Page 137 of One Winter Knight
“Maybe it’s a pan for each of us? That makes more sense,” I offered. Five dozen tamales was still a good net-worth.
“Or you’re worth a bag of scrunchies and a plate of cookies? Which the school-girl brought.” Da lookedveryconfused.
“Oooh, I like scrunchies,” Nora replied.
Hale thought for a moment. “Oh, yeah. They’re probably the special scrunchies from her sponsor. Are they chocolate cookies with powdered sugar on them?”
“Let go of me! I'm here to rescue my friends. I demand parley,” Gwen snapped, as she was pushed into the room by one of the dads, the other following with Mercy.
“Are you a pirate?” Da sneered.
“Let my brother go. He’s a dumbass, but he’s my dumbass,” Mercy agreed.
Big scary dad looked at me. “Friends of yours?”
“Dadio, let go of them,” Fiona demanded.
“Yeah, it’s the chaotic besties of doom. Hi, why are you here? How did you find us?” Hale asked.
“Mariquita, you came.” I grinned at her.
“Well, yeah. You’re missing. So, I called in a favor and got your location,” Gwen replied, smacking the dad holding her. “Let go of me. I’m not afraid to break your kneecaps with a hockey stick.”
Mercy simply did some sort of neat escape trick, getting out of his grasp, and glaring at him.
“What day is it and how many games did I miss?” My stomach twisted.
“It’s the 29th,” Gwen replied. “You missed last night's game. And given they’re about to get on a plane, you’re missing tonight’s.If you grovel, hopefully they’ll let you play in the next one.”
Two missed games. Shit.
Gwen’s focused on Fiona. “Fiona Gallagher, is that you?”
Fiona sucked in a breath. “Do I know you?”
Gwen laughed. “I used to go by the name Gabs, though I think the last time I saw you we were fourteen. Ninon said you were at her wedding, but I didn’t see you. I was there for another wedding.”
“Gabs!” Fiona squealed as she hugged her. “Yes, Ninon said that she saw you and that you changed your name and played hockey. You’re so fucking tall. Last time I saw you, you were shorter than me.”
Mercy looked at Hale. “Is that your omega?”
“Yep. That’s Fiona.” Hale nodded.
“Hi. I’m Mercy, Hale’s little sister.” She waved.
“Hi. Nice to meet you. Dad, this is Gabs Capaldi, we used to go to camp together, but she changed her name,” Fiona explained.
“I’m Gwen Di Rossi–and why are you holding Carlos and Hale hostage?” Gwen growled with a ferocity that took everyone aback, since she was a beta.
“You went to assassin camp with Fiona?” I blinked at Gwen.
“Assassin camp?” Gwen laughed. “Sounds fun. This was just a summer camp in upstate New York by my nonna’s. Though there was other stuff when we were younger. Fiona, do you remember that time we went orienteering, but instead of following the map our team simply went to my nonna’s house and had lasagna?”
“I remember–they were so mad at us, especially because we took the golf cart back.” She nodded. “If your lasagna is anything like your nonna’s, I can understand why you brought it to buy Carlos’ freedom. That’s really nice of you. You’re Gwen. Carlos talks about you a lot.”
“He literally came for me when I was kidnapped, so I’m happy to return the favor.”
“And I came as backup,” Mercy replied.
