Before he could open his mouth and ask her what had gotten her into such a mood, she pulled her leg out of his hold and firmly planted it on the ground, leaving him stunned.
"Thanks!" She rigidly said and he felt her tone into his bones like cackles of electricity.
Siroos quietly got up and stood tall, he had gotten a hint. Someone had said something to her, something related to him and his curse. It was bad enough that he hadn’t clearly spoken to her on the matter. It was equally worse for her to have found it out from someone else.
"Present your gift, Luna Cassandra," Walan instructed.
Lana stepped forward once again and handed her the gold-plated armlets Cassandra had asked her to have specially prepared for Siroos. The long armlets had their Pack’s symbol embossed on them. The Chimera eating its own tail, the very symbol Siroos and all his pack members carried on their shoulders as well.
The eye of the Chimera had been created with a red ruby to emphasise the eye of his dragon. Cassandra opened the clasps of 6-inch long armlets, and Siroos extended both his arms forward, his bent fingers facing upwards.
Quietly she adorned both his thick wrists with the richly designed armlets. He loved how perfectly they fit him.
"Thank you!" He uttered with care and she nodded at him but kept her eyes cast low. She didn’t wish to cry seeing the conflicted fake emotions on his face.
"After the gift exchange, it’s time for you to mark your mate. But before we do that, you need to mark her skin with Pack’s symbol. So she can truly become a part of our tribe," Walan spoke, gesturing to two omegas who had been put up to this task.
Siroos’s eyes flashed as if thunder had struck them. He had spoken very clearly about this ritual to the Elders. This was not to take place.
"NO!" His deep voice boomed out in authority and Walan flinched as his domineering aura hit him in submission.
The two omegas bringing the burning crimsoned branding iron with Pack’s sigil paused in their steps as well.
Everyone held their breath as Faris cast an ugly look towards Walan. He hated the old manipulative weasel.
"I understand your apprehension, Alpha. But this is mandatory. Every member bears the sigil of our pack proudly on their skin and this is our Luna we are talking about."
Irrespective of Siroos’s warning, he continued to speak in a frail voice like a rusty chain about to fall apart. He always acted too old to get away with things.
"Do you wish to die?" Siroos took a threatening step towards the old man; his hands tightly fisted, and the knuckles stood out against his bronzed skin. His eyes glinted with anger he couldn’t suppress.
Haylia was ready to intervene as well, seeing her son was on edge now.
How dare this man bring this up when he had clearly warned him not to. Siroos’s irate voice rumbled in gloom.
"I am marking my Luna there is no need to brand her. She is my mate, not cattle. Didn’t I previously tell you to end this ritual for all members? But you people insist on clinging to such customs which mean nothing."
Siroos had tried to put an end to this ritual but pack elders unanimously decided against it. The rituals were decided by the Elder committee, and Siroos couldn’t overturn them. But no way was he letting them scar her skin from two places on the same day.
Faris sprung into action, wedging himself between his overpowered brother and the trembling man who couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Not that he cared about Walan but because he cared about his brother not making a rash decision which would affect him severely.
"Let’s discuss it rationally. When it was already decided that it won’t be needed, why bring it up again, I wonder," Faris said in irritation.
But the damage had been done.
Hearing all the skirmishes, Cassandra finally lifted her head in defiance and faced Elder Walan.
"I will do it," she said with determination, her voice didn’t even quiver.
All the animal spirits residing inside Siroos screeched in rage upon hearing this decision from her. His body twisted in fury, and with a deeply creased brow, he turned and raged like a maniac. The very blood in his veins had boiled over.
"Absolutely not."
The dragon was itching to surface, grab her in its claws and fly away where no one would hurt her.
"I think I can make my own decision. I am Luna now and rules should be equal for everyone. Right? Elder Walan, you have my permission to perform the ritual. Equal treatment for every pack member," she stubbornly announced for Siroos, for the Elders and for the pack too.
Their eyes met and her defiance to make him suffer too was very apparent for him to see. He knew she was doing it out of spite. Her fear, he could taste it on the tip of his tongue and yet she was adamant.
Walan peeked out from the side of Faris and nodded at her in approval. He dared not glance in the direction of his raging Alpha.
Cassandra gestured with her finger to a stunned Lana, so that she could help her raise the sleeve of her gown.
Siroos wished to launch himself at Cassandra and steer her away but Faris held him back and whispered.
"Don’t interfere. They will make her life even more miserable. They already colluded and presented this in front of her on purpose at the exact time. To test her and to test you as well. Bear it for now, we will work on this later."
Siroos clutched his brother’s arm with such force that if he hadn’t been a shifter his bone would crumble.
"I am going to make them pay." His rage was like a sandstorm, heavy and choking. It surged through him and spread over his people and they could feel their throats constricting.
The scalding hot branding iron was brought forward and handed over to Walan while Lana’s shaking hands pulled Cassandra’s sleeve up, bearing her right arm for the sigil to be branded in her milky skin.
Siroos jerked himself free from Faris and went over to collect Cassandra in his robust arms from behind. Her back was plastered to his heaving chest and her breath almost knocked out of her lungs. But the fear and tenseness grappling her body slipped down a notch.
"It’s going to be extremely painful. You don’t have to do this. I can still make this stop," his low and dangerous voice sounded in her ear, his large thick palm rubbed the smooth skin where they were about to burn her.
Her heart was a mess, although she was putting on this bravado, she was so afraid. Siroos could clearly hear the fearful thundering of her fragile heart. He didn’t know it was already broken by his hidden truth.
Cassandra let out a frustrated breath and painfully uttered.
"Yes, I do. I will be tested, that’s what you said. I have to be worthy to be the Luna Queen. I am proving my worth."
"You don’t have to. That’s not what I meant," Siroos whispered back but Cassandra was done listening to him.
"Elder Walan, go ahead," she spoke with authority, fitting of her status.
Siroos had seen hundreds of members getting branded, and although he had never liked the custom, he hadn’t felt this kind of pain which he was experiencing at that moment.
Amidst Siroos’s murderous glare and Cassandra’s fake boldness, the burning iron rod was seared into her skin.