Chapter 186: Fuck. It Was Hot.

Whispers erupted immediately.

Alpha Thunderfang didn’t glance at their source or react to it. Neither did Nova. Gossip was just that.

Rumors. Nothing more. Derek would wake up soon and this would all be sorted.

"Standing in for the Crown Princess is our Alpha," the priestess clarified loudly for the chamber. "You stand within this hall to take upon yourself the oath of the Crown Princess of Thunderfang. Do you vow before the ancestors and Alpha to guard the people of Thunderfang, to guide with measured wisdom, and to grant mercy without frailty and justice without vanity?"

"I do."

"Do you bind yourself to this land and to its long memory, to carry the counsel of the Alpha line in service of this pack above yourself?"

"I do."

"Then let the ancestors render judgment, for if you are worthy, you shall not burn."

Alpha Thunderfang drew the Thunderfang ceremonial dagger. Golden hilt. Lightning bolt at the top. Engraving on it, written in the old tongue. Nova stared at it fascinated. If she were to guess it was at least a millennium old.

He held out his hand for her and waited.

The moment their skin touched, sparks detonated on the contact point. It felt like electricity, yet not. That was a new one.

His fingers folded over the back of her hand, not reacting to it, which would track considering he commanded electricity.

He had never shocked her before. But they were in a sacred hall. This was a ceremony. There were a lot of variables at play.

He cut her palm. Blood pooled. With a muffled noise, he went ramrod rigid. She stared at him, unsure if he was in pain or if it was just one of his usual grunts.

The dagger was glowing. That was unexpected. He was also glowing.

His eyes surged gold. He shut them. When they opened again they were back to normal.

The chamber was dead silent and had definitely seen that.

Nova understood that sometimes Alpha Thunderfang did that. It happened quite frequently, actually. Derek had the same thing. But the room didn’t understand that and a buzz erupted.

Alpha Thunderfang let go of her hand and cut his own palm next with a dagger that was glowing. The old tongue engraved was glowing electric blue and the handle of the dagger was glowing gold.

Huh. Neat. That is Derek and Landon’s colors. That would make sense, Nova thought to herself.

Alpha Thunderfang’s wolf made a noise under his ribs that sounded like a holo-cartoon again. Nova recognized it. That happened at least once a day. Except that one sounded almost amused, if a wolf could make that sound.

He stiffly took her hand, their blood mixing, and jerked it into the flame. It was not gentle, which meant he wanted this to be over. That would make sense. He liked his schedules.

WHOOSH.

The fire roared gold, thirty feet in the air, striking the ceiling of the massive chamber.

His jaw was tight, breath coming hard, a thin line of sweat tracking down his temple. It looked like he was holding his breath. He grunted again louder. That one definitely sounded pained.

Nova’s lips parted. She wanted to ask him if he was alright but did not want to upset him.

She was so concerned watching him, she wasn’t looking at the flame. What caught her attention was the fact that the fire wasn’t changing color. She tore her eyes from him to look at it.

On the bright side, it didn’t hurt. It felt like a warm tingling sensation actually. But the flame didn’t change, which was probably because she didn’t have a wolf or if she did, it was not healed enough for her to be a pack member.

Her heart sank.

Beside her, Alpha Thunderfang let out another noise that sounded like he was having contractions in labor. The grip on her hand in the fire tightened.

This man was definitely in pain.

"Are you alright, Alpha?" she asked as soft as she could.

He did not answer or look at her at all. He faced forward, eyes on the fire.

Then it felt like she was being yanked by the fire, so hard, her stomach hit the obsidian that the basin was sitting on and his did as well. Both of their arms were in the flame now, fully up to their elbows.

Thank the Goddess it was not her bad arm or that would have been painful.

That’s when Nova clocked she was glowing. He was glowing. The High Luna was not yelling to arrest her. That was progress.

Maria clapped twice, entirely too excited. She had made an announcement that the next time Nova turned gold, they were going to try something and Nova had a feeling it would involve her touching inanimate objects trying to turn them gold.

Gold light surged into Nova suddenly and not gently. Her breath caught. It felt like a current forcing through passages that had been dammed shut for years, breaking them loose all at once.

A wave of pure nausea rolled through her. It almost came out as a dry heave but she caught it.

More of the gold ripped through her. It felt like knives cutting her insides. She gritted her teeth and breathed through her nose, refusing to throw up or scream.

Then it stopped.

And the room went hot as a sauna.

Of course it did.

Alpha Thunderfang made another pained sound next to her. She didn’t turn to look at him this time because she did not trust herself not to throw up. And she was also sweating.

Fuck. It was getting hotter in here.

ZZRAK.

The gold flame turned electric blue. Back to gold. Back to blue. Then half and half, splitting the difference.

A gold wolf of light broke from the flame, larger than the others. Then another gold wolf came out of the flame. This one electric blue on the edges.

Two of them.

Neat. That’s what that was. Thunderfang colors. Very cool.

Normally, Nova would have clapped in her soul more but at the moment, she was very much struggling. She needed to lay in the snow after this. That sounded lovely.

Behind her, the crowd went crazy. When she tried to glance behind her to see what the wolves were doing, her muscles chose that moment to spasm. Nova gasped as she hunched forward and her ribs hit the obsidian holding the crystal basin.

Alpha Thunderfang’s grip stayed locked on her inside the flame so she didn’t fall. He faced forward not looking at her or either wolf.

Both wolves made of light howled loudly before doing a circle around Nova and Alpha Thunderfang. Another spasm ran up her body. She faced forward. If she passed out right now, she was going to be very upset. No, absolutely not.

The wolves jumped back into the flame.

WHOOSH.

The fire dropped back to normal. The gold and blue went away, turning back into regular flame.

Alpha Thunderfang pulled his and Nova’s hands back, without letting go of her.

The priestess stared at him. He gave a single nod.

"The ancestors have spoken. The oath is accepted. Let her be known as Nova of House Thunderfang, the sworn Crown Princess of the Thunderfang pack."

The applause was still going.

"Are you alright, Alpha?" she asked for the second time. He did not respond.

The High Luna was staring at her grandson, concerned as well.

He pulled in one breath, then another, his chest working like the air wouldn’t go where it needed to.

The priestess raised her hand to move things along.

The procession began. The couples began filing out of the hall in their ordered rows. No one at the front moved.

Alpha Thunderfang still hadn’t let go of Nova’s hand. When she tried, his grip didn’t give. So she held it.