Toni's PoV:
The ceremony itself was meant to be a small affair, with no witnesses but myself, William, my father, and an elder. The lead up, however, was a celebration for the whole pack. My father was using it as a way to inspire loyalty and to raise moral, which, for a reason I hadn't been told, was apparently low.
My mother left me when we reached the doors of the hall, where my father was waiting. He wore a clean black suit and a blue tie to match the ribbon in my hair. He nodded curtly at me before offering his arm. I took it, and the doors were opened.
The hall was large and a little foreboding, with wooden beams arching over the ceiling and long latticed windows running down the side. It was easily big enough to house the hundreds of wolves all stood, watching, a hush falling over them as we entered. A path was created, in the middle of the crowd, which led to a door on the other side of the room. We walked along it, slowly, stiffly, my footsteps in time with my father's.
I looked straight ahead, shaking very slightly. Being the daughter of an Alpha meant that I was often in the spotlight, too, but rarely was it so blatant. The last time the pack had been focused on me specifically, and not just my family as a whole, was when I had shifted for the first time at age thirteen. I wasn't exactly used to the spotlight that I was forced to be in.
I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room. I kept my eyes in front of me, but I couldn't help a quick glance to the side to see Celina, her face blank as she stared at me. I let my mouth quirk up slightly, not enough to be a smile, but hopefully enough to reassure her, but she didn't respond. Her eyes seemed to be saying something, but I couldn't tell what.
On the other side of the room was a wooden door with our pack crest painted above the handle. It led to a small garden where ceremonies usually took place, and it was where I would sever my link to my pack. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I could see William stood by the door, dressed in the same suit as before, his face turned towards me and his hands crossed together neatly. His cold blue eyes seemed to shine when he saw me.
We reached the end of the room, and turned around, my father ready to give whatever speech he need to. He paused before, though, and picked my hand, which was resting on his arm, and symbolically placed it in William's. William squeezed his fingers around mine, perhaps to be comforting, but his expression was as steely as ever. My father stepped in front of me.
"My friends, my pack mates, I have asked you here today for an announcement. As I'm sure you can see, my daughter's betrothal is moving forward -- tonight, she will sever her links to our pack and join the Fortier pack, making way for the marriage that will unify our packs in a lasting treaty of trust and brotherhood."
I stood very still, my hand becoming clammy in William's. He was more than a head taller than me, and a few years older, but somehow the distance between us seemed to grow. I felt small and unimportant beside these two powerful men, like I was merely a player in their endless game of politics. Around me, the pack cheered for what they knew was a good move.
I was no coward, though. I knew that the marriage was my duty, and I knew that I had more power over the situation than either of them thought. I would not be quiet or submissive to William, I would rule his pack as a Luna, as his equal. I promised myself in that moment, that no matter how bad it got, I would not bend to anyone's will but my own. I would be a good leader.
My father leaned back to pat William on the shoulder. "I am pleased to give my daughter to William Bellerose, heir to the Fortier pack," he turned to look at Will directly. "I am sure you will make an excellent Alpha, and my daughter will be safe in your hands."
William nodded, smiling. He seemed to like all the pomp and ceremony -- I guessed he was used to it. With a tilt of his head, my father signaled the end of the public part of the ceremony and pushed open the door for Will and I. Will walked in first, followed by me and then my father. As the door shut behind the last person to come through, Elder Jones, I heard the applause of the pack through the wall. The click of the door was final and absolute.
In front of me was an area of grass bordered by shrubbery, with trees arching above us, like the top of a cathedral. A small dirt path, worn down by hundreds of years of feet, led to a pool of water fed into by a stream. The stream came down from on top of the rocks surrounding the pool and then left the other side, creating a slow current in the water. Elder Jones climbed up onto one of the boulders and beckoned us forwards.
William and I stepped forwards, but instead of walking with me William stood to the side of the pool, watching as my father instead joined me, taking me down into the pool. As he was my Alpha, I had to cut my ties with my pack via him before I could be accepted into Will's pack.
We stood by the edge of the pool, facing Elder Jones. He smiled warmly at me and began to speak in French, the ceremonial language of my father's bloodline.
"The Goddess of the moon is listening. Enter the water. Speak," Elder Jones said, beginning the ceremony with the exact same words that he began nearly every ceremony.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the water. My father stepped in with me, symbolically holding my hand. The water was cool, the chill of the evening only just beginning to seep in, and the last of the light caught on its waves, glinting prettily. When we were waist deep, standing at the centre of the pool, we stopped.
"I am Antoinette Beaumont, of the Veriten pack, daughter of an Alpha," I said slowly, I had to keep my voice steady. I had known my lines since I was old enough to know anything, and I spoke in near flawless French.
My father grasped my arms from the elbows and I did the same, creating two parallel links between us. "I am Antoine Beaumont, the Alpha of the Veriten pack," he said.
We were facing each other, his eyes locked on mine in concentration. I pictured the pack bond between us, the bond that existed between every Alpha and the wolves beneath him, and under the fading sunlight I could fell how strong it was. The pool and the ceremony were working to magnify the emotions and bonds between us, making them palpable, and I was suddenly afraid to break that bond.
Breaking the bond would make me a rogue, even if only for a short time, and I would have no real connection to the rest of my pack -- I wouldn't belong with them anymore. Not to mention, it was going to hurt. I shifted my eyes away from my father's, doubt starting to creep into my mind.
Elder Jones coughed. "This is a ceremony of ending, of breaking one wolf from the many. We are stronger together -- do you understand this?"
I looked back at my father. The ceremony only worked if I was concentrating. "Yes."
"Then swear it before the Moon Goddess."
I shivered in the pool. The light was quickly fading, covering us all in blanket of gold light. My dress swirled around me in the water, the fabric spreading out like flower petals around my legs. The waves lapped gently against my skin. It would have been a beautiful scene, under different circumstances.
"I swear before the Moon Goddess that I understand. I wish to relinquish all pack ties, to be alone. I will be as solitary as the lone wolf, separated from any pack. I will belong to no people."
I felt a sudden shift within me, as though something was wriggling up and down my bones, slithering through my veins. It was uncomfortable, but I knew it was about to get worse. My father tightened his grip and began his part of the vow.
"You are not a part of my pack, I do not recognise you as one of the Veriten wolves. I swear this before the Moon Goddess -- there is no bond between us."
Elder Jones nodded gravely. "By the Moon Goddess's will, let it be said and let it be so."
The was a stabbing feeling in my gut, a horrible, wrenching, debilitating pain. Whatever was wriggling up and down my bones was no more a part of me, it was being pulled like a rotten tooth out from my very soul. My head spun and my vision clouded over as panic set in. I couldn't see, I could barely breathe. I was weak, I felt like a rag doll being dropped, my knees buckling beneath me, my head lolling back. The pain of something vital being ripped from me got worse, the sudden loss was like a a knife, as though someone had carved out a chunk of my flesh with a dagger.
I fell, my legs finally succumbing to the pain. Distantly, I could hear the splashing of my father as he left the pool and someone else rushing towards me, his arms catching me just before my head reached the water. William. The next part would have to be quick, I was too weak to think properly and my inner wolf needed to reaffirm the pack bond as soon as possible in order for the pain to go away.
Will pulled at my hair, loosening the blue ribbon and tying it around his hand. With one arm clutching me as I tried to adjust myself to the pain and the other wrapping the other end of the ribbon around my hand, joining his and mine together, he began to speak quickly.
I could barely hear him over the drumming in my own head, but I knew the ceremony like the back of my hand. When Elder Jones called on me to respond, I mumbled out the words I had been practicing for as long as I could talk.
"I swear, by the Moon Goddess, to serve and be loyal only to the Fortier pack, to their Alpha and the next, as a member of the pack."
I leaned forwards into William's arms, my entire vision going black, the ribbon joining us still held tight between our hands.