Chapter 1: Girls’ Night

GIANNA

All my life, I’ve been different, a different Royal compared to my siblings. Sheltered.

Feared by people who don’t understand.

Sometimes I don’t even understand.

Why me?

I never got the answers to any of my questions. My mother always spoke in riddles, and my Father assigned my older brother as my bodyguard as soon as I was bound.

She cannot under any circumstances be with a male until her mate he barked at Diego. I never got the answer as to why.

“Are you ok, G?” Liv sank into the chair beside me, I gave her a slight smile “Just peachy,” I winked. She smiled back, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Do you think you’ll find your mate this season?” She asked softly. I shrugged. It was a question I’d asked myself every year and another question I never got the answer to.

Liv started brushing her hair “I hear Alpha Kol is looking for his mate this season” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. I raised my eyebrows at her, a smirk forming on my face “Oh yeah? Gonna give it a shot, are you? I nudged her with my shoulder playfully. She rolled her eyes “No, silly, I was talking about you.”

I snorted, casting a quick glance at our friend Emily who was chatting away to herself behind us, completely unaware that we weren’t listening.

“Kol Saunders is not my mate,” I muttered darkly. Liv set the brush down carefully “Gianna, I think it’s time you actually try to find your mate. You’ve waited for so long. You haven’t seen your wolf in ten years. That’s not right.”

“And then, he picked me up and like slammed me into the wall… I’m telling you, it was so fucking hot I couldn’t bear it! That shit’s insane! Right, G? G? GIANNA?”

Emily tapped her foot with crossed arms. She looked pissed. She must’ve been talking about her haze sex with whatever guy she was with this season.

Mark? No.

Neil? No.

Ralph! That’s who—Ralph!

“Gianna, were you even listening to me?” she spat.

“Yeah, babe, course I was! You and Ralph hazed so good this afternoon he slammed you into a wall, right?” I said, smiling widely at her.

She clicked her tongue in frustration. “It’s Ron.”

~Shit!~

“Ralph was soooooo last season!” She rolled her eyes, and we giggled.

Liv patted my leg gently, our conversation was clearly over for now, but I knew that look in her eyes. She wouldn’t let this go. No chance.

Liv had been my best friend since we were pups. She never cared about my position or my title, or who my family was. She just wanted to be friends with me, just Gianna. Not Princess, not the only daughter of the Alpha King. No, just Gianna.

There were others, like Emily, who just hung around with me because of what my title could bring them, the places someone in my position can get into without a reservation.

I entertained them, but I never let them close, never let them know anything important.

That’s why I was always so grateful for Liv.

I picked up my lipstick and started applying it. Deep chocolate, my favorite. “What about you, Liv? Any wall slamming going on?” I winked at her.

She grinned sheepishly and blushed. “Not exactly, no, but I’m hoping soon there will be,” she giggled, and Emily nudged her.

I smiled and continued to do my makeup. I’d never gotten to experience a haze.

My father, the alpha king, and my mother, a powerful sorceress, had been forced by the council of elders to suppress my wolf when I was just a child.

Someone with my capabilities should not be allowed to roam unchecked. It was simply unheard of. I rolled my eyes at the thought.

My mom and I would talk about it each season. She knew hearing about my friends’ hazes often left me feeling more left out than usual.

My girlfriends were great, and I loved them, but I would always be royalty—the princess, the alpha king’s daughter.

The haze, also known as mating season, happened once or twice a year when everyone—and I mean everyone—fucked like crazy…

Mom had told me the binds on my wolf would begin to break once I found my mate.

She’d said my mate would calm my wolf soul, and once he accepted all of me and my power as his mate, it would finally be free again.

A part of me couldn’t wait; another part of me wondered if any man or wolf could handle my wild soul.

I’d actually only ever shifted into my wolf form once. I was about ten, maybe eleven. My parents had insisted that the council wait until I had experienced one shift before they suppressed me.

My brother Diego and my father coached me through it. It went on for hours, each bone of my body breaking and changing. My body was covered in sweat from the fever.

It did hurt, I’ll admit, but Diego promised that it would get better with each shift until it was as easy as breathing. It was an experience I never got to have again.

I finished off my makeup, putting those thoughts out of my mind, and admired myself in the mirror. Damn, I looked good!

I heard the girls ooo behind me “G! You look bomb, girl!”

“Yeah, G! You look amazing!”

I turned around. “Thanks, girls! So do you! Wow!”

Emily was wearing a skintight red dress that looked amazing with her olive, tanned skin and dark hair, which she had in curls falling loosely around her shoulders.

Liv was wearing a blue denim skirt with a white off-the-shoulder shirt; her golden locks were tucked up in a stylish messy bun, which I could never achieve without looking homeless.

Damn, I had some good-looking girlfriends. I smiled and picked up my drink. Tonight was going to be a good night; I could sense it.

“Come on; let’s finish our drinks and get out of here before Diego spots us and rats me out to Dad,” I said, knocking back my vodka tonic.

Diego was always such a pain in my ass. Father’s orders he called it. I think he just liked terrorizing everyone. Got a kick out of it.

The girls laughed, and Liv blushed. “Diego is so hot, though,” she said.

“Ew, gross, Liv!” I shoved her and rolled my eyes.

We clinked our glasses to a good night and downed our drinks.

I thought about Diego as we left my house for town. He was my biggest brother, next in line to be alpha king, and he took his future duties very seriously.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown and all that. I rolled my eyes at the thought. He was my protector, as he called it, always stepping in when I needed him…

But I shouldn’t ever have needed him. Unbound I would have been stronger than all of them. Unbound.

My siblings and I weren’t just wolves; we were witches—well, half-and-half. We all had special abilities.

Diego had super strength and speed; his senses were heightened, which made him the perfect tracker. No matter where you were or how far, Diego would always find you.

Honestly, it was impressive. Diego never lost a trail, he trained some of the best trackers in our pack, but no one compared to him. Not by a long shot.

He had the biggest wolf. At six feet, four inches tall, he towered over me at my mere five feet, three inches.

His jet-black hair meant his wolf’s fur was also jet black, and his piercing green eyes made every she-wolf weak at the knees in both human and wolf form, which he just loved.

I came next.

With my ice-white hair and glacier-blue eyes, I was the white wolf, the one mothers told stories about to their pups as they drifted off to sleep, stories about a white wolf that hadn’t been seen in over a decade, since I had been allowed only one run in my wolf form.

I’d heard some stories of the white wolf, a rare wolf, they would call it.

Some wolves would look at me with curiosity, wondering if maybe I was the wolf. No one actually knew if the wolf was indeed a werewolf or just a wild one, but no one dared ask.

My powers were a bit more complicated than the others. My mom said she always knew I would be gifted beyond measure. She would always warn me in riddles about potential threats if I ever found my mate and became unbound. There are people who would kill for what you have, she would say, and don’t think they won’t try, darling, she would add.

And then there were the twins, Lucas and Levi, both standing tall like Diego at six feet, two inches tall. Like our mother, they had golden hair and green eyes.

They also had the three Ts—telekinesis, telepathy, and teleportation. They were strong apart but even stronger when they were together.

The twins kept to themselves and never really left their own bubble. They rarely spoke to anyone and were always disappearing for days at a time. My parents weren’t concerned about it so neither was I.

I tried to keep out of Royal stuff as much as possible. I didn’t ask to be a Princess. However, it does have its perks.

“We’re here!!”

Emily’s squeal pulled me out of my daydream as the cab pulled up outside the club.

“Oh no! Look at the queue! We’ll be waiting ages!” Liv moaned, her hands pulling her jacket around herself tightly as she got out.

“Girl, are you dumb?! We’re with royalty, bitch! We’re getting VIP treatment.” Emily rolled her eyes at Liv. I laughed and got out of the cab after them.

“Don’t worry, girls, I got this down,” I called over my shoulder, strolling to the bouncer at the door.