Damien

My eyes move to Eric. Dane couldn’t be serious. Especially not now, not with all that is happening.

“Well?” Dane mutters as he puts Evrin down on the floor. I watch him crawl over to his brother, completely oblivious to what’s happening. It must be wonderful to only care about food, sleep, a clean nappy and feeling happy.

“Why?”

“I thought I had already made myself clear.” Dane muses. “I honestly don’t care that you are different.” He points to his boys. “They are different from me, yet they are still mine.”

“Neah?”

“Neah knows.”

“Is she okay with it?”

“She thinks it’s a great idea.”

“Damien Black.” I mutter to myself

“Suits you perfectly.” Eric smiles

Mallory had always been my family. No one else, just me and her until…. And then it was just me and her again, surrounded by those I had become good friends with.

“You don’t have to decide right…..”

“I will do it. I want to do it.”

Dane holds his hand out to me and shakes mine. “Welcome to the family.”

He sends Eric to go and get Neah and Mallory, so they can be here to witness both the oath and my acceptance into the family.

Mallory loops her arms around me and apologises for snapping at me earlier while Neah makes a joke about putting me on uncle duties.

“First, I need you to formally accept the name.” Dane tells me. “Give me your hand.”

“You know what you are doing?”

“Yes. I had to do it when my stepmother accepted me as her own.” He tells me.

I hold my hand back out and he takes it in his like he was going to shake it again. Eric steps forward with a rope, tying it around both of our wrists but leaves the back of our hands uncovered. He takes out a knife and positions the tip against the back of Dane’s hand. He pushes the tip into Dane’s flesh and starts dragging it towards my hand, splitting his skin open.

“Do you, Damien, relinquish all past ties and accept the Black family name as your own?”

“I do.”

“Do you, Damien Black, accept me, Alpha Dane Black as your brother?”

“I do.” Eric’s knife pierces my flesh, splitting the skin across the back of my hand, mixing Danes blood with mine.

“Do you, Damien Black, understand that you will forever carry the Black surname and that you will represent Black Shadow for as long as you shall live?”

I couldn’t help but smile. I could already feel a connection building with Dane that wasn’t there previously.

His hand squeezes mine and his crimson eyes are wide as he waits for my answer.

“Yes, I do.”

“And finally, do you, Damien Black, accept the position of Black Shadows Beta?”

“Get ready.” Eric warns me with a smirk

“I do.”

Eric rips the blade back up to Dane’s hand, spilling even more of my blood. As it slices through Dane’s skin, I feel more connections to people than I had ever felt before.

Dane’s hand heals quicker than mine and Eric slowly unbinds the ropes. His eyes meet mine. ‘And now you can hear all of us when needed.’ His voice rattles through my head.

It was an odd feeling to hear a Wolf. But what’s even stranger is the strength that I feel. Is that how Dane feels all the time?

The back of my hand begins to heal until a thin pink line remains, but even that fades more quickly than usual.

“How do you feel?” Dane asks.

“Different. How is that possible?”

“My blood.” He murmurs

“But it’s not a Blood Tie?” Neah asks with concern

“No. It’s nothing like what Kyle did to you.” Dane tells her.

“Why now?” I ask

“Shouldn’t you have asked that before agreeing?” Eric laughs and Mallory elbows him.

“You made it sound like it’s something you have been considering for a while,” I say to Dane. “So why now?”

“You are right. It is something I have

been thinking about for several months. But there has never been what I would consider the right time to ask. And right now, it doesn’t seem like there is ever going to be a righttime, except for right in the moment. You were going to take the Béta Oath anyway, so why not offer you what I was hoping you would say yes too!”

“Now you will know if I’m in trouble, and I can link you if needed.” He adds

I glance over to Mallory who winks

at me. Neither of us had expected anything to come out of living here My goal was simply to get her

somewhere where she could

actually live the life she wante

I

just had a simple goal of protecting the Alpha. Never did I think anything like this would happen.

“So now I’m officially a part of the pack, what are we doing next? I assume you want us to carry on as normal?”

“Exactly that. We will stick with Neah’s plan unless something changes. We will re-evaluate when and if something happens. But everyone needs to be vigilant. I’m not letting some fucker destroy what I have spent years building. Dane scowls but his eyes are on his twins.