Novels by Monica Ukeh

Bennett"What are you waiting for, Bennett?"My mouth hung open as I glanced at the door Henley had just exited through. I was speechless for the first time in a long time. Not only because of the offense of her remarks, but also because of her tenacity. Nobody has ever spoken to me like that before. Not even my closest companion. And what about the hair flip? Was it really necessary?"Bennett," Sebastian said again, his voice firm.Turning to face him, I cleared my throat and straightened up a little straighter in my seat. "W-what?"His brows raised slightly, but he swiftly returned to a disapproving expression. "What are you doing just sitting there? Follow her."Should you go after her? "Why would I do such a thing? You just heard what she said to me—""Have you been listening to yourself all night?" he asked. "Ben, I'm serious. I knew you were stupid, but I didn't realize it was this terrible."I attempted to recall what I had said. Nothing felt particularly insulting to me. Maybe

HenleyBennett remained staring at me as we walked down the street, looking for his driver. I tried not to be self-conscious, but it was difficult. I wasn't used to being so... well-dressed. It also angered me that he hadn't looked at me before I got all dolled up, but even I could acknowledge that my new look had taken me from a solid six to a ten."How about we take the subway?" I offered, returning to frown at him and catching him ogling me once again.When he peered around for his driver, he coughed slightly and placed a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun. "Were you aware that around 15% of the air you breathe in on the subway is made up of skin particles? Not only from bare skin. From the entire body.""How on earth do you know that?""I enjoy reading," he replied. "It was in a metro study back in 2008."He didn't appear to be the type to read. Yet, it did explain how he learned such odd stuff. "Isn't human stuff present in all air? Particularly in New York City?""Tr

HenleyEverything went swimmingly for the first half of the vehicle ride. Bennett kept his mouth shut while the music remained loud. Finally, at the hour mark, he turned down the sound."I'll park my car just outside of town, and a driver will pick us up to take us the rest of the way," he explained."Why don't we just pull over to a gas station and ride in?"He creased his brow. "Why would I take dirty public transportation when I can pay a driver to drive these streets?"While I wasn't a huge fan of public transportation, I wouldn't have gone quite that far. In the congested city, the subways and trains were extremely handy. We'd probably spend more time stuck in traffic than it would take to ride into town. But I didn't argue. I expected my comments to fall on deaf ears. Bennett appeared to be the type to do whatever he wanted regardless of what others thought.And I was being paid to do it, so I didn't have much say in the matter."What are we going to do?" I inquired, staring dow

HenleyFor the tenth time in twenty minutes, my phone rang. Annoyed, I pulled it out of my pocket to see the name Bennett Calloway flashing on the screen. Was he some sort of insane stalker? I'd never met somebody who would call someone every two minutes if they didn't respond immediately. Not wanting to give him the joy of me answering it, I opted to just switch off my phone. It would then be less distracting."Bennett once more?" Ariana summoned me from the back room."Doesn't he realize I'm at work?" I enquired aloud. I'd provided him my Coffee House schedule for the week, as he'd requested. So, if he'd gotten it, why was he attempting to contact me in the middle of my shift? I couldn't just pick up the phone at work.Well, I could, but I wouldn't tell him."Aren't you a little excited?" As she returned with an armful of coffee bean bags, Ariana murmured. "He's very attractive.""He's cute, but his demeanor needs some work," I said, recalling the remark about my breasts. Didn't he

BennettHook, line, and sinker are all included.I knew I'd won Henley over the instant I made my offer and saw her face go blank. After all, money could buy anything."Well, what are the terms?" she inquired, and I found myself wide-eyed."Should we talk about them?" I proposed. I unlocked my phone and opened the agreement I'd worked on all week.I unlocked my phone and opened the agreement I'd drafted over the previous week.Sebastian rose from his seat at the table, opting to give us some space. He stepped over to the counter to keep the other girl company while she looked over at us wistfully, obviously intrigued but not wanting to intrude on our privacy.I could practically see Henley's inner conflict as she observed me carefully. While I didn't blame her for having difficulty agreeing to this, I didn't perceive it as negatively as she did. We were utilizing one another. That's how all business transactions operated."Don't you think $10,000 is a bit much?" she inquired."Not at

Henley"Does the surname Calloway ring a bell for you?" I asked Ariana one week after the whole restaurant disaster. We were at my second part-time job, a coffee shop called Coffee House.Ariana was unquestionably my best friend. She may have played that position purely because I didn't have any other pals and we worked together for most of the week, but she was more than enough for me. She was adorable, kind, and an all-around nice girl. Everyone needed someone like this in their lives."If I say yes, will you fishtail my hair?" She reacted by pointing to her dark hair, which was tied in an untidy bun on top of her head. "I was already late for work and couldn't do much about it.""All right, all right, sit down."Ariana gladly sat down on one of the stools that lined the countertop. Fortunately, the coffee shop was rather empty, as it always is in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to style her hair. "I'm concerned that you don't recognize the name," she told me. "But you do spe

[Alexander]** Epilogue **** One Year Later **I didn’t mind that we had had to postpone our wedding. The twins were growing beautifully, and rather normal for babies who had both wolf and witch blood coursing through them. It was Camilla who had explained their rapid growth before birth - Elizabeth, who was afraid of the dark, had closed her little eyes inside her mother’s womb, and had somehow managed to speed up the process of her mother’s pregnancy. Leo, on the other hand, seemed to fear nothing. I could tell by the way he climbed to the very top of the apple tree in the garden to pick some fruit for his sister and him.All those around us, our friends, family, acquaintances, all fell in love with the twins the moment they interacted with them. Leo, with his gift of insight, and Beth with her gift of healing. The girl had a tremendous power to win over hearts, while Leo awed them with his strength and ability to show them what he wanted wit

[Valerie]If I thought I was full of nerves before, I really had no idea what I was in for the afternoon before my wedding.Everything around me was moving fast, and the women who’d seemingly taken up residence in our small, two-bedroom house were moving faster.“Where are the dresses?!”“Where are Valerie’s shoes?!”“Did anyone call the makeup artist?!”Questions like these were flying around, the air thick with the agitation I was sure everyone was feeling. But all the preparations seemed to overshadow me, and in some ways, I was thankful for that. I didn’t quite like being the center of attention, and with only a few hours left before that became inevitable, I sneaked into my room, quietly locked my door, and laid down on my bed.My belly was huge by now, and if I looked up while laying down, it was as if I was staring at a mountain. Watching my babies grow day by day made me miss my mate eve

[Alexander]I had promised Adam one last hunt before the wedding. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but after all, it was only a few more days until I’d get to wake up next to Valerie every morning for the rest of my life.Over the past couple of days, I’d been packing away some of the clothes I had in my closet, making space for Valerie’s things. The small, abandoned town in Walnut Creek wasn’t exactly ready to be lived in, and I had contracted some builders to redo the dilapidated walls and tile the floors. I’d told them to leave the walls unpainted because it sounded like a good idea to do it myself.I’d been spending most of the day organizing some work files that I was planning to give to Adam while he stood in my place at Young Industries. It was only temporary, while Valerie and I would spend our honeymoon in Greece.Valerie didn’t know about our trip. I’d managed to keep it a secret, and thought

[Valerie]With less than two weeks to go before the big day, I didn’t have much time left. I’d been putting off going to see Camilla in Oakridge for far too long, and decided that if I didn’t do it today, it would never get done.I wasn’t planning on visiting her alone. I was expecting Layla to accompany me, but she was taking longer than expected to come out of her dorm room. It was only when she finally emerged that I realized what was holding her up.Selena’s cheeks reddened the moment she saw me standing outside. I hadn’t seen her in a while, since I wasn’t allowed to hunt, and was too busy with wedding preparations to meet with her. I was guessing that Layla finally found the courage to speak to her, and it didn’t bother me at all. However, Selena looked like a bear caught in a trap.“Hi, Selena.” I waved from the corridor. “How’s everyone doing?”Selena seemed taken aback by

[Alexander]I couldn’t wait to get back from work and visit Valerie that evening. It was as if the moment we were given the green light to go ahead and get married; it had become increasingly difficult to stay away from each other.I was just about to pack my things away and leave the office when I saw Adam making his way towards the door. Putting my phone in my pocket, I stood up and picked up my suit jacket from behind my chair.“Hey man!” Adam grinned as he entered the office.The rest of the building had cleared out, with Melissa giving me a curt nod before she left. News about my marriage had spread through the town, and once Melissa heard about it, she’d given in her resignation. For the most part, I was glad. That one very awkward and meaningless kiss we shared on impulse wasn’t exactly a fond memory, and even while I suspected she was leaving because any hope she ever had before had been stripped by the news that I was gettin

[Valerie]** Two Weeks Later **The day we planned on saying our vows to each other and sealing our souls together into forever was near. I highly doubted that it was nerves for the big day that had me throwing up that morning, or the fact that we were going out shopping for dresses.We’d picked the date - fourth November, the birth of a new moon, as well as the birth of our unification. With just a little less than three weeks to go, planning for the big day was well underway. Everyone seemed to accept that we wanted to do this as quickly as possible, but the only trouble seemed to come from Alexander’s mom, who refused to settle on some private affair. I supposed she had big dreams for her son’s big day - after all, he was the eldest of her children.All the planning didn’t matter much to me. The color of the drapes, the length of the aisle, the style of the dress - seemed insignificant when I was doing the most important thing of all; I