Blood Moon | Volturi Kings x Bella Romance

Promises, Promises

Author's Note/Warning — I am not First Nations (Native). As far as I am aware, I have never done a DNA test. However, my adoptive uncle was part Shawnee. Blue Jacket if I recall correctly. I was very young when I participated in many powwows (my apologies if I have spelt it wrong), spirit walking rituals, and other ceremonies I can't even fully remember. The following part of this chapter I attempted to keep as respectful as possible by combining my own personal experiences with spirit walking, the rituals I can remember, and my experience with psychedelics.
I hope you enjoy this chapter, thank you very much for your patience between my updates.

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"How ya' holdin' up, Jake?" Embry sat down beside his best friend on the cliffside. Jake had been down the past couple weeks, ever since Bella left. They had to come up with her cover story for Charlie and Renee. They were upset—well Charlie was upset. Renee was just ignoring the situation all together. Jake was pissed at first but he had been very quiet ever since. He had let Sam keep his title of Alpha because he had no interest in the position.

"I—I don't know, Em. I just—I feel like Bella was...it. I think she could have been my imprint—"

"But Jake—she wasn't. She is mated to the Kings of leechdom. The Spirits wouldn't do that to you man." Embry put a hand on Jacob's shoulder, squeezing reassuringly.

"I know that!" Jake shouted, his chest heaving as his anger took hold. He released a heavy sigh. "Sorry, it's just hard. Not having her around—not knowing if she is okay. And not having a good distraction from it…"

"Maybe if you become Alpha—"

"No, Em, even if I wanted it back...I'm just not ready for it."

Embry opened his mouth to respond when they heard Sam howl from the woods behind them. There was a pack meeting that night, something about them being ready to hear the histories. Jacob was actually looking forward to it. He felt something deep in his chest, something telling him they needed to hear whatever these stories were. They knew about their tribe's history, but not about the pack's. They stood from the cliffedge together and took off in the direction of Sam's howl. They arrived at Jacob's house sometime later as the sun was setting below the horizon. Emily was cooking over a charcoal grill nearby, with the rest of the pack sitting along fallen logs around the bonfire. Jake gave a small smile at the happy sight before him. Seth with his bright, wide eyes and even brighter smile walked up to him.

“Hey, Jake! I saved you some burgers before the others could down ‘em.”

“Thanks, Seth.” Jake chuckled at Seth’s over-enthusiasm. He put his arm around Seth before pulling him into a playful chokehold. Seth grunted in surprise as laughter left him before he tried to escape his grasp. Billy cleared his throat as he made his way to the front of the fire in his chair.

Jake immediately released the younger pack mate and they walked side by side to one of the logs to sit on. When all of the pack members were seated, Billy took a deep breath and they could see the authority—the majesty of Chief Leader descend upon his being. It exuded from him, and all of them reacted by lowering their heads in respect. Billy pulled from a bag on his lap a long pipe. The older pack members seemed to recognize it, the younger members giving it a puzzling look.

"In order to truly understand our history, and our impending future, we must experience it for ourselves. I had to fight with the Council Members about this. We are Spirit Warriors. However, the last one to visit the Spirit World was Taha Aki. A man of peace and wisdom beyond his time. Our ability to visit the Spirit World has weakened over time, so in order for us to do it—we must smoke the sacred herbs of our land and ancestors. Taha Aki banned the visiting of the Spirit World because of what happened with Utlapa all those years ago. I was able to get the Council to allow an exception. I sense a Great threat is coming—and we need to all be prepared for it. We need to abandon old ways of thought, or we will surely be undone by the coming danger."