Page 33 of The Fanged One

Ciara: Whatever it was, it must have been good because wolf noses are giving you away right now.

Linnea quickly ate some bacon because there was no stopping their nonsense, and she hated cold food.

Layla: I don't need a wolf nose to tell me where she got that glow from.

Linnea: Cut it out. I am TRYING to eat.

Ciara giggled into her mug.

"What's so funny over there?" Tor asked, looking up from his own plate.

"Nothing," all three of them said in identical bright voices.

Tor's gray eyes narrowed. He looked at his sisters and his mate, but luckily, he knew when he was outnumbered by women plotting at his own kitchen island. He ate his toast in two large bites and didn't ask again.

"Here, read those. I'm not dealing with him before nine," he muttered instead and pushed his phone across the counter so it slid to a stop in front of Linnea.

Linnea picked up the phone and read.

Von: Good morning, my favorite alpha. Tell me your sister is alive and the Great Wolf hasn't eaten her in the night. Better yet, tell me if he has. Lucky girl.

"Oh my gods," she whispered and scrolled up.

Von: Tor! It's been an hour, Tor. Why are you not answering me? Have you all died in your sleep? Should I send flowers and come and rummage through your belongings?

Von: TOR. I have been awake since six. I'm SOBER. Get your sister and that sexy wolf god to my house by ten, or there will be a reckoning!

Von: Bring Layla. Her Old Norse is half decent. Also, Arne, because I love him and he can carry heavy things while I watch. And I guess, he can also read Old Norse. Does he know Icelandic?

Von: Also, Ciara. Tell her to bring a blade or two in case anything in the collection attacks us. Sometimes the older runestones bite, but not in the way I like.

Von: I have ordered pastries and Linnea's favorite coffee from Bogstadveien. Do not be late. Pastries wait for no one. Neither does the end of the world. Just in case you have forgotten.

Von: Are you actually all dead? Should I start trying to commune with the spirits? I will, you know. I have been training.

Linnea was giggling by the third one, and by the end, she was almost crying.

"Has he slept at all?" she asked when she could breathe again.

"Doubt it," Tor said.

"Are we going at ten?"

"We'd better if we don't want him turning up here, ready to avenge our dead bodies."

"That is just another reason I like him," Fenris said.

"That's good because he's certainly eager to see you. He's probably going to smother you, just to warn you."

Fenris's knee brushed against hers under the counter. "I'm not worried. I have a power volvä to protect me."

"You're lucky I like you." Linnea didn't move her leg away, enjoying the touch far too much. She passed the phone back to Tor. "We'd better eat faster if we are going to make it in time."

Across the counter, Ciara was watching her over the rim of her mug with a fond expression that Linnea recognized as an Ironwood ready to meddle. Layla had the same look on her face, which just confirmed the worst.

Arne was already reaching for another bun, and Tor was on his phone, slowly typing back to Von with the kind of long-suffering expression he reserved for people he loved who were also a pain in his ass.

Linnea smiled, because even though they were going to continue to tease her mercilessly, there was no one else she would rather fight Ragnarök with. She thought about how excited Von was and drank more coffee. She sure as hell was going to need it.