Page 134 of Mates: Posy

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "See, Posy, hunters invaded my pack when I was two and killed nearly everyone. A lot of people avoid the area now, believing it's cursed or some crap like that. Anyway, I highly doubt those buildings are usable anymore. Last time I was there, I noticed the roof had collapsed on the middle school."

"We originally thought about rehabbing them for boarding schools, but shifter families are too tightly knit," Cole added. "Parents didn't want to send their pups away for weeks or months at a time, so we passed on that idea."

Posy was silent for a bit, then her eyes gleamed with determination.

"I disagree with some of your points," she said. "I don't think it has to cost millions to create a school."

"That's just the cost to construct the buildings. Then comes staffing issues, supplies, equipment," Cole began to list, but she cut him off ruthlessly.

"You don't need a new building, just one that's unused right now and can be converted. It's not like we need state-of-the-art here. When you combined packs, you relocated the alpha house and primary pack house here, right? Well, did you leave behind even one empty building that's in good shape?"

Hmm. There's the old alpha house and offices in my territory, and the same in Wyatt's.

"And," she continued, "staff would come from the pack. It's huge, isn't it? Surely there are enough shifters who want or need something to do and could cover the basics required for graduation. Survey the pack members to find out who could teach what."

We did have a small number of shifters looking for work, and a couple of widows and widowers who needed something to occupy their time before their wolves went mad from grief.

It may be feasible,I admitted to myself. It's only two or three hundred kids.

I was drawn out of my thoughts when I heard our girl arguing with Cole.

"So you're saying, if I do decide to go back and get my diploma, you want me to attend a human high school. Off pack territory. With only Peri, Callie, and Keeley to help me if something happens."

Uh-oh. She's pulling out the big guns now. She knows we'll never agree to anything that could potentially endanger her.

"Tyler will be a senior this year and would guard you, and there are lots of other—"

"And what if some human male decides I'm fair game, hmm? Humans obviously have boundary issues; we saw that during our first shopping trip, didn't we? What if a guy starts to flirt with me and won't take no for an answer and Tyler's on the other side of the school?"

We all growled deep in our throats.

No boy had better evenlookat what's ours,Garnet snarled, let alone touch her.

"You're going to be wearing our ring," Jay reminded her. "Humans invented wedding rings, so even little high school boys should recognize that you're taken. That should give you a layer of protection."

"And I promised I'd teach you how to throw a punch," Wyatt said. "I can show you some other self-defense moves. But, Posy, that stuff doesn't happen very often. Ash and I graduated from there in June and—"

"It happens often enough, Wyatt." Ash scrubbed a hand through his hair. "How many times did you or I step between a handsy prick and a female, regardless of species?"

"And I haven't even mentioned all the trouble human girls cause," Posy added.

"What?" we all said at once.

"Ha! Peri and the twins were right." Posy wore a smug look. "None of you knows what goes on when it comes to the girls' side of things."

"Wait. Back it up. What goes on?" Cole demanded.

"I'll let Peri and the twins tell you that, since I've never seen or experienced it myself. I'll just say that you're very lucky none of the pack girls has wolfed out at school yet."

She paused to take a drink, but still held our complete attention. Even Wyatt, who usually filled the air and our link with constant chatter, was quiet and listening.

"I know I made you focus onmeattending the human school right now, but please think about the future of the pack. It would make shifters safer, provide employment to anyone who wants or needs it, and can be tailored to meet the needs of the pack."

We all sat in stunned silence until the king and queen began clapping. Luke, Gisela, and Ranger joined in, and Posy's cherry red flush spread from her cheeks to her whole face and down her throat to disappear into the neckline of her shirt. I could tell she wanted to hide, but she sat in her chair and kept her head up, even though she fidgeted a bit.

"We'll discuss this at length later and see what we can work out." I leaned over and kissed her forehead, then whispered, "I'm so proud of you, little flower."

Nowshe hid. She ducked around my arm and buried her face in my back. I chuckled and dropped my hand to her thigh, squeezing it lightly.

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