Page 22 of Family: Posy 4

"And I'm not Mase or Jay to give in to your big doe eyes, either." He booped my nose with his index finger. "Sorry, cutie. I'm immune to your charms."

Oh, really?Lark purred.

Challenge accepted, we said together and shared a smile.

She whispered an idea and I nodded.

Unbuckling my seat belt, I leaned across the console and stretched up so my lips were at his ear.

"Are you sure there's no way I can convince you?" I breathed, then blew a little air on his mate mark.

Seeing his skin shiver with goosebumps, I knew I was on the right track, so I kissed each star individually, then sucked lightly right over the moon. When I scraped my teeth against it, he started babbling like a brook.

"Jay, okay! Jay's picking you up after lunch! He's taking you—"

"Uh, uh, uh! I didn't ask all that," I murmured, then quickly blew a raspberry on his mate mark.

"Posy!" he roared, and I giggled as I threw open my door and jumped out of his precious car.

As he untangled himself from his seat belt and opened his door, I looked around in surprise. We were at a small graveyard surrounded by a black metal fence. The green grass was neatly cut around the memorials and a young willow tree stood guard over the dead at the front gate.

"Mase did this for us the year he became alpha," Wyatt explained as he joined me and linked our fingers together. "Come on. I have someone I want you to meet."

As we walked past the tombstones, I read their names with interest and compassion.

Willow Diane Price

Kelly Aroha Barlow

Jay Liam and Denise Olivia Carson

Gabriel Fetu and Kristy Ann Mitchell

Finally, Wyatt stopped in front of a shiny black stone that read,Shawn Adam Black.

Oh, my heart.

"Six years and it hurts as much now as it did the day he died," he whispered, staring down at his dad's tombstone. "If I could have traded myself for him, I would have without hesitation. If the Moon Goddess appeared to me here and now and said, 'Your father can live again if you give me your life,' I'd lay it down in a second."

Oh, my heart.

"Anyway, I have a confession to make," he went on before I could do more than wrap my arms around his waist. "Mase said you'd be cool about it, but I want you to know that I understand if you're not."

"Big secret reveal number three?" I asked, squeezing him.

"Yeah. Last one, too." He squeezed me back. "So, the thing is, I get overwhelmed sometimes and, um, disappear, I guess you could say. I disappear deep into my mind and leave Gran in charge. I don't even know I'm doing it until it's over. Sometimes it lasts for an hour or two, sometimes a whole day. The first time it happened, it lasted for six days before Gran, my brothers, and their wolves helped me come back to myself."

"Has it happened since we met?" I pulled back a bit to look into his face.

"Yeah. A couple or three times," he admitted, "but never for longer than a few hours. Ash calls it going wolfy. Anyway, I've set up some visits with Dr. York to work on fixing myself, but you need to know in case it happens and you're the only one around. I don't want it to scare you."

"Why would I be scared? I know Granite."

"You don't know Graniteunsupervised," he corrected. "Every time you've ever been around him, either in my body or his, I was there, too. When I go wolfy, it's all him."

"Is he violent? What exactly are you warning me about? He's Lark's mate. He wouldn't hurt me or her."

"Sometimes he can be violent, and it's true that he wouldn't hurt you or Lark. Still, he's not a very mature wolf, as you know, and he makes bad decisions and has no common sense. He's an alpha wolf, with or without me present, and can shift, even if I go wolfy in my own body. Things can get a little hairy, no pun intended, until I ... come back."

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