“Not anymore.”
Sometimes pack business had to come first.
3
Jono lookedup when Wade Espinoza came barreling through the front door, arms laden down with plastic shopping bags nearly overflowing with snacks. The nineteen-year-old fledgling fire dragon hopped on one foot while trying to keep his balance as he kicked the door shut behind him.
“Am I late?” Wade wanted to know.
“Did you clean out a bodega?” Jono asked.
Wade sniffed haughtily as he came over to where everyone lounged in the living room of the apartment Marek and his fiancée, Sage Beacot, called home. “’Course not. I left the vegetables.”
“Just for that, we’re making you eat double portions of vegetables tonight,” Patrick said, not looking up from his mobile.
Wade flopped down onto an empty armchair and immediately started digging into his bags. “Gross. I’m allergic to vegetables.”
“You’re allergic to actual food, mate,” Jono said, raising an eyebrow at the candy bars and bags of crisps spilling into his lap.
Wade ignored them both, sorting through his hoard of snacks with a happy look on his face. Jono opted not to argue about the merits of real food over processed junk food and looked over at Sage. Their pack’s dire was furiously tapping away on her laptop, a slight frown marring her pretty face. Her thick black hair was pulled back in a chignon to get most of it off her neck in the hot weather, and she hadn’t bothered to change out of the pantsuit she’d gone to work in. She had kicked off her high heels though, and the Louboutins were tucked under the coffee table.
“Okay, I’ve emailed Tiarnán about needing time off. I don’t think it will be a problem,” Sage said.
She set her laptop on the coffee table, her diamond engagement ring catching the light. Sage was a partner at Gentry & Thyme, a fae-owned and -run law firm whose managing partner was their contact for the Seelie Court. Tiarnán had helped broker their alliance with the fae and followed through whenever they needed assistance. Jono was always uncomfortably aware at how easy it would be to owe the fae beyond the terms of their alliance, so they tended to let Sage do the talking.
Their dire could play word games as well as any fae, but it was her steely resolve and calmness in the face of adversity that made Sage the rock he and Patrick leaned on every day. Luckily, Tiarnán knew what was at stake, and his firm was more than willing to cover Sage’s cases when she needed to be with them.
“We had cake tasting planned for this weekend,” Marek said with a mournful sigh from where he lounged beside Sage on the smaller sofa.
Wade’s head snapped up. “Cake?”
“Wedding cake decision, and no, you don’t get to come,” Sage told him.
“But Sage, it’scake.”
“You have enough Twinkies in your bags that you basically have a full cake,” Leon Hernandez said as he came back from the kitchen with a beer.
Wade looked Leon dead in the eye while digging out a packet of Twinkies and opening it slowly. He shoved the entire snack into his mouth and chewed with bulging cheeks. “Doesn’t taste like wedding cake.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Wade,” Sage told him while Leon laughed.
Leon and his partner, Emma Zhang, were the co-leaders of the Tempest pack, some of Jono’s closest friends, and the ones who handled access to Jono’s time with other packs when Sage was busy. Their bar that Jono managed was neutral territory for his god pack, but a target where Estelle and Youssef were concerned. Packs went there to socialize and work out problems between each other, but it had been the site of attempted vandalism lately that was as much a warning as a threat. Luckily, the wards Marek had paid a lot of money for were holding.
“How big is this cake going to be?” Patrick asked.
“Big enough to feed me,” Wade said.
“It’s our wedding, not yours,” Sage reminded him.
Wade turned a pleading look on her. “Can I have my own cake?”
“Sure. Next year on your birthday.”
Wade groaned dramatically before opening a bag of Cheetos and shoving a handful of the neon orange crunchies into his mouth. Jono shared a look with Sage before shaking his head.
“I hope this latest mess won’t disrupt your wedding plans,” Jono said.
“Everything is on track,” Sage said with the firmness of someone who was ready to go to war and win to ensure she got married on her chosen date.
