Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North
Chapter 89: THE CEREMONY

Chapter 89: THE CEREMONY

FIRST LIFE

(((ZENITH’S POV)))

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This must be the first time, after such a long time, for Zenith to meet with Dawn again and talk to her during the day.

"Dawn," Zenith called her and he liked the way his tongue rolled when he mentioned her name.

She just returned from her short trip to the greenhouse. Zenith knew she liked very few things. Spending time in the greenhouse, learning about herbs, daggers and eating deer meat. He could tell a few things about her, though not all, but he knew more about her than she knew about himself.

This time, whether she liked it or not, he was going to make her his woman.

The prophecy was over now, right? He had mated and marked Alia. It ended. It wouldn’t affect Dawn now... right?

"Be ready for the ceremony, you can do whatever you please with the preparations," Zenith said. He could see how surprised Dawn was when she saw him inside her bedroom, but it was hard to tell whether it was in a good way or not.

"Don’t you think it’s four years too late?

She was upset. Zenith wanted to pull her close and hug her, but he didn’t do it. She hated him. That was what he was told by the people he put around her.

"You are my chosen mate in the first place, there is nothing too late about this."

"Why now?"

Because he couldn’t risk her life. Because if he had marked and mated her, it would have been her who got attacked by the monsters and it would have been her funeral weeks ago. Her life would have been in danger, not only from his own supporters, but also Zander’s.

The king would also pressure him to kill Dawn right away because that was their original plan. Zenith knew if he delayed, Zander would take the matter into his own hands once he knew Dawn had been mated and marked by Zenith.

Therefore, he took Alia and used her as the sacrifice. It was cruel, yes, but Alia was not that innocent either.

Things were too complicated for him to explain and he didn’t try to do so.

"Because the right time is now." Zenith walked toward Dawn, he wanted to caress her cheek and brush her hair, but he kept the desire to himself. "Let’s have breakfast together in the dining hall. This time, don’t refuse again."

Zenith had asked Dawn to have breakfast, lunch or dinner with him several times, but Fern always said that she refused all the requests.

The next day, Zenith came to Dawn’s bedroom to fetch her, so she wouldn’t be able to refuse. He needed to introduce her to all the pack members. Though it was very late, he would do her right this time.

"Zander is furious," Axel said before Zenith left.

"Let him be furious." This was not the first time for Zander to be furious with him, after all, his decision changed the whole plan.

"What are you going to do with these dozens of letters?" Axel asked.

"It must be hard on you, buddy," Darius said, as he looked at the messenger hawk pitifully. Thankfully, the hawk couldn’t speak, or else, it would have cursed at Zander.

The king literally sent a letter every hour, while Zenith refused to reply.

"Tell him that I have secured the harbor in the Moonlight pack." This would be enough to appease Zander and reassure his own supporters, who would think their dirty deals in the harbor were under Zenith’s control now.

With the harbor under Zenith’s control, he would know more about the illegal trades there and Zander would have more evidence to get rid of all the pests from his court.

"How did you do that?" Darius was surprised and then looked at Axel. "Did you know about that?"

Axel shook his head. "No."

Even his beta was not aware of that.

"What about you?" Darius asked Thean.

"I know. You helped too." Thean looked at them casually and reminded them about the tasks that Zenith had assigned to them.

"How would we know the result is this?!" Darius was frustrated. Zenith always gave them assignments without explaining the whole thing first, only when everything was done and they were able to see the bigger picture, would they realize what their alpha aimed for all this time.

"I know," Thean said innocently, which earned him a glare from the beta and gamma.

Meanwhile, Zenith didn’t stay to hear their bickering, he went to fetch Dawn and take her to the dining hall, where he introduced her to all the pack members that were eating there. Most of them were warriors.

"Eat more," Zenith said when he noticed how little she was eating.

After that, they walked together near the forest, it was a safe area, or else, Zenith wouldn’t have taken Dawn here.

There was nothing much that they said, most of the time they just kept walking and somehow, this silence was very comforting.

They should talk more, he should find a topic to talk about, but Zenith thought they would have a lot of time to do so, a lifetime... or so he thought.

"Zen, Axel has been looking for you, you need to see him. There is an urgent message from the capital city," Aurel said hurriedly, disturbing the moment.

Zenith almost forgot about her existence. He was not even aware that she was still in the pack house.

"I will walk you back to your bedroom." Zenith knew what kind of urgent matter from the capital city was waiting for him, but he still wanted to spend a little more time with Dawn.

And with that, Zenith had to take care of his furious brother first, which kept him from seeing Dawn until the ceremony. Zander insisted on coming only to piss Zenith off, because the latter didn’t want him here.

Yet, Zander only felt this was a little payback for all the headache that Zenith had put him through.

Thankfully, aside from his annoying brother, the ceremony went smoothly. Zenith stared at Dawn the whole time, as she seemed to space out every now. But then, he didn’t think much about it, assuming she was just nervous.

And once the ceremony was done and over with, the only thing that left to solidify their union was to mate and mark her.

He was not sure about this, he tried to search for any hesitation in her eyes, but he couldn’t tell.

"You don’t need to talk to her if you don’t want to," Zenith said when he knew Aurel had just come. He would have a stern talk with that healer. She needed to stay away from his mate.

"Okay."

After that, Dawn went to clean herself, while Zenith thought about what he had to do. He didn’t want to hurt her, nor did he want to force her to do something that she didn’t want to.

However, when three hours had passed and Dawn still didn’t come out of the bathroom, it left Zenith worried. But when he went inside, Dawn was still inside the bathtub.

Did she do it because she didn’t want to go through the next step? She was not willing to be marked by him?

"You don’t want to do it."

"I want it."

Zenith was not sure whether she was telling the truth or not.

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