The Silver Guardian Bk. 01

The Silver Guardian Bk. 01 Ch. 08

The Silver Guardian

By DaddyIrishman

Another big shout out and thank you to my amazing editor Tex Beethoven for doing such a fantastic job editing and polishing this chapter to where it is! One of the very best yet, and he did a tremendous job! Thank you Tex and you rock my friend!

Book 1

Chapter 8

It was approaching dark, and the ceremony would begin in a few hours. One of the junior female wolves who was a stylist in the town of Whitefish had come in to give Dante a haircut and a shave, using Dante's straight razor from his kit. She left, and Dante had showered and gotten dressed in a pair of black silk dress pants and a long sleeved black silk shirt tailored close to his chest and waist.

Odin walked into the suite Dante was using today, not having access to the suite he'd been sharing with Lily until after tonight's mating. Odin was holding a small package resembling a jewelry box in his hand. He was dressed in a flowing blue dress shirt that matched his eyes, and a pair of dark slacks, looking like a powerful businessman. "It's almost time son, I came to help you finish getting ready and to walk with you down to the Ceremonial Grounds. Odin paternally helped to brush out the long mane of black hair that Dante normally had to do himself. He worked it into a tight and neat ponytail, then opened the package he'd brought with him and pulled out a platinum ponytail holder in the form of a wolf's head that was very beautiful. After allowing Dante to handle and admire it, he slid it into place and securedit.

"This has been in our family for generations, and it's time for it to become yours. Welcome to the family son, we love you and I'm proud to call you family. I know you will be the best mate Luna could ever have picked for my Lily."

Dante and Odin shook hands and hugged before heading out of the Manor House and straight ahead towards the Ceremonial Grounds.

***

The whole Pack had gathered in the Ceremonial Grounds, which consisted of a clearing at the end of an expansive green stretching a mile due east from the Manor House. The Grounds were huge, with plenty of room for everyone, surrounded on three sides by forest. Several large bonfires lit up the night and conversation was loud as everyone talked excitedly about the events of the past day and expectations for tonight's momentous ceremony.

Dante was standing tall and outwardly calm off to one side of a huge structure with no walls or roof but consisting of a rectangular area defined by several massive pillars made of gray stone. Once a person arrived inside this structure after trekking from the Manor House, he or she would find themself facing the altar, which was a massive slab of granite approximately 10' long, 5' high and 18" thick. The smooth surface of the altar was at about waist level, resting upon several large boulders, apparently arranged haphazardly, but nevertheless providing a secure and level support for the rectangular altar. Everything: pillars, altar and support, had been worn smooth by the weather over the two centuries it had been exposed to the elements.

Alpha Odin had told Dante this place of Lunar worship had been erected shortly after the Alpha of the eons-old O'Connor Pack in Ireland had sent his younger brother's family plus 25 other families of wolves from his Pack to the New World, and eager for seclusion, the cadet branch had traveled as far west from the European colonies as they could, before establishing this settlement for their own. Every Alpha and Alpha Heir mated pair had publicly consummated their union on its surface since the Pack had made this location their home about over 200 years ago.

Dante understood the significance and the solemnity of the ritual. As the full moon rose in the night sky behind Dante, he heard the Pack settle down and eventually stop talking completely.