Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 166: The wedding_Part 2

While the guests sat restlessly in the hall where the first ceremony would take place, and the many Alpha guests mingled among themselves and with the elders, the supreme Alpha walked into the hall, and everyone went silent in respect.

He was dressed in a gold traditional wedding attire with a long red cape trailing behind him, its collar thick and furry, and a silver crown adorned with deep red rubies from generations past resting on his head.

His expression, however, looked nothing like that of a groom marrying for joy, it was as cold and dark as ever, so severe that every person in the hall rose immediately to their feet and bowed, for he looked less like a man walking to his wedding and more like a man walking into war, sending shivers crawling down many spines.

Laila watched Sebastian with eyes glimmering with quiet possessiveness, still firmly convinced in her heart that this handsome, cold and unapproachable man was hers.

Even if he was marrying someone else today, he would always be hers, and that wolfless woman was nothing but a sacrifice, a placeholder to lift his curse from this generation. She smiled as she watched him walk past her, and her eyes shone with lust. Her man.

The entire hall fell silent save for the sharp clicking of his shoes against the polished floor and the soft, sweeping drag of his cape as he made his way up to the raised platform, decorated in the style of weddings from generations past, with flowers cascading from the walls and pillars, where Elder Ysara, the pack’s spiritual elder who presided over unions with the blessing and guidance of the moon goddess, stood waiting.

Unlike the many ways in which their pack had advanced over the years, they still did not adopt modern wedding traditions and instead held firmly to the old customs of the very first generation of werewolves who had left Mexico to build their pack and their world here.

As Sebastian arrived on the platform, Elder Ysara greeted him with a respectful bow of her head. "Supreme Alpha."

Sebastian acknowledged her with a single nod and then took his position, waiting for his bride, who had not answered his call that morning, nor returned it. It had put him in a foul mood, though he had eventually told himself she was likely busy dressing up and preparing. But standing here now, he found he couldn’t wait to see her in the dress his sister had refused to let him glimpse even once before today. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Zoe had been absolutely firm on the matter, the groom was not supposed to see his bride’s dress until the wedding day itself. He had even gone as far as attempting to bribe her, but it hadn’t worked in the slightest, and now he was standing here quietly dying of curiosity.

It didn’t take long. The bride walked into the hall with Zoe behind her, as there was no male family member to walk her down, and the moment she appeared, every head in the room turned in her direction, and Sebastian’s breath caught somewhere deep in his lungs as his eyes landed on her.

Murmuring immediately broke out across the hall and women began talking about the wedding dress, for it looked like something that didn’t belong in this world! In fact they had never seen a wedding dress look this grand and so detailed!

It seemed the Alpha’s sister had outdone herself again. How lucky of the future supreme Luna, because not even the past brides had gotten the chance to wear any of Zoe’s designs!

Sebastian had stood at the end of many things in his life, battles, funerals, negotiations that could bring entire packs to their knees, even marriages, and not once had he felt the ground shift beneath his feet. But the moment she appeared, something inside him went completely and utterly still.

He had witnessed many things in his lifetime that commanded the full weight of a room’s attention, but nothing had prepared him for the sight of her walking toward him.

She was... lovely. The dress was a masterpiece of ice blue and gold, a voluminous ball gown that seemed to have been fashioned from living crystals, its enormous skirts pooling and billowing around her like a frozen tide rolling slowly across the floor with every step she took.

The dress was tight at the waist, emphasizing her slender midriff. Sapphires ran in a breathtaking trail down the center of the bodice, framed on either side by cascading gold chains and intricate embroidery that caught the light and threw it back brilliantly with her every measured step. At her feet, sapphire blue heels peeked from beneath the sweeping hem, glimpsed briefly with each slow, graceful step she took toward him.

She looked like something carved directly out of a perfect painting and breathed into life, and Sebastian found that for the first time in his existence, he was completely unable to look away.

She wore no veil, veils held no place in their wedding traditions these days, and her hair was pinned elegantly up, with a few loose curly strands framing the sides of her face. Her impossibly gorgeous face. Did she even know just how beautiful she looked?

Around her slender, gracefully long neck rested the blue jewel pendant he had purchased and quietly handed to Zoe to ensure she wore today, and seeing it there against her skin filled him with a deep, quiet satisfaction.

She was not wearing her glasses, but lenses and her eyes were fixed directly on him, only there was no smile on her face. She didn’t look happy...

When she reached the bottom step of the platform, Sebastian naturally extended his hand out to her.

Viola’s eyes dropped to his large hand held out before her, and just as naturally as he had offered it, she lifted hers and placed it in his. His fingers closed gently inward around her smaller hand, and a tiny, unexpected spark shot through her nerves that she hadn’t prepared herself for, but she composed herself quietly and let him guide her up the step.

He didn’t release her hand even when they both turned to face each other before the elder.

The wedding ceremony passed in a blur to Viola, she couldn’t concentrate on anything beyond the warm grip of his hand and the slow, absent movement of his thumb tracing back and forth across her knuckles. She answered every question asked of her automatically, having memorized them all beforehand, and delivered the oaths she was required to give like someone reciting from memory.

"You may place the ring on her finger," Elder Ysara’s voice cut through the haze of Viola’s thoughts, where she had been staring at her groom’s face and losing herself quietly in it without realizing.

It was only when she felt the cool touch of metal sliding onto her finger that she looked down to find a diamond ring now resting on her ring finger, sitting there as though it had always belonged. A tiny blue diamond at its center caught the light and sent a quiet skip through her heart.

She looked back up at Sebastian’s carefully indifferent face, a stark contrast to the gentleness with which he held her hand.

Viola slid a ring onto his finger in return, a simple gold band, but one that carried the weight of what it meant, that he was now her husband. She caught his eyes drift down briefly to his own finger as she did it.