Page 131 of Pack: Posy 3

Wyatt clearly wasn't listening to either of them. As he stood with clenched fists and steam billowing from his nose and ears, I left to fetch the vacuum from the hall closet. Some might call it cowardice, but I wasn't getting paid to risk my life to calm that monster down.

I wasn't getting paid, period, and not only was I providing all the supplies and intelligence for this project, I now had an almighty mess to clean up. So I took my sweet time to get there, grab the thing, and tow it back.

Good thing Ty talked us into waiting to get a new area rug for under the table, Dove murmured, and I nodded in agreement.

When I walked into the dead-silent dining room, I saw Wyatt calmly seated in glorious solitude at the kitchen island, his paints and water cups around him, while his brothers sat at one end of the table, as far away from him - and the glitter mess - as they could get.

I raised an eyebrow at Cole when he met my eyes, and he shook his head, so I kept my mouth closed, plugged in the vacuum, and got to work. Most of the glitter came right up, then I went to Jay and ran the attachment over him. I would have offered him one of Ty's shirts to wear, but the vacuum did a great job sucking it up, so I left it alone.

As I cleaned up as much of the glitter as I could, Jay helped Ash make a new card, and Mase and Cole finished theirs. Wyatt's was dry by the time I came back from putting the vacuum away, and they proudly displayed their cards on the table for me to admire and praise them. Good sister that I was, I did so and they fist-bumped each other.

Now for the hard part, I told Dove, who wished me good luck.

"So, listen, we have one more person who needs to write his apology, then you guys can go home to your mate and send mine back to me." Turning toward Jay, I quietly and calmly asked, "Quartz, are you ready to come out and make your card?"

I abso-fucking-lutely amnotmaking a fucking card! And I'm not writing a motherfucking letter, either. I'm a fucking alpha wolf! Miss me with this human bullshit, bitches! And another thing—

As Quartz continued his diatribe, Jay took out his wallet and dropped bill after bill into the swear jar. One hundred and forty-eight dollars later, Q ran out of profanities, and Jay had one ten left. He held it over the jar for a second, but his wolf stayed silent. He had just sat down and put the bill back in his wallet when Quartz let out a strangled howl.

Give me a piece of white paper, Peri, and a box of markers! Jayden, do I have your permission to come out long enough to make this fucker?

Standing up again, Jay dropped his last bill in the swear jar while I gathered up what Q had asked for.

"All right, boys, I'm letting him out," he told his brothers when he sat down. "And in case you can't tell, he's a wee bit irritated."

Wyatt snorted and Ash snickered, then we all went still and silent as Jay's eyes turned to gold. For ten tense minutes, the only sound was the squeak of markers as Quartz-in-Jay's-body drew a gray rabbit on the front of the card, and the only movement came when he held it out to me.

"Peri, you write what I say word for word," he demanded, "and don't make one damned mistake because I ain't drawing that shit over."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Mase's tone was extra mild. "I know you can write, and it will mean more to Posy that way."

"Because my handwriting looks like a fucking toddler's!" He hurled the gray marker he'd been using across the room. "Damn it! This fucking sucks! Why should I—"

"The handwriting won't matter, I promise," I dared to interrupt, hoping to keep him from going off on another rant. Giving him a sweet smile, I added, "She loves you so much, Q. Will you please do this one little thing for her?"

"Fine," he muttered, laid the card on the table, and held out his hand. "Black pen."

I gave him one, and he grabbed it and went back to work. One laboriously written letter at a time, he composed his apology, and only the Goddess and Jay knew what he said in it, but he did it all by himself and that was what mattered.

Finally, he slammed back in his chair, threw the pen in the center of the table, and gave the reins to Jay without even being asked to. Jay was so startled by the abrupt changeover, he could only sit and blink for a minute.

"Sorry, Jay," I murmured. "I didn't know it would be so much."

"No, it's not your fault. Quartz is just Quartz and—"

"Oh, no, dear brother," I grinned, "I meant, you owe the swear jar another twenty-six dollars."

31: Can’t Go Wrong with Flowers

Jayden

While Peri put our cards in envelopes, I linked Angelo to drive my SUV over. I chose to linkhimbecause he was already at our house, the betas weren't too happy with us at the moment, and the gammas and the witches were busy interrogating Landry at Matthew and Maria's house.

And no way was I bringing the parents into this if I didn't have to. I knew they'd hear about it sooner or later, but I preferred later.

Sure, alpha,Angelo linked right back. Do you mind if I bring Reau along? He's getting antsy.

Yeah. And if you don't mind, can you go into our bedroom closet and grab the gray duffel bag on the right side? It's sitting on the floor just inside the door.

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