Page 14 of Pack: Posy 3

"Pink?Piccola coniglio(little bunny), I would rock pink hair."

She giggled again, which made me grin.

Pink hair, here I come. Forgive me, orsacchiotto(teddy bear),but it's for your sake that I will do whatever it takes to get in her good graces.

"I bet we'll find some dye at the grocery store," I told her. "Where else do you want to go? It's hot as blazes out today, so we'd better save that for last in case we get anything frozen."

She agreed, then rambled about everything she wanted to get. Every once in a while, I hummed to acknowledge I was listening and pulled into the store parking lot right as she finished reciting her list.

"Okay. Let's first go see if they have any of the giant pool floats left," I told her. "That way, we'll know if we need to go somewhere else. All that other stuff should be easy to find."

I turned off the engine and hopped out, then ran around to open her door before she roasted in there. Holding out my hand, I waited to see if she would take it, and she did. I wasn't sure that she wanted to, but she was so small, even for a runt, and it was a long jump to the ground for her.

As we turned toward the store entrance, I went to release her hand, but she held onto mine. I looked down and met anxious blue eyes.

"Don't leave me, okay?" she whispered.

"Never." I squeezed her tiny fingers very gently. "I'll be with you the whole time, I promise."

"Gelo?"

"Yes, luna?" I raised an eyebrow and never would have guessed how her next words would turn my heart to mush.

"You don't have to dye your hair. I can seeyounow."

#

Posy

As we ate dinner, I told the boys everything that had happened while they were at work. They were all happy and pleased that I was okay with Angelo now, and told me how proud they were of me for facing my fear.

That made me blush, and I changed the subject to Thoreau's wolf. I could almost predict their reactions, and I was right. Ash and Jayden were sad, Cole and Wyatt furious, and Mason a mix of the two. They asked a few questions when I told them what the king had said, and they agreed with him about sending out investigators and replacing Emerson's dad as alpha of Gray Shadows.

To lighten the heavy tension in the room, I linked them the image of Archer and Wayne standing on our porch covered in mud. Mason rolled his eyes while the rest laughed, which is what I wanted.

"Um, I wanted to ask you something," I said slowly. "Do Archer and Wayne also have the gay?"

Stunned silence followed my question, and I cringed, afraid that they were upset with me. They still hadn't explained the gay to me like Jayden said they would. I only knew it had made Emerson - scary, monster-sizedEmerson- too scared to meet his mate.

"What makes you ask that?" Ash frowned, but didn't seem angry.

"The way they looked at each other and Reau. And Reau looked at them that way, too. I was going to ask Emerson, but he was traumatized enough today, so I didn't."

"I don't think the way someone looks at another is a reliable indicator of him or her being gay," Jayden said.

"I get that, but still." I shrugged. "The way they interacted made me think they all three have it."

"All right. Stop." Mason pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. "You don'thavethe gay. Youaregay. And it's not 'the gay.' It's just 'gay.' I'll explain it to you more after dinner, but I can't handle that conversation over pork chops and fried apples."

I giggled.

"But to answer your question, I never thought they were gay." Wyatt traded side-eye glances with Cole. "They grew up together as brothers, and I always believed their relationship was like ours."

"Whether they are or not, they're our little brothers and we love and accept them," Cole said firmly.

"Is there a problem if they are?" Ash asked me in a gentle tone.

"No. I'm just worried about them," I said and looked down at my plate. "Mom and Dad don't seem to supervise them too closely, not that I'm saying they're bad parents! I understand that they're wrapped up in the two little boys and the new one on the way. I worry that they'll take advantage of their parents' distraction to, um, get up to things they shouldn't."

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