Page 164 of Priceless

Trinity was still in her seat, and I caught the look on her face. Pain. Tears glossed her eyes, and she blinked them away before she stood and leaned over to hug me. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean, I’m fine?”

Standing out of my chair, I continued to hug her. “It’s okay if you’re not, Rin.”

“I am so fucking happy for you,” she said. “Of anyone, you deserve this.”

The way she clung to me told me everything. She was happy for me. And sad, too. Because it wasn’t her. And now both of her best friends had packs while she was alone.

“You know that just because I’m bonded now doesn’t mean anything changes?”

She laughed and stepped away, swiping at her cheeks. “I know. And I’m holding you bitches to it.”

“Oh,” Isolde went to her purse slung on the back of her chair. “That reminds me, Rin. I have something for you. Courtesy of Rowan.”

She handed Trinity a small, square box, and the three of us burst into laughter. Isolde’s Alpha Rowan made candy. Well, he made cannabis treats, and some of them happened to be chocolate, though he made the regular, non-high kind too.

“Which kind are they?”

Isolde smirked. “Both. The fun ones are stamped with stars.”

“Noted. Thank you.” She looked at me and grabbed her glass. “Now, I’m toasting to you, O. Congratulations, and I’m looking forward to getting to know your guys better now that they’re not going anywhere. And,” she took a sip of her drink, “As the final single friend, I’m going to need more details about how this happened. All of it.”

I let my smile creep over my face. “Fine. But first, I need to tell you what happened in a temple in Grecia.”

“What?”

Laughing, I took a long drink. “You’re going to love this one.”

A couple hours and several drinks later, I waved to my friends as they were driven away by one of the DuPont drivers. I didn’t know all their names yet. I needed to learn them. Since this was my home now, they were also my staff.

“Have a good time?” Micah asked, snaking an arm around my waist.

I leaned back into him, loving how I could feel his enjoyment of touching me. That my scent was intoxicating to him. I was just tipsy enough that I wanted to lean back into him and just… be. “Yeah. We had a good time.”

“They’re happy?”

“Mhmm. I think it was a little harder for Rin, but I don’t blame her. She’s feeling a little left behind, and she already deals with enough of that. But she is happy for us. Be prepared. She’ll probably grill you when she sees you next.”

His purr rumbled against my back, soft laughter in my ear. “I think we can handle it.”

We closed the door, and he kept his arm around me. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“The kitchen. For food.”

I made a face. “I’m not that hungry.”

“Still.”

It was then that I caught the undercurrent of worry in his emotions, and the others felt the same. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” he said. When he took my hand and pulled me with him, he squeezed it. “Absolutely. But we need to talk to you about something.”

“Everyone in the world loves that fucking sentence.”

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