Page 42 of Mates: Posy

Youwereignoring her,we all heard Sid snarl.I try to get you attention when she want to show you those hair flowers, but you brush me off!

Ash gasped as he doubled over in pain.

Today, we learned something new about having a mate: If we did something to cause Posy pain or grief, our wolves became unhappy with us.

Veryunhappy.

And right now, Ash, Cole, and Wyatt were suffering from their wolves' full displeasure.

"Peri already told me about that part." I looked away from Ash to glare at the other two. "Tell me what happened."

"We were looking at the jewelry counter when Callie and Keeley came up to ask us if the rumor was true that we'd found our luna." Cole scooted forward to sit on the edge of his chair. "We were about to tell them it was when three of their friends came over."

"Since they were human," Wyatt picked up, "we said that, yes, we had a girlfriend, knowing that the twins would understand what we meant."

"The three human girls giggled and came closer, and one of them put their hands on me." The disgust on Cole's face was plain as day. "Unfortunately, that's right when Posy walked over."

"You didn't realize they were flirting?" I asked.

How oblivious can they get?Garnet asked me.

"Not until that moment," Wyatt admitted.

I covered my eyes with one hand and shook my head.

"Did you do anything, Cole?"

I hoped against hope that he at least pushed the girl away.

"Uh, no. I was too surprised. I never thought a stranger would do that. Humans are weird. But I really didn’t get a chance to do anything before Lark pulled the girl off of me and punched her in the nose because the human insulted me."

"Larkpunchedher?" I blinked.

With a nod, Cole sent me the memory through the link. On one hand, I was proud of our girl’s wolf. On the other hand, I was furious. She shouldn’t have had to do that.

"Okay, here’s what you’re going to do." I stared at each one of them for several solid seconds. "From now on, you treat any unmated females as if they are flirting with you, since you can’t tell if they are or not."

"Once we’re fully mated, it won’t even be an issue," Cole scoffed.

"Yeah, but only with other shifters," Ash pointed out. "Humans were your problem today."

"Rings." Wyatt’s eyes widened. "We’ll wear wedding rings. We can get a gorgeous one for our girl, too."

I thought about it, then nodded. A good watch was all I really needed as far as jewelry went, but I was game if it helped our girl. While the boys talked about having Posy design them each a ring, I pondered the problem of how to get our mate to understand we loved her and were never going to let her go or replace her.

Mark her, Garnet encouraged,and soon. It will strengthen the bond and reassure her.

I agreed, but she wasn’t ready for us to do that yet.

Marking works both ways,Mase.

Ah. I hadn’t thought of that.

"What if we asked her to mark us?" I narrowed my eyes as I worked it out in my mind. "What Lark said today proves that neither of them really believes we want to keep and love them and only them forever. If she marks us, maybe she’ll feel more secure in her role in our lives."

I could tell I caught them off guard. Females rarely marked their mates. Why bother when a male’s mark was all that was needed to complete the process? Males who bore their females’ mark, however, often saw it as a symbol of respect and admiration from their ladies.

After they thought about it for a few seconds, the boys all nodded.

---