Alaric woke up that morning expecting to experience a tediously normal day. His alarm went off at 6:00 am on the dot, per the usual, he took a shower, ate a quiet breakfast in the kitchen before the rest of the pack had entered the dining hall, then found a good book and a comfortable chair in the parlor where he intended to read until the alpha's meeting let out and the next stage of the celebration was scheduled to start.
"Mom, you can't seriously expect me to believe that everything is fine!" Cadence's voice brought Alaric's attention away from his book as they entered the parlor where he read. "Your eye is twitching again! That only ever happens when you are stressed out and pissed off!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, dearest, a lady's eye never twitches," Marisa stated in a dismissive tone. Even as she spoke, her bottom lid on her right eye spasmed.
"You can't lie to me mom," Cadence rolled her eyes. "I can see it when it happens!"
"I don't know what you are talking about," Marisa maintained. Her eyes found Alaric and her expression brightened and a smile beamed from her face. Something about her sunny disposition coupled with her furious aura was highly disturbing. "Ah! There you are, Alaric Dear. I have a task for you!"
"Alright," Alaric set his book to the side and stood up. "What is it that you need me to do?"
"Please take this to your father, at once," she instructed, handing him a scarlet envelope with a blue wax seal. "It is imperative that he recieve it immediately."
"As you wish mother," Alaric replied with a weak smile. "You are sure that it will not cause any problems if I enter?"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Marisa fished an official looking pin out of her pocket and fastened it to the front of his shirt. "Wear this and you should have no trouble getting into the meeting hall. Now off with you, quickly!"
Alaric was rushed to the door, then all but thrown out. He realized, with some ire, that she hadn't answered his question, which he supposed was an answer in and of itself. Trouble was certainly on the horizon, and apparently he was doomed to be at the center of it. Sighing in resignation, Alaric made his way briskly as he dared to the meeting hall where the alphas were presently gathered while maintaining and official heir.
Guards lined the hallway on either side of the door, warriors from all the various packs locked into glaring matches with each other as their alpha's argued behind closed doors. Alaric expected trouble as he passed them, but not one acknowledged his presence. As he reached the doors, the two guards on either side of them took one look at him and his pin, then opened them without a word, ushering him inside.
"How dare you-"
Alaric caught what seemed to be the tail end of an argument as his aprubt entrance cut the sentace spoken by Alpha Lou short. Sensing the tension in the room and knowing how alphas were, Alaric was careful to keep his eyes low as he offered a polite bow. Eye contact was considered a sign of disrespect from lower ranked wolves in official settings such as these.
"Forgive my interruption, alphas," He said as he bowed his head and submissively extended the colored envelope his mother had sent him to deliver. "Alpha Winters, the luna requested I deliver this."
He risked a glance at his father through his eyelashes and was rewarded with the sight of Abram's furiously horrified expression. Whatever he had just interrupted was clearly very important, and it seemed his prescence was a worst case scenario as far as his father was concerned. At once, Abram was exhibiting a number of nervous ticks, such as noticeable prespiration on his brow line, twitchy fingers, and his eyes kept flashing lighter and darker as he fought the urge to transform. To take wolf form in the heart of a diplomatic meeting such as this, unless requested to do so for official purposes, would be viewed as a declaration of war.
"It couldn't wait?!" Abram hissed. Alaric noticed his eyes flit nervously to the side, so he subtle followed his gaze, only to find Alpha Lou staring at him intently.
He noticed with some embarassment that her olive skin was glistening with sweat, and there was a lot more visible than he had expected to see. A strong smell of cinnimon and other exotic spices wafted from her, burning his nose in the most delightful way possible. He also picked up details that he hadn't noticed the night prior because of how she was dressed. For one thing, the ink decorating her skin was a work of art. The red and orange lillies engulfing skeletal creatures perfectly captured what Alaric considered her to be, a perilous beauty. Piercings lined her ears, and with as badly as her shirt was sticking to her damp skin he was fairly certain even more errotic piercings were lurking just below the fabric. It drove him nuts to think of what he might find once he peeled back the layers...
"Him," Lou's voice brought him out of his trance. "I choose him."
"He's not an option!" Abram roared in a shrill tone. Alaric had no idea what this was about, but he wasn't going to let his father determine his fate yet again. He gave up those rights when he abadoned him as a child.
"I accept," Alaric stated, bringing his head up to look Lou in the eye. His cheeks burned as he recognized his own lust reflected in her gaze.
"HE'S NOT AN OPTION!" Abram shouted even louder, as though his volume would make some kind of difference. "YOU CAN'T PICK HIM!"
"That pin on his chest says otherwise," Lou pointed to Alaric's chest where his mother's signet pin glistened, "And so does the fact he looks eerily similar to your only daughter. Clearly he is one of your sons."
"I FORBID IT!" Abram roared, then rounded on Alaric. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT AT ONCE! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE!"
"As your seventh son and Marisa's only male offspring, I have every right to be here," Alaric said with a defiant glare that left his father sputtering. "I can decide for myself what I do with my life, weather it inconveniences you or not is of little interest to me. As I said, I accept."
"I ORDER YOU TO LEAVE AT ONCE!" Abram tried again.
"Alaric stays," Joe boomed, negating what little authority Abram had felt he had in the moment. "As the young man pointed out, he is also your son, the poor bastard. Further more, he's agreed to be the solution to our problem."
"Wait, what did I just agree to?!" Alaric was at once alarmed.
"You've just taken the gig as my new luna," Lou smirked and offered a suggestive wiggle of her thick raven brows.
"Oh," Alaric was immediately relieved. That wasn't nearly as bad as what he had been imagining just moments before.
In fact, that actually sounded like quite an interesting proposition. Over the course of history, there had been a few female alphas--more often than not strong women who had taken the mantle following the death of their mate--but he had never once heard of an instance where a male became luna. Perhaps it was his respect and love for his mother swaying his oppinion on the matter, but he had always thought the position equally if not more important than that of the Alpha. Frankly, of the two positions, he found the luna's role far more appealing. If the Alpha was the head of the pack, the luna was it's heart. The absence of one or the other often led a pack to ruin.
Then there was the fact that becoming Lou's Luna meant he would become her mate to consider. Alaric had never really considered the possibility of taking a mate. It had been a fun enough notion while reading steamy romance novels or listening the the ladies he worked with gossip about it, but that's all it was. A notion. Still, in his heart of hearts, Alaric felt confident that he could find some sense of happiness with Lou. There was certainly a physical attraction between them, and they shared a common enemy in his father. Besides, it wasn't as though he, the disgraced and outcasted runt of a philanderer alpha, was going to get a better offer.
"My decision remains firm," Alaric stated with a slight smile. "I accept."
"YOU-" Abram opened his mouth to object once again, but the sound of Joe's fist hitting and splitting the surface of the table cut him off.
"Silence Abram! The assembly grows tired of your tantrums!" Joe thundered. "It is settled. Lou will marry Alaric. Drop it."
"That wasn't the deal!" Abram insisted.
"ONE MORE WORD AND I WILL DO US ALL THE SERVICE OF PUTTING YOU OUT OF OUR MISERY BY SWIFTLY RIPPING YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS!" Joe roared.
Abram cowered in his seat. The rest of the Alphas regarded him with equal parts pity and disdain. Only Lou's eyes were off the pathetic display, and that was because she was still preoccupied with using them to underess Alaric.
"It was agreed that Lou was required to take a mate from among the alpha's son's," Alpha Keith reminded Abram with a smug smirk. Clearly the rival male was enjoying watching his nemisis squirm. "There was no stipulation that she had to pick a specific one, or that it even had to be one of your sons. It was her misfortune that you have so many bachelors in you pack alone, and that they had such terrible personalities that not a single one of them was yet spoken for, or that you've sabotaged every effort of your only worthwhile son, but I attribute his fine qualities to your wife."
Abram opened his mouth to argue, but took one look at Joe then closed his mouth once again. Abram certainly had his moments, but he wasn't a complete fool. He would have already lost his position if he had been.
"Can we please get on with this? There is much more to discuss," Alpha Ariel snarled. "This nonsense has gone on far longer than it should have."
"I agree," Lou turned to Joe. "I have made a choice and he accepted. Let's be done with this."
Alaric wasn't sure what to think as Joe retrieved a massive book with a dusty, hard leather cover from a sturdy looking messenger bag beside his seat. It landed on the table with a thud as the old wolf started flipping through the pages. He had never really considered the possibility of a wedding, but the romantic side of him had hoped for more than this, a shot gun ceremony in musty old room full of sweaty men.
He was startled when Lou, who's gaze was fixed ahead on Joe as the old man prepared to read the rites, slipped her hand into his and gave it a tight squeeze. He could tell by the way it was shaking she was at least as nervous about this as he was, wich gave him some comfort. Sneaking a peak at her from the corner of his eye, Alaric distracted himself by trying to imagine the perfect wedding attire on her to imprint the memory in his mind. He couldn't completely decide if he thought a suit or a dress would look better on her.
"Fellow children of our two illustrious moon gods, together we stand as witnessess to this union between two wolves."Joe recited. "As the our dark god of the moon, Deimos, is the embodiment of fear and darkness so is his eternal mate, the great goddess Galuna, the embodiment of light and hope. As these gods compliment each other's strengths and weaknessess, in their eternal devotion and fedility, so should we, their devote followers, strive to do the same."
Alaric risked a glance at his father who looked as though he was ready to exploed. He could see it written all over his father's face; once again each and every one of his grand plans had been thwarted by his useless youngest son. It gave Alaric great satisfaction to know he remained an eternal thorn in his father's side.
"Just as there are two sides of a coin, and two sides of a moon, there are two sides of a marriage," Joe continued. "Lou, as Alpha you have the added burden of balancing the needs of the entirety of your pack with the needs of your spouse. Knowing this, do yo agree to take Alaric as your mate, in sickness and in health, at peace or at war, through the eternities of our gods' great plan?"
Alaric had heard the vows throughout numerous wedding he'd attended over the years, but only today did the gravity of that vow hit him. Eternity was a long time to be bond to a person, and he was acting on something of a whim. Could he actually do this?
"I, Lewis Emil Gatlin Alpha of the Sanguine Syndicate being of sound mind and body accept Alaric," She paused only briefly to verify she had the right name, then continued, "Winters as my chosen mate and Luna to stand by my side for all eternity, according to the laws set by our beloved gods, Galuna and Deimos." Lou spoke without hesitation or remorse. Her confidence in her declration eased Alarics own fears.
"Alaric, As Luna you will have to harbor the burden of sharing the time and interests of your mate with the rest of the pack. Knowing this, do you agree to take Lou as your mate, in sickness and in health, at peace or at war, through the eternities of our gods' great plan?" Joe turned to Alaric who raised his gaze to meet the man in the eye. If Lou could be so certain, then so could he.
"I Alaric Faustinus Winters, being of sound mind and body accept Lou Gatlin as my chosen mate and Alpha, and will remain at her side for all eternity, according to the laws set by our beloved gods, Galuna and Deimos," He stated. "I hearby denounce my father's name of "Winters" and take upon myself the name "Gatlin" now and forever more."
His last announcement shocked the assembly, as Alaric had intended. Modernly, it was uncomon for werewolves to denounce their 'maiden name' in favor of a spouse's surname. Even the females tended to retain their family names and simply added their spouse's name to the end. For a male to take his wife's family name as his own was unheard of.
"Very well," Joe was the first to recover, and scribbled something on the official documents he was preparing before returning his attention to them. "Having heard your vows, I, Josiah Armstrong, Alpha of Ironfang and head of the council of thirteen, hearby seal you, Alpha Lewis Emil Gatlin to your chosen mate and future Luna Alaric Faustinus Win- er... Gatlin. Now, if you feel like it, you can cap this lovely shit show off with a kiss."
Joe's deviation from his more formal tone to his typical grumpy old man banter set a wave of chuckles through the room. Alaric wasn't sure what to make of it though. Was kissing really the appropriate thing to do in that moment? He glanced at Lou.
"What do you say?" She winked. "Should we give them a show?" One look at his father's expression was all the incentive Alaric needed.
"Yes, absolutely," He agreed with a nod.
So saying, he leaned forward onto his toes in an effort to move closer for her to kiss him. Alaric had been expecting a simple peck on the lips, so he was completely taken off guard when Lou seized him around the waist, then pulled him in close while simultaneously sweeping him off his feet. Before he could catch his breath, she had dipped him low and her lips crashed against his. His senses were on fire as her tongue and taste filled his mouth, and he could barely keep up as her expert work left him weak and breathless. He also discovered that she had a tongue piercing, and boy did she know how to use it to her advantage. By the time she saw fit to release him, Alaric felt like a puddle of goo.
"Now that that's settled, I will need you crazy love birds to read through these documents and sign or comment where appropriate," Joe stated, waving them off. "As soon as the paperwork is complete, Lou, you will recieve your pack's signet as well as the deeds to the land that rightfully belongs to you and your pack. Congratulations."
Alaric was hardly listening. His attention was focused on the official document with his new legal name. Such a small change, and yet to him it made a world of difference.