The Exiled Alpha | ✓

04 | The Bonding Ceremony

I comb through my long hair, letting it hang down my back. Working against the clock, I throw on a pair of dark jeans, leather boots, a white t-shirt, and a black jacket. He said to wear something expensive, but this event can be called a high class cook out at best.

Technically, it's a bonding ceremony, which is the equivalent of a wedding to humans except without all of the elegance, fancy clothes, and decor.

Just like Nathan said, I find him waiting for me in the living room of the pack house. He stops his pacing in order to look me over from head to toe.

"How much did that cost?"

"Enough," I answer as I walk past him.

"Is it designer?" He asks, coming up beside me.

"It is for tonight."

He makes a disapproving grunt. "We'll go shopping later. You look good though."

I stop dead in my tracks, stiffening.

Did he... Did he just compliment me?

He offers me his arm, as if nothing out of ordinary had just happened. "Wouldn't wanna be late."

I wipe the petrification off my face and force myself to take the arm he's offering. It's an internal fight to keep myself from pulling away from him. Something about having any sort of contact with him seems wrong and stomach-churningly unappealing.

When we walk up to the open forested area that the party is set up in, everyone's eyes turn on us. The urge to shrink down and out of their sight is crippling, but there's nowhere to go. Plus I have too much pride to even attempt to hide against Nathan's side. Public shame can only go so far and that would be on an entirely new level.

There's no doubt in my mind that this is the latest gossip of the pack. The oh so beloved Nathan Swelter— soon to be Alpha of the Visari pack— is claiming a mate who isn't his.

He leads us past a towering bonfire whose flames reach high into the dark sky and to a long table set on a wooden platform which acts as a makeshift stage. There are four seats at the table, all at one side so that the occupants would all face the crowd.

Alpha Andre and his Luna, Nathan's mother, sit together at one end. I break away from Nathan and go past them, planting myself at the furthest end, as far away from them as I can be. To my misfortune, Nathan sits down next to me, far closer than I'd prefer.

No more than half a minute passes before he places his hand on my knee and starts tugging at my leg. I shoot him a burning glare so heated that he should burst into flames on the spot.

"Seriously?!" I snap, keeping it at a whisper.

He growls lowly, leaning closer. "You're mine now. Show it."

I clench my canines together so hard that my jaw aches. I roll my eyes and huff before throwing away my dignity and following his orders, lifting my legs so that they're in his lap.

It's a Visarian display of ownership. While sitting, the female would position herself so that the back of her thighs touch the top of the male's, though her butt stays in her own seat. In intimate cases, only between true mates, the male would wrap his arm around the female, her head resting on his shoulder.