Sharon tensed, but slowly forced a smile up at him and to let her hand slip out of his. She even made the effort to squeeze his fingers back, a small squeeze to tell him she would do what he wanted her to do, but as their eyes clashed, there was something dark and angry in them. She didn't have to say anything. He knew. This was not how she had envisioned her return home; he could tell she didn't approve of it.
That being said, Luthor couldn't blame her, but he wasn't exactly interested in hearing what she had to say. The issue was, she was his mate, his Omega, and he'd be damned before he let her get away from him again.
Mark interrupted, "Luthor, are you ready for me to perform the ceremony?"
Yes. Proceed then. He did not enjoy spending time outside on the grass longer than necessary. There was always the chance of one of the other nearby packs making a grab for Sharon or Alexander when they were not yet bonded to him.
Sharon was wheezing harder by the second, and though she made no move to struggle free again, he could tell that she was shaking in her hand in his. He didn't care if she was upset or not at the moment. There was a child involved. Alexander needed to be protected, and though she wished to run, he knew Sharon was smart enough to recognize the benefit of this situation.
Mark continued and continued, speaking of duty and honor, and all that foolishness the older generations had bandied about, but the one thing that made Sharon jump was when he told her, "You will now take your rightful place at your Alpha's side, as his Omega, his mate, and his wife. For life."
She had known what the ceremony entailed, yet now it was hitting her just how permanent all of that was.
Sharon gazed at him, then her gaze fell to Alexander, who gazed up at them, trying to understand what was occurring. She must have had some sense of him not moving, as she swallowed and nodded. He glanced up at his Beta, who seemed happy, "It's your time now, Alpha. You can seal the bond."
He cradled Sharon's beautiful, recalcitrant face in his palms and felt pack magic pour about them in a gentle tempest. It tousled her hair, surrounding him with the smell of her as her lips parted. An Alpha of yore would have bonded his Omega to himself with a bite, but the practice had long since gone out of style. Nevertheless, the desire to bite into her skin just above her scent gland had his mouth salivating.
Instead, he held himself back, pushing her head to the side and tilting his lips over hers. It was going to be a brief kiss, dull and friendly, but the instant their lips touched, that was thrown out the window. The pack magic washed over him as he bonded his Omega to him, Sharon's nails burying themselves in his shoulders as she held on for dear life as he kissed her.
It was meant to be fast, dammit. He reminded himself he didn't feel that tiny spark that coursed over his tongue when their lips initially met. The gasp she let out as their mouths shaped together didn't count, nor the sensation of his hands working their way up into her hair, and he turned her head to get even more of her. She breathed a breathless sigh that made his blood surge hard when his tongue slid out to touch her bottom lip. None of this should have mattered, but his God, it shook him to his very core.
He ended the kiss with a curse. Sharon looked at him like she was stunned, but when the focus returned to her eyes and her mind caught up, her cheeks flush and spun away from him. He was right, and the flame had never really gone out at all. It had just been buried under the surface of her skin this whole time, waiting to resurface.
It ought to have been a victorious moment for him, sensing their connection coming alive, with the knowledge that Sharon could never elude him once more. He was angry instead, not because it was apparent that she still desired him all these years ago.
No, he was furious with himself because he thought that all feeling he had for Sharon was extinguished. Instead, his entire body had sprang to life at the contact of their lips, and he stood there, in front of his entire council and his son, thinking about how much time it would take to get her into a private setting.
He'd never wanted anything with all his life as much as he wanted Sharon Spark, and he knew that somehow, someway, he wasn't going to be getting her anytime in the near future.
Sharon had been ready to crawl out of her own skin after the forced mating ceremony.
The Alpha's kiss had been like it burned her lips, but in the most divine way, like cinnamon. His touch was fantastically addictive and made her forget to inhale. She'd told herself that it was merely bond between them, that it was instinct only, but something evil and sinister whispered to her that perhaps it was more than her chemistry.
For everyone, Luthor hadn't made a mistake. The night they'd spent together in her bed had been one of the most beautiful, unblemished things she'd ever experienced. There were parts of her memory that were hazy because of the heat of the moment, but the one thing she would remember with Yellow clarity forever was the hue his blue eyes had taken in the darkness of her bedroom that night. They had burned fiercely, but there had been gentleness to that as well, like he had looked at her and seen her as somebody he had known, well, since the start of time and never wanted to turn away from again.
He was changed now, of course. When Alpha Kiason had unexpectedly fallen ill, and Luthor had been forced to step in sooner than he had expected, he had overdone it with how harsh and nearly callous he was to his pack. The dynamics of all the packs were identical—the men ruled and one Alpha led the pack, and the women ranked below them in the hierarchy unless they were married, in which case they'd rank equal to their husbands. Omegas like her could just show up anytime, and she could be mated to Alphas, but it was up to the Alpha.
For his own part, Alexander did not care about much of anything. The boy was unaware of how much of herself she was losing, or how dangerous pack politics could be, and she would do anything to protect him from harm. Even if she was bonded to a man that she feared and was physically attracted to, the truth remained that Alexander and she would ever be a package.
There'd been a small celebration following the mating ceremony, some grilled meats and beer, but she hadn't been hungry for any of it. Luthor escorted her to her room, opposite Alexander's, and as soon as the Alpha and his council had gotten their little celebration underway, she'd fled there to be alone.
Alexander wanted to stay with his newly found father and was fascinated with all the new activity happening, and as much as she did not want to say no, she could not really confine him to his room for the day. She could watch over the backyard from her window and keep an eye on him that way, and that was good enough.
Her sweet boy had brought her a burger as the sun set, and she choked it down while Alexander showered for bed. He had a thousand things to comment on his new room, but when at last he unwound and fell into bed, her boy became serious.
She tugged the blankets over his small body, pushing back his hair from his face. His father's eyes, however, with their sleepily thoughtful gaze, looked up at her. He was tired from the odd day he had experienced, getting to know Luthor and the rest of the pack, but she could see that he had several questions about what was going on.