Page 153 of Luna: Posy 2

As he raced up the walk, everyone got out of his way, and he fell to his knees in front of his mate.

"Hey, hey, hey," he crooned. Reaching over Thoreau's head, he took Emerson's tear-streaked face in his palms. "Whatever's wrong, it's going to be okay. We'll figure it out."

"He's not— Theyhurthim! And I can't— He doesn't—" Emerson couldn't seem tobreathe, let alone form coherent sentences.

"Shh,orsacchiotto(teddy bear). Shh." Angelo peppered Emerson's face with little kisses.

"I can't sense his wolf, Angelo!" Emerson whispered.

"While Mr. Price was making lunch, Reau told us that his wolf, Tanner, was sleeping," I said quickly to ease his anxiety. "I smell wolfsbane on him, so—"

Angelo cut me off as his eyes whipped over to stare at me.

"How do you know what that smells like?"

"Because I've been shot full of it before. Many times." I lifted my chin and stared back at him. "Anyway, I think someone gave it to him to put his wolf to sleep."

"Then we can give him some nightshade or foxglove to counter it," Angelo said as he turned back to Emerson.

As long as they didn't give him too much, I thought to myself and prayed they hadn't.

"Now, don't you think it's time to introduce me to thispiccolocucciolo(little puppy)?" Angelo smiled at Emerson, who nodded.

"Thoreau, meet my mate, Angelo del Vecchio. Angelo, this is my baby brother, Thoreau Ezra Jones. I call him Reau for short. He turned fifteen in March."

"Hello,cucciolo(puppy)," Angelo said with a gentle smile.

"My name is Reau, not cooch-low," Reau grumbled.

"Oh, I am sorry. It means puppy in Italian." Angelo grinned. "You arecucciolo(puppy) and Emerson isorsacchiotto(teddy bear)."

"And what are you?" Thoreau tilted his head in a very wolfy way.

"Emerson did not give me a nickname yet, but you can call me Gelo if you want."

"Jello! Jello is good. I love jello. Cook gives me an extra jello on Wednesdays and Fridays. She is nice and—"

His ramble was cut off when the snot bubbling out of his nose finally dribbled onto his lip. Making a disgusted face, he lifted the hem of his t-shirt and wiped his face with it, and all of us gasped at what we saw.

He was as skeletal as I had been when the boys found me, and dozens of bruises in all stages of healing stood out like ink splotches on his pale skin.

"I'll kill that rat bastard!" Mr. Price snarled.

"Who needs killing?" Cole growled from somewhere behind me. "Because after the morning I've had, I'm more than ready to put down a wolf or two."

Whirling around, I saw him and Mason hurrying up the walk. They were covered nearly head to toe in whitish powder, and their eyes gleamed with their wolves.

Before I could blink, Cole picked me up under my arms and he and Mason squished me between them. Mason buried his face in my neck while Cole did the same thing on the other side.

Peals of laughter drew my eyes to Reau, who was pointing up at us.

"Posy sammich!" he giggled.

Hmm. Mason and I are starved for a Posy sammich, Garnet murmured.

Us, too, brother, Topaz said with a grin.Yum, yum!

"Papa, we're handing this matter over to you. You can give us a report later," Cole said. "Right now, Mase and I want to eat lunch with our girl."

---