Page 13 of Pack: Posy 3

Our brave little bunny luna, he agreed.

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Angelo

I didn't know what to do to make myself less scary to the luna, but I needed to figure it out.

My mate missed her and she missed him, and I couldn't be the reason why they kept their distance. Besides, out of all her betas, Luna Posy trusted Emerson and Tyler the most, and Emerson and Thoreau needed their luna right now.

Emerson is so much scarier looking than I am, but she sees right past that to the orsacchiotto(teddy bear)inside.

I was a little hurt that she couldn't do the same with me. I raised four little girls who never once looked at me with fear. Derision, anger, frustration, irritation in their rebellious teenage years, sure, but never fear.

She's known him longer than me, that's all,I tried to console myself. She'll get used to me with enough time.

Or maybe she heard too many grisly stories of everything I'd hunted down and killed, and that scared her so much that she wanted nothing to do with me.

But Emerson's killed before, too. Hard to find a shifter, let alone abeta, who hasn't.

Then again, he only ever killed in defense of his pack whereas I was paid to hunt my prey.

She likes Leo well enough, even though she knows how much blood is on his hands!

She was also quite able - more than any of us, even Julian - to separate Leo from the demon. I figured she had a lot of practice with that from dealing with Alpha Jayden and Quartz, who were the ultimate example of two opposite souls housed in one body.

And this is how it goes when you don't have an animal spirit, I sighed.You argue with yourself and get nowhere.

"You look a little like him," she whispered.

Whipping my eyes off the road, I stared at her profile as she looked at her knees. Her small body trembled a bit, and her fingers were tightly clasped in her lap.

"Alpha Briggs," she clarified. "You look enough like him to scare me. Exact same color of hair, same height, same build. Even your faces are similar. When you're not clean-shaven, I have to make myself look into your eyes to see that it's you and nothim."

I'd learned a little about her past and all I could say was Kendall Briggs had been lucky to never cross my path. His end would have been much more tortuous than a quick and simple beheading. How could anyone do such things to someone so sweet and innocent?

It was a question I asked myself often when I hunted monsters, although I knew the answer. Such vulnerability drew them like moths to a flame and made them want to stamp it out instead of nurture and protect it.

That's what made them monsters.

"I'm sorry," she continued when I stayed silent. "I don't mean to hurt your feelings, and you can't help the way you look. Not that you should or would want to. You're very handsome, if you didn't know that. I mean, it's okay to say that, right? Even though I'm not a boy, can I still tell you that you're handsome, or is that not appropriate? Sorry, but I never knew anyone with the gay before Emerson and now you, and I don't want to offend you."

What is she talking about?I linked Emerson as she rambled on.

The alphas were going to explain what gay means to her, he sighed,but it appears they haven't gotten around to it yet. Just go with it.

"Piccola coniglio(little bunny)," I interrupted her, "anyone can tell anyone else that they're handsome or beautiful, and thank you. You're a cutie, too. I'm sorry I remind you of thatfiglio di puttana(son of a bitch). I can't do anything about my height or build, but I could change my hair. Um, maybe I could dye it? I can't cut it, though, because Emerson likes to play with it."

She giggled, and the knot of tension in my chest loosened.

"I can't leave my mates' hair alone, either," she admitted. "Especially Wyatt and Ash. I could spend hours petting them."

"It must be a wolf thing, yeah? Bird shifters don't really mess with each other's hair, at least not so much to be noticeable, whereas Em always has his fingers in my hair."

"I don't have much experience outside of a wolf pack, so maybe there are other shifters like that. Ha. Maybe even humans do it."

"Maybe." I patted myself on the back, happy that I'd made her relax enough to talk freely and easily with me. "So what color should I dye it?"

"Pink!"

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