Page 54 of Luna: Posy 2

I went to the door and called for the witches, hoping they could make sense of this better than we could. When they ran into the kitchen, they immediately hustled over to Reuben, made him lie down again, and knelt around him.

A flurry of whispers later, Ariel put her thumb on his forehead, and his eyes rolled back in his head before his eyelids closed.

"Too much trauma." She rocked on her heels. "I put him to sleep, real sleep, where no memories will disturb him. Rest is what's best for him right now. Try to get some broth in him later."

Cole picked Reuben up in a fireman's carry, and I led him to another one of the guest rooms Angelo and I had cleared earlier. We got him in bed, then left him to his healing slumber.

After that, the king split us into teams, one per floor except the basement, which would be taken care of by him, Ariel, and Sara. As they worked down there, the rest of us went to our assigned spaces and washed the walls and floors with bucket after bucket of herbal water that Maria kept cooking up. My nose said the potion included lavender and rosemary, not my favorite scents, but it worked. I could feel the negative energy evaporating quickly.

It also helped rejuvenate me. I hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep last night. Add in the big fight today, and I was dragging. I knew the others were, too, especially Mase, who hadn't gotten more than a cat nap after coming back with Ranger, Junia, and the prisoners after dawn this morning.

While we were washing down the alpha house, Mason and Angelo cleared the pack's office building, which was only about five hundred feet away from the alpha house’s detached garage. Then they cleared the garage while the rest of us washed down the office walls.

By the time everything had been cleared and purified to the witches' satisfaction, it was around eight at night. We trudged back to the alpha house, dog-tired and starving.

Thankfully, the twins and Beatrix had come out of their room at some point and made dinner and set the table. They'd left a note saying they'd already eaten and to enjoy the food, but not to disturb them.

The witches were not happy with that last part, and Angelo looked ready to storm upstairs, but the king said to sit down and eat and be grateful for their thoughtfulness.

"Thoughtfulness?" sassed Sara, the water witch and Angelo's sister. "While we worked our guts out, those bloody twins locked themselves in a bedroom with our baby cousin!"

"Well, sheistheir mate," Cole reasoned.

Wyatt and I giggled, which made her huff and cross her arms over her chest.

"You male wolves are so impulsive," she sneered. "All your testosterone-laden brains can process is find, mark, and mate, and do it as fast as possible!"

She says that like it's bad, Ashy.Sid blinked in confusion, and I grinned.

"When you find your mate, you'll understand," Ariel said with a pink blush. "The female can't help it anymore than the male can."

"I can assure you thatIwon't be dragging my mate off to a bedroom five minutes after meeting him!" Sara rolled her gray-green eyes, which were mirrors of Angelo's.

"Now, cousin, you should know not to say things like that!" Maria, the youngest and an air witch, shook her finger at Sara. "That's basically tempting the universe."

"We shall see."

"Tomorrow," the king interrupted their light bickering, "I want to assess where we stand. If everything looks good and safe, I'm going to have Luke bring Lilah here."

At the king's announcement, my brothers and I shared giant grins. That meant our girl could come, too.

"We need to be here for Ranger's induction as alpha," he continued, "which will probably also include Junia's luna ceremony. If I'm happy with the security here, I see no reason why my queen can't join us while we prepare for that."

"We couldn't agree more," I grinned.

"It's going to be a full house with all of us here," Cole pointed out. "We should assign spaces, especially if more people will be coming soon. We may have to take over the alpha office building and see about getting some beds and bedding over there."

"I can take care of organizing all of that," Ariel volunteered.

"Luke had his own house that might still be vacant," King Julian said. "IthinkLilah said Junia lived with her parents, and I'm not sure if the twins did, too, or had their own place. I'll ask after dinner."

Ariel nodded.

"We're going to need more food and other supplies," Sara said. "I'll make a list, but I'm not fetching. Those ruddy twins can."

"Of course," the king agreed smoothly. "Since they know the territory and pack best, that is an excellent suggestion. Mason, you go with them."

Mase nodded in his stoic way as the king wisely ignored Sara's muttered, "Suggestion, my ass. That was anorder."

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