Page 129 of Mates: Posy

Hopefully the latter. Luke kissed the tip of my nose.

"For the love of the moon! Can the four of you tone down the PDA, please?" Ranger whined. "Single male wolf here, dying for lack of love and attention in his life. I'd appreciate it if you all stopped rubbing your happiness in my face for five minutes."

I glanced over to see the king and queen staring deeply into each other's eyes. With a smirk, I reached up, grabbed Luke by his ears, and pulled him down into a kiss.

"Seriously, Gisela?" He let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine. I see how it is. Okay, then. I guess third wheel Ranger is going to find a ball game to watch and ignore all you lovebirds until you're ready to take recent events seriously."

Darkness gathered in the corners of the room as power - royal, moon, and alpha - rolled off the king in immense, thunderous waves. Ranger, Luke, and I were forced to our knees under the weight of it, and fear like I never felt before had me shaking like a child caught in a nightmare.

"I can assure you that I am taking it seriously, brother.Very. Seriously."

Another wave of power crashed around the room, and I bowed under the intense pressure, dropping my forehead to the carpet and clenching my fists tightly on my thighs. My heart rose into my throat and thudded painfully hard and fast.

Fingers brushed my left hand, and I knew from the sparks that it was Luke. How he found the strength to do that was beyond me; I couldn't open my eyes much less move any part of my body. However he managed it, I was grateful for his grounding touch.

I wasn't a timid or clingy woman by any means, but fear had hijacked the part of my brain that said I wasn't in real danger. The adrenaline-jacked part was now in charge, and it screamed at me to attack or prepare to defend myself. I couldn't move to do either, though, and Luke's fingers against my knuckles was all that kept me from screaming.

"Julian!"

The queen's voice broke the oppressive silence, and just like that, we could move again.

Luke helped me to my feet, then pulled me up against him and held me as tightly as his big arms could without breaking or suffocating me. I was ashamed of how badly I was shaking, but I couldn't help it. Feeling the fine tremors racking through him, I realized he was struggling, too, and holding me was probably helping him as much as me.

A memory flashed in my mind of the time I went to a drag race, and a jet car came into the line up. When they fired that sucker up, my heart climbed into my throat and I thought it was going to leave my body through my mouth. The immensity of the power generated by the engine, the sheer energy and volume and pressure, was deafening and awesome and terrifying and exciting and unnerving all at once.

Wanting to share with Luke, I sent him the memory.

The king losing his temper feels just like that,I linked him,only without the exciting and awesome parts.

Yeah. Let's not do that again anytime soon.

Tell Ranger, not me.

Oh, don't worry. I think he got the message, but if he didn't, I'll remind him later with a fist in his gut.

I grinned, feeling much more stable with my mate's scent in my nose and my face in his chest.

There goes our tough-girl card, Gis,Hawk bemoaned. Our mates are going to think we're weak pussies now.

Sorry to drop the knowledge on you, honey, but they already know we have pussies.

After the pounding yours took all night, I'm surprised it's still functioning.

You're such a bitch, Hawk.

Hey, blame Mother Nature for your gender, Gis, not me.

I let a laugh slip out at her last barb, and Luke lifted his head to look down at me. I didn't want to move out of my little nest between his solid pecs, though, and just nuzzled my face in deeper.

"What's funny?" he asked as he nudged the top of my head with his chin.

His beard caught a few hairs and moved them around, making them tickle as they brushed over my neck. Shivering at the sensation, I tilted my head up and met his light brown eyes.

"My wolf and I are engaged in a long-running war of the words. Tell me, mate: Do you think we're weak from how we responded to what just happened?"

"What? Why would I when Rain and I had the same response?"

See?I taunted my wolf.

---