why don’t you reject me directly? It’ll be good for you, me, and Cherry. Instead, you marked Cherry just like that.” I hugged my knees. “I know I don’t love you, but at least can’t you be honorable? Oh, right, it’s not within you. You’re just a scumbag! I hate you!” 

I threw my pillow to the floor. Then I looked to the ceiling, trying hard not to let a single tear fall. 

“You’re not worthy of my tears!” 

But even as much as I tried, the tears escaped from my eyes and flew to my cheeks. I felt so worthless since nobody wanted me. I wept for a long time; I didn’t know how long. 

After fatigue, I walked to the side of my room, where a middle-size mirror hung on the wall, and saw a skinny girl with swollen eyes and pale cheeks standing there. 

“I know I’m not pretty, nor am I as sexy as Cherry. I can’t afford to have beautiful and expensive dresses like her. But didn’t I deserve to be loved?” 

More tears escaped from my eyes, but I swept them hastily. Then I laid back on my bed. I cried again until I was so exhausted. After a while, I was asleep. 

Awaking a few hours later, I didn’t feel better. So I grabbed my ballet shoes, wore them, and walked to the vacant lot next to my house. I stretched my arms to the right, then started swirling and jumping. I leaped back and forth, kept moving until my strength was gone, then fell to the ground. 

No more tears now, yet I felt so empty inside. Dancing usually could help me to express my feelings and ease the turmoil inside my heart. But, unfortunately, now it couldn’t give me peace like in the past. I wanted to scream but was outside; anybody might hear me. So, bottling up my feelings until I was unable to take it anymore, I suddenly shape-shifted into a wolf again. 

I jumped so high and ran to the forest. Near a bridge above a river, I stopped and looked down. If I died, I wouldn’t be so miserable anymore. None could hurt me again. The thought was swirling in my head over and over again. 

When gathering my courage to jump, somehow, I remembered my mother. I howled to express the grievance in my heart. If I died, my mother would be suffering. Yet, at the same time, my heart filled with hurt and grief until I couldn’t think straight and just wanted to let go of everything. 

Thinking of that, I stepped ahead to the edge of the bridge. I kept looking down at the river.