Chapter 4: The Ceremony

Nora’s POV

“Ow!” I cry, pulling my hand off Ethan’s mouth. “Did you seriously just bite me?”

“As I was saying,” Ethan laughs. “The first night at staying over at my sister’s house, Amy came into my room and was praising my appearance,” he smirks, “Obviously, my niece must think I’m pretty handsome.”

I am puzzled by Ethan’s comment? Isn’t he referring to the night I got stupid drunk and harassed him? Is that not how it actually went, did I really just compliment him? I was so plastered that night I can barely remember, so I have to take his word for it. Besides, I’m just grateful he didn’t tell Sylvia about the night we met… the night at Alpha Aaron’s son’s party. Crisis averted.

We arrive back at my parents house, and I quickly take Sylvia into the guest room with me.

“So, you agree that your uncle’s hot?” Sylvia teases.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I flush scarlet red with embarrassment.

Damn it, Ethan! He can’t just go around implying to my friends that I’m attracted to him, it’s sickening! They’ll get the wrong idea.

As Sylvia unpacks her things and settles in my room, I find Ethan and invite him to go on a brief walk by the lake outside our house. He agrees.

The lake is beautiful, with the shimmering, blue surface and the cool wind that blows across it, creating calm waves and ripped upon the water. Ethan walks behind me silently. I hug myself in my sweater, a little chilly.

“Would you like my jacket Princess?” Suddenly, Ethan offers.

Why the fuck is he offering me his jacket? Does he think it’s funny to act like my boyfriend? No, I think, it’s perfectly ordinary for an uncle or father to offer their niece or daughter a jacket. I'm paranoid and overthinking.

“Honestly I don’t like you calling me Princess. Like I am still a little girl.”

“But you ARE a little girl. At least for me, you are a little girl.” he chuckles.

Hearing what he says, I can’t help feeling bad. “And, Uncle Ethan, we need to talk,” I say sternly.

“About what?” He raises an eyebrow.

“About what you told Sylvia! You can’t just go around saying I find you ‘handsome,’ the implications are too weird.”

Ethan blinks.

“I am your niece, you are my uncle, the only connection between us should be respectful, normal. For fuck’s sake, we’re related by blood!” I raise my voice a little louder and more aggressively than I intended to. “Please promise me you won’t say anything like that ever again.”

“Alright, Princess, alright,” Ethan smiles. It is not the handsome, devilish smile I typically see him wear, but an awkward and ungainly smile that shouldn’t appear on such a pretty face. “I promise.”

I cringe a little internally.

For a while, I can’t forget his smile, but under pressure of my birthday, I’m quite busy these days. Time flies by and the ceremony comes quickly.

It is a dazzling party, full of the most high-status members of the neighbouring packs and the Blood Moon Pack, all dressed to the nines and sipping champagne while eating chocolate covered strawberries.

My parents rented a ballroom for the occasion and decorated it with intricately carved, ice sculptures of the most notable people in my bloodline’s history, including my maternal and paternal grandparents.

Before the ceremony, mom praised my dress and makeup. But thinking it will disappear after my first shift tonight, I chuckle.

So excited to finally become one with my wolf, I forget all about the mess with Ethan. After all, tonight might be the night I find who my mate is, and the affair with Ethan will become a thing of the past completely.

The shift comes at midnight, when the full, pale moon is at the highest point in the sky, shining through the windows of the ballroom. I enter the prepared tent with a palpitating heart.

No one can see me now; the only thing I need to do is focus on my inner world and absorb the moon’s energy.

What will my wolf look like? Will she be special? Will we have a handsome and hot mate? And will it hurt when I shift?

I wait, wait and wait… Suddenly, I hear an odd sound from my body. I feel my bones crack and break and rearrange themselves in a different form. It is painful, but a good sort of pain, a pain that I welcome.

Black fur emerges from my skin; I want to know how it feels but before I manage to touch, sharp nails drill out from my fingers.

It’s painful but I can’t give up. The holiest thing in a werewolf’s life is to witness the wake-up of their wolf.

Dimly I hear “Hi Nora, I am Demi.”

In a twinkling, I find myself standing with a wolf’s body.

The shift is finished; I feel reborn in my new body; a slender black wolf with ice blue eyes and jet black fur. The night looks different through the eyes of me wolf, more clear, as I can see better in the darkness. I can pick up on scents that I never conceptualize in my human form, perceiving the world through my nose. It’s incredible.

But there’s a scent missing, I realize, the scent of my mate.

Where could he be? My wolf should be able to recognize his scent instantly?

I stick my nose into the air, trying to find some semblance of him anywhere, but nothing.

“Can you feel him Demi? Our mate.” My wolf doesn’t reply to me.

Feeling my heart sink into the pit of my stomach. Without considering why Demi didn’t reply to me, I shift back into my human form, put on the spare clothes and run out of the ballroom.

“Nora, wait!” Sylvia grabs my wrist, a look of worry on her face, but I run past her, before collapsing into tears on the steps outside the building.

I don’t know how long I am crying before I hear footsteps behind me. I turn around to see my parents, looks of sympathy on their faces.

“Nora, dear, don’t look so sad on your birthday,” my mother sits down next to me, cradling my head in her arms.

“What’s wrong, Nora?” My father takes a seat on the steps.

“What if I have no mate?” I sob.

“Don’t be silly, of course you have a mate, everyone does,” my mother soothes me.

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Of course we do,” my father insists. “You’ll find him one day.”

I suppose they’re right, but I’m still disappointed. This night was not the perfect night that I had been led to envision.

My parents continue to comfort me through my tears until there is nothing left inside me to cry out, and we return to the ceremony. I can feel they are disappointed too, but in front of all the werewolves here, they can’t show it.

My uncle gazes at me in the corner; I'm so humiliated! I try to distract myself with the drinks and food but fail.

I can feel my wolf inside me. I know we have only just become bonded with one another, but there is something so comforting and familiar about her. I want to get help from her.

"Umm... Demi, are you okay?" I try to talk to her again.

Talking to her feels like talking to an old friend.

"Don't worry," she replies. "I believe we have already met our mate."

"We have?"

"I cannot say who, but I smelled a special scent while I was still sleeping several days ago. It was the mate’s scent, I have no doubt about that. The scent is special for us!"

Several days ago? Who could she be talking about…

"Try and recall where you were in the week before and who you spoke to. Then, we will find our mate."