‘You scared me, Magnus! Don’t sneak up on me like that again.’
‘Sorry.’ I say, ringing my shirt out.
Nina moves over to a dry area on the grass. I sit opposite her.
‘What are you doing, Magnus?’
‘Monitoring you, so you don’t get caught.’
‘I will not get caught, Magnus.’
‘What spell are you going to try now?’ I say, changing the subject.
‘There is one here called The Blinking Spell, which says to focus on an area you can see in the distance, wave your wand, and say Skedaddle Dash. This will port you in that area. This spell can make you blink or teleport up to a one thousand metre radius at a time.’
‘Think of how quickly you can get to school with that spell?’ I laugh.
Nina rolls her eyes and stands up. She walks roughly five metres away from me and looks past me into the distance.
‘Okay, here goes nothing.’ She says, waving her wand. ‘Skedaddle Dash!’
She disappears for a split second; I suddenly felt a weight on my lap. I look down to see Nina blushing as I hold her like a baby in my arms.
I burst into laughter. ‘I like this spell a lot.’
She shoves my chest and crawls out of my lap.
‘That’s not what was supposed to happen.’ She growls.
‘Well, you must have wanted to be in my arms, Nina. Remember, the magic only ports you to where you want to be within a one thousand metre radius. I say, waddling my index finger at her.
‘You’re so stupid, Magnus, don’t think so highly of yourself.’ She blushes. ‘The spell didn’t work properly, that’s all.’
‘I’m sure.’ I smirk.
This time Nina faces away from me and stares at the other side of the lake. She twirls her wand ‘Skedaddle Dash.’ She yells. Her body blinks and instantly appears on the other side of the lake.
‘I did it!’
‘You did it!’
‘I can’t believe I teleported that far!’
There is rustling from a nearby bush. I gesture my finger over my lip for Nina to be quiet. As I approach, a rabbit hops out of the bush. I’m instantly relieved after thinking someone has been watching us.
‘It’s just a rabbit, Nina laughs.’
Nina twirls her wand ‘Skedaddle Dash.’ She says and instantly appears in front of me, giggling.
‘Tremendous Nebulus.’ She says with a wave of her wand. A thick cloud of fog forms out of thin air in front of her. She twirls her wand around, spreading it over the lake.
I watch her spend most of the day practising spells from the book. She seems to grow weary and tired.
‘Nina, perhaps you should stop with the spells for now. They seem to drain all your energy?’
‘No, I’m fine.’ She says with a sway. I catch her before she falls. She is so tired she doesn’t even try to fight me out of my arms. Instead, she snuggles up into my chest and falls asleep. I hold her tight and let her sleep. She has the cutest dimples and the sweetest smile on her face.
After a couple of hours, my eyes zone in onto the nape of her neck. My heart rate increases rapidly, and my face grows closer to her neck. My teeth protrude and lightly scrape the spot her mate is supposed to mark. I quickly flinch back and shake the urge to mark her out of my mind.
‘What is wrong with me? She isn’t even my mate, and I almost marked her.’
I have no choice but to wake her and move away from Nina before doing something very foolish.
‘Nina.’ I say, rubbing her am. ‘Nina.’
‘Mmm?’ she mumbles.
‘Time to wake up. Your ceremony begins soon.’
She rubs her eyes and blinks a few times. As soon as she realises she has been sleeping in my lap, she crawls off me.
‘Sorry.’ Says.
‘Don’t be. You needed the sleep.’
‘Thanks.’ She smiles.
‘Let’s get home and get ready for your ceremony.’
She nods, and we walk back home.
As we reach the top of the stairs, she gives me the book of spells.
‘I’ll see you shortly at the ceremony.’ She says.
‘You will.’ I smile.
I place the book in my backpack, zip it up, and pick out a black suit with a white shirt and a blue tie. As soon as I’ve showered, I get dressed and head downstairs.
‘Looking snazzy there, son.’ My dad says.
‘Thanks. Is everyone ready for the ceremony?’
‘We are just waiting on Nina.’ Amelia says.
Moments later, Nina appears at the top of the staircase in a stunning silver sparkling dress with matching heels and diamond earrings. My heart wants to combust at her sheer beauty spontaneously.
Flint slaps me hard on the back, knocking me out of my apparent trance.
‘Try to be less obvious to your feelings, Magnus, if anyone sees you and Nina staring at each other like when she isn’t your mate. You know it will cause a lot of problems in the pack.’
‘Less obvious of what feelings?’ I ask.
‘That you are in love with each other?’
I give him a weird look. ‘You’re seeing things, Flint. Nina and I care about each other as best friends, but we are not in love.’
‘You keep telling yourself that.’ He says with a hand on my shoulder. I frown.
We all enter the ceremony hall and enjoy the banquet of food. Nina’s parents and my parents made speeches. I notice Hank is at a table, glaring at me from across the room. He is probably angry that I got his dad to agree on a mateship with his daughter at my nineteenth instead of right away. I do my best to ignore him, but something seems off. The moon is now centred above the hall. It’s time for Nina to step into the moonlight and shift. Her Dad, Leon, takes her hand and walks her to the centre of the hall, and places a kiss on her forehead. He walks away and takes his seat next to his mate, Amelia.
Minutes go by, and nothing happens. Nina gives me a worried look. I smile and nod my head to assure her not to worry. Hank is smiling while everyone else scratches their heads. Almost twenty minutes have gone by, and everyone whispers. Nina is holding her own, trying to remain calm and appear unaffected by nothing yet happening.
My dad stands up.
‘Quiet everyone another round of drinks while we wait. I’m sure Nina’s wolf will appear any moment now.’ He assures everyone.
Another twenty minutes go by with no signs of Nina’s wolf. Someone from a different pack stands up.
‘If she doesn’t have a wolf, that makes her a human.’
Everyone gasps and stares at Nina as she trembles and looks for me to help. I stand up and walk over to her and hold her hand.
Hank stands up and claps his hands. Everyone turns to stare at him.
‘Bravo, Bravo,’ he shouts. Everyone is confused.
Nina and I realise he is about to expose her curse. I place my hands on her shoulders. ‘Nina, what if this is the curse? That your wolf is dormant?’
‘But that makes little sense of how it affects you, though?’
My face instantly pales as I revise a section of the spellbook in my head.
Anyone can also curse someone using their god’s or goddess’s name. A powerful sign will occur, such as an earthquake, lightning strike, or a loud rumble from the sky if the god or goddess accepts your prayer, wish, or a curse.
Then a flashback of when I was a child passes through my mind.
‘Damn you, Nina, I wish if the Moon Goddess herself would curse you and not give you your wolf on your eighteenth birthday and remove your mate bond until the day I find my mate and fall in love,’ I say out loud.
Then I remember the flash of lightning that suddenly hit the roof of the packhouse and the thunder that roared in the sky. It was the Moon Goddess accepting the curse!
‘Nina… it affects me because I am the one who cursed you.’ I say in realisation.
