Fates Entwined

4

I returned Ethan's easy smile and gave him a little wave, but all that did was make Jordan's body tense. As he looked back and forth between me and Ethan, his scowl was like a storm cloud against the starlit sky. Any second now I worried he might actually strike one of us down with a bolt of lightning.

The Sagittarius alpha female suddenly clapped her hands together, drawing my attention. "Now it's time for the moment you have all been waiting for. The mating ritual."

Shit. I should have stayed in my tent.

The Sagittarius alpha female took her mate's hand and smiled at the crowd. "We have a new way of doing the mating ritual this year, now that the Sun Witches no longer control our bonds. Let us give thanks to the Ophiuchus pack, who have never been under the Sun Witches' spells, for guiding us to create a new ritual, one that is true to our nature."

The air was thick with anticipation, and I couldn't help but feel the weight of the gazes landing upon my pack members. We were the newcomers, the outsiders, and the heroes who had freed them, but unlike them, we'd always been able to find our true mates. We'd never needed a mating ritual before, but with so many shifters here it made sense they would want one. From what I'd seen of the Zodiac Wolves, they loved tradition and ceremony.

"Those who are unmated, please remove your clothes, step forward, and shift," the Sagittarius alpha female called out.

All around the gathering, shifters began tossing off their clothes eagerly, including Harper and Dane at my side. A couple of other Ophiuchus joined them, and I knew they were excited to finally be able to find mates outside of our pack. That was one of the reasons we’d fought so hard to join the Zodiac Wolves, after all. Our mating pool had become too small and we worried it would become incestuous if we didn’t start reaching beyond our borders. We’d always taken in rogue shifters and even mated with humans and witches before, but what we really needed was to be able to find mates from other packs. That was why my parents had gone to the Leo alpha for help, though we all know how that went. Years later, Kaden had done the impossible and forced the Zodiac Wolves to accept us as one of their own. Only time would tell how that would go, but tonight was a big step. Even if it meant we would lose some of our Ophiuchus shifters to other packs, we would hopefully gain some fresh blood too.

Harper nudged me in the side with her elbow. "Why aren't you getting naked?"

"I'm not looking for anything serious right now." Across the crowd, I spotted Ethan and Jordan removing their clothes too—except as soon as Jordan saw that I wasn't moving to join them, he stopped.

"I hear you," Harper said, as she tore off her bra with zero shame or hesitation and then let down her hair. "I was tempted to skip out too, but curiosity got the better of me. What if my mate is out there in that crowd, waiting for me? I have to know."

I gave her an uneasy smile. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Me too. Especially because this place is going to turn into one big orgy in about ten minutes, and I'll be pissed if I'm the only one not getting any." She tilted her head with a grin. "You sure you don't want to join in?"

No. Yes. No. "I'm sure."

She shrugged and shifted into a beautiful brown wolf, while her brother did the same beside her. Together they loped off toward the center of the gathering, along with a few other wolves from our pack. Their fur soon blended in among the shifters from other packs as more and more joined them in the center. This was the reason so many shifters had come to the Convergence, and I knew what happened tonight would shape the destiny of all the packs for years to come. This was the first time these wolves would be able to find their true mates and the excitement in the air was palpable.

Once everyone who wanted to join the ritual was crowded together, the Sagittarius alphas raised their hands to the stars and chanted something that I couldn't quite make out, though I knew it was a prayer asking for true mates to be revealed. The unmated wolves began moving amongst themselves, weaving and circling each other, led by invisible urges and instincts that tugged at their hearts and souls. The first pair matched up quickly, and my heart beat faster as their wolves leaped on one another, then began rolling around in the dirt and nuzzling each other's necks. They darted into the forest just as other wolves joined together, their mating bonds snapping into place as soon as their eyes met. I spotted one of the teachers I worked with get paired up with a dark gray wolf from the Aquarius pack before they raced back toward the tents, presumably to seal the mating bond completely. Longing filled my chest until I felt like it would burst, but I would bet money that none of those wolves were mated to their enemy.

And through it all, I sensed Jordan nearby, his presence a constant hum beneath my skin. I refused to look at him, and when it became too much I turned away, needing to escape from the sea of fur and lust before me. Unfortunately, I nearly ran straight into Ayla and Kaden, whose bodies were entwined under the starlight as they shared a passionate kiss.

"Stella?" Kaden asked as they broke apart. "Is everything okay?"

"You're not shifting tonight?" Ayla added, her voice concerned.

I sighed, wishing I'd escaped sooner. Or better yet, stayed in my tent all night. "No, not this time."

“Why not?" Kaden asked.

I rubbed my arms and tried to keep the emotion out of my voice. "I'm not interested in finding a mate right now. I have enough on my plate as it is."

Kaden raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"