Savages

The Ceremony

It's been weeks since the fight. Weeks since her brother's death, and weeks since she drove away the only person she allowed herself to get close to.

Billie was aware of how long it's been, but she didn't care. This was not how she expected thing to go. She wanted her brother to be here today for the ceremony. The ceremony that will change everything in Billie's life. She is to become Alpha today and she couldn't feel anymore like shit.

That's probably the reason she has yet to emerge from her room while everyone was waiting in the backyard to witness the ritual. Billie stood in front of a large body mirror, looking at herself in the traditional alpha attire that dated back centuries. It was black silk with green lining and solid gold chains embedded into the suit. The everybody else, it looked good on her, but Billie herself still couldn't see it.

Billie looked up once again before focusing her eyes on Claudia through the mirror who was leaning against the her bedroom door frame with a soft smile on her face.

"Hey." Billie said, her voice breaking from not having spoken the entire day.

"You know everyone is waiting downstairs. Is everything okay?" Claudia asked.

"I don't think this shit fits." Billie said, obviously trying to find some kind of excuse. "The whole thing feels loose. I-"

"Billie." Claudia pushes herself off of the doorframe and made her way to the young girl, putting her hand on her shoulder. "It fits fine. You look good in it."

"Claudia, I don't think I wanna do this. Not today."

Claudia looked down to her feet before meeting Billie's eyes again through the mirror. "You don't really have a choice, Bil. I-I know things have been shit since....since Finneas," Claudia cleared her throat. "But the pack needs an Alpha now more than ever."

"Then let someone else have the title!" Billie's voice rose a little.

Claudia paused a moment. "You know he wouldn't want that, Billie."

Billie looked down as she felt tears well up in her eyes, moving herself from the mirror and making her way to the bed, sitting down with a heavy sigh. She hid her face in her hands. "I know." She said, her voice muffled.

Claudia eyes Billie with sad eyes, crouching down in front if her. "This isn't really about Finneas or the suit, is it?"

Removing her face from her hands, Billie shook her head. "I miss her." Her voice broke. "I pushed her away and now she probably hates me."

The silence was broken as Claudia spoke once again, making herself comfortable on the floor. "Sierra told us about it."

"About what?"

"Finneas knew he was going to die as soon as Sierra told us about her vision." Claudia took a deep breath, hoping Billie wouldn't be angry with her as she went on. "She came to us first and told us everything, but when it was time to tell you, Finneas only told you half of the story."

Billie furrowed her eyebrows together. "Wait, what? Why-"

"He didn't want you to worry about him. Because he knew you'd lash out just like you did that night." Claudia studied Billie's face. A blank expression took over the younger girl's features. "I'm so sorry, Billie. For not tell you-"

"I understand why you did it, Claudia. It's just... I chased Ava away. I told her not to come back. I told her all these horrible things out of anger, even though I knew she had no control over anything." Billie stood up swiftly, nearly knocking Claudia over. "I need to call her."

"Billie, we really need to be down there. Get this over with and you can think about ways to get her back, but the old man that's doing the ceremony might probably die in thirty minutes."

"Let's go then!"

Billie and Claudia made their way to the back yard where the ceremony will be held. It kinda looked like an outdoor wedding ceremony with the chairs set up in rows and a small stage. The only differences are the decorations; none of them were white.

"Are you ready for this?" Claudia asked as they stood off to the side of the stage.

"As I'll ever be."

"What's going on? What do you see?"

"Shut up! In trying to concentrate!"

"Hurry up, then. Sierra!"

"Jesus Christ, Ava! Shut the fuck up!"

Ava and Sierra were deep in the thick woods with the latter being the only one of them who can actually see what's going on. Claudia has called and invited them, but Ava was still skeptical. After all, the girl she's grown to like lashed out at her and told her to leave and never come back. Ava understood, of course, but it still didn't mean she wasn't a little hurt. She was afraid that Billie still didn't want her here, hence, their chosen area in the woods.

"Billie is walking onstage." Sierra commentated as Ava listened intently. "Some ancient looking man is burning a sage...the ancient looking man is now waving the sage around Billie."

"Stop calling him 'ancient looking man'!"

"This man is old as fuck! I'm surprised he didn't die from the smoke from the sage!"

Ava sighed impatiently, "Just- hurry up, what's happening now?"

"The old man handed Billie a knife and she's cutting her palm over some kind of bowl. This is some cult shit." Sierra's eyes widened. "They're bringing a stone slab up that has a lot of red handprints on it. The old guy is saying something to the crowd as Billie puts both of her hands on the stone. Okay. Now, she let go and everyone is cheering. I think it's over." Sierra finally blinked after a half an hour and she turned to look at her best friend who had tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "Hey, are you okay?"

"She's an alpha now." Ava said.

"Yeah. She is." Sierra said.

Billie smiled for the first time in weeks as she looked into the crowd of people. Her pack. She looked down at her hands as they started to heal and looked back on the stone slab, tracing her fingers on her brother's hand prints.

"I'll take care of them." She whispered. "I promise."