Page 81 of Pack: Posy 3

I shivered. I wasn't too fond of any kind of snake, but no one deserved to die at a human's hands for no reason.

Were they the only deaths?I asked, sensing they weren't, but not wanting to push Quartz if he didn't want to talk.

A mermaid and a merman were dead in their tanks. The stupid humans hadn't kept the water fresh enough.Quartz frowned.It upset Jayden, but what could we do? They'd been dead for a couple of days before we got there.

Quartz went on to explain that the king's inspectors arrived to clear out the office space and find clues as to who the human mastermind was behind the prison. King Julian wanted to shut down the whole operation - including the lab Poppy had heard mentioned - as soon as possible. He also wanted to know how the human leader had discovered shifters in the first place.

After that conversation, we were all tuckered out and drifted off, only waking up when we heard our humans complaining about being covered in dew at dawn.

Many, many people came by after breakfast to check on Posy The alphas, too, but mostly Posy. Everyone in the pack felt her pain through the bond yesterday and wanted to link or drop by to see that she was fine with their own eyes.

Cole took the day off and rested with her, although we all knew he needed more time than one day to get his head sorted out. He was so eaten up by guilt, it would probably take several visits with Dr. York for him to be okay again.

The whole family came over at dinner time and passed Posy around and around in hugs until she'd laughed and told them to stop before her mates got jealous. When the questions got too much, she changed the topic by asking about the prison survivors, wanting to make sure they had what they needed until they were ready to leave.

"Do they all have somewhere to go?" Peri asked the alphas.

"We'll find out," Wyatt told her and patted her on top of her head.

"Stop, doofus!" She swatted at his hand. "I'm a mated woman now, not a kid!"

"Mated or not, you're still a kid in my eyes, Periwinkle," he teased her. "You'll always be our baby sister."

"Until she has a baby," Posy giggled. "Then you get to be an uncle!"

"She ain't having a baby," Cole argued.

"Eventually, I want to be a mom." Peri rolled her eyes at him. "Ty and I want lots of pups!"

"No, you don't." He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her. "You have to mate to have pups, and you're not ever mating with anyone."

"Well, I have news for you, big brother!"

"Uh, Peri? I don't want to die today," Tyler interrupted.

"Ty and I have already matedplentyof times and—"

His face and ears burning red, Tyler covered her mouth with his hand.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" he whisper-yelled.

"You've donewhat?!"Cole glared at Tyler, making Posy, Ash, Mom, and Mama giggle.

Throwing Peri over his shoulder, Tyler carried his mate to their car.

"Tyler James!"Cole roared.

Laughing, Posy wrapped her arms around him and distracted him with kisses, and Tyler and Peri made their getaway.

So it seemed like everything was back to normal at Five Fangs - except for one big problem that made itself known at bedtime that night.

Posy had a panic attack when her mates tried to touch her intimately.

I was confused, the alphas were shocked, and their wolves were heartbroken. She leapt out of bed, huddled in the corner, and shook like a leaf in a hurricane. It took the alphas more than an hour to calm her down and get her to sleep.

The next morning, they talked about it, and Posy couldn't explain why it happened. To be honest, I had an idea, but I kept my mouth shut to let her mates handle it. I mean, what didIknow? I was just a wolf who'd been isolated from everyone for my entire existence except the last few months. Before our mates found us, I'd never eventalkedto another wolf except Agate and Slate, and then only before Alpha Briggs forbade me to talk to anyone.

When Posy panicked again the next night, we all realized the problem wasn't going to resolve itself on its own. She could hug and kiss and cuddle them and their wolves, but froze when things became passionate. The third night, despite the alphas telling her that they wanted to wait until they found the cause of her panic attacks, she insisted she wanted to try again and chose Ash.

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