Page 145 of Luna: Posy 2

"Oh, my baby boy." I put down the saucepan, went over, and pulled him down into a tight hug. "Children are not responsible for their parents' actions, and you are not a coward."

"I never realized how much responsibility we put on Mase until Posy pointed it out to me right after she moved here. He protects us too much."

Wyatt melted into me as his breath hitched, and I wanted to strangle Royal all over again. He knew better than anyone how actions have unintended consequences, and his behavior with our son had rippled into each of the boys, most of whom already had demons to battle. Of them all, Ash had the best mental health, which was surprising given that he lost not one, but two sets of parents.

"The only thing Mase would change in his life is his father," I whispered in Wyatt's ear. "He loves you so much, baby boy."

"I love him, too," he whispered back. "I just wish he'd let us protecthimonce in a while."

"He can't help it. It's his nature to throw himself on a live grenade. But he knows you're always there for him, Wyatt." I kissed his forehead. "Now enough sad talk. We got cookies and hot chocolate to make!"

#

Mason

When I was fourteen, our fathers set up a mini training school for me and my brothers to learn how to run a pack. One day, they assigned us a project to plan how we'd handle an attack similar to the one that wiped out Dark Woods and killed Ash's parents.

Cole and I each spent hours working on our individual plans, while the three musketeers slapped something together the night before it was due. They were only eleven and twelve, but Wyatt's dad still tore them a new one over it while the rest of our dads examined Cole's project, then mine.

"You have a few areas to improve on, such as your defense here and here," my father told Cole as he pointed to two different areas, "but your offensive plan is quite good."

Areas to improve on?I thought to myself as I looked over his plan, too.He totally forgot the orphanage and safe house, the two most vulnerable areas!

Alpha Nathan saw what I did and voiced my thoughts out loud almost word for word. Alpha Jay recommended that Cole start with planning his defense first in the future as that seemed to be his weakest area.

Then the three alphas reviewed my work. I was really proud of it, to tell the truth - until my father began his critique. I'd forgotten to label the parking area at the alpha office building. The upper left corner was torn on one of the maps I'd sketched. I'd misspelled maneuver. And so on.

And on.

And on.

By the time he was done, I'd completely shut down. As I widened my eyes to hold back the tears, I saw Alpha Shawn take Papa aside. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Wyatt's dad was pissed about something, and Shawn Black didn't get pissed easily.

Alpha Jay drew my attention away from them, though, when he patted me on the shoulder.

"It's a solid plan on both offensive and defensive fronts," he said. "This plan would save a pack, and that's what really matters."

"Don't worry about a torn paper or a misspelled word, okay, Mase?" Alpha Nathan put in his two cents. "You did good, son."

I jerked my chin up a little, afraid if I moved too much the tears would fall and shame me even more, and he let out a heavy sigh.

"Okay, guys," Alpha Shawn called out, "that's it for today. How about some ice cream?"

My brothers cheered as we packed up our stuff, and I watched Cole carefully store his plan back in his binder.

I threw mine in the trash.

Later that night, while my brothers were linking about their plans for the weekend, I sat at my desk in my room and looked up the word maneuver. Taking out a piece of notebook paper, I wrote it out at the top in big block letters. Then I wrote it again and again until the paper was full, front and back.

I never misspelled it again…

A soft knock at the office door drew me out of that grim memory, and I leapt to my feet when Posy's scent wafted to my nose. Throwing open the door, I looked down to find her smiling sweetly up at me.

"Come join us in the living room for hot chocolate and cookies," she said.

I opened my mouth to ask her how she was feeling, but Garnet stopped me.

Go with her current mood and don't remind her she was upset. Oh, and smile back at her, idiot.

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