the forest floor, as the King weaved in and out of the trees. It was cold, and each time his wolf, Tobias, exhaled his silver eyes picked up the sight of his vapor mingling with the air. Ba bum! ba bum! ba bum! The sound of a heart beating flooded through his ears. They twitched backwards as he tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. Was it a lone deer, drinking from a nearby stream? Or was it another lycan out for a midnight stroll? The curious King couldn't tell, so he pushed his legs to follow the sound. His nose dropped to the ground, attempting to sniff out the unknown being, but the only thing he could smell was dirt and excrement of other animals. Huffing, Tobias picked his pace up to a trot, his pink tongue hanging from his lips. He stopped only for a moment, his head tilted back to the moon, and a howl escaping his throat before continuing on.

<>

A lone howl was heard in the distance and Aida's eyes peeled open slowly. Wolves calling out to one another was a typical thing to hear, she did live in a pack after all, but this one called out to Aida in a manner she hadn't felt before.

Verity scratched at the wall inside her head and she groaned, flashes of the black wolf appearing in her mind again. She tossed and turned in her cotton sheets feeling like something or someone was watching her. The howls grew louder and Aida realized it was moving towards her apartment. Something inside of her pushed Aida out of the comfort of her bed and onto the small balcony off the ensuite. Her eyes scanned the dark forest, looking for the source of the howl—and then she saw them, silver eyes. Verity scratched more aggressively and Aida had to bite down on her tongue so as to not cry out in pain.

"Mate," Verity chanted over and over.

The King stared up at the girl, on her balcony, his eyes wide with shock. Despite the fact that his mother was the Moon Goddess, he had spent the last few years believing he wouldn't receive a mate. "Let me shift," Draco pleaded with his wolf.

"No." Tobias grunted, shaking his head. "You're naked." Taking one final look at his Queen, Tobias flicked his tail and turned around. He was quick to run to the palace, surprising the guards that were stationed outside 24/7. He wasn't due back for another three days, but the King was known for his element of surprise. The door opened with a clunk! and Tobias padded through, shifting only when the doors closed. Rolling out his shoulder, Draco walked through the foyer and into the kitchen. The maids were at home with their families, it's the only reason he stayed naked.

"I hope she's blonde," Tobias's voice echoed through his head.

<>

With a heavy exhale Aida pushed her aching legs to go faster. Delta Jordan and Gamma Jackson were ahead of Aida, their long legs thundering on the forest floor. Faster, her subconscious said, urging her to pass them. She couldn't, the aching in her calves was spreading to her hamstrings, but she lengthened her stride and tried to push harder. The leap she took over the stream was graceful, but when she came down, she almost cried out in pain again. "Mate!" Verity wagged her tail inside Aida's mind. Her eyes flickered across the forest, looking for the wolf she had seen 12 hours ago. The pull she felt towards him, was much more obvious than it was last night and it took everything in her power to not run towards him. As a wolf, he was beautiful: perfectly obsidian black coat, abnormally large size, bright silver eyes, and a long scar running diagonally across his right eye down his snout, stopping at his upper lip. Aida's fast past run slowed to a jog, then a trot, and then she was walking. She had her suspicions about who her mate was, she just hoped she was wrong. Eyes followed her as she walked out of the forest and back onto pack grounds. She was their best warrior and never stopped running until she was in the training room. But today was different, today she walked. Ignoring the concerned looks she got, she headed for showers, not even surprised to see Talia half naked on Jason's desk. The Beta Female never liked running and was often caught using her body to get out of it. Warm water cascaded around Aida as she stepped underneath the quickly trickling water.

"So you're coming to the ball tonight right?"

A gasp escaped her mouth, she hadn't even heard Talia slip into the shower beside her—Aida's mind too preoccupied with events from the forest. One of the perks of being the only girls in their group, was that they had the entire locker room to themselves. They never had to worry about censoring themselves when talking about another person, because well, there was no one else allowed except them. "That's tonight?"

"No, it's in two days, please don't tell me you forgot A."

"No...maybe...yes," she finally admitted. A disappointed sigh filled the shower stall beside her, "But I'll go, I do believe I made a promise."

"Damn right you did. I was thinking we could go shopping on Wednesday? I know it's cutting it close, but I want everything to look as fresh as possible." As much as Aida wanted to protest she knew there was no point, Talia always got her way when it came to shopping.

<>

The mall was packed with humans and lycans and it was only 12 in the afternoon. Aida inwardly groaned, not wanting to be socializing with people this early in the day.

"Do you have something you want to say Aida," Talia's steely gray eyes stared into her best friends. She knew Aida was not fond of shopping, but she didn't care, she loved it. And that's all that mattered.

"No," it was a grumble that left Aida's mouth, followed by a click of the tongue from Talia.

"That's what I thought."

Rolling her eyes she trudged behind Talia.

"What color dress will you be wearing?"

Aida paused mid step, as she thought about her options—"white."

Talia nodded, leading them towards the stores she thought had the best dresses.

It wasn't until Aida begged for them to stop and get some food for lunch, did they happen upon the perfect dress. "This one," Aida pointed to the dress in the window, "definitely this one." Pushing the door open, the duo walked into the boutique, their mind set on buying the dress.

"Hi," the cashier waved at them from behind his desk, "welcome in. Is there anything I can help you girls with?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had that dress," Aida pointed her forefinger towards the white satin dress in the window, "in a six?" The cashier nodded,

"Do you want the gloves with the dress as well?"

"Sure, why not."

Bowing the cashier excused himself to the back.

"Thank you so much for your help," Aida sent him a dazzling smile, her straight pearly whites nearly blinding the recipient. Two bags hung loosely from her elbow, one for the dress and another for the gloves. "I think gold accessories, what do you think?"

"For someone who hates shopping, you sure know a lot about fashion."

Aida looked her friend in the eye, "I never told you about my parents did I?"

Red hair bounced from side to side as Talia took a seat across from Aida, waiting for their pizza to arrive.

"My dad is the Founder and CEO of Ace Hotel Resort and Spa, an A-list resort and spa chain around the world for celebrities. My mom is a fashion designer," Talia's gray eyes bugged out of her head. "wedding dresses."

"So you're saying you had every chance as a kid to go shopping whenever, and you didn't take it?"

"No that's not at all what I said." Aida threw a fly at Talia and it bounced off of her nose. "My mom is a designer, that's how I know what goes together. Shopping is fun, but when you grow up with Alessia you start to despise it."

"Alessia?"

"My bitchy older sister," Aida scrunched up her button nose. "My mom and dad are not just hotel owners and fashion designers, they have another job. A more demanding and dangerous job. The mafia."

Talia's pizza fell out of her mouth, she had heard mundanes talk about mafia's but she never thought it to be true, which really was quite ironic given her what she was.

"My dad runs The Scorpions, Italian mafia, insanely good with hand to hand combat. My mom runs The Vipers, also an Italian mafia but they're much better with weapons. The only way my mom could become leader, Donna, for The Vipers was to marry. So she married my dad. Thus creating the strongest and most feared mafia in the western half of the world. According to my father, anyone would be a fool not to ally with them, because he has the power to destroy someone's life. Before I found out I was a werewolf, I was supposed to take over the two mafia's, become Donna if you will. Due to recent events, I find myself in quite the pickle."

Slowly Talia swallowed, her mind digesting and processing the information shared with her. "Wow," was all she could come up with.

Aida snorted.

"That's crazy, you seemed so...normal when I first met you." She paused, "have you killed people?"

"Only ones that deserve it."

~

question of the day: what's your go to starbucks/dunkin order?

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