Page 2 of Family: Posy 4

"I hand you off to your next date and the surprises that come with it." He grinned when my jaw dropped. "Surely you realized my brothers each planned a date with you, too."

I shook my head, feeling dumb that I hadn't.

"Would you like to see a movie after dinner?" he asked. "Wait. Have you ever gone to the movies before?"

"No. There wasn't a theater in Green River, and Alpha Briggs didn't let Mom take us off pack territory."

"Okay, now we'redefinitelygoing," he declared. "I can check what's playing, but I think the independent theater is showing the latest in that dinosaur series we watched. Are you interested in seeing it?"

"Yes! They're good, even though I have to close my eyes a lot," I joked, which made him laugh.

Coming to a stop, Mason shut off the engine and jumped out, and I was surprised to see that we were already at the diner. My mate opened my door, unbuckled me, and helped me down.

"I'll look up when the next showing starts once we sit down," he said as he led me into the diner.

The sign said, 'Please seat yourself,' so we found a booth in the back corner and grabbed menus from the holder at the end of the table.

"Are you getting anything else besides chicken tenders?" Mason asked me as he skimmed the menu.

"The onion rings were also tasty, but I couldn't eat all of them. Do you want to help me if I can't finish them?"

"I know I'm not Ash or Wyatt to fight over your leftovers, but I think I could manage to choke down a few extra onion rings." He rolled his eyes and I giggled.

"What are you getting? Do you have a favorite order, or do you like to try something new each time?"

"I usually get a double cheeseburger with bacon and French fries," he told me, and I treasured even that small fact about him.

My other mates didn't hesitate to share little details about themselves with me, but Mason was a much more private person. He probably didn't even realize how closed off he was, which is why I hoarded each and every detail he revealed.

A waiter came over and politely introduced himself, then took our orders. As we were waiting for our dinner, I asked Mason if I could talk to him about something important.

"Anything, Posy. Any time. We'll always listen to you.I'llalways listen to you. Is something wrong?"

I bit my bottom lip as I considered how to bring this up, then decided to just say it.

"Not with me, but with Lark. I need to tell you now while she's asleep. She's, uh, been feeling a little, um, left out."

"Did our wolves stop talking to her?" His brows came down in a fierce frown. "Garnet says they haven't, but—"

"Oh, no, she talks to themallthe time." I giggled. "Did you know they wake up in the night sometimes and play together? They were up before dawn playing tag the other morning! And sometimes ...friskier... activities, which is why we sometimes wake up tired."

I blushed as I said that last part.

"I can't believe you sleep through it every time," he muttered, also blushing. "Then again, Ash usually does, too. The rest of us at least wake up enough to see what's going on before falling back to sleep. Anyway, what is making her feel left out? Her relationship with her wolves is solid."

"She sees how your wolves interact with me, and she would like to have that with you guys, too. I told her that she needs to reach out, but she's nervous about it. As you said, she's solid with her wolves, but is convinced their human halves aren't interested in her."

"Oh." He blinked a few times. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"She doesn't really know how to interact with humans other than me. She figured out her relationship with your wolves mostly on instinct, but humans are more complicated. And she’s scared."

"We told her when we first met her we were enjoying getting to know her, and we talked to her a couple of other times since, but she always withdraws afterward." Mason tilted his head as he frowned in thought. "We figured she was overwhelmed, so we gave her space to feel safe. Maybe we shouldn't have."

He sighed heavily, then scratched the top of his head.

"We're acting on instinct here, too, Posy. Knowing she was badly abused, we don't want to scare or pressure her. What do you suggest?"

"Um, maybe sometime, you could ask her to shift? Tell her you miss her and want to pet her? She's never been cuddled, but I think she'd like it. It always makes her squeal when you guys cuddle me or I cuddle your wolves."

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