Fated Mate

The Ceremony

When I wake up in the morning I find the bed empty I frown and stretch out. It takes me a few seconds to remember where I am. I blink a few times as the sunlight filters in through the window. I sit up in bed and continue stretching. The door opens and I smile seeing one of my mates smiling and carrying a tray with two mugs on it and a bunch of other stuff on it.

“Good morning Love” He says smiling when he meets my eyes. “I brought you coffee and everything we have to put in coffee because I have no idea how you drink it.” He places everything down on his nightstand and I scoot closer to it. Although I can feel that he is happy to see me but, I sense an underlying bit of tension it’s like buried in his brows.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I am just nervous, I am worried about Maeve tonight and today” He says. “The path she chooses will set the tone for the rest of the week and quite honestly the rest of our life.” He shakes his head “Not to mention tonight when the Moon shines on her she will know if Liam is her mate”

“I am sure that everything will be alright” I say trying to comfort him. I rub his bare back and he lets out a sigh. “If they are meant to be then they will be and if not then Maeve will find a new mate.”

“But, that’s just it I don’t want them together no matter what. I trust in the Moon Goddess but, not in my temper” A small smile creeps up.

“I will be there by your side.”

“That makes me feel a little bit better” He eases up slightly. He stands up and goes to his bathroom to get dressed for the day. I start to adding cream and sugar to the coffee he has brought me. He emerges in a green henley and some tan cargo pants and some hiking boots he has yet to tie up.

“The bathroom is all yours I’ll let you get ready” he says as he comes over and kisses me on the forehead before leaving the room and shutting the door. I drink some more of the coffee and realize I only packed overalls. I roll my eyes at this thought and get up to get dressed and I choose a green shirt to match Lee, hoping that it is not too cutesy for him. My shirt is green but is patterned with sunflowers and I think it is perfect for the ceremony today. I tie my boots up and make my way downstairs where I smell breakfast. As I reach the bottom of the stairs, before I could step into the kitchen, Sean comes around the corner and pulls me off to the side. He looks down at his feet.

“Hey Celeste, I wanted to apologize” He says and quickly meets my eyes before looking back down. “I should not have acted that way it was very un-Beta like.”

“Well, I am very un-Luna like so, it works out.” He looks up and smiles grateful for the peace between us. Lee comes around the corner next and sees us.

“Good now that you are all straight, let’s get this day over with.” As we walk into the kitchen I see Maeve at the table with a crown on her head and a stack of scratch off tickets to her side.

“Good morning Celeste!” She says when she looks up and sees me. “Did Lee explain the tradition to you?”

“I sure did” He says as he pulls out a chair for me to sit down in. He scoots me closer to the table and leaves me there to go fix our plates.

“Yay look how many seeds they gave me” She gestures to Liam who is sitting next to her and he heaves a sack of seeds on to the table with a thud.

“Wow that it is a lot of seeds!” I exclaim trying to share in her excitement.

“I know right!” She says back exuberantly.

“Remember Maeve, we give you guys so much as a precaution, not to use up completely.” Josie chides in from the kitchen where she is finishing up the bacon.

“Josie I can literally do whatever I want and you know this.” Maeve answers in a matter of fact tone. Liam nods at this but says nothing. Lee returns with our food and sets my plate down in front of me before he takes the seat next to me. I see he remembered what I ate yesterday. He settles in to eat but eyes Liam, who has put his arm around Maeve at this point. I place a hand on his shoulder to let him know that I notice this behavior and that I am here. He eases up slightly as I make contact and pays attention to his food while Maeve talks.

“Okay so first I am going to do my walk, then I am going to shift and I want you guys to shift with me. Oh! and then I want to swim with my wolf.”

“Wet dog smell is so bad Maeve” Josie moans from the kitchen.

“Well it’s my day oh and I already talked to my wolf guess what her name is!”

“Martha” Liam says before taking a sip of what I assume to be his signature drink a glass of milk with ice.

“No babe I already told you it’s Merida” I snort a laugh.

“How fitting” I say.

“Well, I know Jillian is excited to meet her” Josie says as she starts to wash the pans from breakfast.

“Linus too” Liam says smiling.

“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Lee asks and placing his fork down.

“Nope the gang’s all here!” Maeve says.

“If that’s the case Maeve, are you ready?” She takes a deep breath before responding.

“As I’ll ever be” We all stand up from the table and I bring my table into the kitchen to clean it before Josie shoos me away.

“I’ll get to it tonight” She says ushering me out the door. We make our way out to the backyard where Maeve stands holding the giant bag with both arms. The excitement she has is contagious. Josie’s path starts from the front door so I find it cute that we are starting from the back door for Maeve. Lee comes up next to me and we watch as starting at right at the back door Maeve begins leaving her seeds with the rest of us following behind her. She immediately takes us around front and starts to put the seeds next to Josie’s trail. Josie and Lee look at each other as she does this and they share a shrug. We follow her all along the same path I had walked with Lee just the other day. Even though I was on it so recently it still feels just as magical as the first time. Finally as we reach the meadow she takes a big handful and throws it into the air.

“Alright don’t waste it Maeve” Josie says moving to take the bag from her little sister.

“I am an adult now Josie you can’t boss me around” She says and sticks her tongue out.

“And so it begins” Sean says quietly behind us.

“Lee was just like that” Josie says.

“No I wasn’t” He responds.

“Yes you were” Sean and Josie say in unison. He rolls his eyes.

“No one asked you guys.”

“Guys! you are legally not allowed to fight on my birthday” Maeve says pouting. Liam is absent from this discussion as he is lying in the flowers right now sneezing. “Liam get up you’re allergic.” I hear Sean sigh from behind me.

“It was sweet how you went alongside your sister’s path” I say.

“Yeah I wanted to symbolize like following in her foot steps”

“Yeah that’s smart especially after what you told me last night” Liam says and it receives an elbow to the ribs from Maeve.

“What did she tell you last night?” Sean asks stepping forward to stand next to Lee.

“It’s nothing” She says way too quickly to be believable. She then starts to try to step out of the way to begin shifting. Josie runs over and tackles her before she can get too far. Josie pins her to the ground and starts interrogating her.

“Maeve you talk so much all the time ain’t no way you are shutting up now.” Josie says while Maeve is fighting to break free from her grasp.

“Josie get off me before I totally shift and kill you” Maeve screams. Lee lets go of my hand to get in between them to help break it up.

“Knock it off” He commands either in his Alpha voice or his big brother voice one only knows. He turns to Maeve who is brushing dirt off her jeans. “What is Milk Boy talking about” Maeve swallows before standing up to face her siblings.

“I want to take over as Luna so Josie can go find her mate.”