Page 48 of Luna: Posy 2

Matthew, for example, was nineteen and had two much-older brothers who'd raised him after his mother died in childbirth and the sickness took his father. He lived at the pack house and hated it.

"The only good thing about it is that Emerson lives there, too," he grumbled.

"Is it a bad place?" My eyes widened. "Do I need to go there and check it out? I've been wanting to ask about the orphanage, too. Are the people in charge nice or mean? Are these places good enough for my betas to live in?"

Matthew stared at me, then burst into laughter.

"Yes, luna. The alphas would not allow them to be bad places," Tristan assured me.

"Then why do you hate it, Matthew?" Luke asked before I could.

"It's too noisy." Matthew sobered up enough to answer for himself. "I like the quiet. There's not much privacy, either. I know most wolves like denning together, but I need personal space. And quiet. Sometimes I think I could easily be a lone wolf, but I'd miss my friends and family too much."

"Well, Matthew," the queen spoke up, "why not move into your own place?"

"I don't see the point until I find my mate. I don't want to pick a place she'll end up hating," he said with a shrug. "I want her to be happy, and where we live isn't as important to me as it probably will be to her."

"That's so sweet!" I smiled, showing him my dimples, and he ducked his head. "And the orphanage? Is it a good place for Ty?"

"After the sickness," Crew said, "the former alphas and lunas helped many orphans find good families, and created the orphanage for those who couldn't go to a new home for whatever reason. They visit it frequently, as do your mates. The den mother is an older lady whose mate died in the sickness. Minding the little orphans gave her the purpose she needed to keep from succumbing to her grief and loneliness."

"And Ty wouldn't tolerate anything inappropriate happening there," Tristan added. "There are only six other kids at the O, so it's easy to keep track of them. If someone was being mean or abusive, Ty would put them in their place or tell the alphas."

I nodded, satisfied to hear that.

"What about you, Tristan? You have your own place?" Luke asked.

He replied that he had an apartment, but now that he'd found Ariel, he was on the hunt for a house.

"Once things settle down, the alphas said we could tour the pack territory and see what interests us from what's available." His smile radiated happiness. "Like Matthew, I'm not fussy about where we live, so long as I'm with her."

"Aw!" the queen and I cooed, making him duck his head with a little smile.

Crew also had his own place. His grandparents left him a stone cottage deep in the woods by a waterfall. From the way he talked about it, I could see how much he loved it.

"I'd like to see it," I told him.

"Of course. Anytime." He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. "I've modernized the appliances and wiring and stuff, but it's crammed with my grandparents' antiques and books and oddities, and the location is isolated from the rest of the pack."

"Dude, it's a great location," lone wolf Matthew chimed in. "I want to find one just like it, if my mate agrees."

"But what do I do if my mate hates it?"

"Of course she won't hate it," I told him. "It's important to you, which will make it important to her, too. I mean, would you hate a place thatsheloves?"

"Oh. No. Okay, I see." He patted me on top of my head, mussing my hair. "There's a wise old soul inside you, luna."

"Stop," I whined and batted his hand away.

"Are you teasing our little luna bunny?" Emerson's voice came from the doorway.

Looking over, I saw he was dressed in black shorts and a white t-shirt, and his hair was damp.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Tristan called with a grin. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, but I can wait til Ty's down. He's finishing up in the shower now."

When Tyler joined us, we decided to have an early dinner. Emerson said he wanted to make something called lemon chicken piccata, and I was eager to learn a new recipe. He let me cut up the lemons, but that was it. While it simmered, he wrote out the recipe on a piece of paper.

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