Page 14 of Howling With Wolves

“These are the famous foursome,” Raina joked, pointing to several of our group. “Taylor, Simon, Gabe, and Hannibal.”

“Famous?” Hannibal grumbled with an arched brow.

“Of course, we are,” Simon agreed with a laugh.

“You wish,” Simon’s mate, Cici, teased, making him laugh even harder as he tugged her close and kissed her.

“And their better halves,” Raina continued. “Rebbie, Bee, Cici, and Eliza.”

All the ladies offered Emma hugs while the guys each gave her a warm greeting.

“You’re a brave woman, mating these two,” Cici offered then grinned.

“Anything I should know about?” Emma asked, and I knew she was finally relaxing.

“So much,” Rebbie offered. “We’ll have lunch and spill all the secrets.”

I laughed then, pulling my mate’s gaze back to me. There were few secrets in this pack. Especially among the group of us here. We were all close. Family. Besides, anything my mate wanted to know, she had only to ask me.

“I’m an open book,” I assured her.

“No secrets here,” Donovan agreed.

Emma laughed, and I saw the last of her nerves fade away.

“Hmm, I think I’ll look forward to lunch,” she offered, making everyone chuckle.

“Is Rowan here?” I asked Raina, but she shook her head.

“He and Sasha are at home with Raine,” she answered then turned to Emma. “Rowan is my brother. Sasha is his mate, and Raine is their son, named after his favorite aunt.”

“His only aunt,” Nico Volkov teased as he joined us. I wanted to ask if he’d learned anything, but I’d wait until I could speak with him privately.

“You’re just jealous your sister didn’t name him after you,” Raina said.

Nico snorted then dropped his gaze to Emma.

“Nico Volkov,” he offered with a bow of his head. Something in his gaze when he looked at my mate told me he knew something. “Lovely to meet you. Can’t believe you mated these two. My condolences, but welcome to the James Pack.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Emma said. “To meet all of you. It’s great meeting all the members of the pack.”

“Not me. I’m not part of the James Pack,” Nico offered with a shudder that had Raina smacking him on the shoulder.

“The Rigton wolves?” Emma questioned, but Nico shook his head.

“Not them, either. I’m a lone wolf, now that my sister is settled.”

“A lone wolf with a place in either pack,” Raina reminded him.

“I’m not a pack animal,” Nico denied, though he spent more time here than anywhere else. “I’m heading out shortly. I have some business to attend to. It was lovely to meet you, Emma.”

“You just don’t want to take orders from anyone but yourself,” I teased him.

Nico shrugged. “There is that. Hell, maybe, I’ll form my own and make you share this territory between three packs.”

“Hell, no!” Bas called from where he and Cyan chatted with Michael, who must have come in after us. Piper lingered at her mate’s side. She was the newest member of the inner circle, though she’d been in the pack for a while.

“I need to go.” Nico nodded toward Bas. “They’ll fill you in.”

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