-Damon's POV-
A couple of weeks had passed, and Kaygen was fitting in nicely at home with Laken, and as well as at the pack house, he surprisingly got along with everyone just as well as Laken did, and the pack happily welcomed him into the family.
Nate got to spend a lot more time at the pack house because of it and everything was smooth sailing, Laken and Kaygen seemed to instantly get back that brother/twin bond they once had, and it was both amusing and interesting to witness.
Sometimes they would argue, as brothers did, but it didn't take a lot to distract them from that.
School went by normally, with Kaygen and Nate out as well as me and Laken, though honestly none of us really cared that much, and no one bothered us much anymore anyway.
The only thing that was left to do was to introduce Laken as Alpha, and introduce him to the role properly, I may have dropped hints in the past, but it was a conversation that we haven't exactly spoke about properly yet.
I wondered how it would go, knowing my mate he will be somewhat reluctant, but I hoped I could talk him into it, or at least boost his confidence enough to get him to agree.
It would be the last part in our ritual, and I was excited for it to finally be completed, but I already knew the responsibility would put Laken off, but truth be told, there wasn't a lot he would need to do as he always had me at his service.
And if he ever had a problem with something, I would be sure to sort it as soon as possible, Laken had nothing to worry about, as I had sworn to always protect him, and as my mate it was my duty to do so.
So, I was a little reluctant to start the conversation as we arrived at Laken's house after school.
Today we were alone for a few hours, as Nate had promised to take Kaygen on a date to finally celebrate being together and getting through everything.
Nate just wanted to give Kaygen a break away from everything and honestly, I didn't blame him.
I grabbed us a couple of sodas out of the fridge and joined Laken where he had thrown himself down on the couch with a sigh.
"Does school ever end?" He moaned, taking the soda from me with a silent thank you.
"It just ended," I smirked, taking a sip from my drink.
"Yeah...for a few hours, several hours of unconsciousness and then we're back again, is this the life we're cursed to live?" He threw the back of his hand against his forehead in despair.
"Well, we graduate in a few more months," I reminded him.
"That's terrifying too, I don't know what I want to do with my life, I can't even decide what to eat in the morning, and you're putting me in charge of my own future?" He had a point, but on that point, he just gave me the perfect chance to bring up my earlier thoughts.
"Well...I have a suggestion actually."
Laken looked up at me, his body was sprawled across the sofa with his legs laying across my legs, his head slightly inclined against the back of the sofa.
"You do?" He raised an eyebrow in question, his attention suddenly entirely on me and I became slightly nervous.
"Yeah...as you know, I'm the Alpha of a small pack but sooner or later, I'll oversee a much bigger pack, and tradition goes that I am to run my pack with my mate, they shall be the packs Luna, or in your case Alpha, the gods would have us rule over and protect the pack together."
Laken stared at me for a while with pursed lips, I assumed just letting what I said sink in, but his facial expression gave me different ideas and all I did was raise an eyebrow in question.
"You want...me?" He questioned, pointing to himself. "To help you rule over a pack of werewolves...bearing in mind that I am completely human?" He raised his eyebrows but other than that his facial expression didn't change.
"Yes," I said nodding, thinking if I take it seriously, maybe he'd understand that I wholeheartedly meant what I was saying.
"That sounds like an awful idea."
"Babe-"
"What superiority would I have over a pack of werewolves? They could devour me for dinner if they wanted to, why would they listen to a human?" He asked, exasperated.
"You're not just a human, you're my mate and because of that they already see you as their alpha because you are, you just need to accept the title. And you'll have me right beside you, as well as the pack, it's not about ruling over them, it's about them having someone to turn to and protect them, someone they can trust."
"You think I can do that?" He looked worried and uncertain; I didn't want him putting himself down about this, but I already knew he was going to.
"Yes, my love. I think you're perfect for the job, you get along with my pack so well and they already respect you greatly, there's nobody I trust more for the job, and nobody I would rather work and build with. This is a great honour for me, and I hope you'd see it the same way."
Laken thought for a while, silence hanging between us as I awaited his answer.
"What if I don't want to?" He asked, not quite looking at me.
"This is not something I will force you to do, Laken. The choice is completely yours and I know how overwhelming it sounds so I'd understand if you didn't want to, maybe it's something you would consider in the future and that's fine to. This is my pack after all, I could always ask Nate to play acting Alpha, if need be, I'm sure he'd be honoured with the role."
I mostly thought aloud on that one, as I wasn't sure how my pack would react if Laken didn't want to be Alpha, but I'm sure most would be understanding at least, or so I hoped.
"You know I can read your thoughts, right?" Laken asked with an amused, yet cocky smile.
"Not gonna lie, I forgot for a second," I smiled, sheepishly.
Laken laughed, moving to the other end of the sofa so his head was now resting on my thighs.
"The thought fucking terrifies me if I'm being honest, but no offence to Nate, he's a lovely guy and all but he's not taking my role. I have actually thought about it a bit, I just thought maybe I wouldn't be good enough, so you wouldn't want me to," he admitted.
"Why would you ever think that? I think the world of you, my love, there's absolutely nothing I don't think you're capable of." How did that thought manage to slip into his mind, does he not know just how much I think of him?
"It was honestly just self-doubt, but not gonna lie, being a human around a bunch of werewolves does make you feel inferior from time to time," he admitted, I honestly hadn't thought about that, but I could understand where he was coming from.
I guess that does sound quite scary, doesn't it?
Wait.
"Hold up, wait, wait, wait. Nate's not taking your role...does that mean you'll do it?" I asked, pulling myself back to the conversation, I jumped to his self-doubt so quickly that I almost missed what he actually said.
"I'd be an idiot to turn this offer away," he smiled sheepishly, as he gazed up at me.
"I promise you won't regret it, my love." I grinned wide, gazing down at my mate lovingly.
"And we'll work on this self-doubt of yours because you are more amazing than you realise," I beamed, placing a kiss on my mate's lips.
"So, how does this go exactly?" He asked, trying to calm his racing heart.
"Well, I have to hold a ceremony to properly introduce you as Alpha to my pack, of course for now my pack is quite small so it shouldn't be too hard on you and it gives the both of us good practice for when we take over for my dad's pack, but hopefully we've got a while before that happens," I smile.
"I've met all your pack...okay, that doesn't sound too bad, but you'll have to help me, I still have no idea what I'll have to do," he nodded, already thinking everything over.
"Don't worry, you won't have to do a lot, and you'll have me there anyway, you'll pick the role up pretty quickly, so you'll have nothing to worry about."
"Okay, let's do this, preferably before I change my mind." He put on a brave smile, and it was honestly adorable, though I didn't tell him that.
"I heard that," I groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance and I couldn't help but laugh.
"We'll arrange for the ceremony to be this weekend," I chuckled, running my fingers through my mate's hair.
"Okay," he breathed out. "We can do this."
*
-Laken's POV-
(The following weekend)
I stood backstage of a, well, stage, that I didn't even know they had by the way, there were only going to be twenty wolves on the other side, but I still wanted the ground to swallow me up.
My nerves had me sweating and that was not attractive, why was it so damn hot in here anyway?
Did someone whack the heating up to full blast?
"This is stupid, it's just like performing a school assessment but easier because you just have to stand there and look pretty, what are you so worried about?" Kaygen rolled his eyes, Damon thought it would be a clever idea if he stayed with me until I had to go on stage, that way I wouldn't think too much, he was clearly wrong.
"You do it then," I argued, as I paced back and forth.
"That would involve me being Damon's mate, and that's a heavy pass from me."
"As if I'd ever let you have him," I huffed. "It's just such an important role, what if I can't live up to their expectations?"
"And what if you can?" Kaygen threw back, completely uninterested in the conversation.
"What do you mean?" I asked sceptically.
"I mean...," he sighed, "Damon does this every day and it's not like you'll have to do any of the physical stuff, you leave that up to the werewolves, and you don't even have to think of it like you ruling over them, just think of it as you're just helping Damon do his job, you are working together on this after all, it's like...a shared title."
Huh...who knew Kaygen was so smart?
"That is not a bad idea, brother dearest." I smiled to myself, as I stopped still on the spot.
"Don't call me that," he frowned, but I was no longer listening.
Yeah, I wasn't ruling over a terrifying wolf pack, I was simply helping out my boyfriend with his pack.
And just like that, my queue came up to enter the stage and I did so with a smile, waving at the all the familiar faces.
Damon grinned proudly at me as I bounced up to his side, letting him take my hand in his.
"You've all met my wonderful mate, Laken, who will be proudly joining me by myself, in complete trust, loyalty, and honour, as Alpha," Damon announced proudly and I actually felt pretty excited as the crowd cheered loudly.
Wow, they were all so supportive, it was slightly overwhelming, but I couldn't ignore the emotions running through my body.
"Would you like to say some words, my love?"
I nodded, feeling a lot more confident this time, although I'm not gonna lie, I have no idea how you start these speeches.
"Uh, hi!" I grinned, good enough.
"Thank you for showing up, and most importantly for showing me so much support, I hope we can help each other to be like the greatest pack ever, although I'm willing to bet you already are, I've met some great people here already and I'm excited to work beside my mate or as we humans call them, boyfriend. And I hope you can come to rely on me, as much as you do Damon, even if it takes a while, so let's do our best, okay?"
I grinned, as the crowd laughed and cheered before I turned to Damon who nodded in approval.
How did I do? I asked through our mind link.
Wonderfully, my love. He replied with a smile as he joined me by my side on the stage.
"To our new Alpha," Damon cheered aloud.
"To our new Alpha!" Everyone repeated, merrily, and then Damon kissed me in front of everyone, and my excitement only grew.
Maybe.
Just maybe,
This was where I was truly meant to be.
*
Good Evening!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got spoilt with wonderful, magical gifts, food and drink, maybe even a book or two ;)
One chapter to go! Ooo I'm actually getting excited because this means soon I'll get to work on other projects I've been holding off.
I still need to write it though and how long have I got? 3 days, sounds reasonable.
However, I've been completely addicted to Genshin Impact lately which has caused me to procrastinate on a lot of things but I managed to get this chapter out so we can't lose hope just yet.
Nah, I'm just kidding, I'll get the final chapter out to you in the next few days.
Have fun and stay safe as always.
-Frozen