Page 149 of Mates: Posy

I finished my ice pop and added the wrapper to the tidy stack on the floor.

"I'm here, fan club!"

A sudden shout made all our heads turn to see Peri pelting around the side of the house.

"Thank you for waiting! Sorry, no autographs at this time!"

The queen and I laughed as she came to a stop right in front of us and jumped up and down in her excitement.

Tyler ambled along behind her and his eyes flicked to her bum as she bounced around. That made the queen and me dissolve into giggles. Fortunately, Peri thought it was because of her antics.

"Hey, Per. I thought you went to Disney with the Horde?" Matthew asked as he handed her, the queen, and me each an ice pop.

These guys are definitely trying to give me a sugar rush. But they're so good on a hot day!

"Iwaswith them, but I flew home the day before I went shopping with you guys. We did the theme parks the first week, which wasah-maz-ing, but the boys got to pick the activities for this week. You know what they picked? A monster truck show, a dirt bike rally, and a car show." She screwed her face up, and I giggled. "So, since Mama and Papa are there to help with the little ones, Mom and Dad let me come home rather than be tortured."

She brought out her phone to show us all some photos from the trip. The last picture in her album was of her hugging Callie and Keeley Breckenridge goodbye right before the family boarded the plane.

"Oh, we should have invited the twins over!" I said, feeling bad for forgetting them.

"The alphas gave them a job." Peri waved a hand dismissively. "Asked them to go to the clinic and sit with a pair of visiting wolves who were injured somehow. I didn't get the full story."

"Oh?" I traded a glance with Queen Lilah.

"Yeah, apparently they're the king's family or something." Peri looked at the queen. "Do you know who they are?"

"My cousins." Queen Lilah dropped her eyes to her lap. "I didn't like leaving them, but Julian needs to interview some prisoners and didn't want me to stay without him. I only agreed to come back here when he asked the alphas to find someone to sit with them until they woke up."

"Oh, Goddess! What if they turned out to be mates?" Luke chuckled. "Identical twins with identical twins."

Peri's eyes brightened and she pulled out her phone. Tapping away, she explained she was texting Callie and Keeley to ask that very question.

"Why not just link them?" Crew asked her.

"Can't send emojis through the link. Duh." Her phone tinged and she read the reply, but from the way her shoulders drooped, we all knew the response. "Aw, rats. Not mates."

"Can you ask them how Zayne and Zayden are?" Queen Lilah asked in a hopeful voice.

"Of course, your majesty."

While she texted the twins again, Emerson asked Luke about their injuries.

"The king talked to their doctor," he said as he shuffled his sleeping mate into a more comfortable position. "Lots of broken bones and deep bruising and concussions, but no internal injuries. Lake and Delta, their wolves, will sort them out eventually."

"The twins say the twins are still asleep, but they seem much more comfortable than they did at first," Peri told the queen. "Callie says their faces look more relaxed and some of the bruising has even gone down."

"Oh, that's good news." The queen grinned and squeezed her brother's shoulder, who smiled back.

"What about Tristan's mate?" I looked at the betas. "Any update?"

Ash had told me a little about her condition and that they had found out her name at least.

"Tristan says she's awake, but in a lot of pain," Crew told me. "He hasn't been able to get much information out of her yet."

"As soon as she's more coherent, he's going to ask her if he can mark her. Then Creek can help heal her," Emerson added.

"If she knew they were mates, she has to be some kind of shifter, right? A human witch wouldn't feel a mate bond, would she?" the queen asked.

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