Red

Chapter 18: Rouges

It was the day of the ceremony/announcement. Ryder had walked me through it. He would introduce me to the pack and we would cut our palms, pressing our hands together to officially join me to the pack. Apparently the mates always hated that part so I offered to cut my own hand and he reluctantly accepted.

Now I stood in my dress, successfully covering all my scars. Most of my hair was up, but I'd left a few strands down. Black heels made me a slight bit taller. I'm probably Ryder's height now. None of this made me any less nervous.

Looking in our bedroom mirror a sigh parted my lips. Our door flew open. "Hey Red we're almost ready . . . " Ryder's words died out as I turned to him. "You look beautiful love." he said with a soft smile.

Ryder wore black pants a crisp white dress shirt and plain black tie. He was stunning. Walking over, now only two inches shorter than him, I wove his tie through my fingers, pulling him closer as I did so. "You look sharp." I told him appraisingly, the corner of my mouth quirked up.

Ryder's chest rumbled with approval. His arms around my waist he leaned in to close the distance but I pulled my head back. "We're going to be late." He frowned, obviously resisting the urge to not care.

Laughing I took his hand and pulled him with me. He groaned and followed me down stairs.

Once we were out the door Ryder took the lead. He lead me a few minutes into the woods.

We came to a single decent sized building. It was two stories with banks of windows. It was beautiful.

We went around and in a side door. It brought us to the wings of a stage area and I could hear the roars of chatter from the hall.

My heart beat quickened and my eyes flickered from the stage to Ryder. Smiling he kissed my forehead and lead me out onto the stage behind him.

As we entered the entire room hushed. It wasn't until we stopped that I let my eyes scan the crowd. Most of them were curious. I noticed Natalie and a few girls shooting me looks. I caught Kylie's eyes in the back. At first she was shocked, then she grinned at me. Next I saw Alec smiling encouragingly. The last set of eyes I saw made me look away.

Julia looked ready to tear my throat out. I felt guilty that I caused this situation with his mother, but there wasn't anything I could do without hurting him more.

Ryder grinned out at the crowd. "Welcome everyone." they all cheered quick before quieting back down. "We have always welcomed mates, new friends, with smiles and open arms. Now we welcome another." Holding my hand tighter, he looked down at me.

Locking my eyes with his, I couldn't help but give him a small smile in response to his soft gaze. "My mate." a slight tremor was felt in my feet just as whispers erupted but I let it slide.

Lost in our moment, Ryder's other hand cupped my face as he stepped closer. "Get a room!" Some guy shouted as the room started to laugh. I had a suspicion it was Seth, but didn't dare look as a slight blush swept over me.

Ryder chuckled, turning back to the crowd, we began the ceremony. Julia got up and walked out. Ryder's face stayed neutral but I could see the hurt in his eyes and held his hand tighter.

We were about to cut our hands when my senses became alert. I knew something was coming and it made me edgy.

Ryder handed me a knife reluctantly. I was about to cut my hand when I saw the forms. Glass shattered in all directions as a band of rouges fell in around us. There was no boarder patrol. They were all here.

Children screamed. Women shielded their children, clinging to them for dear life. A wolf moved on a child at the edge, but my knife sunk into his side. Yelping the wolf turned to me.