The Heat Ceremony: Bred Before The Pack

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

The dawn crept up quietly on the sky, like every other morning Aria had spent here. Except this dawn seemed different. Strange, oppressive, somehow. She knew that the supposed ceremony was going to happen tonight, and she was also aware that she had to sleep with Alpha Alaric tonight. No, not sleep, she corrected herself. s*x, she was going to have s*x with him tonight. (She was trying to think like an adult now) So that she could get pregnant with his pup.

And this supposed ceremony was going to legitimise the pup as his heir.

As opposed to having a nervous breakdown, at the upcoming night with a man she didn't know...... Aria had calmed herself down. Convinced herself that it was going to be fine! That she was going to get through this like an adult. She had successfully convinced herself that having s*x was not that big of a deal. Plus, it was not like it would be a repetitive situation. The elders had told her that he would be with her only and only for one night. On the Blood Moon, an auspicious occasion, after which the Alpha wouldn't touch her again. That had calmed her down a lot more. How bad can one night, or rather, a few hours be?

And if it really comes to that, she will just close her eyes, and it will all be over before she knows it.

Because there was no other option, no option where she doesn't get beaten into a pulp every day by her bullies, where she isn't starved to death. Sleeping with the Alpha for one night was a price she should be ready to pay.

So, despite the panic rising in her throat, she pulled the bedsheets down and got up from her bed. Her bed, that was as soft as the clouds, or so she imagines. The first real bed she had ever slept in, since in the orphanage there were only mattresses on the floor. Today, there were fresh fruits and pancakes for breakfast. The aroma of fresh coffee was reason enough for her to race down for breakfast.

But today everything seemed different; there were too many people downstairs. The whole packhouse was packed full of, people working like they were racing against time to finish something. Aria finished her breakfast in silence, watching the men work. A strange kind of hushed silence seemed to have fallen over the house today. The maids were talking in hushed tones, under their breath, which would stop the second Aria would enter the room and pass by. And it wasn't just the maids, everyone, even the guards and the gardener, who greeted her every day with a smile, looked at her strangely today.

By afternoon, the packhouse seemed to be like a pressure cooker, strange oppressive silences, looks that she didn't get the meaning of, and whispers behind her back, that made it all so suffocating. So, she went back to her bedroom instead. The large, beautifully furnished room in the eastern wing and locked the door.

As if she wasn't already panicking enough about tonight, these people, stares, and talk behind her back were making her feel like some dirty insect under a microscope. Maybe it would be better if she remained in her room until the ceremony. She decided to sit by the window, overlooking the garden outside, her favourite place in the packhouse.

That's when she noticed it.

They were putting up wooden barricades, way behind the garden, almost at the edge of the lunar forest that starts behind the packhouse. Men were working throughout the morning. Plus, there was now a small makeshift shrine, put up on a circular dias, right in the middle of the garden. The holy priestess, in her long red robe, was sitting there praying. The elders gathered around her, watching as her old silver hair dazzled in the afternoon wind. "What's going on there?" She asked her maid when she came to her with her lunch.

The maid looked weirdly at her, almost something akin to disgust, before she replied. "Preparations for the ceremony, miss." She replied. Dumping the food on the table nearby, in a hurry to leave.

Aria was puzzled. Sure, the shrine and the priestess were there for the ceremony. Like all mating ceremonies, where the mates pledge to love and honor each other for the rest of their lives, though she supposed this would be a little different since it would only be for one night, just so that she could conceive the next heir of their pack. But what were those barricades needed for?

"And the barricades? Are they necessary for the ceremony, too?" Aria was surprised to find that her maid was looking at her like she was crazy. Disgust was clear in her expression now. "Not necessary. But Alpha Alaric deemed it fit for the public." And then she left. Aria remained in her room, brooding over everything. And as the hour increased, so did he inner panic inside of her, the voice screaming with fear of what was about to come.

But she controlled herself. It was just one night. She repeated the words like a mantra. 'One night.' That was all. She can get through this; there was no reason to be nervous. And yet, when the womenfolk from the elders' council arrived, with the setting sun - Aria found herself at the verge of tears. "It is time, my child." Elder Vira said, and Aria had to bite herself from crying out in fear, her heart stomping so loud in her chest that she was sure everyone in the room could hear it.

She had tried her very best to find out what kind of man Alpha Alaric was in these last three days. Mostly everyone had told her he was kind and patient, though, how he was in bed was a completely different story, and that scared her the most. He was a giant physically, the largest of any wolf she had ever seen, who had towered over her by almost a foot and a half. She had barely taken a peek at him from under her lashes, the last time....the only time she had seen him that night. And she couldn't forget the large, muscular arms, his chest wide enough to cover a middle-sized table.

And if he were even half as big down there, Aria couldn't imagine what would happen to her.

The nervous energy inside of her, the pumping of her heart like a crazy animal, as she wondered what was going to happen, She bit the inside of her lips to stop herself from saying something stupid, or rather, to stop herself from weeping. And embarrassing herself right here, in front of all these people. Because the more the ceremony was coming closer, the more afraid she was feeling.

As the orange hue of the setting sun spread across the sky, a few maids escorted her to the bathroom, where she gasped as they pushed her into a copper tub, the water scalding, scented with cloying herbs that made her head spin. Rough sponges scraped over her skin, reddening her thighs, her belly, the soft swell of her breasts. No inch of her was left untouched.

One woman parted her legs without ceremony, scrubbing between them with brisk efficiency. Aria choked back a cry, her face burning. "Stop—please—"

"Quiet," the elder muttered, pouring oil over her inner thighs. The scent of musk and honey filled the air, thick and primal. "You must be ready for him."

Then they hauled her out, dripping, onto the cold stone floor. Aria was already embarrassed and humiliated enough at this point and ready to crawl into a hidey hole somewhere and never show her face to anyone ever again. So many women had just seen her naked and touched her too. God!

She was really, truly desperate now to get into some clothes and be done with this humiliating experience for once and for all. But they didn't bring her a dress for the ceremony as she had expected. No, instead, what they held in front of her was a transparent, wispy shawl. It hid nothing. It was so sheer and transparent it might as well have been air.

Her n*****s stood taut and flushed beneath the fabric, the dark pink peaks fully visible, already stiffening under the gazes of the women preparing her. The silk dipped low over her breasts, cupping them without concealing, the material so thin the pack would be able to see the faintest shadows of her areolas even in darkness. While the hem only barely grazed the tops of her thighs, leaving her legs completely bare. When she shifted, the silk parted, offering glimpses of the soft, auburn curls between her legs, her core on display already glistening with the oils they’d rubbed into her sensitive flesh.

Aria felt like she had let thunder pass through her body. Shocked. Disbelief, as she turned, her fingers trying to hide her n*****s and her core between her legs. Tears started gathering in her eyes, while all these women looked at her. "I-I thought the ceremony woul-d happen first." Her voice was shaking. They had no doubt prepared her for her night with the Alpha. Surely, this was a mistake. "Yes, obviously the ceremony will happen first," one of them replied. "And it's time." Aria couldn't believe it. They held the bedroom door open for her. She looked up wide eyed. They wanted her to leave her room like this? Naked? Worse than naked? In front of all the men outside, all those people? To where?

She wasn't even aware she had said it out loud. Wasn't even aware she had said anything at all. She just couldn't believe this.

"To the altar downstairs of course." Elder Vira was saying. "The whole pack awaits." She told her grimly. "You will be given a tonic to drink first. It will induce your heat, and when that happens. Alpha Alaric would enter and mount you on the altar. Remember, do not cower or hide. It is a pure ceremony, and you are there to help your pack. That is all. Do not be afraid." Aria couldn't breathe. Couldn't even stand anymore; she felt her legs shaking beneath her. 'What were they talking about? Inducing heat? Mounting her in front of the whole pack?'

"The breeding will happen in the open once the blood moon rises and once the rut is complete and our Alpha has reached his satiety, he will knot you as per the rules. And his seed will take hold."