Enraging the Alpha

Ch. 9: Ritual

BROOKE

Naked bodies painted in red clay moved with the flames. This wasn't a dance for a ballroom. This was scandalous, seductive, and the most stunning thing I'd ever witnessed. A vibration radiated from their rhythm, spreading out across the pack, drawing us in, and strengthening a bond as old as our blood. Melodic howls and rhythmic chants rolled through the masses, resonating inside my chest.

"That feeling is the goddess," Huck said, his voice low and close to my ear. "She is the tether that connects us."

His fingers trailed up my arm, sending goosebumps across my skin. I shivered. "They stole so much from us," I said. Everything about my life had been a lie. The makeup, the clothes, the events, all of it. "I spent my whole life learning how to be luna, and now I'm here, and I know nothing."

He took my chin gently between his fingers, pulling my face to his. His eyes reflected the flames; his magnetic energy seemed magnified. "You had everything you needed the moment you were born, and I am incredibly lucky to call you mine."

His words were a balm across a wound I'd yet to acknowledge, but I couldn't believe him. "What luna doesn't know our dances, our songs, our history?"

He kissed me softly, then pulled back with a tender smile. "One that is still learning."

My chest swelled, and I smiled back. But before I could allow myself to feel any better, a hush fell, drawing both of our attentions back to the fire.

Jewel's body was too perfect to be real. The other women stepped back, and all eyes locked on her. My lips parted as I took her in—a goddess in her own right. The clay hid her most intimate areas, but it left nothing to the imagination. She stepped into place in front of us and bowed low with a sickly sweet smile.

My wolf stirred, not liking the way she was looking at our mate—or the way our mate was looking at her. Pride and love filtered through the bond, matching his expression.

Just when I thought I could stand it no longer, her long, straight blonde hair whipped through the air, and her hips rolled. The chanting resumed, the tempo rising as her body bent and contorted seductively. It was savage. Animalistic. Mesmerizing. Her eyes met mine, her smile stretching before her attention zeroed in on Huck. I swallowed hard, a million emotions warring for dominance.

She was my sister, and she was everything I wasn't.

Huck took my hand and squeezed. "She's paying her respects."

It seemed like it.

I held my tongue and nodded, fighting to hide the envy rising within me. This felt oddly like a war, and I was at a disadvantage. No one danced like that on the mountain top, and I doubted my body was even capable. Wasn't she injured? How was she doing that? And that? And that?

My skin flushed as I tracked her movements. Quick yet deliberate. Wild yet fluid. By the time she was finished, my wolf wanted her dead, and I was more insecure than I'd ever been.

"Our turn," Huck said.

My eyes widened and shot toward him. "Excuse me?"

He grinned and stood, pulling me up with him.

"Huck!" I whisper-hissed. "I don't know how—"

He motioned to Flora—the woman he considered his mother—and she approached us with a blade glinting in her right hand.

Huck stopped beside the fire and turned to face me.

"What's happening?" I whispered.

"Do you trust me?"