Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(16)
I blinked back tears and punched him in the arm. “I love you too. But you can’t be getting all sappy on me right now. Do you want me to cry in front of everyone?” My emotions were still running high, and it took me a few breaths to avoid falling apart in front of everyone.
Wesley looked ready to respond, but before he could, Evanora’s voice rang out again. “All unmated shifters, please come to the circle for the mating ritual.” I stepped away from the rest of the Cancer pack, and Mira and Wesley followed me, along with all the other shifters who hadn’t found their mates yet. Most were young like us, but there were a few that were much older.
We’d doubled in ranks with the unmated shifters in the circle now too. A blond head caught my eye and I balked. Jordan, the Leo alpha’s son, was among the unmated. It was unlikely that fate would gift me a powerful mate like that, especially since he was from a rival pack, but I sent another prayer up to the moon goddess anyway. Not him, anyone but him.
My mind turned back to the alpha from the lost pack and the way my body had responded to him. No. That was even more impossible than Jordan.
Wesley parted ways with us to join the other males, after giving me one more squeeze to the shoulder and a tight smile. We stood, males and females facing each other, and Mira gripped my hand tight, before letting it go and stepping away. I wondered if her heart was racing as fast as mine.
I glanced over at her, and she smiled at me as well. It looked almost as strained as Wesley’s had been. Fingers crossed, she mouthed, looking so innocent at that moment that my heart went out to her.
Fingers crossed, indeed. I straightened my back and prepared to meet my mate.
Chapter Seven
Evanora called out the name of a female shifter to come forward, and I watched with bated breath as the Sun Witches cast the mating spell. The other witches stood around the female shifter, chanting words I didn't recognize. Something like gold dust seemed to float from the sky down onto the shifter, and then the Sun Witches stepped back and quieted. At first, nothing happened, but then the female shifter locked eyes with a male from a different pack. I watched as both stepped toward each other, their movements jerky as if they weren’t fully in control of their bodies. They met halfway, staring intently at the other, their expressions hungry. No one dared to try to distract them, and I doubted they’d be able to anyway. They only had eyes for each other.
Two alphas stepped into the circle to join the pair of shifters. The Capricorn alpha put his hand on the female shifter’s shoulder with a nod, while the Aquarius alpha joined the male. The two alphas exchanged a few words, too quiet for anyone outside of the small group of people to hear, and then both alphas stepped back to allow Evanora to tie a ribbon around the two mated shifters’ hands. The Sun Witches raised their arms and began chanting again. Bright light surrounded the couple and something in the air changed, like energy flowing around us that we couldn't see. I gasped as the Capricorn pack mark on the female shifter’s arm shimmered, melted, and reformed into the Aquarius symbol. I’d never seen one change like that, but it made sense. Since her mate was an Aquarius, she would be an Aquarius now too and would gain all of their pack powers and lose her own. Only Virgo women stayed with their packs forever—their male mates joined them instead.
When I was a kid I once asked my Dad why the gods had so many of us change packs this way. He said it fostered peace between the different packs since shifters would have family ties in both their new and old packs, and it also prevented inbreeding. Then he told me not to question the gods and smacked me upside the head. That was around the time I learned to stop asking questions.
The newly mated shifters walked out of the circle to join the Aquarius pack, who parted ways to let them through while patting the male shifter on the back or greeting their new female member. Evanora watched them for a few moments, the barest hint of a smile on her face, before calling forward the next female shifter.
I had a feeling I’d be last, a knowing in my gut that didn’t really make any logical sense, but one I felt all the same. Something unpleasant settled over me as I watched Evanora perform the ritual again. It would be just my luck to never get a mate, and thus never escape my current life or gain the powers of another pack.
The shifters paired off as Evanora drew them forward and cast the spell over them. Some even found mates within their own packs, while others didn’t find a mate at all and would have to try again at the next solstice. I didn’t feel quite so alone knowing that even if I didn’t get my mate tonight, I wouldn’t be the only one. I just hoped I wouldn’t have to spend every Convergence standing in the circle, holding my breath and waiting for a mate to be chosen, only to be disappointed time and time again. That would be humiliating, and I’d feel like even more of an outcast.
My mind drifted back to the Ophiuchus pack as I waited. Everyone had seemingly put the encounter out of mind, not threatened in the least by the mysterious alpha or the other shifters, but I still wasn’t convinced. I'd looked the lost pack's alpha in the eyes and seen more determination and strength there than in most of the other alphas here combined. If a single person would listen to me, I’d tell them they weren’t taking that threat seriously enough. No one would, though. Even Wesley would just ruffle my hair and tell me I was being paranoid.
I pushed that thought away with a sigh, and my mind drifted back to the mating ceremony, wondering how the Ophiuchus got mates. Did their alpha have a mate already? Or did they not have mates at all, since they'd been cast out of the Zodiac Wolves?