4. The Oracle Ceremony

Alpha Alex stood there, in front of the mirror. After he was done with his cuff, he stared at his reflection. He could not help but chuckle sadly. He looked just like his father when the man was younger. And that made him sad. 

If the man had never gotten so sick, to the point of losing his memories and sense of self, he would have still been alpha, and Alex would have never taken over at such a young age. And if his mom had never died from that mysterious illness around the same time, he would not have been with Cassandra. 

But this was his life, and there was nothing he could do about it. All he had to do was endure for the pack, and in honor of his parents. It was not like he wanted to trap Cassandra; that was far from what he wanted. He was not even the one to blame. Her parents agreed to this, which was why they were together. 

He wished that he loved the girl; that would have made all this a bit easier. But he did not. 

Sighing, he ran his hand through his wavy brown hair, walking away from the mirror and opening the door before stepping out. His beta was waiting just outside for him. “Are you ready?” The guy asked. 

Alex nodded. “Sure.” He was nonchalant with his reply. 

“And the dress Cass is wearing, did you approve of it? You know she’s supposed to be wearing black, right?” 

He stopped, and his beta did too. He turned and locked eyes with the guy before lowering his voice because there were a few guards around. “I tried talking to her, but she’s stubborn. You know that. She even hit me.” 

“She hit you?”

“It’s fine,” He brushed that aside. “The point here is that I’m getting f*cking tired of her attitude. It’s not like I’m not trapped in this, too. She’s acting as if I’m the one keeping her here. It’s not like she’s not holding one of the highest positions in the pack. She keeps acting as if she’s being forced to be a cleaning lady or something.” He scoffed, then he turned and started walking again. 

His beta followed. “I know…but you two have been together for years now, you guys have to find a way to work things out. There’s no changing the arrangement. This is for a lifetime.” 

The reminder made Alex groan internally. He hated this so bad, but again, he had given up on love long ago. The only person he had ever been with was Cass, and after all these years, they had not even had sex yet. He did not care, though. And apparently, she didn’t. “Let’s just go downstairs and get the ceremony started…” 

The beta nodded, and they continued down the hallway, heading for the stairs. 

As for Kelly. It felt like she was frozen in time. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, and her breath had been knocked right out of her lungs. She stood there, tears falling from her eyes freely as she watched the two hurry to put on their clothes. 

“F*ck,” Jake groaned, guilt smearing his tone. “Kelly, please…” 

His voice was what she needed to be shoved out of her trance. She sniffled loudly and turned, rushing out of the room. She could hear him calling from behind him, but she did not stop. She increased her pace, barely seeing where she was going because of her tears and the state she was in. 

Then she ran into someone and almost fell, but the person grabbed her quickly. “I’m so sorry,” She rushed the apology out, and then her eyes landed on the face of the person. She soon recognized that it was him. It was the Alpha. Her heart skipped a beat. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” She went to her knees. This reminded her of their first encounter. “I am so sorry, Alex.” 

“It’s fine,” The guy chuckled weakly. “Come on, get up from the floor.” He extended his hand to her. 

She tentatively took it, and as soon as their skin made contact, she felt the same thing from that night in the park. She stood up, and they broke contact. “I’m so sorry,” She said again, sniffling. 

“It’s alright.” His voice was comforting. “Are you okay, though?” He was staring at her, clear that he really wanted to help her if she only gave him the chance. 

“Kelly!” Jake reached up with them, but once he noticed the alpha, he went quiet suddenly. 

Alpha Alex looked up at him. “Were you trying to get away from this man?” He then peeled his eyes away from Jake and looked back at the omega. 

Kelly swallowed hard and then nodded. “I don’t want him anywhere near me.” She said in a hard tone, tears proceeding to fall from her eyes as she replayed in her mind what she had just witnessed. If he had lied about his sexuality, then that meant that she had never been enough for him. Then that meant the issue was her. 

And you have no idea how that made the omega feel. 

Alex looked up at Jake. “You heard her, yeah? If I find out that you are within ten feet of this girl, I will have you arrested. Do you understand?” 

Jake nodded, breathing out through his nostrils. 

“I said, do you understand!?” The alpha’s voice was stern, reeking of authority.

“Ye–yes, sir,” He replied, his voice shaking. 

“Hmm...” Alpha Alex then looked away, looking at the omega once more before turning and walking away with his beta. He did not want to make it seem too obvious, as it may already have been that he had a connection to the girl. 

Kelly was grateful for this. She gave Jake one last look, shaking her head in disappointment and pain before walking away. She exited the house and was now in the huge yard with so many others. She made sure to go way to the back, knowing that no matter what she was going to do tonight, she was not going to be chosen. 

Her high hopes were now trashed after finding out the truth concerning Jake. No one would want to be with her; who was she kidding? 

As she stood there, the ceremony started. The alpha stood up to speak, his Luna by his side. He gave a speech, and she did too. When they were done, the Oracle Ceremony officially began. People started to find their mates, being drawn by scents and auras. 

But as for Kelly, she just watched it all unfold. It was as if she were on the outside of time. She felt so much, but at the same time, she felt kind of numb to it all, you know? 

Then a waiter walked over, a tray of a few glasses of champagne in his hand. He offered, and even though she hesitated, she ended up taking two glasses, knowing very well that she had never had alcohol in her life. 

But she was eighteen now, right? And she definitely needed to drown her pain before she drowned in it. 

She downed the first one, her throat burning. Then she did not even wait before downing the other one. She then started to walk over to a table to place the empty glasses down. Her head was aching, but her heart knew more pain. 

In this moment, she hated herself. But she hated the Moon goddess even more for allowing her life to be like this; for allowing her to be born an omega, and to be wolfless at that. 

Once she reached the table and placed the glasses down, she turned, and in the crowd, her eyes landed on someone. It was the Alpha of the pack. It was him again. What was it about this man? 

He was shaking a few people's hands. But as if he could feel her gaze on him, he turned, and they locked eyes. 

Maybe it was the alcohol, but Kelly could feel that same feeling she had felt that night, and it was even stronger now. It also resembled what she had felt earlier when she had held the man’s hand inside the mansion. And the more she stared at him, the stronger it got. She watched him make his way slowly towards her, and before she knew it, he was standing right in front of her. 

“Hey, again,” He said, smiling lopsidely. He wiggled his brows playfully, and she could not help but laugh lightly. 

“Hey, again,” She replied, her face getting hot. “I–” 

“So we meet again, huh?” His voice was softer than cotton. 

“Yep,” She popped the p in the word. She could not believe that she was in a normal conversation with the alpha of the pack as if it were nothing. She had always been invisible, but now she was in the presence of royalty just so casually. “You’re enjoying the ceremony?” She swallowed nervously. 

“Mm-hmm,” He replied, his smile getting bigger. He kept staring at her. “Call me delusional, but you do feel what I feel right now, right?” He needed to address this, or it was going to consume him. 

She was about to respond when the Luna joined them. They had not even noticed that she had been walking towards them. “Is everything okay here?” Cassandra asked, eyeing the omega from her toes to her head. 

Alpha Alex cleared his throat before looking over at his Luna. “I think we need to talk, Cass.” He thinned his lips. 

“Sure…go ahead, talk.” She folded her arms on her chest. 

“I mean, somewhere private.” Then he looked over to the omega. “And I think she should tag along.”

Cassandra was taken aback. “You want the omega to tag along? Why?” She was very confused, but also very intrigued. 

The Alpha looked back at her and waited a few seconds before sighing and then finally replying, “I…um, I think there is a mate bond between her and me.” He could not believe that he was even saying those words. “I think the Oracle is trying to tell me that she’s my true mate, Cass.”