Page 159 of Mates: Posy

"There is," he acknowledged.

Her cheeks reddened, and I wondered if she thought he was snubbing her. I opened my mouth to reassure her, but she had more to say.

"Lilah and I might be able to contribute some ideas if we knew more details."

"We've got everything covered. We're as planned as we can get it until Gisela and Ranger infiltrate the pack and gather more information," said the king.

Posy seemed content with that, but Queen Lilah was far from it.

"Julian, that kind of arrogance may get you hurt or the hostages killed," she chided him. "Why wouldn't you want as much help as you could get? Posy's right; we may have ideas you haven't thought of."

Ding, ding, ding! May day! May day!Topaz yipped.

Yeah.I grinned at him.But it's the king's plane crashing, not ours.

My good humor fled when Posy whimpered and huddled against my side. I tucked my arm around her and held her close, confused by the little tremors that racked her body.

"Don't worry, honey." I tried to guess what was upsetting her. "She's only speaking her mind. She's not being mean to him."

"He'll get mad." She shook a little harder. "The king will get mad again."

"The alphas and I have gone over everything twice," the king said patiently. "The plan is as solid as we can make it until we get the intel from Gisela and Ranger."

"What is it you don't want us to know? You're hiding something, aren't you? That's why you don't want us to know all the details!"

"Please," Posy whispered, "please, Queen Lilah."

There was no way the queen heard her hushed voice. I rubbed my hand up and down her back and kissed her forehead.

"It's okay," I told her. "Everything's okay."

"You'll have to trust me, Lilah," the king said. "I have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. I know what I'm doing."

"Can you guarantee that no one dies in this expert plan of yours?"

"You know I can't. There's always a chance for casualties—"

"That is myfamilyyou're calling a casualty!" The queen stood and gripped the edge of the table so hard, her fingertips turned white. She was trembling as hard as Posy. "He hashostages, including my best friend and cousin, Junie, who is the gentlest creature on Earth!"

"Calm down, fire hair," King Julian said, also standing up. "I told you I'd go get her and bring her back to you, and I will keep that promise. I won't fail you, Lilah."

"He's mad. He's mad. He's mad," Posy chanted in short, shallow breaths.

Get her away from here,Topaz muttered. This isn't a good place for her right now.

Agreeing with him, I linked the boys to let them know what was happening, then stood and swept her up in my arms. As I moved toward the door, the king reached for his mate, most likely to pull her into a hug, but Posy didn't perceive it that way.

"Don't let him hurt her," she begged. "Cole, don't let him hurt her. Please, Cole.Please!"

Queen Lilah's muffled sob followed us out of the room.

"Shh, honey." I kissed her forehead as I went up the stairs. "No one would dare hurt the queen, least of all her mate. Plus,mybrothers are there,herbrother is there, and the king's beta, who is her personal guard, is there. She couldn't be any safer locked in a vault."

"But he's mad!"

"Breathe, Posy. They're having a disagreement. People can disagree without hurting each other. He didn't even raise his voice to her, let alone his hand, and he never would."

I opened the door to her room and headed straight for the French doors. Once on the balcony, I settled into the wicker rocking chair with her cradled on my lap.

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