Venus, Melody, and Gabriella met on the first day of university in the admissions office and they became instant friends. Their original stories were that all three of them were orphans who had to make their own way through life. They moved into the same house just off campus which gave them the privacy they preferred under their unique circumstances. Venus had a part-time job as a virtual assistant to pay for her studies, while Melody sold baked goods from home to pay for hers. Everyone in the area loved her food, and the girls often told Melody that she should quit school and start her own bakery. Gabriella’s parents were rich and left her a ton of money after they died, which she could only get on her twenty-fifth birthday. Until that day, her father’s business partner oversaw her trust, and she just had to flutter her eyelashes and remind him that her parents died and he would give her more than her allowance.Venus studied history, and nobody could understand what on earth she wo
Venus pressed down on the hooter of her faded green antique VW Beetle for the umpteenth time that morning! Her two dearest friends were late for class as usual, which meant that she would be late! She checked her eyeliner in the rear-view mirror and pulled a stray pink hair back into place just as Melody came rushing out of the house with Gabriella right behind her. Gabriella promptly plopped down the stairs and put on her trainers before running to jump into the car. For someone who worked with deadlines, Venus always found it incredibly interesting how Gabriella always seem to meet her newspaper editor’s deadlines, but could never show up on time for anything else.“Here.” Melody handed them their morning coffee and one of her homemade biscuits, grabbing the steering wheel from Venus just in time to steady the car. It was the last week of their final exams and all three of them were looking forward to starting their grown-up lives, at least, as best they could in the human world.“H
Gabriella“Dammit! Has anyone seen my keys?” Melody rushed through the house turning every cushion upside down in the process. Venus was snuggled up to her cup of coffee while Gabriella yawned as she walked out of her room and they both frowned at Melody. “My apartment keys, girls. I’m going to be late!” She squealed as Gabriella walked over to the key holder near the front door and held out Melody’s keys for her. “You are a lifesaver!” Melody squealed. “Your coffee is in the kitchen and I’ve left lunch for the both of you in the fridge. BYE! Wish me luck!” She shouted as she ran out the door as Gabriella walked to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee.“How’s Bradley?” She grinned and Venus rolled her eyes. Her besties seemed to think something was going on between the two of them, but there was nothing. Bradley would have been the perfect guy if Venus had any feelings for him. He was sweet, kind, and overly generous and loved to show off his assistant at every possible function he had
Gabriella“I guess I don’t have to ask if you arrived safely?” Gabriela could just hear the amusement in Venus’s voice as she flopped down on her mother’s favourite chair in her bedroom.“Do you remember that guy I told you girls about?” She frowned, knowing that as soon as she told them the teasing was going to start, but she didn’t keep any secrets from her two sisters and when they couldn’t remember, no matter how much she tried to explain, she decided to just come out and say it. “Well, he’s my damn mate!” Her voice was soaked in frustration as she told them what happened and how she found out. They were squealing with laughter on the other side of the line and Gabriella almost wished she hadn’t told them, but she needed her besties to tell her what to do!“A lot of help you two are!” She gave up in the end when her friends wouldn’t stop teasing her. It really was an enormous problem! If her pack found out she had found her mate, they could insist that she accept Lucienne and forc
Gabriella“She’s too stupid to realize!” The man’s eyes turned black, showing that his wolf was near the surface, but his wife knew that he would never harm her. They had been mates since they met the first time at school. She had just transferred here from another pack. She couldn’t believe her luck when he was her mate. Now their entire lifestyle was being threatened by a girl!“Don’t you underestimate her! I still can’t understand why you had to bring her back here! You’ve been running the pack since the day her parents died! Why haven’t you demanded to be declared Alpha already?! Send her back to the life she wants in the city!” She screamed and stormed out of their room.On the other side of the territory, Gabriella was dealing with her own mate problem! Lucienne didn’t seem to leave her alone for one damn second and every time she glared at him, he would smile and tell her to reject him. As if he wanted her to! Maybe that was what he wanted. Maybe he had a little piece on the si
GabriellaDamn! Gabriella was planning on using this as an excuse to go back home, but if Venus wasn’t going to be there, there was absolutely no use in going home. Gabriella sighed as she hung up. She couldn’t believe that Venus didn’t tell her when it happened. It was sad to think that she had only been gone a couple of weeks and already she felt as though she was drifting so far apart from her friends. It was nice to catch up with Zion. They were best friends all through their childhood, at least, until Gabriella went away to her fancy school. They kept in touch every single day for about the first two weeks. Then school took over and Gabriella got busy and they slowly drifted apart.“What are you thinking so deeply?” Lucienne’s voice cracked through her thoughts and she rolled her eyes. Why on earth was he even here?!!“I was thinking about my girlfriends.” She sighed and poured them each a cup of coffee, taking a seat at the dining room table.“Your girlfriends?” Lucienne looked
VenusIt wasn’t weird to fly in a private plane because I had been on trips with Bradley. But it was weird to think that the plane now belonged to me. As I sat down and they handed me a glass of champagne, I fought the urge to cry. Bradley and I had so many memories we shared and they were all mostly good. He was sick twice to the point where I had no alternative but to rush him to the hospital, but the rest of the time we were like brother and sister. Hearing that he had left me his entire fortune was such a shock that I swore in front of the lawyer, making the poor woman almost swallow her tongue.I knew Bradley was rich, but when they started going through his portfolio, I nearly swallowed my tongue! When the plane landed, I stepped out and the smell of the ocean hit me right in the back of my nose. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. Yeah, I needed this. I needed to get away and clear my head before making any decisions about my future. I wondered if I was richer than Gabriel
Gabriella“Gabriella, come back. You can’t just walk out of the meeting.” Lucienne called after Gabriella, but she was so furious that the council could even suggest such a thing!“If you try and convince me that I have to do this, then you are even more senile than those old men!” Gabriella screamed at him and didn’t even look in his direction. The day had hardly started and she was already over it! There was no way they could expect her to fight her uncle for control of the pack! Why couldn’t they all just let her be and …“Get back here!” Lucienne’s arms wrapped around her and he nearly ran her over as she came to a sudden halt.“Excuse me?!” She growled. “Let go of me you son of a bitch!” Gabriella screamed and tried to push him away, but his grip was like steel wrapped around her. His body heat was radiating through his shirt. His eyes were like blue pools of ocean water she could drown in. Her wolf howled inside her head and tried to convince Gabriella to kiss Lucienne but that
Gabriella“Well, it wouldn’t have been a group holiday if someone didn’t get hurt.” Gabriella laughed as they all piled out of the boat upon their return to the island. Jake was all fixed up thanks to some angel magic which nobody, not even Melody, completely understood. The fairy queen kept to her word and as soon as they arrived at the fairy docks, Jake was whisked off to a tent that was already set up.One of the other angels that were there treated Zion and Lucienne was supplied with some extra tea that Zion had to drink every night before bed. And just like that, a huge crisis was averted. If they were on the pack grounds when it happened, it might not have worked out as well, and all of them agreed. The angels really knew what they were doing, which made Gabriella wonder if she should find out if they could get one to move to the pack house.Her train of thought was quickly halted when Lucienne reminded her that they were meant to be on holiday and not planning more work. Since
MelodySeeing her friend going through such a hard time, all Melody wanted to do was comfort her, but now wasn’t the time. This was actually the perfect time to let Venus learn that Hunter was there for her just as much as her friends were, if not more. There was, however, something Melody had to tell all of her friends.She told Matthew the night before and he was simply ecstatic. Melody patient waited until everyone was seated at the breakfast table. Gabriella was the first to notice that their normally chatty friend had been awfully quiet all morning. Thankfully, the sudden budding romance going on between Venus and Hunter drew her attention and Melody almost breathed a sigh of relief!She wanted all of them to be comfortable and relaxed when she gave them the news because she had absolutely no idea how they were going to react to it. She waited until everyone had finished breakfast after deciding that she didn’t want to tell them before. They would probably get so excited that the
Venus“You haven’t done anything wrong.” Venus wiped the tears from her eyes. She wasn’t ready to say the words out loud yet, since it was still really early in their relationship, but she knew that she had to give Hunter a chance. Their friends were standing on the porch looking on as Hunter helped her out of the boat and when they joined everybody else Venus joked that the idea of not being able to work freaked her out and she had to make a run for it.She hoped the joke would distract them, but she knew better. It wouldn’t be long before the girls asked her what was going on. Since she didn’t have a mother to talk to, she had always confided in her friends. Maybe it was time she trusted them with her feelings now. She needed to figure out how she felt about Hunter. They were all used to meeting their man and falling instantly madly in love.Venus, on the other hand, had a completely different experience. How was she going to live a life without him after he had grown old and moved
Venus“What are you doing here?” Gabriella exclaimed as she met Venus in the car park.“Meeting you. You sent me a note to meet you here.” Venus looked amused but Gabriella frowned.“Hi, girls, beautiful day for a run.” Zion appeared from behind one of the trees and it was clear she had just shifted and changed into her yoga clothes. The girls were still very confused when the three guys appeared with suitcases.“What’s all this?” Gabriella laughed and Lucienne promptly explained. The guys had planned a holiday for all of them in the fairy kingdom and Melody and Matthew would be joining them near the border to the homelands. To say that the girls were surprised was an understatement! Venus tried to make excuses that she just had too much work to take care of, but Hunter wouldn’t hear of it.The girls were all bundled into a van with the guys and off they went. The guys had been prepared for everything and answered each question the girls had about what was going to happen to the work
GabriellaIt had been an incredibly long day and Gabriella was hiding from Venus on the terrace overlooking the training grounds. Lucienne and the warriors were training and she almost wished she could join them, but she was just too damn tired. Being queen was not what she thought it was going to be. Not that she thought anything really. It wasn’t something she had planned for her future and she wondered if she would ever be able to get her book done.“Spying on your man, I see.” Zion’s voice interrupted Gabriella’s thoughts and she blushed bright red.“You caught me red-handed!” She laughed as she turned her attention to her friend. “I never imagined I could love him this much. If I think back to when I found out we were mates,” She turned her attention back to the training grounds as Zion stood beside her.“Yeah, it hits you like a train, doesn’t it?” Zion pulled a face and they both laughed.“Don’t you girls want some dinner?” Melody appeared and they laughed as Zion commented tha
GabriellaNow that Gabriella had been crowned queen, it meant she was traveling a lot more than she originally thought she would. It felt strange walking into the council chambers this time and she instantly felt it. The weight of presenting her kind in the council was resting heavily on her shoulders. It didn’t feel like this before. Before, she was just there to fight for survival. Now she was going to be part of the group of people who made the decisions that guided their entire region of supernatural creatures.“Well, I would like to start by congratulating Queen Gabriella on her coronation.” The queen of the fairies was the first to speak. The appearance of the entire council had changed since they last met. The mistress of the forest had been replaced by a new representative as well since she had been imprisoned, but the king of the vampires still kept his seat. For some reason, they couldn’t find any proof that the man was involved in the Wolf King’s plans even if he fought sid
GabriellaGabriella was surprised at the amount of work that went into sorting out who was born and who died. She was even more surprised to find out that they didn’t even have all the documentation. This was a mammoth job Venus was trying to get done, and Gabriella was going to make sure Venus had everything she needed to do.They all went to bed late and were up early again to work on all of it. She did promise Venus they would help, but they just started when Gabriella noticed that the boys were missing. She asked the girls if any of them had an idea where the guys were going, and when nobody did, Gabriella called Lucienne through the mate link.He promptly but politely informed her that he thought it best if the boys didn’t help the girls and they were outside training. When Gabriella told the girls, Venus quickly agreed and showed them the little pile of papers the guys had been working on the night before. They joked around saying they were sure the boys each sat with one certif
VenusLife as the assistant to the queen was a little more complicated than Venus had expected, but Venus quickly got all the necessary etiquette under the knee. Her problem wasn’t that she had to figure it all out. Her problem was that she had to now teach the damn wolves what it all meant to them! Venus was getting resistance from all corners and not just in their damn pack!Suddenly, alphas needed to see her about everything! It had become clear that Caesar didn’t keep up with his duties as he was supposed to. Being the ruler of the werewolves meant so much more than just chasing after wars! Venus had to bring all the paperwork for all the different packs back up to date since Caesar didn’t take care of any of that. New births had to be registered and deaths were just a damn mess! Venus sighed, thinking to herself that she would probably never be able to get it all back up to date as Hunter brought her some lunch.He had been an absolute godsend and she had no idea what the hell sh
GabriellaThe war was over and the pack had settled into a normal rhythm again. It took a couple of months for things to be sorted out completely, but as Gabriella cut the ribbon to the new part of the pack house she felt proud of what her people had accomplished.All the new pack members were linked to the pack in a special ceremony the night before and today was moving day. The pack house was almost twice the size it was when she came back from her first visit. They had also done some upgrading in the older part of the house and she was happy with what her people had done to make life easier for everyone.Melody and Matthew returned from the homelands two weeks after everyone else and Melody was an enormous help during the construction of the pack house. She not only made sure that everyone was fed, but she also helped out when it seemed as if it was going to be impossible to get something done. Gabriella caught herself wishing she had magic like that a couple of times.The coronati