TWENTY

“Baby girl!” Celeste came flying at me once I stepped out of the elevator. “I’ve searched everywhere for you. Where did you disappear to?” The grin I'd been carrying with me since I mated with the prince vanished once I saw my best friend. She was the only person I expected to realize I’d moved out of the pack basement and I still hadn’t readied a reason to tell her if she asked why I wasn’t here anymore. As it turned out, I’d run out of time to come up with an excuse as she ambushed me that morning.

“Hi, Celeste.” I hugged her back while my brain went into overdrive thinking of how to come up with a response to her question.

“And you smell different too. What cologne are you wearing?” She pushed me to arm's length to look at me. “There is something different about you.” She mused and my heart fell into my stomach in fear. I didn’t want her to discover I had mated because if I told her, she would want to know with who and I couldn’t tell her I mated with Valens.

He explicitly forbade