Chapter 5: My Princess, My Mate, My Niece

Ethan’s POV

The Moon Goddess has a funny way of going about things sometimes.

And by “funny,” I mean sadistic. But I guess that’s just her sense of humour.

I remember when my sister invited me to my niece’s 18th birthday party several weeks before. I wasn’t expecting anything particularly eventful, just a chance to see my sister and catch up with my niece. After all, I hadn’t seen the girl since she was just a little kid, maybe ten or eleven years ago? I don’t recall exactly.

I decided to drop by Alpha Aaron's son’s party before visiting my sister. Alpha Aaron is a respectable figure, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to be familiar with him. Besides, the party was on the way to my sister’s place anyway.

That ended up being the worst mistake of my fucking life.

I remember having drinks and making small talk with Alpha Aaron's son, a fine young man, much like his father, when my wolf picked up on the most enticing scent. I followed it into an upstairs room, where, in the darkness, I found her, that girl. I couldn’t see her through the dark, but her scent was unmistakable, this girl was my mate, and my wolf craved her with such intensity.

I woke up the next morning to find my newly found mate was gone. No worries, I thought, I’ll find her again soon. For now, I needed to make it to my sister Aria’s house.

Looking back now, I should have just gone home.

No words can properly articulate the shame and horror that struck me when Aria introduced me to her daughter, and I was met yet again with that enticing scent. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach as I gazed upon her all too familiar face. It was her, the young girl from last night, the girl that I slept with, little Nora, my mate, my niece.

At first, overcome with denial and self-loathing, I wondered if the Moon Goddess was playing some cruel joke on me. The mate bond should never appear between two wolves related by blood. This was impossible. Or at least, it should have bene impossible, but as the night when on, I could not ignore the obvious implications of Nora’s scent. She is my mate, and I am hers.

Desperate, I snuck away from my sister’s house one night while she and her husband slept, and Nora was back at college, to meet up with the only person I could think to help me.

Malefica, the witch.

She lives near the border of the alpha king’s land, in a little lakeside shop full of potions and curses in a bottle and other enchanted items. Driving more than 4 hours, I pounded my fists on her shop door late into the night, ignoring the “closed” sign.

“Go away!” Malefica hissed from inside. “Shop doesn't open until morning!”

“Please, Malefica, I need this now!” I continued hammering my fists against the door.

“What the fuck could you possibly need at this ungodly hour?” Malefica swung the door open, a look of unfiltered irritation on her face. Even with her tired, baggy eyes and sunken, gaunt features, she is strangely beautiful.

“My niece is my mate!” I told her.

I knew I could trust her. Malefica always kept the secrets fo her guests.

Her angry eyes softened with pity. Having known her for so many years, I’d never seen her wear such an expression. “Oh, you poor thing,” she says. “Come inside.”

We entered her shop, where she made me a cup of tea. It tasted bitter, but I thanked her out of politeness.

“So how old is the girl?” she asked, heating up a cauldron over the fireplace in her shop front. “Your niece.”

“Her 18th birthday is in the next couple days,” I said. “Which is why I need help now, before her wolf discovers our… our bond.”

“Well, you’ve found yourself in quite the dilemma, haven't you?” she cackled, sprinkling a red powder that reeks of battery acid into the cauldron.

“Is there any way you can undo this?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” she opened a jar of live beatles, plucking open out and dropping the unfortunate creature into the cauldron. “The mate bond will exist between the two of you forever. I can’t change the moon goddess’ decision,” she said and she stirred her concoction with a wooden spoon.

I buried my face in my hands.

“But,” she took out a glass vial, pouring the liquid from the cauldron into it. “I can still help you.”

“How?”

“Take this,” she handed me the vial. “It will mask your scent from Nora. Make sure to spray it on yourself when you’re near her, and she’ll never know you are her mate.”

“Thank you,” I took the vial. “Thank you so so much. How can I repay you?”

“Ooh, prices are always so difficult,” she pondered her next words for a minute. “I haven't decided yet. Give me a few days to think, maybe a few months, even.”

“As long as it works,” I said. “And… can you help me with one more thing?”

“In exchange for what I need, I can help you with anything,” she grinned.

I told her about Charlotte, Nora's less than pleasant vlassmate, asking for some sort of solution to erase her memory. The witch oblidged, and without, I said my goodbyes, and left.

After bringing Nora and her friend back from college, I tried to find an opportunity to be alone with my niece. It came to me when she invited me on a walk by the lake. While strolling behind her, I sprayed two spritizes of the potion behind my ear. It was a useless thing to do, the girl wasn't even 18 yet, but I wanted to be extra precautious.

In that moment, I remember how my wolf’s sadness bloomed inside me, like vines and flowers ripping through the concrete cracks in my heart, but I swallowed the sadness, refusing to give into it.

“Why are you doing this,” my wolf, Sean, cried and growled. “She is ours and we are hers. We need her.”

“This isn't about what we need. What she needs is for me to be her uncle,” I said.

“You belong with her,” Sean continued pressing. “We both belong together.”

“No, we don't,” I snapped. “Even if she is our mate, we do not belong with her. At all.”

Without warning, Nora stopped walking and whipped around to face me.

“Ethan, we need to talk,” she said sternly.

“About what?” I asked, trying to mask the fear that creeps through me as I wonder what she could possibly want to ask me about. I prayed to the Moon Goddess that it isn't about that night at Alpha Aaron’s house.

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

I didn’t know how to respond, so I just stood there in silence like a scolded little boy who knows just how guilty he is.

“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!” she looked angry, her jaw clenched, her fists shaking, her eyes screaming murder. “Please promise me you won’t say anything like that ever again.”

Her words, and the poisonous tone she spoke them with, hit me like I was a children’s birthday piñata. “Promise me you won’t say anything like that ever again.” Goddess, how could I be so reckless with my joking around? How could I let myself upset the girl so much? That was the last thing I wanted to do to Nora.

Beautiful Nora.

My beautiful Nora.

Nora who stared at me with such hatred.

I remember how Sean howled with pain and loss that day, like the world was ending tomorrow. And it may as well have been ending for all I cared, but I tried to smile through it. My smile was twisted and uncanny, not the smile I intended to make at all.

“Alright, Princess, alright,” I said. “I promise.”

We walked back to my sister’s house, and all I could think was how nervous I was for the ceremony. Only then would I know if the potion worked.

And if it does, I would leave Nora’s life forever and never return.