Page 30 of Wolves of the Golden Sun

“Drago told me you have some heavy news. I brought reinforcements.” She holds up a bottle of—

“Christ, Mari! Is that Rumplemints? Are you trying to get me wasted?”

She pushes past me and enters the house, stopping short when she sees Rook leaning in the kitchen doorway.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Rook gives her a half smile and says to me, “I like her already.”

She takes a step toward him and gives him a good sniff. “You’ve got Willa’s scent all over you, but you’re not a wolf. What the fuck are you?”

“I’m a mage, and your sister’s new mate.”

Mari rolls her eyes. “Another one, Willa? Jesus, maybe save some men for the rest of the omegas, huh?”

I let out a nervous giggle as Mari blows by Rook and pulls three mugs from the cabinet. “Sorry?”

Rook is quick to defend me. “You don’t need to apologize, Willa. You’ve called exactly as many powerful men as you need for balance. There’s no shame in that.”

Mari spins on her heel and gives Rook a quick up and down. “I know that,” she says curtly. To me, she mouthsI like him.

My gaze bounces from my sister to my new mate, not sure how much I want to push their good feelings about each other. “Right, well, Rook has to be somewhere—”

“Actually, I’d love to stay and get day drunk with you ladies. Nothing like breaking down walls and getting to know someone like sharing drunken stories, right?”

Mari stares at him for way longer than I’m comfortable with. I’m about to say something when she finally does.

“Right. Well, it’s fine with me as long as you don’t have any weird twin sister shit on your mind. I’m a delta and as asexual as they come, but even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t share with my sister.”

Rook looks horrified at the suggestion. “I would never.”

“Good, now that’s cleared up, let’s get this party started.” Mari sets about brewing a fresh pot of coffee and pours three cups, adding sugar and milk to everyone’s preference. Then she adds a splash of the mint-flavored one-hundred proof alcohol and hands them out.

“To your health,” she says, and we clink our mugs together, taking a first sip in unison.

“Wow. I’m surprised how good this is.”

“Same,” I say and take a bigger sip than I should if I don’t want to end up face down on the floor.

“Just remember to pace yourselves and you’ll be fine. Now, what news was Drago trying to prepare me for?”

I take another sip of the minty sweet coffee and lead everyone to the living room.

I sit in the corner of the unit, tucking my legs under me and snuggling into the cavernous corner. Rook sits on my left and places a hand on my leg, while Mari sits to my right. She caresses the lux fabric as she sinks into the cushion.

“Wow. This is the fanciest sofa I’ve ever sat on.”

“Right?” I say with a giggle.

“You didn’t pay for this with pack funds, did you?”

“Absolutely not!” And I’m offended she’d even ask me. “It was a gift from my new friends in Laurel Cove.”

“Ahh, right. Is that where you two met?”

And I go into a brief explanation of how Rook and I met. Which leads to me telling her about how Drago almost ate him. I finally get to the part where he shows me the paper.

“Dad’s name was on it.”

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