Chapter 1

-Willow-

“Wow, how do you always end up looking so good?”

I chuckled as I folded a white shirt to put in my little suitcase. My friend Eva was sitting with her feet up on my coffee table, her black boots dirty and soiling my desk, while she read the latest gossip magazine for supernatural creatures. You wouldn’t think two different-looking people—one dark and gothic, the other light and fluffy—could be such good friends, but I would bury a dead body with her if she asked, which I fear one day she might.

“I don’t look that good. It’s the right lighting, photoshopped,” I reminded her, then grabbed the remote on my table and poked her dirty boots, but Eva didn’t take the hint. She kept looking at the magazine with me and Carter plastered on two huge pages, looking so good in our ceremonial attire. The ceremony for our union was getting closer, and I couldn’t be more excited, yet that didn’t mean I wanted dirty boots on my coffee table.

“Sure, sure, the beautiful always say that.”

“Say what?” I asked.

“Oh, I’m not as pretty as you think. I’m just, you know, such an ugly duckling and... and not confident at all. It’s all fake,” Eva mocked in a light voice to empathize how ridiculous those pick-me she-wolves could be.

“I don’t sound like that!” I exclaimed, then grabbed a pillow from my couch, throwing it at Eva. It landed right in her face, as she was distracted by the magazine and was not prepared for the incoming attack. The pillow slid to her stomach, and she lowered the now-bent magazine.

“Uncalled for,” she scolded me.

“I think it was very called for, and now get your dirty boots down from my coffee table. Do you have any idea how expensive it is?” I asked her.

“Oh, and you don’t sound at all like an upper-class luna right now,” she chuckled.

“As if you aren’t either.”

“Yes, but I don’t conform to societal norms. I mean, look at me,” she said, gesturing to her all-black attire with the leather jacket and fake iron spikes on her shoulders.

“Black is in this year,” I teased her, making her smile.

“Yes, but I’m also gay. You think my parents approve of me shoving my tongue in my girlfriend’s pussy?” Eva chuckled as she went back to reading.

“I don’t think I need to hear that, and I approve of you,” I pointed out.

“You’re just such a virgin.”

“What would you know about that?” I exclaimed.

I grabbed another pillow and threw it at her, and Eva exclaimed, annoyed, as it ruined the magazine once again.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you become a sex goddess over night?”

“No, I asked you what you knew about me being a virgin or not,” I pointed out, placing my hands on my hips. “What would you know about it?”

“Well, we have been best friends since we were two. I know you would tell me if Carter had ventured into the cave below.”

I shivered, my face contracting in disgust. “Do you have to make it sound so unappealing?” I asked.

Eva held up her hands, throwing the magazine to the table and finally getting her dirty boots off my table.

“Sorry, okay, have you done it yet?” she asked me, trying to appear more serious.

I went back to folding some more clothes, ignoring her question, yet I could feel her eyes on me.

“Well?” she pressed.

“No…” I murmured.

“Well, you’re getting married soon, so it will happen,” she stated.

“I know, but you also know the pressure there is on me!”

“No, I know the old tradition of the princess staying a virgin, but you and Carter have been together forever. You love him like I have never seen you love anyone. Why not sneak a little intimacy in there? The Goddess knows you need it.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, offended.

Eva sighed, leaning back in the chair. “Willow, I love you, but you aren’t exactly… down to earth.”

“I can be down to earth!” I defended.

“Okay, then don’t clean that spot I just made with my boots. Leave it be,” she told me, pointing at the dirty spot on my very expensive mahogany table that I had custom-made.

I looked at it, feeling my hands itch, and when I glanced at Eva, I saw her challenge me by arching an eyebrow. My finger nails dug into the palms of my skin while an obsessive voice kept telling me to get the cleaning supplies.

“Ah, shit, I can’t!” I exclaimed before I stormed to my bathroom, got a towel wet, and went back to quickly scrub it off. As I got on my knees to wipe the table clean, I turned my head, seeing Eva leaning forward while resting her arms on the chair’s armrests. The look in her eyes said it all: I told you so.

“Fine,” I sighed. “I might not be as down to earth as I want to be.”

I placed the towel down, then crossed my arms as I slumped down.

“But that’s not a bad thing, and you have a wolf prince who loves you. So what if you can’t leave a small spot alone? That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person,” Eva pointed out.

“No, but do you think I will be as uptight when we actually… are together?” I asked.

“Everyone is their first time. It’s not something new.”

“No?”

“Hey, you’re only 22, but you also have a lot of pressure on you. How long haven’t you been trained to be the next princess?” Eva asked. “It’s not a wonder you have ended up a little uptight.”

“We haven’t been together that long,” I reminded her.

“You have been almost secretively engaged since you were kids. Your families have always wanted you to be together. They just wanted the law to agree too, and when you were 18, the match-making began,” Eva pointed out.

“Yes, but that’s not forever. We only really began dating seriously when we were 19.”

“Three years without sex? Wow, Carter’s balls must be killing him.”

“Funny!” I snarled, throwing the dirty towel at her, making Eva laugh before she grabbed the magazine and leaned back.

“The Goddess is seriously unfair sometimes,” she sighed.

“What do you mean?”

“Look at you!” Eva said, then turned the magazine, showing me and Carter plastered on two whole pages with some writing on the side. We were dressed in all white with red lines around our clothes. We looked incredibly good, as if we were made for each other, and I began smiling as I reached out and took the magazine, feeling my heart beating faster in my chest.

Aw man, I can’t believe he will be ours soon, my wolf sighed like a love-sick fool in my head. I could barely believe it myself, but there we were, right on the pages, showing off how good we looked.

“Oh, don’t look like that!” Eva exclaimed.

“Like what?”

“Like you can’t imagine not spending every second for the rest of your life with your fiancé,” she told me.

“Well, I am marrying him, so I am expecting to spend all my time with him,” I said.

“Yeah, but I don’t need to see it.”

She pointed to her eyes, then snatched the magazine from me.

“Got time for a run before you leave?” she asked, but before I could answer, there was a knock on my bedroom door and a servant called out from the other side.

“Luna, there is a car for you here.”

I heard Eva sigh, looking defeated as she heard it. While I knew we would still see each other, being the next princess and queen was going to make it very hard for us to spend the same amount of time together as we had. As I stepped into that car and went to live in the royal family’s palace, there would be new expectations for me, and I wouldn’t be able to do the same thing with Eva.

“Great, a new life awaits,” she groaned.

“Hey, you will always be my best friend,” I told her.

“Yeah, yeah…”

“And I will make time for you,” I said.

“Hmm…”

I could see my words weren’t having the desired effect, so I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her as I placed myself on her lap. In an instant, she wrapped her arms around me too, holding onto me tightly as we stayed connected.

“Best friends, never forget,” I whispered.

“Just don’t become like those truly snobby upper-class wolves. I have enough of those at home!” she mumbled into my hair.

“No, I promise. Or else I know you will remind me to be myself.”

We pulled away and smiled at each other before I stood up, and Eva offered to help me with my bags, but I didn’t have much. I knew a whole wardrobe had already been prepared for me. There would be more than enough clothes for me.

As I stood by the car, my parents met me outside, and after saying goodbye to them, I went back to Eva, who stood with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. We smiled at each other, and I could see she wanted to tell me not to go, but I had to. As the next princess, it was expected that I would live with Carter now.

“Steal me something,” she joked.

I chuckled, shaking my head. I couldn’t deny Eva loved pissing off the other upper-class wolves by taking trinkets from their houses and displaying them in her own room just for sheer pettiness or giving them to homeless people. It all depended on how much she wanted to piss them off.

“Sure, I will steal from myself to give to you.”

“I knew I could count on you,” she chuckled before we hugged again and I finally got in the dark car.

It began driving away, and I looked through the back window, seeing both my parents, my home, and my best friend disappear in the distance. I was gripped with a powerful sadness, but I knew this wasn’t a goodbye. I was just moving to a new place. Still, it was hard not to feel a little down. It was never easy leaving your home.