Chapter 139

Carol’s POV

“I had no idea, Carol. You need to believe me. If I thought for a second that my Beta would…” King Bennet’s voice trailed off as sadness consumed him. After I spent the night making love to my mate and sleeping until noon, I felt refreshed enough that I decided to give my biological father a call and discuss his Beta with him. I needed to know with certainty that he had nothing to do with this and I wouldn’t be able to know for sure unless I spoke to him myself.

Sure, Aiden could tell that the King was furious and was blindsided by Beta’s actions, but I wasn’t the one who spoke to him. I needed to know for myself as well. I sucked in my bottom lip as I listened to the King plead his case. I tried to discover any hint of lying or fabrication from him, but I found none. Granted, it was difficult over the phone, but if I were to be honest with myself, he sounded pretty sincere.

“I wouldn’t have put you in danger like that. I take my role as king seriously and I wouldn’t deliberately put my wolves, or my daughter, in danger,” he said with finality in his tone. “What my Beta did was wrong on all levels and he’s not going to live much longer. He’s already been sentenced to death. He and his helper would have been dead by now, but Aiden wanted me to hold off on making the call until Oliver spoke to them.”

“Oliver had already spoken to Mike,” I told him.

“Yeah, but he still feels there’s unfinished business between Oliver and Mike that Oliver needs to get out. Apparently, he’s too calm and he fears that Oliver might snap at any moment. He needs true closure. Which I understand; he’s been deceived his entire life. It can’t be easy to learn that the one person you thought you could trust with anything betrayed you.”

I nodded even though he couldn’t see me. Now that he’s mentioned it, Olver has been very calm about this whole thing. Sure, when he first found out he was angry and showed signs of being hurt. But he was in shock, and he didn’t really say much. He dove right into investigating matters. Then, when he faced Mike for the first time since the evidence was revealed, he punched him a few times and said some choice words, but they weren’t satisfying words or questions that he might have. He also bounced back quickly, masking the pain on his face and cracking a joke when we were outside. I found it strange at the time, but I brushed it off as Oliver being Oliver.

I suppose it wasn’t a normal reaction to having your wolf turned upside down.

A knot formed in my stomach at the thought that Oliver could be facing some serious pain by himself because he wouldn’t let anyone in.

“I truly am sorry, Carol,” my biological father said, sighing. “If there’s anything I can do, just let me know…”

“There isn’t,” I breathed. “At least not right now. I just need time to deal with all of this and heal from everything that went on this past week.”

“I understand,” he said, sounding distressed. “I’m a phone call away if you need anything. Now that you have my direct line, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“I won’t, thank you,” I told her.

There was a knock on the suite door and when I opened it, I froze when I saw Madison standing on the other side. Madison was one of the packmates that I have met only a couple of times since being here. She was honestly kind of nice and oddly supporting. She wasn’t like the other mean girls like Katrina and her friends. Madison kind of kept to herself and did her own thing. I only spoke to her a couple of times, but we got along just fine. Not good enough for her to just show up at my apartment though.

She had a big beaming smile on her lips and a bag with a giant bag of stuff as she shoved herself into the penthouse and made herself comfortable.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, forgetting that I was on the phone.

“I found out through the grapevine that you’re going forward with the mating ceremony, and I’ll have you know that I’m an event planner,” she said, her smile growing even wider if that was possible.

My heart leaped in my throat when I heard my biological father’s intake of breath.

“Marking ceremony? Carol are you—” My father started to ask but interrupted him.

“I’m going to have to call you back,” I said sharply. “We’ll talk again soon.”

I hung up without another word.

“Sorry, was I interrupting something?” She asked curiously.

I shook my head and forced a smile.

“Nothing at all,” I lied. “What do we have here?” I motioned for the bag she set down on the coffee table.

“I grabbed some books at the pack’s library, and I have some notebooks, pens, and fashion magazines,” she told me, rummaging through the bag. “We are going to plan the perfect mating ceremony. I’m so excited for this project. I was thinking over the weekend we could go shopping for some beautiful dresses for the event. We will have the event at the packhouse. Every Luna before you had the mating ceremony and their luna ceremonies, which are typically combined, in the packhouse gardens under the red roses. Because we have less than a week to pull this thing off, I already started on a guest list, and reached out to some amazing bakers and chefs that we can hire.”

She was talking a mile per minute, and I was having trouble keeping up with it all.

“Madison, as much as I appreciate your help. This is all so much,” I told her, shaking my head at all the stuff she was spilling out of the bag.

She shook her hand like she was waving away my concerns.

“I also took the liberty of calling your friend, Fiona. She seemed very nice and was ecstatic when I told her you were going through with the mating ceremony. However, she was upset you didn’t tell her yourself. But she’s eager to come this weekend and shop with us.”

My mouth fell open.

“You called my best friend?” I asked her, dumbfounded.

How did she even know about Fiona?

“Yes,” she said, peeking up at me from the couch. “Aiden came to my office earlier and asked if I could plan this event. I didn’t even have to think about it. I make it my duty to know everything I can about my clients before I get started so I can create the best event for them. I pride myself in my work, as everyone should. I asked Aiden who your closest friends and family were, and he gave me a list of people. I was the one who found contact information and got a hold of Fiona because he listed her as your best friend.”

I nodded, biting my lower lip.

“That was thoughtful of you,” I told her, uncertainty in my tone.

“Just doing my job,” she smiled. “Now what are your favorite colors?”

“Purple and pink,” I told her. “I also like royal blue.”

She nodded as she wrote that down in her notebook.

“And favorite foods?”

“Anything chicken,” I told her. “I like beef too and Italian anything.”

She wrote that down as well.

As she jotted down notes, I watched her thoughtfully. She was concentrating deeply on what she was writing, and she had an excited flare in her eyes. I knew planning this ceremony meant everything to her.

She grabbed some magazines and handed them to me.

“Start planning on the kind of dress you want to wear,” she ordered while she continued to write things down.

I frowned as I scanned the magazines.

“These are bridal magazines,” I said, my brows furrowed together as I flipped through them.

She nodded and her eyes met mine.

“Well, yeah. Of course, they are,” she told me.

“What exactly does this mean?” I asked her, confused. I had never been part of a mating ceremony before, and I wasn’t really sure what it meant. But I knew it was important to werewolves.

Her brows pinched together as she studied my face.

“You agreed to go through with this ceremony and you have no idea what it means?” She asked.

I nodded and bit my lower lip.

“Pretty much,” I admitted.

She put her pen down and leaned back on the couch so she could study me.

“Well, it’s a big ceremony where all your family, friends, and packmates attend,” she told me.

“I got that much,” I muttered.

“And you give one another vows for better and for worse,” she added quickly, looking a bit sheepish. “Then he bites your neck and makes you officially his for life. If you were a wolf too, you’d bite him as well. But a female bite on a male isn’t permitted like a male bite on a female and it doesn’t do anything. It’s only symbolic so because you are a human, we will skip that part of the ceremony. Then, you’ll kiss, and the reception will be held in the packhouse ballroom where you’ll have your first dance and be announced as the Luna of the pack. Everyone will have to bow to you as you drink the blood of your packmates in red wine. Everybody contributes to that beforehand as like a ritual…. And—”

I felt squeamish from her words, and I held up my hand to stop her from continuing, fearing that I’d throw up at any moment.

“I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head. “Vows? A first dance? Wedding dresses? Why does this sound like…”

“A wedding,” she finished for me. “Because it is. A mating ceremony is equivalent to a human wedding. You are getting married, Carol.”