92 Induction

"It'll be okay. I'm right here, Emira," he murmured reassuringly, leading us further to the front until we stood facing the crowd of people in his pack.

Just knowing that Eros is here manages to calm most of my nerves, along with the urge to flee like a frightened animal.

I gritted my teeth and stood my ground beside him.

He said some things to the crowd that I completely overlooked as I tried to calm myself down.

If not, I think I will throw up in front of everyone.

Really.

Wouldn't that be a great situation to be in?

Not only will I be the laughing stock of the entire pack but I will also be the first Alpha Female to throw up all over herself while being inducted.

Note my sarcasm.

"As everyone knows, Ziron-e has been created in order to defend our pack from Hunters and it is all thanks to our Alpha Female that we are able to recreate this substance." Eros' voice boomed across the room as I literally froze in my place. "Everyone welcome Emira Hall, your Alpha Female."

Emira Hall?

I'm Emira Hall now?

Albeit I knew that this is one of the outcomes of us mating, it still didn't help the astonishment that colored my face from actually hearing my name change.

Not by seeing the change of name on a piece of paper sent to me by a governmental agency but actually hearing it come out of Eros' mouth solidified the fact that we are in a permanent union of some sort.

This feels like marriage and we haven't even stepped foot into the church.

At Eros' words, everyone, willing or not, knelt down before us.

It was an entirely out of body experience when I watched the wave of people come to their knees until I could only see the tops of their heads as they bowed their loyalty to us.

From there, the entire induction ceremony passed on like a blur.

I couldn't even remember what all we did on that stage when Eros led me back down to earth.

Before I could say anything to him, Beta Toran and two tall males approached us with some important pack stuff that, I'm sure, required Eros' attention.

"I'll call Rora over," Eros said, reading my mind once again.

I should get an award for being the most understanding mate of the month.

"Okay," I told him when Eros softly kissed the corner of my mouth, transferring his warmth and a shimmer of sparks across my face.

He left with Toran right after, leaving me with Rora while being surrounded all around by his—our—pack members.

I'm still quite curious about the whole induction ceremony because I knew that there was a lot more to it than just this.

From what I knew, there was an introduction, a blood ritual, a tribal marking, a chase, and a mating in the middle of a forest where anyone can walk in on you.

I don't find any of that exciting, but who am I to judge the traditional practices of others?

Out of all the above, I was only introduced and that was it.

I originally thought that the induction ceremony was going to be a lot more lengthy than this.

But, it wasn't.

Perhaps this pack's ritual is different from others.

I'm not too sure.

"Hey Rora, is this process the usual induction ceremony for the Alpha Female?" I asked Rora in curiosity.

"Not quite. There is a lot more to it." She glanced in the direction that Eros had left before saying, "Alpha Eros decided to cut it short and tossed away a lot of traditional steps in deference to your humanity. He did not want you to be uncomfortable and had announced this in advance so that no one would question it."

At her words, I could feel my throat tighten and my eyes burn with unshed tears.

I almost cried knowing that he waived all of his traditions in order to appease me, but I had to hold it back in case I might start sobbing like an idiot in front of the entire pack.

It's not like I haven't looked like a total mess in front of them before, but I didn't want to make Eros look bad with me as his Alpha Female.