Golden Destiny

Chapter 7. - Severed

"Call me right after it's done, okay?" Harper reminded me as we parted ways after the last period. She was headed home to pack for our trip while I was to go to the pack house for the Severance Ceremony. "I don't care if you're too tired, I want to know you're okay."

I smiled at her and gave her a hug right as I heard a honk from about ten feet away from us. I looked over to where the sound came from and saw my mom waiting in her car. She was going to take me to the pack house to serve as my witness, along with my brother, Jarick. "I'll call you the moment I get home, promise."

I ran to our car and heard Jessie call my name. I stopped to turn to him.

"You headed for the pack house? Right. I really think this is the best thing for everyone, Mia. I mean, you don't think you'll be the wolf Adam needs by his side when he ascends as Alpha," he said in a low voice, a sneer playing at the edges of his mouth. "I mean, you're not even a wolf at all. Not really," he added, muttering.

Now that hurt, specially coming from my baby brother, who I looked after when we were younger. I don't really know when or how our relationship changed, I guess it was around the time he started middle school and got all chummy with the "in" crowd. It didn't help that our older brothers were much older than he was and weren't able to spend much time around him, so he was left to hang out all the time only with the kids from the high-ranking families of the pack. Those kids, incidentally, were those who were meanest to me, who tended to hold nothing back in terms of bullying me because their status in the pack made them untouchable.

I looked into his eyes, not saying anything, but letting the hurt I felt show through. His sneer faltered for a moment before Ally, Tawny's sister, hooked her arm around his waist. "Baby, I know she's your sister and all, but you really should begin to choose who to spend time with," she crooned with the same grating voice her sister had. "Tawny'll be making her life a living hell once she's Luna, and you do not want to be associated with that." She looked me up and down and gave a sneer of her own. "I don't know what the Moon Goddess was thinking when she made you Adam's mate. A latent wolf mated to an Alpha! What a joke!" She said in a loud voice, making everyone who was within hearing distance turn to us.

"Oh, little pup, if you only knew what a joke it really is," Jarick said in his deep voice. At first, I thought he was agreeing with Ally, but when I looked at him, I saw that he was barely controlling himself, his hands curled into fists and glaring at both Ally and Jessie. His eyes turned to me and his entire body softened. He slung a heavy arm over my shoulder and led me to the car where mom was waiting. I was confused. Not that Jarick was ever mean to me, but he just never defended me like that, at least not in public. None of my brothers ever had.

"I brought a robe for you. It's in the back. You have to wear it after your bath and during the ceremony," mom said, and I saw her giving a tender smile to Jarick.

"Bath?"

"Yes," she said, not explaining anything at all.

"Mom, I have to bathe before the ceremony?"

"Oh, right. I wasn't able to explain it to you. Yes, Mia. Before any ceremony that has to do with the Moon Goddess, be it Mating, Luna, or in this case, Severance, the participants have to be cleansed in order to be worthy of coming before the Goddess' presence. It's simple, really. It's symbolic of washing away the worries of our mortal selves so we're pure when we're in the Goddess' presence."

"You mean it's a special bath?"

"It's a regular bath but with a few herbs and oils mixed in with the water," mom shrugged.

"It sounds like I'm about to be cooked," I muttered under my breath, which, since everyone in the car had heightened hearing, was as audible as if I shouted.