Part Of Me { Completed ✔ }

Chapter 20. Connor

>>> EDITED <<<

When I returned inside all of the wolves that had been in the house were now lined up outside the front door in their fur, the different colours bristled in the soft wind. It was tradition in our pack that to start off the mating ceremony the male wolf walked from his family home to where the ceremony would be held. Then once the ceremony was over the newly mated wolves would walk to their new shared home together. As Selene and Noah would be living with their parents, we had bent and rules and burrowed my family home for Noah to leave from. Unfortunately for Noah our home was one of the furthest from the meeting hall.

The walk to the pack house was supposed to signify something about leaving your family to start a new life with your mate or maybe it was something about showing you'd walk really far for the love of your life. I wasn't sure, pack lore and history wasn't passed down to Omega's. I only learnt pack lore from overheard conversations between higher wolves.

Noah lingered in the front door, still looking nervous. I placed my hand on his upper back, giving him a little encouragement by pushing him out of my family home. The wolves howled, the call of strangers. As was tradition, only wolves that were close to the couple appeared in their skin until after the ceremony, it was respectful, allowing the mated wolves to spend time with their closest friends and family, while still having the support of the pack. Although everyone in the pack was considered our family, in a pack as large as ours it was more of a term, we lived as a community.

In the rare occurrence that there was a wolf that disagreed with the pairing, they would stop the male from exiting their home and confront them away from the eyes of the women. I flanked Noah's side and Callum the other, no one was going to dare try to stop his march to the pack house. Noah was silent on the entire walk, his scent reeked of nerves. I didn't understand what he had to be so nervous about, anyone with eyes could see how deeply Selene loved Noah. They were mates, no -true mates. It was rare, almost unheard of for a wolf to find their true mate, most wolves settled, some for a potential mate, others just made a life with a wolf that they loved. Noah had no reason to doubt their connection.

Finally we made it to the pack house. Callum and I led the shaky legged Noah through to the back garden. Once, when our pack had just been founded, when the pack house was freshly built by hand, ceremonies were held inside the large meeting hall, now the building was past its prime, only used for the Alpha's offices and wolves in desperate need of housing.

"Look at all this..." Callum let out a low whistle as we entered the garden. I looked around with wide eyes, thoroughly impressed with what Selene and her sisters had managed to do in such a short amount of time. Lights were strung from tree to tree casting a warm glow over the garden and leading us towards the path that was lined by thousands of white flowers. The path led us towards the lifted altar where Alpha Elijah stood, waiting with Selene who was dressed to the nines. I grinned down at Noah, watching as his nerves faded away and were instead replaced with flushed cheeks and knobbly knees, as if, at any moment he would fall to knees in front of his mate.

Selene released a shaky breath as she watched every step that Noah took towards her. Our family and friends watched on with pleasant smiles, I felt pride swell in my lower belly for the wolves that I considered to be family. Selene made a move to step down from the altar but Elijah grasped her gently, pausing her actions at the same time that Callum stopped me. "It's all you from here mate." Callum, the more experienced of the three of us in this ceremony, gave Noah a forceful push forward.

Noah moved towards Selene, who looked as if she were being pulled to him, like two magnets, attracting forces pulling toward one another. Once Noah had reached the altar and joined hands with Selene, Alpha's voice boomed over the crowd; . "Welcome Tellsman pack, thank you for attending tonight. This is a special night, as we witness the mating of Noah and Selene."