Sins Among Royals
Chapter 62

The afternoon was brilliant and bright and full of laughter, joy and promise. The group of young women laughed and joked and did their best to relax before the stress of the mating and bonding ceremony as well as the naming ceremony.

It took many hours for Darla to even try and speak to Indie again as the others picked up on their avoidance of each other.

It was Naira, the informal leader of the group that put an end to it. “Darla! I don’t know what crawled up your backside but you need to snap out of it! I want my happy little munchkin back and not a surly little troll,” Naira knew her words to her friend were harsh but she seemed to respond well to harshness over niceness.

She stood with a thump as she tapped her foot against the floor, “Fine!” She then turned her attention to Indie. “I’m not sorry for what I said but I am sorry for how I said it. You need to grow up or grow some balls and man up to the reality you now live in. I may have a fuse as short as me but I mean well....” she trailed off a little bit before continuing with an amused grin, “most of the time.”

Naira huffed, Willow growled and Indie just shook her head and smiled, “I will get there Darla but if you keep pushing I will pull away.” Indie replied with very little fuss.

“Well!” Darla clapped as she decided to forget the argument and moved towards Indie, “time to bring out the inner hottie again. What are you wearing tonight?” She asked quickly as she began working on Indies makeup.

The afternoon wore on slowly as things fell into place. Indie and the girls were ready in time to see guests begin to arrive.

All those who weren’t mating were dressed in formal wear. Tuxedos, ties and bowties for the men while women wore formal gowns and high heeled shoes. Indie had unfortunately forgotten that she was limited still with her clothing so had to wear the dress she wore the night she met Noah. She didn’t mind wearing the same gown again. It had memories attached to it that she wanted to change and she hoped and wished that she would eventually be able to dance the night away in Noah’s arms.

“What a beautiful bunch of women,” Came a man’s voice from the doorway of the room the girls were readying themselves in.

Naira turned with a smile towards the man she called mate, “Oh Fred! What on earth are you doing here?” Before she could say anything else Fred and Willows mate who Indie had forgotten, both entered the room carrying a bunch of roses each and a bottle of what looked to be champagne.

“Aw Freddie!” Naira squealed as she jumped from her seat, tripped slightly over all the fabric of her dress and fell into his arms, “you are so sweet. What’s the occasion?!” Naira giggled and blushed.

“You are joking right?!” Fred asked in disbelief. As he wrapped his arms gently around Naira, “you are going to be one of the first Alpha Fe-” Naira cut him off and silenced him with her lips.

She pulled away and smiled broadly, “I know sweetie pie. I’m just teasing.” She murmured as she pressed her lips to Fred’s again. Willow echoed the loving tone that Naira had and almost did the exact same thing to her mate.

The room was so filled with love that Indie excused herself. While she was happy for everyone she felt like she was suffocating.

Exiting the room she was greeted by a sight she wasn’t used to.

In the middle of the quiet hallway she spied Hunter with Madeline, but it wasn’t the Madeline she knew at all. She straightened Hunters tie and giggled at something he said. He kissed the tip of her nose and watched as she recoiled shyly. Since when had Madeline been shy?

Indie took in the sweet scene and silently reminded herself that she was supposed to give Madeline a chance. If only for Hunter.

Her brother soon noticed her standing there and waved her over. As soon as Madeline’s gaze fell on Indie her smile faded and was quickly replaced with a frown.

Indie took a deep breath in and reminded herself again that she had to be nice, for Hunter.

Walking towards them she noticed Madeline sneer and realised it must have been a force of habit. Just like the habit Indie had of murdering Madeline eleven different ways in her head.

“You’re wearing the same dress you did at my party.” She seemed to grimace at the thought of wearing anything twice.

“Very observant of you Madeline.” Indie fired back quickly, “I didn’t realise you took such an interest in me.” internally Indie chuckled but externally she wanted to trample Madeline beneath the heel of her shoe. Her world would be so much better knowing there would be one cockroach less.

“I’m not interested in you!” Madeline shouted as the look on Hunter’s face dropped in an instant. “Don’t flatter yourself. You are still a nobody.” The sneer she had plastered to her lips quickly spread like poison through the rest of the features on her face.

Indie looked towards Hunter pleadingly but all he could do was shake his head, “Maddy. We’ve talked about this...remember?” Hunter reminder dedicated his mate as he squeezed her hand gently.

“Just the sight of her aggravates me Hunter. I’m sorry but I don’t think that will ever change.” There seemed to be a certain degree of finality in her voice that Indie didn’t seem to care too much for.

“Well this has been a lovely chat but I have duties to tend to,” she smiled and tried to be as civil as possible. All words of advice she had received over the last week or so echoed in her head. “Well, if you two are a part of the mating ceremony then don’t be late.” Indie bowed slightly, “you look nice by the way Madeline. That dress looks stunning on you,” Indie smiled and looked towards her brother who only nodded his head in thanks. It may not have been much but she was trying.

“Indie!” Noah called as she turned and saw him dashing towards her. She noted a concerned look on his face but it soon softened as he quickly reached for her and took her in his arms. “Is that the dress....” He began before she cut him off.

“I didn’t get the chance to buy a new dress so I had to make do,” she frowned at the look on his face as his eyes travelled over her outfit.

“You look more stunning now than you did back then and you were already the most beautiful girl in the room,” Noah bent and pressed his lips against hers gently. “Hopefully I can sweet talk you out of it later. I owe you for last night.”

Noah’s words forced an intense blush to appear on Indies cheeks as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. He failed to see the other pair standing there staring at them. All he saw was Indie, all he wanted was Indie.

A warning growl soon brought him to attention, “do you mind?” Hunter interrupted quickly, “That’s my sister and I’d rather not hear that kind of talk.” Indie glanced towards him and saw a deep look of disgust printed across his entire face.

Immediately Noah straightened, his attention was not on Hunter but the woman that stood beside him, “I remember you!” he exclaimed as Madeline turned red in the cheeks. “Alpha Thornton’s daughter,” Noah muttered as he looked her over. She looked completely embarrassed. “At least you’ve found your mate.” Noah nodded with a small smile, “congratulations to the two of you.” He then turned to Indie and winked, “shall we get this night over and done with?” Neither Noah or Indie could wait till the festivities were over.

“Is it starting?” Indie muttered as she noted how quiet the hallways had grown around them.

“My father will announce our arrival then we enter. Not everyone is aware that I’ve found my mate,” he smiled down at her and squeezed her hand gently.

“I’m scared.” Indie admitted quickly, “what if I screw it all up?” She didn’t want to be the one that made a fool of herself, she didn’t want to be the one that was remembered for all the wrong reasons.

They stepped towards a door that had been decorated with dark drapes. It lead to the decorated patio and out to the small stage they’d have to stand on and officiate the bonding and mating ceremony.

Noah removed his hand from Indies and took her by the arm, he would his arm around hers and smiled, “don’t worry about a thing. You will do fine. I’ll be here by your side,” he reassured her quickly as the doors flew open suddenly and the drapes were pulled back, “I will always be here by your side.”

The pair emerged out onto the patio, everyone gathered now stood from their seats as Noah and Indie began walking towards the stage. Indies heart beat to the sound of its own drum and Noah took it all in his stride. He had witnessed many ceremonies and had observed many things. He was ready to take over from his father and now had no choice. With the death of his mother it was only a matter of time before his father retired completely.

All eyes were on the pair. Happy smiling faces clapped as they walked up the aisle that had been left between the two sides of chairs and Indie suddenly felt that they were getting married.

Quickly she reminded herself that this evening was of great importance and it was not about her, it was not her time to be mated. Not yet.

Noah soon helped his mate up onto the stage as Victor stepped to the side. “I haven’t informed them about your mother yet. Do this for me?” Victor muttered quickly before stepping off of the stage and standing off to the side.

Indie stood a short distance from her mate as he stood before the lectern and looked out over the crowd of people.

“Good evening and welcome,” Indie noted a slight wobble to Noah’s voice, was he nervous? “Before we get started I imagine there are some of you wondering why my mother and father are not officiating the ceremony this year,” a few people present began nodding along to what Noah was saying. “It is with great sadness that I must inform you all of her death.”

Gasps and cries rang out through the crowd as Noah looked around at their faces. He thought quickly on how best to break the news of how she died realised that telling them of Loup-garou was not the best start. “The doctors say that she died peacefully in her sleep of, as yet, unknown causes. A service will be held for her once the ceremonies are done and we ask that you please extend your stay in Blackwood to help us celebrate the life of an extraordinary woman who will undoubtedly be greatly missed.”

Noah sucked in a deep breath before continuing. Indie didn’t move from her spot and remembered all the things Victor had instructed her to do.

“We will begin with the ceremony to name our first Alpha Female leaders. This will be followed by a short break while we reconfigure the stage and once done the bonding ceremony will begin and end with the setting of the moon. All bonding couples are asked to assemble before the stage at that point.” He sighed at the thought of the dozen couples taking part in the ceremony.

Turning towards Indie, Noah gave her a slight nod. It was time to begin. Indie walked to the back of the stage to where two ornately decorated seats had been placed. Leaning against one of the seats was an ornately decorated sword. The golden scabbard was decorated with intricate engravings and coloured gemstones. Indie had never seen anything so beautiful.

She took it and lay it across both hands, she looked up at Noah and smiled gently and as she walked towards him the silent hum of excitement was soon broken by an ear shattering howl.

The long, low sound soon climbed in note to a crescendo, it was a warning howl. Trouble had arrived.