Page 70 of Mates: Posy

"My beautiful little flower."

"My cutie is extra cute today!"

I buried my burning face in my hands, which made all my mates chuckle and the girls giggle.

"Youareprecious, cupcake, but I need to do your hair!" Ash grabbed my hand and towed me along. "Dutch braids, remember?"

He led me to a kitchen bar stool and helped me onto it, which meant he picked me up like a toddler and sat me on it.

"He does your hair?" Peri asked, eyes agog.

"He’s better at it than I am." I shrugged.

Her jaw dropped, and Lilah tittered.

After he finished, I looked in the hall mirror and gaped at myself.

"It looks lovely, Ash! Thank you!"

Spinning around, I crashed into his torso and squeezed him tight.

"It’s you who are lovely," he murmured and kissed the top of my head.

"Good job, bro," Wyatt told Ash and fist bumped him. "I really like it. You have to do this style again sometime."

"Thanks," Ash said with a smile. "Jay should get kudos, too. Without him letting me practice on him for the past six or seven years, I would have forgotten everything his mom taught me."

"It was a sacrifice, believe me, but utterly worth it to see the results now." Jayden smirked and also gave Ash a fist bump.

"Betas are here," Mason interrupted the bromance going on in front of my eyes.

We went to the front porch right as three vehicles came up the driveway. I turned to my mates and knew they could see the panic in my eyes.

Jayden came over and tucked me under his arm.

"We have five betas and five gammas, one of each from what remains of our original packs," he explained. "It makes things complicated in some ways, but simpler in others."

"After the luna is found, a beta’s primary duty is to keep her safe," Wyatt added. "They’re your guards now, although they’ll have other jobs when not on protection detail."

I looked over at Peri to see her chatting with Cole, so I checked on Lilah. She seemed as nervous as I was to go shopping with the betas. She probably wanted her big brother to come along, but knew as well as I did that one of them had to be here when the king arrived.

Same with my mates. It would have been very bad manners if they weren’t here to welcome the king to their territory, even if he was their best friend.

Another thing to stress over.I bit my bottom lip.I have to meet the king. The king! Moon Goddess, have mercy.

Wyatt reached over and pried my lip out of my teeth with his thumb.

"Baby, each one of these guys would lay down his life for you, so don’t be afraid of them, okay?"

I stared into his silvery-blue eyes and nodded.

"Peri, Callie, and Keeley know them all, too." Mason came over and laid his palm against my cheek. "Except for Tyler, who’s brand new."

"They’re nice guys. At least, they’ve always been nice to me." Peri then pulled me aside. "Speaking of Callie and Keeley, don’t bring up the beta who died. Everett was their older brother, their only living relative, and they’re still grieving."

"Oh!" I covered my mouth with my hand.

"I don’t know the whole story," she admitted. "Only the boys do, but don’t ask Jay. You saw Quartz’s reaction last night."

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