This was it, it's time. The doors opened and we walked through. My eyes immediately found Cameron, only to see he was already watching me. He had a huge smile on his face and his eyes were swimming dark. Osiris was watching, too, and I could feel Elea pushing forward a little.

You are absolutely stunning, my mate. As beautiful as you look in that dress, I will enjoy taking it off of you later. I heard him say in my head.

The feeling is mutual. You look incredible, but those clothes will look much better on the floor. I answered. As we reached the stage, my dad kissed my cheek and released my hand.

I walked up the stairs and stood next to Cameron, off to the side of his dad who began to speak.

"You are all gathered here to witness my son receive the Alpha title and Talia receive the Luna title. We will perform the Alpha ceremony first, transferring my title and power to Cameron, then Penelope will do the same for Talia. Let's begin." We walked to the middle of the stage and stood in front of the table placed there. It contained a narrow dagger, two bowls, and an ancient book opened to an empty page.

Daniel and Cameron stood face to face. Daniel picked up the dagger.

"Cameron Michaels, do you swear to lead this pack, protects its' members, lay down your life for them if necessary, and uphold the laws of our world?"

"Yes, Alpha, I do."

Cameron held out his right hand to his father and he drew the blade across his palm. He did the same to his own hand and put down the blade. They placed their hands together, and held them over the first bowl. Their blood released a gold smoke, signaling the Moon Goddess approval. Then, they held their hands over the open book and a few drops of blood fell onto a blank page.

"I, Alpha Daniel Michaels of the Silver Night pack, transfer my title and my power to you, Cameron."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Cameron closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he felt the power flood his body. I could feel it through our bond, along with his happiness, he felt complete, content.

They let go and stepped back, each grabbing a cloth to clean their hands. Penelope and I took their place.

"Talia Lawrence, do you swear to lead this pack, protects its' members, lay down your life for them if necessary, and uphold the laws of our world?"

"Yes, Luna, I do.

We repeated the process of slicing our hands and holding our hands over the second bowl, watching as the gold smoke rose again. We added our blood to the book, and Penelope stepped back, wiping her hand. I turned to Cameron.

"Alpha, I'd like for us to perform the ancient blood binding ritual." I said. Cameron started at me in shock and I heard murmuring through the pack. This was something I spoke to Evelyn about yesterday. I had read a little about it while searching the library for ways to protect ourselves against the witches.

The use of blood magick for binding isn't widely used within the werewolf community due to the fact that we are already bound to our mates with the mate bond, but doing the ritual isn't frowned upon either. It's not dark or black magic, and when done with positive intentions, it's seen as a good thing. Evelyn helped me gather the ingredients.

Do you trust me, my mate? I asked Cam through our link.

Of course I do, Talia, but I don't know anything about this...

The cliff notes version is that it's going to help protect us and our bond from the witches. We bind ourselves to each other with our blood and a ritual, similar to the one we just did, and boom. Evelyn saw no reason not to do it. Trust me.

Cameron walked over and stood in front of me. "What do we have to do?" He asked. I pulled a small burlap bag containing a few crystals and the ritual plate out of my pocket. I placed the plate on the table and arranged the crystals onto it. They each sat in an indent around the outside. The indent in the middle remained empty.

"We bind our hands with this rope," I reached into my other pocket and pulled it out. "We say vows, place a small cut on our hands and hold it over the plate. Our blood will flow towards the crystals, and then we're done."

He nodded and I held out my left hand. He took it and I wrapped the rope around our hands. "Repeat after me: As our hands are bound together, so too, are our lives."

"As our hands are bound together, so too, are our lives."

"Your blood is my blood, I give myself to you, the two of us will live as one." I continued and he repeated.

"I promise to protect you and love you without restraint, in this life and the next." I finished the final part, he repeated it also. We held our hands over the plate. I picked up the dagger and slid it in between our hands, slicing the skin. Our blood dripped onto the middle, and traveled towards the crystals. We watched as the crystals began to glow and I could see Cameron's eyes grow wide.

As the glowing stopped, we turned to look at each other, and I smiled. I replaced the dagger on the table and untied our hands. I glanced up at the shocked face of Daniel and Penelope, an expression I'm sure is mirrored on my parents and Carly, and nodded my head.

He walked up to us, "I present to you, the new Alpha and Luna of the Silver Night pack!" Cameron and I turned to each other, leaning in and placing our lips together in a kiss filled with emotion as the pack clapped and celebrated us. Cameron turned back towards the crowd.

"Thank you, everyone! We are grateful for your love and support. We have food, drinks, and music outside. Go out and enjoy the rest of your night!